Random aggression

Question
QUESTION: Hello, my name is Paige and I recently started working at a dog daycare. I just graduated college and wanted a job that would allow me to bring my dog, a 10 month old female Siberian Husky with me. She is unspayed, due to having an inverted vulva, but will be spayed at 1yr of age. I worked very hard with her as a puppy to socialize her, bringing her to puppy K from day one, sending her to daycare twice a week, and bringing her to dog parks. We never had any problems with her getting into fights with other dogs. In fact, she LOVED other dogs so much we put a deposit down on another puppy who is supposed to be getting her in one month. Anyways, I started this job and she started coming with me 5 days a week. For the first month she was GREAT. She could be in any group with any dog and played great, never any problems. Then all of a sudden one day she was playing, everything seemed fine the other dog was playing very nicely and then she just attacked them! I thought maybe the other dog bit too hard or something and I just shrugged it off. Then each day for the next 4 days she got into a fight! Same sort of deal, they would be playing and everything seemed fine. No hackles up, no growling, just chasing and wrestling as she has always done until BOOM, she just attacks! I know the difference between rough play and fighting, and it goes from nice play to teeth out, whimpering, growling, biting, and even blood drawing on one occasion! I took her to the vet and everything checked out fine. She is not due to go into heat again until October so I dont think it is hormones. On all occasions except for one the dog she attacked was a female. I am very nervous because we are getting this second puppy (a male) and now all of a sudden these behaviors have surfaced! I have started bringing her with me less, but even after 4 days off from coming to work on her first day back she started a fight! Why might she be doing this? What can I do?? She used to go to daycare 2x a week and dog park every day and never had any problems I don't know why this has surfaced. Please help!

ANSWER: Hi Paige.  Unfortunately, as a dog reaches social and sexual maturity, you may see these types of behaviors surface in a previously easy-going dog.  She's being over-stimulated in the day care situation and the best thing to do is not allow her to participate any more.  Some dogs just aren't cut out for that type of constant social interaction and are happier staying at home.

Spaying will not solve the problem.  In fact, there are studies that tell us that spaying can lead to increased aggression in female dogs.  

My recommendation would be to allow short play sessions with one or two other dogs that she's not had a problem with in the past and interrupt play frequently.  Learn everything you can about dog body language (find reference material by Sophia Yin, Sarah Kalnajs, Sue Sternberg, Barbara Handelman).  Watch for those signals that indicate trouble is brewing.  It's not always as obvious as hackles up or growling.  More subtle signals include shaking off, tongue flicks and sniffing the ground.   

I'd be interested to know whether this is happening at the dog park as well as the day care. How does she do meeting other dogs on leash?

Your best bet is to hire a professional trainer/behaviorist to help you identify what's going on and get recommendations on how to handle it.  It's too hard for me to help without being able to see her in action.  

The best places to find trainers:

https://www.karenpryoracademy.com/find-a-trainer
http://positively.com/dog-training/trainersearch/
www.ccpdt.org
www.apdt.com

Please let me know if you have questions, comments, or need clarification on anything I've recommended.

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: She is actually GREAT at the dog park and on leash! She was even great at this daycare for about the first month that I was working there. I have videos of her playing at the dog park and at my work on YouTube at youtube.com/Ikkumafireicehusky . I'm gone for 10hrs a day which I why I basically gave up a lot to have this job because I love her so much and didn't want to leave her at home, and can't really for that long each day esp since she needs so much exercise each day. I have started letting her out for only half of the play times during the day, thinking that the 2hr play sessions were just too much for her but she is starting fights after being there only 15 or 20 minutes. On one occasions she fought during chase, she was chasing the other dog and that dog was play bowing and everything, then the other dog went to chase my dog and when she tried my dog attacked. On another occasion the we're wrestling, my dog started the play, and after about 5min of wrestling she attacked. I was watching the entire time! At the dog park I can't control who is here but at my job we split the dogs in 4 groups based on play style. I have tried her with old dogs, small dogs, very playful dogs, everything. Seems she only goes without problems in groups where the dogs just want to sleep which is fine, but now I'm concerned about the puppy that we have already committed to bringing home before these problems started. Would you reccomend not getting her spayed? And should I expect this to continue at home with the new puppy??

ANSWER: Since she does OK at the dog park and on leash, I think that there could be something about the day care that's prompting this behavior.  Usually it's over stimulation and sometimes dogs that frequent day care a lot get territorial about "their" space and the need to control everything that goes on there.  

If I were you, I'd give her a break entirely from the day care for about a month, then bring her back for just a couple of hours and see how she does.  

If she were my dog, I would not spay her right away.  If you can manage the heat cycles, I would wait to see if you can resolve these play/behavior issues.  I share your concern about bringing a puppy into the home, but there's no way to tell for sure if she'd have a problem with it.  

I watched one of the videos and it looked perfectly normal to me.  I had a husky who looked just like her and played just like her.  I didn't see anything there that would worry me.  She tended to control the play quite a bit, but wasn't bully-ish about it.  How long ago was that?  Are you absolutely certain that this isn't a medical issue?  Did the vet do a blood panel, palpitate everywhere, check her legs and hips?  

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: The video of her playing at my work was the week before these fights started happening, probably about two weeks ago. And even now, she plays like that and everything seems fine and then she just snapps! When we went to the vet it was just for a routine check up, got her on heart worm preventatives and had her eyes, ears, heart everything checked they said she was very healthy. This was also around the time of the YouTube video, about two weeks ago. They gave her a clean bill of health and suggested I spay her in August, just before her 1st birthday. I have been trying to keep her at home or out of play group more just to be safe and I'll try to keep that up. The play groups are typically around 15 dogs per group and I did worry that it would be too much, so since I have some control because I work there i have tried making her group between 5-8 dogs if they are playful ones. I appreciate  the advice because I'm very upset over this, before I trusted her with honestly ANY dog in any group, and now I don't trust her with dogs at all and I fear my nervousness will only make things worse. With so many dogs I can't be 100% sure that something didn't happen that might have triggered fear towards this daycare, or like you said suddenly feeling the need to try and guard or control the situation. we will be moving in about a month closer to the job since we are about an hour away rite now, and I'll do my best to give her a break until we are moved and settled in, and again when the puppy comes in late August. Thank you for the suggestions!

Answer
Good luck with this, Paige.  I hope that you will see some improvement.  Could the condition with her vulva be a source of pain or irritation?  I would want to be sure that physically she feels well - no knee or hip issues, and that blood work is done to be sure all her organs are functioning properly.