Aggressive behavior in 5 month old dog

Question
I have a lab/golden retriever 5 month old female puppy. She has become very aggressive lately (jumping, biting, some growling). I am wondering if this has anything to do with her maybe going into heat. She is not due to be fixed until the first week of June (in four weeks or so). It is not a constant behavior (only a few times out of the day) but where I have a 5 year old son I want to make sure that he is safe around her. I know she is not intentionally being this way (I think it is either play or due to her soon to be in heat - not sure though). Any thoughts on this?> I am hoping that she may calm down after she is fixed but I have been told that she most likely will not. Thank you, Karen.

Answer
Hi Karen,  Yes it is an old wives tale that a dog will calm down when they get fixed.  It does not change them at all, just prevents them from having puppies.  It sounds like she is playing.  Is she growling in a playing mode (jumping around, putting her front legs on the ground with her hind end in the air type thing to challenge to play etc.)?  Normally if you are looking at a serious aggression problem, you would see hair raised on her back, her not backing down, definitely not jumping around, she would be standing her ground and showing teeth in a threatening manner.  She is at the right age to start obedience training, and I highly recommend it, especially with your 5 year old so that he can control her too before she gets too big.  Her coming in heat will not cause aggression either.  If you can describe in more detail what she is doing when she is being aggressive, I might get a better idea of what she is thinking.

Dawn