My Dog Suddenly Hates Me.

[raineth]

Definitely a great idea to video it from OSO.

Make sure you're not holding the camera but have sat it somewhere where it can see the whole scene.

It's even possible that you notice something with the recording that you don't notice when you are there experiencing it.

Also is he doing it all the time? Can you get him to the vet safely?

Good luck, it must be very rough for you.

[rajacadoo]

I have sent more than a few Thyroid blood samples from Tassie to Dr Jean Dodds. I have done exactly what Ernie has said, but I have sent them myself from the local PO. All but the last one, I haven't had a problem sending, with full disclosure. The last one I sent, the PO near my Vet, suddenly did have an issue with sending it, and refused. I just went to another PO, with full disclosure, and they were fine, but, the sample never turned up... I haven't tried again since then, but I will be doing more again shortly...

Good luck, it's not really hard for the Vet, so long as you print out all the appropriate forms. Hope you get some answers for your boy..

[ringer]

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.

[tdierikx]

I'm seriously leaning towards a behavioural issue rather than a physical one now.

If you can video his behaviour and post a link to the video here, that may be helpful.

I don't think he "hates" or "fears" you in the slightest... more likely he's trying to dominate you in the only way he's worked out scares you into letting him have his own way.

I'm betting that when he's acting like that, you are not behaving back in your normal manner either, yes? Maybe a little frightened that he's possibly going to bite?

T.

[RuralPug]

I agree with getting the tests done (kidney/liver function first and then thyroid if those are normal) but also you may want to find out if he has become 'head-shy' for some reason or other.

I have known one case where a similar reaction occurred, to one household member only, and it turned out that that was the only person who often greeted the dog with a pat on the head. Everyone else scratched that dog on the chest, or stroked his back or sides.

Even though the head patter had been doing that since the dog was a tiny puppy,this dog suddenly took objection to it one day. We theorise that perhaps he had a sore tooth or ear which made the head pat uncomfortable for him and even though the sore part was now fine with no pain, he associated head pat with pain and dodged them for the rest of his life.

I was reminded of that dog because this behaviour is only towards you and only sometimes (when you lift your hand?) but of course it is not necessarily the case.

ETA: While I was writing this, you posted more information. I agree with tdierikx's post #24, I think he is testing you (not HATING you, just testing his boundaries).

Edited May 22, 2014 by RuralPug

[ringer]

I'm betting that when he's acting like that, you are not behaving back in your normal manner either, yes? Maybe a little frightened that he's possibly going to bite?

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.

[OSoSwift]

Any behavioural issue should have a full medical check up just to rule that out. Many issues can be medical and the only symptoms or at least early symptoms are behavioural.

If that all pans out okay then yep onto the behaviour.

[Maddy]

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.

If Aidan doesn't, Megan from Doghouse might.

more likely he's trying to dominate you in the only way he's worked out scares you into letting him have his own way.

Why does a dog have to have some ulterior motive for not enjoying something? He isn't trying to "dominate" anyone, it sounds like the dog has had some injury and is now aversive to being touched. If you hurt yourself, I'm sure you'd object to people manhandling your injury, too

[tdierikx]

more likely he's trying to dominate you in the only way he's worked out scares you into letting him have his own way.

Why does a dog have to have some ulterior motive for not enjoying something? He isn't trying to "dominate" anyone, it sounds like the dog has had some injury and is now aversive to being touched. If you hurt yourself, I'm sure you'd object to people manhandling your injury, too

Umm... telltale signs are that the dog is ONLY displaying this behaviour with the OP... and he's obviously getting the response he's after by the OP being somewhat leery of him.

T.

[persephone]

Umm... telltale signs are that the dog is ONLY displaying this behaviour with the OP..

example :

One of my dogs knew a friend well ... one day friend acidentally scared dog - dog would ,forever after show fear aggression when friend and dog were in certain (somewhat confined) situations. Dog was certainly not trying a domination strategy ......and the behaviour was always with this person

[Maddy]

Umm... telltale signs are that the dog is ONLY displaying this behaviour with the OP..

example :

One of my dogs knew a friend well ... one day friend acidentally scared dog - dog would ,forever after show fear aggression when friend and dog were in certain (somewhat confined) situations. Dog was certainly not trying a domination strategy ......and the behaviour was always with this person

Exactly.

Crying "domination" whenever a dog doesn't do what you want/expect is not good management. If the dog reacts strongly, it likely has fear or pain motivating it and that should be addressed properly. People say "Oh, I see no reason behind it" but that doesn't mean is there is no reason, just that they aren't seeing it.

[tdierikx]

We'll agree to disagree on it then, OK?

I'll stick with my large breed dog coming into maturity and stretching boundaries theory - and you can have your fear or pain theory... *grin*

T.

[Maddy]

We'll agree to disagree on it then, OK?

I'll stick with my large breed dog coming into maturity and stretching boundaries theory - and you can have your fear or pain theory... *grin*

T.

I own and rescue a large breed and have never had pups or young adults who did anything like that. So yeah, I'll agree with science, you can agree with disproven theories based on faulty studies

[tdierikx]

You've been lucky... I've seen a couple just decide to push the boundaries with people they'd been fine with prior. Not a big deal for those with experience, and have seen the signs long before it gets to being scary...

T.

[persephone]

You've been lucky... I've seen a couple just decide to push the boundaries with people they'd been fine with prior. Not a big deal for those with experience, and have seen the signs long before it gets to being scary...

T.

T - can you explain any subtle signs before this type of behaviour - or how it is judged as being dominant ? I certainly wouldn't pick it , and would like to understand .... going on what was posted I would suggest fearful aggression....

...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.

[tdierikx]

Lack of eye contact can sometimes be construed as pushing the boundaries... my Lab will do it when she thinks she can get away with not doing as she's been told. It's the "I can't see you, so I don't have to listen to what you are asking of me" attitude.

My Rottie/Pittie cross was a complete turd as a young'un - pushed boundaries with every tactic she had at her disposal... passive aggressive, being stubborn, being outright pushy, acting like she'd been hit... whatever got her her own way was tried. Luckily she is only 28kgs and was pretty manageable physically when she acted like a shit - and has turned out to be the most stable tempered dog you could ever hope for now.

In the OP's case, we are talking about a 22 month old bull arab/mastiff cross - a large, powerful, athleticly built dog coming into maturity. We have no idea of his genetic background, temperament of either sire or dam, or other littermates for that matter. The dog is perfectly fine with the larger and more powerfully built human in the household. On those points alone, I would be looking at maturing temperament before something glaringly wrong with him physically.

Th OP needs a professional behaviourist to see the dog asap - before the situation escalates...

T.

[persephone]

Lack of eye contact can sometimes be construed as pushing the boundaries... my Lab will do it when she thinks she can get away with not doing as she's been told. It's the "I can't see you, so I don't have to listen to what you are asking of me" attitude.

My Rottie/Pittie cross was a complete turd as a young'un - pushed boundaries with every tactic she had at her disposal... passive aggressive, being stubborn, being outright pushy, acting like she'd been hit... whatever got her her own way was tried. Luckily she is only 28kgs and was pretty manageable physically when she acted like a shit - and has turned out to be the most stable tempered dog you could ever hope for now.

In the OP's case, we are talking about a 22 month old bull arab/mastiff cross - a large, powerful, athleticly built dog coming into maturity. We have no idea of his genetic background, temperament of either sire or dam, or other littermates for that matter. The dog is perfectly fine with the larger and more powerfully built human in the household. On those points alone, I would be looking at maturing temperament before something glaringly wrong with him physically.

Th OP needs a professional behaviourist to see the dog asap - before the situation escalates...

T.

def needs professional assessment, yes ! Thanks for the explanation :)

[Simply Grand]

There's a big difference between not looking at you and turning head away and looking back out of the corner of the eye though. The sideways looking is generally a sign of fear and the OP is right to be concerned that if she pushes and the dog cannot get away he may well bite.

We cannot possibly draw conclusions about why the dog is reacting differently to Ringer and her OH from the info here, there could be all sorts of subtle things influencing the dog's behaviour, not just the size and strength of the humans.

Ringer, you've already done the vet check (how did it go?) and I agree you need a behaviourist assessment ASAP.

[Nekhbet]

I wouldnt use prozac until you can definitively pinpoint what the problem is. Masking the behavior wont help and there is a period of adjustment which for some owners is worst.

I would get the dogs eyes tested properly, hearing and make sure there really is no pain. Erny's recommended blood test too. Dogs don't suddenly hate you that badly for no reason at all, and it's NOT a normal developmental stage particularly to the point of defensive posturing. You can then either put it down to poor genetics, particularly if there's heavy dane component in the mix, or a physical health problem that needs proper management or decision making about.

[ringer]

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.