kidney disease and dog aggression...could it be related?

[KatCH]

I'm not sure whether to put this under health issues or behavioral. I have an 11month old puppy named Millie. Back in July we took her out to Auburn University where she was diagnosed with Juvenile Renal Disease. Since then, we have been monitoring her kidney values and they seem to be remaining relatively stable and we are hoping this is a slow progressing disease. Approximately a month before her official diagnosis (she has been showing symptoms since 2months of age) she started acting aggressively towards other dogs that she didn’t know. I believe this correlates with the time that her BUN and Creatinine levels became elevated, but that is an assumption. We thought at first with her spay her attitude might change, but it has only gotten worse.

I try socializing her at the dog park in hopes that we will overcome the aggression, but it makes for a very uncomfortable situation no matter how much supervision she is given. She is not aggressive with our other boxer puppy or with dogs she knows and has not shown any aggression toward people or children, but I am afraid of a slippery slope. We live on a military base with children running all over. My worst fear is that the aggression will get worse, especially as this disease progresses, and we will be forced to make a tough decision. She really is a sweetheart, full of love and licks for her human friends. I am just wondering if there is any advice for curbing the aggressive behavior or if I should go ahead and seek the help of a professional.

This weekend we worked on it, I kept her on her harness at the dog park and if she acted aggressively I grabbed her and hooked her up to the leash and made her calm down before releasing her again. It took us about 45minutes before she was generally ok and then there were a few incidents where I have to grab her back.

I am also afraid that if this is disease related then it's only going to get worse.

[Caney Creek]

I really don't know much about the disease, but I don't think that JRD is directly causing her aggression. Dogs can display aggression when they aren't feeling well, which is more than likely what is going on with Millie. Her condition might cause her to not feel well, which in turn might increase aggressive behavior, but I don't think that it is specific to JRD. She's also in the "teenage" stage right now, which is known for causing kooky behavior in even the healthiest pups I know many members here have posted about their boxers becoming more guarded, more fearful, and even more aggressive towards strangers as they go through the teenage phase... mine included She's 2.5 yrs old now and has gotten much, MUCH better about it.

How does she react when she sees a strange dog? And what are you doing to calm her? It's also possible that the methods you're using currently just aren't working for her. Not meaning to criticize, just wanted to throw that out there Maybe a different approach to training is all that she really needs.

[KatCH]

Yeah, I don't think it's the JRD that directly causes the aggressive behavior, but was thinking that if she didn't feel very well that it could make her act that way. I am afraid it's something that can't be fixed, since it could be because she doesn't feel good and well...she's never going to feel good. Over time, she will only feel worse.

Basically what happens is if she sees another dog/gets close to the other dog, she will rear up and trying to jump on their back while growling. Most of the time the other dogs don't take it very well and then they respond with a growl and push her off and it will escalate from there. If we are at the dog park and there is only one other dog there and this takes place, then Ozzy (our 10mo old male) will step in and try to protect her and then it's 2 v. 1 and doesn't turn out very well. For the most part she doesn't nip or snarl (you know growling while bearing her teeth) but there is some barking which also makes people uncomfortable.

For the most part when she acts like that, I grab her scruff or harness and pull her back. I have tried separating her from the group of dogs and talking to her to try to calm her down. I'm not experienced with this kind of behavior, and am not sure what else to do. I was thinking that if I put her basically in "time out" when she acted like that she would learn that when she does that she doesn't get to play. I know that they will feed a lot off of your energy so I try to stay calm, but the other owners if they step in first wont. Some have swatted her away or screamed or yelled at her and I can't imagine that helps at all.

This weekend it took about 40 mins of me holding her back and talking to her before she really calmed down. If other dogs got near us she would growl. She even growled over the water dish which was a communal dish.

I am also concerned because she is so much smaller than most of the dogs and I don't want her to get hurt.

When it first started, I thought it was a dominance thing because all she would do would be to stand over the dogs, grabbing them with her front legs to hold them there and growling a little bit. Once she established that she was in charge, she played fine.

I really do hope it's just a phase she is going through, but don't want to take my chance by just ignoring it and calling it a phase. She really is a sweet pup, but when she acts like this no one is willing to give her a chance to even be nice.