My 15 month old spayed female Lab has gotten estrogen shots, and now is being aggressive to a dog she has known a long time. Could the shots have caused the aggression?

Question

Dear Mr. Frawley,

After reading most of your articles and email answers, I did not find anything on point that would help with my dog's behavior. I have a 15 month old spayed Black Lab named Lexi. My husband specifically picked her out of the litter because she was a very confident dog. We knew she was going to be a dominant dog and immediately crate trained her and joined the local dog obedience club. She was the star pupil in every puppy class and is the most well behaved dog when we have her prong collar on. Lexi also, from the time she was a pup, would accompany me to the Farm where I board my two horses. Lexi grew up playing with the resident Border Collie and any other dog that would roam onto the property. Lexi has always been dominant towards other dogs but never showed signs of aggression. Lexi also NEVER shows signs of aggression in her home or towards people. She does not have food/toy/space dominance issues. However, about two months ago, Lexi was diagnosed with hormone related urinary incontinence. I found her asleep in a pool of urine twice and extensive blood work, urinary analysis, and physical exam showed no signs of any physical abnormality. My vet gave her an estrogen shot and sent me home. Three weeks after the first shot, Lexi had another accident so the vet gave her a second estrogen shot and put her on PPA. I was warned with both shots that she might come into a false heat or show signs of heat.

Last week, Lexi attacked her Border Collie friend and another stray female dog with pups that showed up at the Farm. We do not know what set Lexi off during the attacks although we suspect it had something to do with Lexi's overly protective behavior around me. She doesn't like any other dogs around me at the Farm. Lexi did not physically hurt any of these dogs, there was mostly slobber everywhere, but she did scare everyone in the process. Lexi now has been banned by the Farm owner because the owner believes that Lexi's behavior is unpredictable and she is going to start hurting other animals and/or people. She based her knowledge on that fact that her family used to breed and show the top Great Danes and Rottweilers in the country. She even mentioned that Lexi may have a "mental problem" and I may need to euthanize my dog.

Personally, my husband and I feel that Lexi's behavior is not that unusual. Lexi and this Border Collie have grown up together as puppies and they both feel like the Farm is their territory. They play together, hunt together (they are quite the bird catchers), and "explore" together. It would seem natural, as both dogs reach maturity, that there will be some "spats" along the way. I do not agree that all of the sudden my Lab is going to rip the faces off of small children or start killing the other dogs/cats/goats, etc... I also am not sure if the Estrogen shots are responsible for her increased aggression towards the dogs. My husband and I enrolled Lexi in a refresher obedience course after this incident and like always, she is the star pupil and completely ignores the room full of dogs as we work on preparing her for the Canine Good Citizen exam. I also took her to Petsmart the next day where two mothers with toddlers laughed and played with Lexi as she licked the children's faces and wagged her tail so hard that she knocked everything off of the shelf. Mr. Frawley, am I one of those "Stupid Dog Owners" that you mention and is my dog going to start down a path of destructive dominant-aggressive behavior? Should she be permanently separated from her Border Collie friend and from other dogs? Do you think that the Estrogen shots are responsible?

Thank You,
Christiana

Accepted Answer

Yep – I hate to have to give you the bad news but you are ONE OF THOSE STUPID DOG OWNERS that I write about. Maybe not at the top of the list but certainly in the middle of the pack.

1- Your dog is not obedience trained well enough. If it were, you would have had better control over the dog when these fights started.

2- You know there is a problem yet you put your dog in a position at Petsmart where it could have (lucky for you it did not) attack other dogs.

3- This could be aggression as a result of a medical problem or hormonal problem or it could be dominance. I can't tell from your email. But whatever the source of the problem you own a dog that is going to be a dangerous dog in certain instances. I would doubt that the dog will be dangerous to people – I can't say it will not. With this said – I NEVER allow my dogs near strangers. Strangers are not part of the family pack. To allow a dog with any form of aggression problem to be around children like you did when you don’t yet know the cause of the problem is irresponsible. You can't TEST your dog on a small child – what happens if you are wrong and your dog attacks the child?

4- You need my DVD entitled Dealing with Dominant and Aggressive Dogs.

5- I would be training with a dominant dog collar or a prong collar and I would be focusing on complete off leash control in an environment with distractions.

6- You may want to read the article I wrote on GROUND WORK BEFORE OBEDIENCE TRAINING.