Hello everyone
I have a siberian husky who is 5 years old. Her name is Akirra. My husband and I have had her since she was 2 months. She is spayed. She is normally a well behaved dog (as well as a husky behaves anyway)

Lately it is like something has snapped in her. She is extremely food aggressive. Goes after every animal in the house and not in the house. Her best friend is a pit bull(my mother in laws dog lives next door) She randomly attacks him. She goes after the cat who is also normally her best friend. I currently wont let her near the ferret but she normally plays with the ferret and sleeps with her.

About a week ago she attacked my mothers pomeranian and broke his leg. (Im currently baby sitting him until she gets out of the hospital. This attack was random as I had the Pom and her in bed and they were both asleep or so I thought. (the Pom was sleeping when she attacked him) Then all hell broke loose after I got her off of him she went after me.Once I screamed at her and broke her trance she was in she stopped. My vet spoke to me about her and gave me my options non of which I like. She suggested that I pull all of her teeth so I can keep her as a family dog. I told my vet I did NOT want to do that and I would wait it out. All of this has settled and I keep them both separated now.

This morning though she Killed my bird (Tango). Now I am at a lose for words. I am heart broken and I truly do not know what to do.

I would NEVER put her to sleep as she is my baby. I don't like the thought of pulling her teeth. Not only because of the pain it would cause her but because of the fact she can not defend herself. We live in the mountains and there are a lot of wild animals. She is an indoor dog but I would be afraid to let her outside. I don't know what to do I am truly afraid. Not so much of her but for my other animals. She has always been good with kids but now I don't want to let her near them. She loves the dog park but I fear bringing her there. I really really am lost. Someone please help me.

Have you had her checked out at the vet? Any out of the normal behavior such as this signals it may be a medical issue. She may be in pain, losing her sight or something similar. Has you vet fully checked her out? I would also get a second opinion if he has. If your vet has suggested you pull her teeth just so she doesn't attack, this is NOT a vet i would go back to.

I've never once heard anyone say their vet suggested to pull a dog's teeth to deal with aggression....

That seems outlandishly cruel and doesn't solve the problem at all.... It just makes it so when there is an attack there is less damage.


I don't know what your relationship is with the vet, but if a vet told me that I would be finding a new one. I mean no offense, but I'm just being honest.


You said you talked to your vet but did you actually go in for a full examination?

It is extremely rare a dog will just snap like this without some form of trauma or pain. Chows tend to have periods where they can "snap" like that but it's more a mental imbalance that has a small chance of coming on while they age.

In your shoes, I would find a new vet and get a full examination going to see if anything medically could be found for the change in behavior.

If it was inconclusive or persisted I would work with a specialist or consult a behaviorist or trainer.

~Chris~

I agree with Sam and Chris. Time to find a new vet, and have the dog checked out. She could very well be in pain, or losing her vision. Something had to of happened for her to just change behavior so drastically.

3rding medical consult.... This is very abnormal (especially since the dog is 5) and would really encourage you to check out medical aspects of this.

I have never heard of pulling teeth, but have heard of having them filed down to prevent serious bites. I do not agree with that and put that in the same category of "surgeries" as cat declaws.

My vet suggested pulling her teeth not so she wouldn't attack but so she would do less damage if she did. I do like my vet she is actually one of the best in the area. My family has used her for 20+ years. As far as the full examination I have not brought her yet. My vet is closed today but I will be calling her tomorrow for an appointment.
I do apologize as when I wrote the pulling of the teeth I did not specify this in my vets opinion is a last resort.
My vet only spoke to me when she asked what happened to the pom.
Don't get me wrong my vet did suggest other training things to do with her non of which seem to be working.
And no offense taken. I appreciate any and all help.

We did just move into a new house (which is right next door to our old one) We did this right after Christmas....I dont know if that has something to do with it...

Like I said above I will not pull her teeth...I would never put her in such pain.
Everything was going good it seemed..until she killed the parrot this morning.
I dont know if it is jealously( she is very jealous always has been)

She could be acting out over something like a tooth ache (something stuck in between them?) or a cut/sliver in her paw, an ear infection (ticks?)

If she'll let you (and it's safe) then I'd have look over her and see if there was anything obvious like that. But it could be something more drastic.

Watch her close and see if you can tell what it is that sets her off. Approaching from a specific direction, touching a certain place (a paw, ear, tail, ect)

i think a full blood work up needs to be done as well as a full exam. this does sound odd for a 5yr, it would have to have a medical reason at this point i would think.
sorry your are having so much trouble all of a sudden.

Delilah acted like this when she was in pain for her slipped disk issue. And I punished her for it, for a while because I didn't know anything was wrong. When I put her on supplements and an all natural anti-inflammatory, she was a completely different dog.

I know it's going to sound odd, but has she had any vaccinations recently?

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We did just move into a new house (which is right next door to our old one) We did this right after Christmas....I dont know if that has something to do with it...

What you are describing isn't something I would associate with a move. Dogs trained as protectors or to guard can have issues with moving to a new location at times. It tends to be more nervous in nature. Defensive bites or behaviors sometimes happen as they settle in, but this is attacking.

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I dont know if it is jealously( she is very jealous always has been)

At this level and so sudden no. They don't just go from 0 to 100 like that without a cause. If it was Jealousy you would have seen this level or near this level for years. It wouldn't have just happened now at this extreme.

~Chris~

Have her head checked for possible brain injury. I believe someone on here had a dog that had a brain injury which trigger some aggressive behavior.

http://www.dogs4dogs.com/blog/2010/12/28/is-your-dog%E2%80%99s-bad-behavior-caused-by-a-health-problem/

Just an idea - And it's more common than you think. I'd look specifically at vaccinosis created by rabies.

ljelgin wrote:

Have her head checked for possible brain injury. I believe someone on here had a dog that had a brain injury which trigger some aggressive behavior.

I have heard of this behavior with a head injury or tumor as well. It does sound like you need to get her completely checked out before you determine it's a behavioral problem.

I'm going to agree with everyone else. Something this sudden and severe after being with you for so long... I'm thinking medical, especially if you've tried training already.

Take her in for a full work-up. For now, try a soft nylon muzzle in the house (obviously this works just as well as "pulling her teeth" without the absurdity of that). It might be somewhat costly, but a full medical work up is what I would do. This is not normal.

I'm so sorry you're dealing with this. My heart goes out to you both. Poor thing.