Humping

[Stacia]

Judy, I suppose young Flatcoats appreciate handsome older Labradors, who have grace and understanding

[trekmoor]

Judy, I just don't know what exactly went through that dogs mind. He never showed aggression to children or to most women or to most small dogs. I think he believed he was definitely dominant to them. With me, all would go very well for 2 - 4 months and then ,over a period of perhaps a week , I'd see a sort of shift in his attitude towards me. This was my advance warning that he was building up to having another go at the title !

We'd have our set to and fortunately I always retained the "crown." Then, with the dominance hierarchy settled once more, he'd revert to being a blooming brilliant dog ….until the next time he fancied being the head banana !

Our "set to's" put me in mind of Jack London's books about controlling sled dogs . I have never treated any other dog in the way I felt forced to treat that one......it is a shitty way in which to treat a dog but he seemed to need it.

Wullie

[Naj]

I wonder if the two of you fed off of each other. You sensed a shift in attitude from him to you and he sensed a corresponding Shift in attitude from you to him. Even dogs with dominant traits don’t turn to aggression for no good reason. There’s invariably a trigger. Back in the day methods were generally harsher and so that might have been a contributory factor, especially since he had no interest in attacking anybody else but you.

Naj

[newf]

He threatened the judge that hoped to move him back from the trial proceedings. What was the trigger? Someone asked the dog to comply.

[CockerCanuck]

I think there are dogs with mental illness that is not caused by cruel treatment or neglect. It seems it is far less common than in people but as we now are beginning to understand a lot of human mental illness is the result of chemical/ hormonal imbalances in the brain it makes sense to me that the same thing could happen in dogs.

One I remember was a male back Lab who belonged to a fellow in a training group I participated in many years ago with my first Lab. The owner was a nice fellow and knew what he was doing. He had finished several FC in the past. This dog first displayed very aggressive behaviour while still a pup in his crate. No one but his owner could approach the crate without the dog flying into a rage. At first he was OK while actually out working, he quickly became quite an accomplished retriever but he could not be around other male dogs, then he became aggressive with females as well. At around two he started to display aggressive attitude to people. He was fine with people helping with training throwing dummies etc. but you could not trust him loose when he was not actually working. The last straw was he bit a judge at a hunt test and the owner put him down. As far as I could see the owner did nothing wrong with this dog and the next pup he got was completely normal.

It just seemed to me the dog was the canine equivalent of a psychopath.