Interesting appointment today

[AMelena]

I'm sitting in my salon waiting for a tech to have time to help me with my current client. He's an eleven month old, 100 pound, three legged German shepard. He has clumps of matted under coat all along his back and the side he lays on and he likes to bite...even through the muzzle as the skinless spots along my fingers will prove. He has high anxiety. Enough so that my vet has given him ace to calm him down. He's relaxed in the kennel but wants to take me out if I try to touch those matts. He's been groomed since he was a baby at the local Petsomerhing and there was never a problem until a few months ago. He was walking with his owner, a teenage boy, when two dogs came running from behind a house and tried to attack his boy. The then seven month old dog was able to fend them off but lost a leg and the use of an eye. When i asked the mother, who doesn't speak much English, what kinds if dogs they were she told me, "pitbull! Pitbull!" but the son looked at her an said, "No mom. It was a lab and a golden retriever. The golden is the one that went for his face, and the lab his leg."

Just goes to show that any dog really can bite.

[puligroomer]

and that someone will say it was a pitbull .

[AMelena]

and that someone will say it was a pitbull .

Exactly! Made me think of a similar problem I'm having with my future mother-in-law. My fiance and I foster pitbulls through a local pittie rescue. Every dog I've ever fostered through them has been sweet, obedient, and aggressive to neither people or dogs. As a matter of fact, the dog I have now was rescued from a fight ring. He has scars all over his face and front legs. He was attacked by a small dog in front of my house and all he wanted to do was hide behind me. Never a growl in return. Now, my FMIL has been sending my fiance emails about how she disapproves of us having 'those dogs' and how HE shouldn't -allow- me to have 'those dogs' in HIS home. It was HIS idea to start fostering again! Pfft...the ironic and annoying part is that her border collie has a dangerous dog designation for attacking FOUR people without provocation. Some people.

[petgroomaustralia]

Why are they only giving him Ace, I would have him fully sedated, no ifs buts or maybes, no need to stress either of you.

[AMelena]

No idea. It was up to the vet, really. It might have been a cost issue with the owners, it might have been the fact that whenever we fully sedate an animal a tech or one of the vets stays with me until we've reversed the effect and have seen that animal is coming out with no side effects. I think it mostly comes down to the fact that they'd rather try what they can in order for me to groom the dog successfully on my own because it's hard to take one of the medical staff for the time required. We're a small, but busy hospital. On a normal day we have one of the doctors and two techs or assistants. On a busy day we have both doctors and three or four techs. All of them are taking care of surgeries, xrays, cleaning, appointments, etc. In this case, the Ace seemed to be the best option. A tech did have to come in and help me, but only for the five minutes it took for me to shave those painful matts out. After that he was fine to get brushed and groomed while laying on the floor with a basket muzzle on.

[Dog Daze]

I don't understand why getting attacked by other dogs has made him people agressiive unless he has some residual pain issues in his leg/hips/back from the injuries.

If the vet has ruled that out perhaps a trainer would be in order to work with his newly found agression.

[AMelena]

I don't understand why getting attacked by other dogs has made him people agressiive unless he has some residual pain issues in his leg/hips/back from the injuries.

If the vet has ruled that out perhaps a trainer would be in order to work with his newly found agression.

It seems that he's got several different kinds of aggression triggers currently. The first one being that he is VERY protective of his teenage owner. When getting examined by a vet, the owner has to walk him into an exam room with one of the techs, then has to leave. If someone new walks into the room while the owner is there, he will attack. He will bark/growl and attempt to bite for anything that makes him uncomfortable, such as touching the painful/irritating matting. For the most part it doesn't seem like the old injuries bother him too much as he has no problem with me massaging shampoo into where his missing leg used to be. He enjoys it, actually. He also has no problem with me touching the side of his face that contains his injured eye. Besides those issues, he also has general behavior problems and those stem from a pure lack of training. By the owners own words, since the incident they have ceased to train him. They think that since he's gone through so much that he couldn't be made to do things. This being exactly what they said. So, he walks so badly on a leash that he constantly trips and causes himself to fall painfully, he jumps up and tries to hold on to your shoulders, and generally has unruly puppy behavior. I did speak to the owner about working with him. They did seem to listen since they were so grateful that I was willing to groom him. Apparently they've tried quite a few places who took him in, were unable to groom him, and then still charged the owner a fee for trying.

[odette]

The pup was at an 'imprint" age. and there were more people around himn than he was comfortable with after the trauma, the vet staff, probably someone coming behind the attacking dogs, during an attack like this the young man probably missed a few things , a young dog in imprint stages can become a terror. He definatley needsa behavioral help from some one VERY familar with the breed and these kinds of issues. Amelena, thank you for being kind and patient with this traumatized puppy ! This will go further with him than you will ever know, he ias fixable if the owners are willing and able.