Why is my dog aggressive at daycare, attacking dogs and staff?

Hi there. It's not uncommon for adult dogs to be somewhat selective about the dogs they want to interact with - not all dogs are "daycare dogs," which is perfectly okay. Alternatively, there may have just been one or more dogs at this particular daycare that he didn't do well with, and he might do better someplace else or with a different management plan (separate play groups for dogs with different energy levels, etc.) It doesn't sound like we have much information about what specifically happened at his daycare evaluation, so it's hard to speculate much on what the problem may have been without more details. I would suggest asking the daycare supervisor for more info about this, so that you can get a better idea of why it may not have gone well. Depending on the problem, you could consider trying a different daycare to see if he might do better there.

Hi there, sorry to hear of your situation. It sounds a lot like Dakota had become very anxious and most likely dead aggressive due to a bad experience that she had before. This is actually quite common, escpeically amongst several female animals. My best advice if you are a guest here is to completely separate your pet from the others for the duration of the stay-for the safety of all pets involved. Most issues like this require lengthy training and re-programming to decrease fear and anxiety in your pet. She is also older and will likely take longer. Depending on the length of your stay-it will probably not be possible to do the necessary re-training whilst you are there. There are medications to lessen anxiety for a short time-but would require a visit to your local vet for an exam and likely blood work to make sure they medications would be safe for Dakota to take. If this persists and you are interested in a behavior consult, please let me know and I'd be happy to help if and when you have the time.

I recommend to call either your regular veterinarian or the emergency veterinarian. Aggression is complicated and someone who is familiar with Jane is the best person to give you advice. I suspect they will likely continue the medication until she is fully recovered. Then again, they could also try changing the dosage or even changing the medication since it did not make her consistently calm. I hope this helps and please feel free to post any additional questions.

I am sorry T is starting to become aggressive. I would highly recommend getting her spayed as a first step. This can help lower the hormone levels and help with aggression in younger dogs. I would taker her to the vet to make sure she is 100% healthy. Certain disease can cause aggression like pain/arthritis or even endocrine disease like hypothyroid. If she is spayed and healthy I would recommend involving a trainer. That way you can get one on one training for T that is in your home and can detect the exact cause of her aggression

This behavior can be hard to correct especially since she is an adult. I would talk to your vet about getting her started on an anti-anxiety medicine like fluoxetine or trazadone. These will help to calm her nerves, but you will also need to start a training program. This would be best started with an behaviorist or dog trainer. This will be a long road and unfortunately, there is no easy fix. I hope this helps and she starts to improve.

It is so hard when they don't get along all the time especially when they are having fights at least 1-2 times per week. I would stop giving them treats together. You can either stop giving treats or put her in a different room when treats are given. I would also consider putting her on a calming chew like vetriscience composure and a calming collar like adaptil. These are natural ways to help take the edge off. Unfortunately, they don't work on all dogs. If this doesn't help, I would talk to your vet about trying an anti-anxiety medicine like fluoxetine or trazadone. I have had some success with anti-anxiety meds in dogs that are the aggressor of a group. I hope this helps!

Hi there! Aggression issues in dogs can be really frustrating. One of my dogs sounds pretty similar to Sammi, so I sympathize. Many dogs that are showing signs of aggression are truly anxious and unable to control their emotions. Anti-depressants and anti-anxiety medications can be used both long and short term to help them learn to process their emotions while in a calmer state. Commonly used drugs for this purpose are Prozac, Trazodone, and Gabapentin. I would recommend calling your vet and asking if they see behavior consultations or if they have any recommendations for a board certified veterinary behaviorist (someone who goes to three more years of school after vet school just to study behavior). I would also encourage you to use only trainers that focus on positive reinforcement learning. Fear tactic training can make aggressive dogs much worse. A good trainer can talk to you about helping your dog learn to focus on you during stressful situations and better their impulse control, to minimize these situations in the future. I hope this helps! Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach!