Seriously Reese!?

[Upendi&Mina]

It may definitely be medical. But just because she hasn't acted this way before and now she is, doesn't mean that it isn't behavioral. This could have been brewing for a long time...her tolerance level could have held off this reaction up until now. That is....if you have been raising her all along with this attitude that you need to be in "control" or she'll think she is the one in charge. (this isn't how dogs work...it's an old myth and it can cause harm) If you have been raising her in a strongly compulsive way or punishing her a lot, this can bring on this kind of behavior. It may not show itself right away, but simmer until the dog finally reacts. This is not to accuse you of mistreatment of your dog, (I don't have enough information to assume that) but simply to bring it up because of some comments you've made about the fallacy of having to show a dog that you're in control. If it's done in a stern, threatening way where the dog feels defensive, it can definitely cause this kind of behavior...maybe not right away, but often it shows itself some time in the future. That's why sometimes people are surprised that "suddenly" their dog's behavior has changed. It's not actually sudden at all. Only the outward signs are sudden.

She may not have shown it before but now she simply came to the end of her tolerance. A different combination and amount of other stressors can contribute to whether a dog goes over the top or not. Maybe all along, other stressors weren't present and she was able to keep under threshold. And then lately, something else has combined to push her past her threshold.

So, barring this...if this hasn't been the case or your relationship hasn't been one where the dog has been "shown who's boss" in a threatening, punishing manner, then it could be something else. Maybe the dog has been affected very strangely by the storms and is terrified. I think you're handling it well when you associate treats with your presence. But I agree to get a behaviorist after ruling out anything medical. (thyroid imbalance, brain tumor or something else) They are expensive, but maybe one session would be enough....one where your dog is evaluated and you're given some exercises to practice.

:hail::hail::hail:

 

[Doberluv]

lol. Thanks Upendi. That was sweet.

It's just that there are medical situations where behavior can be affected and sudden changes are noted. But "sudden" changes are not always actually sudden. But yeah....medical causes should always be ruled out first, if that's a possibility. However, it seems the OP has flown the coop. LOL.

 

[BC Lover]

I'm still here, just been really busy!

Reese went for a check up and the vet didn't find anything that could be causing pain or medicaly wrong with her at all other than she needs her flea medicine.

I took her to a trainer that the vet reccomeded and they said that there wasn't much they could do to help us because she can't see the Reese when she is bitting, and snapping so she said if it happens again to record what she was doing and what I was doing and what was going on, stuff like that.

She hasn't done anything other than growling at a kid who was swimming in the river and was comming at her in such a way that I would have growled too at him too! :yikes:

I'm still watching her but I think it was a one time thing. It turns out that night, there was a huge storm and several tornado tuch downs near to us and I thought about it some, and in the 1 yr and maybe 1 month (May 5th 2010 is when i got her) that I have had her we have never had a big storm, so I'm thinking she might be sensitive to storms. She was walking all low around the house and wouldn't go upstairs with me and took her bone with her everywhere she went and I just gave her space tossing a couple cookies towards her randomly throught the storm.

She has been a GOOD GIRL let's hope it stays this way.

 

[DogKisses]

That's good to hear, just be cautious when it storms again.

 

[AliciaD]

Hope it's over! The storm-cause theory sounds totally plausible IMO.