Gentle Dog Shows Aggression

Question
My husband's service dog, an Australian Cattle Dog, is and always has been a gentle, loving, playful and well-trained animal. My husband passed away a few months ago, and the dog has transitioned to a family pet. Yesterday a friend brought over her 12-week old Great Dane to introduce the two dogs. After several minutes together, the puppy apparently nipped at my ACD, and the ACD responded aggressively with a very strong and traumatic bite to the puppy's face. X-rays, several stitches and an overnight hospital stay were required. What might have caused this and how can I avoid ever having a repeat?

Answer
Hi,

I'm sorry for your loss. It is difficult for a service dog to adapt to being a family pet. The dog is used to doing jobs, tasks, and suddenly there are none. Not only that, but the situations she will be in now are different snd her role in them is different.

The puppy apparently didn't pick up the 'leave me alone' signal - or your dog didn't give one. As a service dog, she will have been trained *not* to respond to irritations, and so may simply have not given the "back off" signal. That is going to be a hard thing to deprogram in her. A service dog is very different to family pet, in that it never really experiences the same kind of relationship with other dogs and other people.

I don't know that you can avoid a repeat - but you might try retraining the dog, taking the dog to basic obedience classes, socialization classes, and retrain basically as if it was a dog that is brand new to your household.  Your way of relating to the dog and the dogs way of responding are both undergoing big changes - going through a class in the very basics might help get you both on the road to confidence in the pet/owner relationship.

Your mail really speaks to my heart, as I have a three year old service dog, and people close to me often comment that "the poor dog doesn't get to be a dog". I think a service dog gets to be a dog, but I understand why they say it. A service dog simply has different way of relating, and its ability to do the tasks in a specific way are only part of what makes the dog special. I think you can transition to a family pet, but it will require some time in "dog school" for you and the dog, so the dog can learn to relate to the new situations.

Hope this helps,