aggressive westie X bichon

gercoral

our dog is about 4 years old. he's a westie X bichon. we've had him since he was a pup. he has always seemed a little nervous, but we have never mistreated him. in fact, he's probably a little too spoiled, which is possibly the problem.

tonight, he was lying in front of the fire, and i startled him. he started growling and looking under his eyes at me, being super cautious. i hit his back leg to move him out of my way..not kick, and not forcefully, and he went to attack me. he tried to bite my leg but luckily he only caught my trouser leg.
i'm so surprised and disappointed by him. he's usually a loveable, good natured dog. plenty of walks, always playing ball.

im beginning to think that myself and my family ahve treated him too much like a human, and he thinks he runs the show or something?
either way, his behaviour is completely unacceptable. thank god there's no kids in the house.

VonVix

It's super easy to be personally offended when a pet belonging to us behaves such a way! But take a moment, breathe, it's not personal. You wouldn't like it if you were startled and prodded if you were asleep, right? The same applies to dogs. You know you had harmless intentions but a dog doesn't think such a way about the scenario.

It's nothing to do with whether you have treated your dog like a human or not, and dogs don't think they "run the show," ESPECIALLY a nervous dog! Many, many owners do not realise how much of an impact you can have on your dogs future behaviours if you expose them as puppies to all sounds of noises, textures, people and animals between the ages of 8-16 weeks(!), often if you miss this window of opportunity you can end up with a dog who is a little more inclined to be nervous than the average well socialised dog, or even if the mother experienced extensive amounts of stress while around her pups, a sense of nervousness can be passed down to them.

It is harder again for smaller breeds because they are essentially living in a world of giants, it's SO easy to knock their confidence.

I'd suggest to you if you're passing his bed (presuming he has one, I would also consider moving it to somewhere more out of the way so you don't have to bother him), toss tiny pieces of chicken/ham to him when you're passing, so the act of you moving by him is a positive thing and not one to be concerned about.

If you have found that his mood has changed generally speaking in more situations than just his bed, a vet check up may be in order to rule out any underlying issue, such as physical pain for example that could make him feel more guarded, because sometimes if a dog feels physical pain, they are more inclined to try and keep other people/animals a further distance away than they normally would, often by using a growl or a snap.

Once again, I'd like to reiterate it's not personal, it can be upsetting and more extreme than you would like to see, but it's how dogs communicate.

DBB

Are you looking for help with your dog op?
To be honest, nervous dogs are pretty likely to demonstrate some sort of aggressive behaviour at some point given the right set of circumstances, and it's pretty much a given that your fella has given more subtle signals before that there are certain things people do that make him feel uncomfortable, or make him feel peed off. Tonight, it came to a head, probably aided and abetted by the quick, sharp Westie temperament, and that terriers tend to deal with conflict by using aggression.
In his defence, if he had really wanted to bite you, he would have. What you got was a strong warning to back off, and he most likely intentionally didn't harm you.
I'm not excusing his behaviour now, don't get me wrong! But I am trying to explain it to some degree, and to encourage you to try to put things in perspective. If this is the first time in his 4 years that he has shown such overt aggression, and given that he controlled the level of harm he did, then there's a really good chance he can be worked with and be a safe dog for the rest of his life... If you're willing to go for it. It's not clear from your post what it is you want.
I've said it before, and I'll say it again, an internet forum is not an appropriate place to attempt to seek a diagnosis nor a treatment plan for aggression, because so many factors have to be taken into account, and the dog, owners and home environment have to be observed by an advisor in real life.
To that end, as with all cases of aggression, if you want to work with your dog, I'd urge you to contact a good, qualified behaviourist. There are many self-professed cowboys out there who'll promise you the sun, moon and stars, but if you let us know roughly where you're based, hopefully we can point you in the right direction to a good behaviourist

gercoral

thanks for your replies.
yeah i really do think he's a good dog! he just seems awful nervous or easily frightened..and maybe he was tired.
we've had so many dogs down through the years and i'd say i could count on one hand the amount of times any of them should even the slightest bit of aggression. this fella is different..though maybe it's coz he's a terrier mix? (we've had jacks, springer, setter, wheaten terrier before) he isn't neutered, but i dunno if that makes a difference or of its a myth.

anywho, hopefully he'll be calmer tomorrow, and we'll be buddies again! just hope it's not the start of something. im based down around the S.East DBB

DBB

I'd imagine the nervy disposition, coupled with the quick temper of the terrier, is the difference compared with other dogs you've owned.
If you look at what happened from his point of view, you startled him from his sleep, something that can be risky with terriers, or nervous dogs, at the best of times. He stiffened, stared, and growled, all typical doggy ways of saying "ah c'mon... Give it a rest, will you?"
In response to that, you upped the level of "threat" that he felt he was facing, by approaching him and trying to physically force the issue. So, to him, he had asked you to back off, you didn't, but increased the threat, well... He had nowhere else to go other than to up his level of threat. But again, even still he controlled what he was doing and didn't harm you. Well, other than bruise your pride a bit!:o
On the above... Softer natured dogs will look for any other way to avoid or resolve conflict... They'll try to escape, they may roll over on their back in submission, but terriers are pretty much hard-wired to fight fire with fire.
Don't take the above as me blaming you... It's not intended to, but just to help you understand where he was coming from, and to maybe learn that if he asks you to back off again, to respect that and to find a different, non-contact way of moving him such as calling him away as you walk away yourself.
You're well served down in the south East... The fab Emmaline of http://www.citizencanineireland.com is based in south Wicklow, a great woman with aggression cases and covers most if the SE. Further south in Wexford you've Jo of Mucky Hound Dog Training, and in Waterford you've Lindsey of Inn the Doghouse, all find-able via Google or on http://www.apdt.ie

gercoral

no worries, thanks!!! great info, much appreciated!