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Hi all, just thought I'd give a quick update. Have bought an Adaptil diffuser and it has been running for approx 3 weeks or so but has not appeared to have made any difference. Under advice from my vet and the behaviourist he has been started on fluoxetine. He has been having an initial dose of one tablet a day for the first week and it is being upped to two tablets a day from then on. He is up to day 8 now. Have been told it will take between 6-8weeks to see a change so now we just play the waiting game. He still has good and bad days. He does seem more relaxed when my partner is home so i'm hoping when he gets a transfer from work and is home every night that this may make a difference as well. As for now I just give him his space when he needs it. Will keep anyone that's interested updated on how things go. Thankyou all again for your kind words, support and understanding.

Thank you everyone for your kind words and support. Means a lot to me to know i'm not alone dealing with this. I am working with another behaviourist who is also a vet who although based in Hobart is keeping in touch with me via emails etc. She too recommended adaptil so I will be buying a couple of them today. So far all the blood tests except for Thyroid have come back. Everything is in the normal range. I can deal with him being fear aggressive by keeping him away from people. He is still getting his walks as it's rural where I live so no chance of him running into anyone. I also live on acreage so he gets to romp around down the paddock chasing his squeaky bone toy. His quality of life has been as good as I can make it. It just seems that now he's anxious in his own home. He's been better today. No growling at me and coming up to me for hugs and pats and leaning on me. He just doesn't seem like he was before. I don't think he'll just suddenly bite me. He gives off plenty of warning signals to let you know he's feeling uncomfortable with you in his space.I just want him not to feel stressed out and on edge all the time. If medication and adaptil will help him to relax then that's what he'll get but rest assured I won't be doing anything without the advice of my behaviourist and my vet. I know it's not a crossbreed thing so to speak, but it's made me very wary of ever getting another one. It would be nice to have the assistance of his breeders to help me but they stopped contact with me once I started querying them about his problems. Obviously they were only in it for the money and couldn't give a shit about whether the dog lived or died. My old dog is a crossbreed and you couldn't ask for a better natured dog. The only thing she hates is possums and thunderstorms. Oh yes how simple things would be if they could talk. As far as I can tell his hearing and eyesight seems fine. I know i'm not qualified to tell properly but his hearing is very good and it doesn't seem like he can't see. Once again thankyou everyone that has replied, it's really helpful and good to know that others will offer their support and kindness. Means a lot to me.

Vet check revealed nothing wrong with cruciates or kneecaps. A full blood panel was done and am waiting to hear if that finds anything amiss before I do anything. He hasn't been too bad lately but still not quite right. He growled at me once today and I noticed he was physically trembling as well. I don't think it's a dominant thing,more of an anxiety thing. He just seems stressed. He is very fidgety and seems like he's on edge a lot of the time. The wind blows and rattles things and he's up and looking around and actually came up and nudged me. Noises never used to faze him that much before, he'd hear them but not bother about them. I think it's a case of poor genetics. He's always been a hard dog to own. He's fear aggressive to people so a trip to the vet requires a muzzle and he had to be sedated and then knocked out for his check up. Obviously I've learnt my lesson buying a crossbreed dog and I know it may come to the point where I may have to put him down,but I'm trying to do everything I can to help him and let him lead as normal a life as he can. If I had my time over again I wouldn't have gotten him, but I have and all I want to do is try and help him. I had been to a behaviouralist before who said there was not much help for him and either keep him away from everyone as we do, or put to sleep.

That is spot on. I just don't understand what he's getting out of it because when he's like this he gets no attention from me at all. I just try to completely ignore him.

Thanks everyone for your concern and advice. He is going to the vet tomorrow. Booked in at 9:30. He had a little bit of an issue with his left hind leg a month or so ago where he yelped out suddenly when I patted him on the bum. He promptly sat down. Then it would occasionally hurt him to get up but when he was up and walking he seemed fine. It seemed to come good then he would sometimes yelp if he moved a certain way. Not sure if maybe he has a problem with a cruciate ligament or if he may have a dislocating kneecap. It hasn't bothered him for probably 3 weeks now but will get the vet to check it out tomorrow and also going to get x-rays done just incase there is anything else going on in there. This leg problem happened before he started being weird to me. He was funny to me yesterday so I took him for a walk and he sat nicely while I put his harness on and seemed to enjoy his walk. Tail was wagging all the way and I could pat him and no problems. He seemed fine when we got home until I went to lift my old dog up onto the couch and he went to bite her back legs (which he sometimes tries to do) and I roused on him in a gruff voice and then he went back to hating me again. He's never before hated me for raising my voice at him. Normally he stops and behaves himself as I vary rarely do it and he knows when I do that i'm serious. My other half is male and has a deep loud voice and if he raises his voice to him he doesn't even notice as he doesn't seem to pick the difference from that and his normal voice. Anyway he was still funny at me this morning when I left for work but greeted me happily when I got home about 10 hours later. The OH has come home tonight and has tomorrow off as do I so he can come to the vet with me. He greeted him with gusto and he's fine with him. He only ever seems to be funny with me, never with him. It's almost as if he's holding a grudge against me and I slowly have to build his trust back up but can sometimes go back to square one for no apparent reason. As silly as this sounds I sometimes wonder if he's had a dream where i've hurt him and thinks it actually happened.Grasping at straws I know. Right now he's happily hanging out with me chewing on a moth. I have no problems getting him to the vet tomorrow as my OH is here to help if need be. The strange thing about it all is that this dog favoured me over my partner and would follow me any where and was always so loving towards me. If he hurt himself he would come to me to rub it better for him and where ever I went, there he was right behind me.

Body language wise he will avoid direct eye contact with me and look at me from the corner of his eye with his head turned away. He will sometimes come up for a pat but if I pat him for more than a few seconds his tail goes between his legs and he will back off from me. If i raise my hand suddenly he will almost cower, as if he thinks he's going to be hit. I've never hit him but it seems like he thinks I will or have before. If i persist on being near him he will start to growl and give direct eye contact, staring you down. As it is at the moment I am avoiding direct eye contact with him and leaving him alone. If he comes to me for a pat I will pat him once and leave him alone. I can distract him from this behaviour by saying moth or ball or walk or a word he associates with something he likes. He likes chasing moths and will go looking for one. Thanks Persephone, it is a bit scary.He's a big dog at 70kilos. I don't think he will just attack me for no reason but i think if i stayed in his personal zone for too long he may bite me.

Thanks very much Erny. There's no fedex in Tassie so i'm hoping australia post will suffice if I send it express mail. I'm assuming my vet has a centrifuge available as they did stem cell treatment on my older dog. It's funny that they can do this but can't do a cruciate ligament on a big dog and they have to go to Launceston for it. Really appreciate everyones help.You are all a great bunch to help out.

Is this something a normal vet can get done for you? Sorry to sound ignorant but the vets around where I live seem to be a bit limited in what they can do sometimes. Thankyou all again. p.s I have sent Aidan a pm as well.

Thankyou all for your replies so quickly. There is nothing I can tell that has changed. I still work the same hours at the same job. Nothing in my routine has changed nor anything i wear etc. My boyfriend works away during the week and then comes home for the weekends. The dog is fine to him. Just seems to be me. The only thing I noticed when it first started was that I had the flu and my voice had changed from being phlemy.Don't know if that has any relevance at all. I live on acreage so no one around to disturb him. The behaviouralist i spoke to recommended the liver and kidney tests to make sure everything there was ok before putting him on medication. The dog is male and desexed if that helps. I also have a 13 year old desexed female of similar breeding and she's fine with me. Is there anything in particular in the blood tests that I should be getting the vets to check for? Not sure if Adrian travels up my way as i'm on the north west coast of Tassie but will give him a pm and ask.

Hi all, First time poster looking for some advice.My 22 month old bull arab cross mastiff has suddenly started to seem fearful of me to the point where if I get to close he will give a warning growl. This behaviour started about 2 weeks ago and lasted for about a week and then he just as suddenly came good and seemed to go back to normal and as of yesterday he's become fearful again. I can't pinpoint what's triggering it and am unsure as what to do so was after any advice from anyone who may have experienced something like this before. I'm in Tassie where there is limited resources in reference to behaviourists etc, but i've had a phone consultation with one who is also a vet and she recommended him having a kidney and liver function test done to see whether he can be put on the doggy version of prozac if needed. I have him booked in at the vet on Friday to get his blood tested to see if anything unusual stands out but not sure what exactly to get them to check for. At this point I'm not really sure what to do with him so was after any advice or suggestions. Thankyou.