Calm, loveable 1 1/2 yr old Pembroke suddenly turning aggressive.
I'm really worried.
My 1.5 year old Pembroke, Louie, has always been a sweetheart. Always smiling, friendly, eager for belly rubs, loves to cuddle and make gargly noises. He does have a bit of a submissive urination problem that we've never been able to correct, although for awhile it got beter.
About a month ago I noticed he had a limp. The vet figured he had landed too hard when he jumped out of my car (Louie is not overweight, nor was the jump too high) and may have sprained it. A week's worth of painkillers stopped the limp, but I noticed one of his toenails on his front paws is darker than the others. I will be getting this investigated. Louie snaps and snarls when people go for his paws, and I think the nail may be infected.
Just a week ago, I had him get his booster shots for parvo and rabies. For both they used killed live viruses. After those shots, I noticed a change in behavior.
Louie is now extremely avoidant, and will shy away from people. When people approach him, he will submissively urinate. He acts very scared. When he does come up to people to cuddle, we will go to pet him...
...and he turns downright -vicious-. My dad tried to rub his belly and he snarled, snapping at his hand. When I scratched his back he did the same and even drew blood.
Now, we've had some bad weather lately with a lot of wet weather and Louie hates water, so we haven't walked him in awhile. I don't know if it's lack of exercise or what, but this behavior started after he got his booster shots.
He is a completely different dog now and it worries me sick. Louie is my first dog I've ever had and I don't want to seem like a bad dog owner. I want to help him but I don't know what to do! Please give me some advice!
My 1.5 year old Pembroke, Louie, has always been a sweetheart. Always smiling, friendly, eager for belly rubs, loves to cuddle and make gargly noises. He does have a bit of a submissive urination problem that we've never been able to correct, although for awhile it got beter.
About a month ago I noticed he had a limp. The vet figured he had landed too hard when he jumped out of my car (Louie is not overweight, nor was the jump too high) and may have sprained it. A week's worth of painkillers stopped the limp, but I noticed one of his toenails on his front paws is darker than the others. I will be getting this investigated. Louie snaps and snarls when people go for his paws, and I think the nail may be infected.
Just a week ago, I had him get his booster shots for parvo and rabies. For both they used killed live viruses. After those shots, I noticed a change in behavior.
Louie is now extremely avoidant, and will shy away from people. When people approach him, he will submissively urinate. He acts very scared. When he does come up to people to cuddle, we will go to pet him...
...and he turns downright -vicious-. My dad tried to rub his belly and he snarled, snapping at his hand. When I scratched his back he did the same and even drew blood.
Now, we've had some bad weather lately with a lot of wet weather and Louie hates water, so we haven't walked him in awhile. I don't know if it's lack of exercise or what, but this behavior started after he got his booster shots.
He is a completely different dog now and it worries me sick. Louie is my first dog I've ever had and I don't want to seem like a bad dog owner. I want to help him but I don't know what to do! Please give me some advice!
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Steve on
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Sorry I don't have advise but I'm going through the same thing with Steve (almost 1.5yr) with the behaviour change since his booster shot 3weeks ago. I'm interested to read the advise.....
Good luck with Louie.
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Permalink Reply by Rockstar on
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I would say the best starting advice would be to call the vet back and look into the nail issue. Was he ok with people touching his paws before? Is he still getting enough exercise?
Honestly, with these symptoms and the biting, I would be going back to the vet. Something is wrong.
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Permalink Reply by Karen Stasky on
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2 things to consider-was Louie with you for his nail trim? not all people at animal hospitals are as kind as you hope-after working in the field for over 30 years-I've seen some rough handling-I'm not saying that your vet is one of those, but it happpens-also check-out Dr. Jean Dodds protocol on vaccs-they can cause aggression behavior-hopefully it is just temporary-do have him checked out physically, then if he checks out ok, find a trainer that does positive reinforcement training for help-good luck
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vaccs can cause inflamation in the brain
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Permalink Reply by Geri & Sidney on
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It definitely sounds strange. Another vet visit is certainly in order. It almost sounds more like a pain/fear reaction. Please let us know how this story goes!
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Permalink Reply by Clara Leet on
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Update for info:
The last time I trimmed Louie's nails was by myself while I washed him and I made sure to stay far away from the quick. He has always hated his paws being handled, as I understand that's a common corgi trait (His little sister Zoe is the same way, but we handled hers much more when she was a baby so she's a little more used to it).
Louie always lets me know whenever I cut too far, and the infected nail in question was not hurt. The only squeal was on his back paws, and they are fine. Also, the last time I had them professionally cut, I watched them and he did fine. I don't want to risk trimming this nail before going to the vet to get an opinion on it. I don't know if it's a blood blister (it looks dark enough to be that) or an infection.
I also read that vaccines can cause thyroid problems, which can affect behavior. When I go in I will be requesting bloodwork along with an antibiotic.
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Update:
We took him to the vet and they're running a full blood screening. They gave him some anti-inflammatory for his nail and I will have results back from the test by tomorrow morning.
The vet said that it's likely his thyroid levels are off. Hypothyroidism would be the best diagnosis, he says. The worst-case scenario would be that if the viruses in his vaccine weren't completely deactivated and it ended up giving him distemper.
Now all I can do is sit and wait.
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Thanks for the update. I'll be hoping for the best for Louie. How scary to think there could be vaccines out there that could end up making our pups sick! OMG that's terrible. Did the vet say, if it was hypothyroidism, would that condition be temporary or permanent? Hang in there and, if Louie lets you, give him a hug from me.
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What's scary is I've had experiences with vaccines not actually working but instead giving the animal the disease they are meant to prevent. I had a cat years ago that developed feline Leukemia after getting a booster shot. So I know the possibility is there; I just hope it's not the case.
Thanks for all of the support, guys. I'll get back to you as soon as I can.
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Vaccines ARE the diseases that they're suppose to prevent-they're modified (live or dead) to get the animals' body to develop resistance to that disease-there are manufactors out there that are not as consistant as others as to the handling of these vaccines-so there can be differences in how the animal reacts to them-your guy is rather young for a thyroid problem, but it can happen and is generally treatable-hope you get answers
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I'm preparing for the worst but hoping for the best. The doc said the worst case scenario would be that he's developed distemper from the vaccine. Has anyone had experience with this disease? I know it's treatable and survivable, but I don't know how painful or expensive it can get. Not to mention he does have a little sister, 9 month old Zoe.
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Permalink Reply by Ein Danger on
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we're crossing our fingers that it's just his thyroid and not distemper. please keep us posted. stay strong for louie :)
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