# Sudden reactivity to dogs



## Stasha (Jan 28, 2021)

Hi all. We have an 11 month old Vizsla who recently started developing some behaviour problems that are intensifying rather rapidly. When we are outside and he notices a dog (on or off lead), he begins barking and leaps towards the dog in an almost uncontrollable way and even tried biting me today in the peak of excitement, which is absolutely not the norm. We already noticed this for a week or two and stopped taking him to day care and doggy parks as he is currently not predictable enough to manage the situation. The probelm appeared during his normal routine days, so there were no massive changes to anything - food, weekly schedues, health, etc.

Today we spoke to a trainer who took him for a walk with us. He wasn't sure exactly what triggered him and suggested it could be his adolescent testosterone (he is not neutered) intensified by his food (he is on Acana puppy and other Acana mixed in as he is not crazy about the taste of the puppy one). The trainer also noticed he is generally too excited and doesn't walk obediently enough (he occasionally pulls lightly and we let him), which we will tighten up on from now on.

So, what we took from the walk with the trainer is that we should try to swap his food to one that can reduce his excitement levels. We already knew that buying food labeled for "high energy" dogs isn't a good idea as it isn't designed to deal with excessive energy but often fuels it. So we are trying to work out the alternatives that are (a) appropriately balanced and (b) low in ingredients that could trigger excessive energy bursts. We are in EU so many US and Canadian options are unavailable here.

Has anyone successfully managed a situation like this before? Do you have an experience with managing excitement levels with food?

P.S. Please let's not talk about neutering as this is a conversation for another day and we won't be doing this just now.


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## texasred (Jan 29, 2012)

Was his daycare having a problem with him, and Is the trainer use to working with high energy breeds?


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## Stasha (Jan 28, 2021)

texasred said:


> Was his daycare having a problem with him, and Is the trainer use to working with high energy breeds?


Yes, the daycare staff showed us a video showing him being aggressive towards a dog that wanted to play with his mate. He was growling and snapped, but the staff members split them into safety. We were rather shocked to see him like this, providing the daycare was supposed to be encoraging positive social interactions and teaching them to be together. He has never done anything like this in social situations previous to this, but since then had repeated a similar, milder behavour in the doggy park (protecting his mate) and started jumping towards dogs when on his walk. For now he is not attending daycare or doggy parks.

The trainer has experience with weimaraners that I believe are similar. We will be meeting with him on weekly basis and his plan is to eventually integrate our dog and us into group sessions.


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## texasred (Jan 29, 2012)

The reason I asked if the trainer was familiar with high energy breeds, is a Vizsla being excited and sometimes pulling on lead is completely normal.
Also the same can be said for feeding them high protein food.
A good chance your pup is hitting adolescence. Pushing the boundaries with you, and other dogs. Dogs also start to decide what dogs they want to play with, and which dogs they would rather not. While they should not attack another dog, they should absolutely be able to tell one to back off. Hopefully you and the trainer are able to get it figured out.


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## Dan_A (Jan 19, 2021)

He could just be playing V style. The way Ellie plays with other dogs looks and sounds like a crazy dog and could be viewed as "aggression" by some people, which assuredly is not. Ellie plays with her older friend , another female V, and it sounds like two werewolves duking it out with lots of teeth, tackling, rolling, chasing, you name it. They love each other and are just having a blast! For other breeds this type of play may be abnormal, but certainly not for V's as I've learned.

I find Ellie can freak out when on lead when she sees other dogs especially if they start up towards her first with barking etc. She'll woof and snarl and leap in their direction. If she's off lead, she is reserved about other dogs and people most of the time and will stay back. This kind of leash "aggression" is a common problem and something I'm working on. Sounds like you may be experiencing something similar when on leash.


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## Stasha (Jan 28, 2021)

texasred said:


> The reason I asked if the trainer was familiar with high energy breeds, is a Vizsla being excited and sometimes pulling on lead is completely normal.
> Also the same can be said for feeding them high protein food.
> A good chance your pup is hitting adolescence. Pushing the boundaries with you, and other dogs. Dogs also start to decide what dogs they want to play with, and which dogs they would rather not. While they should not attack another dog, they should absolutely be able to tell one to back off. Hopefully you and the trainer are able to get it figured out.


Thanks! We hope it's caused by the delivery of the adolescent hormone batches. He did try to attack the dog on the video, which scares us as this can mean trouble if ever happened off lead. It also scared me that I was nearly bitten (thanks to the thick winter coat I wasn't hurt) and I am the "leader" in the family as I do most of the training. He already snapped at my partner over some vomit that he became possessive of (also never happened before and only happened once) and my partner didn't know how to handle this so aggrevated the situation a bit by confronting him. Since then he trained him more often and he is an angel at home, very obedient and does not show signs of aggression and/or protective behaviour. But as we saw this happen once we are always weary that it can happen again and want to try and prevent any developments of this trait.


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## Stasha (Jan 28, 2021)

Dan_A said:


> He could just be playing V style. The way Ellie plays with other dogs looks and sounds like a crazy dog and could be viewed as "aggression" by some people, which assuredly is not. Ellie plays with her older friend , another female V, and it sounds like two werewolves duking it out with lots of teeth, tackling, rolling, chasing, you name it. They love each other and are just having a blast! For other breeds this type of play may be abnormal, but certainly not for V's as I've learned.
> 
> I find Ellie can freak out when on lead when she sees other dogs especially if they start up towards her first with barking etc. She'll woof and snarl and leap in their direction. If she's off lead, she is reserved about other dogs and people most of the time and will stay back. This kind of leash "aggression" is a common problem and something I'm working on. Sounds like you may be experiencing something similar when on leash.


Yes, sounds very similar! We have been practising "heel" this week and it helped a lot. Using cooked chicken as his highest value treat and a short lead attached to the front of his harness that we gently pull back when it gets tense. When we get on grassy areas I say "ok" and he does as he pleases sniffing and doing his business, but then I start walking and "heel" is now compulsory. He is still noticing the dogs, but as he knows he is getting chicken in a couple of steps he reacts a lot less. I am not sure what will happen when the volume of treats decreases - early days!


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## Gabica (Jan 20, 2018)

The adolescence hormones can cause some behavorial changes but they should not be as excessive as trying to bite the owner and being possessive over a vomit. So another angle i would go through is the chemicals he is getting exposed to. From cleanining materials to vaccines and preventives, parfumes, food etc. He would not be the first one becoming allergic to those and instead of breaking out in hives showing weird behaviorial issues. I would get a full blood and urine panel just to also make sure there are no health issues.


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## Dan_A (Jan 19, 2021)

I agree with @Gabica ,actual attacks and biting is not normal. Definitely Rule out a physiological problem first then seek out a behaviorist.


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## budaluna (12 mo ago)

Stasha said:


> Hi all. We have an 11 month old Vizsla who recently started developing some behaviour problems that are intensifying rather rapidly. When we are outside and he notices a dog (on or off lead), he begins barking and leaps towards the dog in an almost uncontrollable way and even tried biting me today in the peak of excitement, which is absolutely not the norm. We already noticed this for a week or two and stopped taking him to day care and doggy parks as he is currently not predictable enough to manage the situation. The probelm appeared during his normal routine days, so there were no massive changes to anything - food, weekly schedues, health, etc.
> 
> Today we spoke to a trainer who took him for a walk with us. He wasn't sure exactly what triggered him and suggested it could be his adolescent testosterone (he is not neutered) intensified by his food (he is on Acana puppy and other Acana mixed in as he is not crazy about the taste of the puppy one). The trainer also noticed he is generally too excited and doesn't walk obediently enough (he occasionally pulls lightly and we let him), which we will tighten up on from now on.
> 
> ...


I have had three not neutered Vizslas over a span of 25 years. This is normal adolescent behavior for a dominant male that is not neutered. I had the same experience with my two first males who were dominant. after having gone through it, I recommend that you get expert help with a trainer with experience with dominant Vizsla males that are not neutered. Your instinct has been to stop exposing him to other dogs (I did the same) and that can make it difficult to re-socialize later. This is a critical moment in training a dominant non neutered male and it is going to take a lot of training on your part.
I made a lot of mistakes with my first Vizsla dominant male and did better with the second because I started specific training early. My third male turned out to not be dominant and the experience was completely different.


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## Stasha (Jan 28, 2021)

budaluna said:


> I have had three not neutered Vizslas over a span of 25 years. This is normal adolescent behavior for a dominant male that is not neutered. I had the same experience with my two first males who were dominant. after having gone through it, I recommend that you get expert help with a trainer with experience with dominant Vizsla males that are not neutered. Your instinct has been to stop exposing him to other dogs (I did the same) and that can make it difficult to re-socialize later. This is a critical moment in training a dominant non neutered male and it is going to take a lot of training on your part.
> I made a lot of mistakes with my first Vizsla dominant male and did better with the second because I started specific training early. My third male turned out to not be dominant and the experience was completely different.


Thanks for the advice, it puts our minds at ease. We will struggle to find vizsla specialists (they are rare where we live, only 2 registered breeders in the whole country), but we found one who is very familiar with weims and they are similar enough. His plan is to re-integrate us into social situations as soon as possible. It sounded like from the first training session we had with him, he assumed the dominance/adolescence as primary factors too. 

We have also a scheduled visit to the vet when he turns 1 year in a couple of weeks, so will do blood and urine tests to rule any other issues out.


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