1. We are already in contact with a vet and a behaviorist after this happened, so are mainly wondering if this has happened to anyone before, and if so, how it all panned out with your dogs later on.
The other night, our very nice neighbor lady returned at twilight from turkey hunting. She was wearing full camo and carried her turkey into the house and then came back outside to get the rest of her gear. Our chessie has never hunted and has never been exposed to live or dead birds. Our dog knows her and she has loved on him and petted him in the past.
Our dog had just been retrieving in the yard and was near our house. We walked to the edge of our property where our neighbors car was parked in her driveway and started chatting with her as we walked. Our dog came from behind us and ran up to our neighbor. Bad manners, and I was getting ready to apologize and correct him, but honestly thought he was going up to be petted. He will sometimes sneak away or run up to my sister or family friends when he wants to be loved on by them. There was no growling...no sound whatsoever.
He got up to her legs, and started growling and snapping and went up on his hind legs enough to bite her forearm. Once he had growled, it was a bit of chaos, but it involved my hubby yelling at him and he didn't continue snapping and growling...it was enough for him to be verbally corrected, and he was kenneled in the house immediately.
Neighbor lady went to the hospital for a couple of stitches and my hubby went to the hospital to meet her and her husband with copies of our dogs shot records and apologize profusely.
I immediately called his breeder and asked for advice. She said that the situation didn't sound like normal aggression, because he's not aggressive with people normally. He doesn't even guard his food. She suggested a trip to the vet due to a possible health issue, like an inner ear problem she'd seen before, or something else, and neutering him as soon as possible as well as keeping him on leash or cable at all times.
He does have an ear infection which we didn't know about 2 days ago. We haven't met with the behaviorist yet, but through contact with her, she wondered if perhaps he could've been overwhelmed by the bird smells and instinct kicked in as he hasn't been exposed to any of that. Just conjecture at this point though.
We have waffled in the last 2 days between immediately rehoming him to a hunter in the country or something like that by asking his breeder for help, or sticking it out and keeping him on leash at all times and observing the situation for awhile to try to assess what's going on...perhaps the ear infection messed up his depth perception and ability to figure out who our neighbor was?
Has anyone ever heard of this before? It's weird and out of character, and a bit stressful too. Can an ear infection mess up a dog that badly?
The other night, our very nice neighbor lady returned at twilight from turkey hunting. She was wearing full camo and carried her turkey into the house and then came back outside to get the rest of her gear. Our chessie has never hunted and has never been exposed to live or dead birds. Our dog knows her and she has loved on him and petted him in the past.
Our dog had just been retrieving in the yard and was near our house. We walked to the edge of our property where our neighbors car was parked in her driveway and started chatting with her as we walked. Our dog came from behind us and ran up to our neighbor. Bad manners, and I was getting ready to apologize and correct him, but honestly thought he was going up to be petted. He will sometimes sneak away or run up to my sister or family friends when he wants to be loved on by them. There was no growling...no sound whatsoever.
He got up to her legs, and started growling and snapping and went up on his hind legs enough to bite her forearm. Once he had growled, it was a bit of chaos, but it involved my hubby yelling at him and he didn't continue snapping and growling...it was enough for him to be verbally corrected, and he was kenneled in the house immediately.
Neighbor lady went to the hospital for a couple of stitches and my hubby went to the hospital to meet her and her husband with copies of our dogs shot records and apologize profusely.
I immediately called his breeder and asked for advice. She said that the situation didn't sound like normal aggression, because he's not aggressive with people normally. He doesn't even guard his food. She suggested a trip to the vet due to a possible health issue, like an inner ear problem she'd seen before, or something else, and neutering him as soon as possible as well as keeping him on leash or cable at all times.
He does have an ear infection which we didn't know about 2 days ago. We haven't met with the behaviorist yet, but through contact with her, she wondered if perhaps he could've been overwhelmed by the bird smells and instinct kicked in as he hasn't been exposed to any of that. Just conjecture at this point though.
We have waffled in the last 2 days between immediately rehoming him to a hunter in the country or something like that by asking his breeder for help, or sticking it out and keeping him on leash at all times and observing the situation for awhile to try to assess what's going on...perhaps the ear infection messed up his depth perception and ability to figure out who our neighbor was?
Has anyone ever heard of this before? It's weird and out of character, and a bit stressful too. Can an ear infection mess up a dog that badly?