Abused Dog Behavior - Help! Weird Aggresive Behavior Shih Tzu - Lhasa Rescue!

by Tippy
(Rockford, MI)

Hello,

I have had dogs all my life, from Collies to Pekingese to Lhasa Apsos etc... Anyway, we had to put our last dog down due to heart disease. We missed having a dog around and decided to look into a rescue dog. We looked at petfinder.com. We adopted a cute little Shih tzu - Lhasa Apso mix. He is 2 1/2 years old. We have had him since December 28, 2011. He was so adorable and sweet when we first had him. Cuddly, no aggression issues, he did have some toilet training issues, which is still a work in progress.

He loved to go for walks and to play with toys! about the third week, he started to do a low growl once in a while, when he did not want to be bothered, resting. Okay, no problem, then, out of the blue, he went after us, I mean seriously, I have never seen anything like it! Our last Lhasa Apso had some issues, but not anything like this! We did not know what to do. I checked out aggression and we also spoke with the vet about it. He gave us a paper on it. Anyway, this happens every so often, most of the time he is great! It comes out of nowhere and there does not seem to be any reasons for it. Afterwards, he comes up and seems to be apologetic for it. We also were in contact with the Pet Finders place, and spoke with them. He had been with a family,and the man punished the dog. I don't know a lot of details, we were told he growls a little when he doesn't want to be bothered. We have had company over, and at first he was charming, now he will even growl at people that come over for no apparent reason. I hate to give up on him, he seems to be getting worse, sometimes, pooping and peeing all over the house, took him to the vet, he had a urinary tract infection. So, that explained that, he is neutered. Now, when we take him for a walk, he stops and does a power play thing, doesn't want to go any farther. I would appreciate any ideas.

Sincerely, Tippy

Hi and let me be the first to congratulate you on taking on a rescue dog - if it wasn't for people like you and your family our poor furry friends would be over running all of the Rescue homes. This is a tricky one - it is so difficult to look into this as I have no idea what the previous owner did to punish him - it could have been anything. I would go back to Petfinder and see if you can get anymore details as it would be really useful for you and the family to know as much as you possibly can. In this case due to it being so upsetting for both you and your dog I would contact a dog behavior expert in your local area -this will enable an expert to work one on one with you and your dog - believe me your dog does not want to be like this. He is only responding to the horrible treatment that he experienced in his early life. It also sounds like your dog has not been well socialized so is responding to new experiences in a negative way. Remember if you take on a dog that has had no obedience training it is like starting with a blank slate. So my recommendation to you is to contact Petfinders to get more information, find a really good local dog behavior expert to work with your pooch and finally find a local dog training class (they are very cheap) where you can take him, speak to other owners and get advice from a professional dog trainer who would be on site).

Anyway congratulations on taking on your little dog and I hope this has been of some help - I only wish I could have helped more.

Dog Obedience Training Online Guide