Sudden Aggression

Question
I have a 2 year old German Shepherd Rot Weiller mix named Vegas that was rescued and given to me about 7 months ago.  She is a great dog and has never been aggressive toward any member of my family including my APBT Jasmine.  Over the last week, Vegas has been attacking Jasmine randomly during the night.  This only occurs when she is sleeping and we are very concerned that she is having nightmares that are causing her to lash out at Jasmine.  These attacks are happening 1-2 times per night and have never happened before.  The attacks are sudden, no warning, and she will back off immediately if I shout at her.  Is it possible that she is doing this in her sleep, and if so, what steps should I take to calm this odd behavior and get my home back to normal?

Answer
This could actually be some type of seizure,as it is happening very quickly and without warning,so the best thing to do would be to have her looked at by your vet,to rule out any medical problem

Now if that has been ruled out,it could be some type of nightmare she is having of bad things that might have happened to her in the past,and when she wakes up she doesn't realize what is going on.The best thing to do for that would to have her crated at night for a bit,and to use a natural product called 'Rescue Remedy' and you just put a few drops on a treat and it calms them down,but is natural and safe.If that doesn't work,your next step would be to call around and find pet behaviorist which is different from a trainer,and more like an animal 'shrink'.And what they do is they often ask you to video tape your dog in that situation,and often have the dog come into there office so they can evaluate him,so they can come up with the best soluation.In some cases it is medication,but in other cases it might be some type of behavior modification.