My wife and I both have cleaned out his ears with Q-tips on multiple occasions with no attack, so I don't think his attack was caused by my wife touching sensitive ears.

 Quote: brad smas

If it turns out to be his ears, will he change his demeanor towards my wife right away or will he have to be trained back into acceptance?

Why did he growl at my wife the next day (morning) when she called him?

Side note, dog is around 80-90LB

I second (third, forth?) a full work up from a vet. If you are willing, even if vet may not suggest or recommend it, to pay extra for a full blood panel, it can offer some baseline levels anyway (if you haven't done one before.)

As for him growling the next day, is your wife fearful of him now? Her demeanor will play into this too. She must be "business as usual" , and so do you, if you want to get through this aggression and/or health issue.

My first dog suffered yeasty buildup in her ears for years. Painful and messy. Must stay on top of it or it only gets worse, and it sounds like he is letting you know its worse and not better. SHe had aggressive outbursts when dealing with her ears too. Muzzles can help get treatments done if he is biting/attacking during treatments.

Side thought on the vomiting (discuss with vet too) might want to treat for worms too. ? Just a suggestion, as you did not mention his stools. THey can appear to be formed, but still soft inside. I recently learned this--test was negative for worms, but I treated anyway due to the stools and yep, worms. Ugh. I know vomiting can come on in a dog with worms.

And, IMO, for added control and safety in the house/outside keep the dog on leash or tag line. (short leash about 8-10 inches with grip on the end.) Tough sometimes to grab a collar in an attack.

I'd get the dog checked out by the vet, then clean the ears as needed with earclens pads, qtips are no good for dogs, the dog moves and then you have a big oops. As for the bigger problem i'd put the crate in a neautral part of the house and do tons of obedience with you, your wife and the dog, together. The dog needs to learn he's at the bottom. The internet might be the wrong place to fix this problem, there might be some experienced people on this board that know of trainers in your area and can steer you towards one of them, good luck,
AL

 Quote: Al Curbow

The dog needs to learn he's at the bottom. The internet might be the wrong place to fix this problem, there might be some experienced people on this board that know of trainers in your area and can steer you towards one of them, good luck,
AL

Good call Al.

My bitch used to get chronic ear infections. After years of painfull treatment she is now extremely aggressive with the vet and I muzzle her when cleaning her ears which I do daily.
A change in diet to a gluten free kibble solved most of the ear problems.

With a chronic infection the ear canal can swell reducing hearing ability. If I was potentially in pain, asleep and didn't hear someone come over and they inadvertantly hurt me I would growl.

By Q tip you mean cotton wool on a stick right? Why risk puncturing an eardrum? Don't stick anything too far down the dogs ear.

This dog needs to see a vet asap. Vomiting a dark liquid is not normal. And an untreated ear problem going on for more than two months can cause permanent damage, not to mention severe pain. Have you ever had an ear infection?

Just want to add that chronic ear infections are not only painful (think ear or tooth ache in us humans) but can also lead to hearing loss.

 Quote: Betty Waldron

Just want to add that chronic ear infections are not only painful (think ear or tooth ache in us humans) but can also lead to hearing loss.

Absolutely!
It was a shock to see how quickly my older shepherd lost her hearing after 2 ear infections (back when she was on kibble). We took her to the vet as soon as we saw the accumulating gunk inside and did the full treatment each time. Each time the infection cleared completely and quickly enough, but the hearing loss was dramatic.

She used to be able to hear a package of meat being unwrapped from the other side of the house and come charging over. Now we can unwrap a package of meat, CALL her in a pretty loud voice and she doesn't hear it. We just about have to shout to get through to her (still comes running over once she realizes she's being called).

I imagine a dog who's suspicious and reactive to begin with, especially one who's already edgy because of pain, like yours, could escalate to aggressing towards people he's normally fine with if he couldn't hear them approaching and was caught off guard.

Just one more idea to add to the mix. But yes, a vet trip is in order here.

In the meantime, giving this dog a crate to sleep in might be a good idea. 1) it would give you better control and would prevent sudden attacks when you or your wife aren't prepared to deal with them, and 2) if he feels he's in a safe place where no one will disturb him he might relax more. I can understand why a sick dog who might be in pain would not want to be suddenly approached and petted (especially if he can't hear them coming).

It doesn't excuse his behaviour of course, and for all we know the attack may have had nothing to do with pain and everything to do with lacking leadership on your wife's behalf. Whichever it is, if this were my dog, I would be controlling his environment a lot more and a crate would be my first step in doing this.

Good luck (and please do get him to a vet to deal with the ear problems - it's really not the type of problem you want to be waiting on).

I vet quickly for ear problems, probably quicker then a lot. I just kind of flash back once to having a bad case of swimmers ear and how painful I found that until I got to the clinic for treatment.

That is always my concern with the dogs......I can't ask them if they are in pain and by the time they show any behaviorial changes that may indicate pain it is severe........

Until the medical issues are ruled out, there is VERY little you can do with this dog.

He could have bad nerves, he could have a bad attitude, or he could have bad pain.
Rule out one of those, and you can develop a plan of action.

For something like a general health checkup, look in the ears, check vitals, etc... which vet really doesn't matter.
I'd just pick the vet that I could get the dog seen by, ASAP.

Aggression? Never met a vet that didn't have muzzles on hand.

Make sure your guy isn't in pain, first. Dogs are very stoic. As Betty said, by the time they actually SHOW pain, it may be excruciating.

Once the pain issue is settled, we can begin discussing the behavioral issues (of which there ARE some, regarding his reactivity to dogs and strangers... which sounds like a nerve issue... it's not fair to begin working on that, when he might still be in pain, though.)

Maybe he's just a dog who doesn't like people, and if he doesn't feel well now, then he likes even fewer people than before. OP says he's been like this w/strangers since day one. If ALL the behavior was totally out of character, I'd be convinced that he was in serious pain or some other medical issue. If he's been hostile his whole life (I can sympathize), then perhaps something has changed between him and your wife to cause this.

It does sound like he could've been startled by her, and we need to keep in mind, although the post is titled "attacked", he did not attack anyone. He simply gave a speech about his feelings on the situation. LOL. I'm not making light of his behavior, but pointing out that he did not make any aggressive contact with anyone; he gave a warning, for some reason you need to figure out quickly. Brad, you are right to figure it out before he actually bites someone.

Why do you suspect stomach cancer???? I'm lost on that one. The vomiting? You say it's a dark color; it's not dark like dried blood is it? It's possible if too much/too little peroxide was given or if it was given too late, it may have damaged him internally. The idea w/the peroxide is to get whatever shouldn't be eaten up as quickly as possible. You don't want them digesting the peroxide. Did he vomit immediately when you gave it to him? Did you have to repeat?

There is WAY too much to figure out for an internet forum. Start at the vet and go from there. Grill your wife about anything else she's noticed or anything else that's gone on between them.