Originally Posted by
SEB
Friend has had little westie dog for 2 months now but having lots of problems with him. Was mistreated by owner and an elderly lady took him. she couldn't handle his behaviour, so friend agreed to take him. He is fine one minute, then suddenly turns aggressive, snarling and biting the next. he won't let anyone pet him, shows no interest in toys, etc, and every so often takes a "mad turn" - running up and down, barking, jumping at walls, etc. Any advice would be gratefully received on how to deal with this type of behaviour, as friend is very reluctant to give up on the dog.
Assuming there are no underlying health problems with the wee dog, I think if your friend watches very closely she's very likely to notice something that triggers these episodes.
When you say 'mistreated' what do you mean? Starved? Beaten? Everything?
The type of ill treatment could possibly be a factor in his behaviour now.
It's always difficult to bring a new dog into a home as he needs a period of adjustment as much as the new owner does. He needs to know his place in the pack as soon as possible and they will very often show signs of trying to assert this dominance straight away - it's fundamental for every pack animal to need to know that the pack is safe and functioning with leadership ascertained asap and if your friend hasn't made this clear to the dog then the dog will feel it necessary to take control himself.
The fact that he won't let anyone pet him could be dominance but it could also be fear if he has been ill treated, theres the conundrum.
Showing no sign of playing with toys could be many things unfortuntely - he may never have been played with, he may have been taught not to, could be fear could be dominance.
Your friend needs to start asserting their dominance as leader of the pack and simple things work for this: Don't let the animal on the furniture, don't feed it titbits (no matter how much it refuses to eat his own food), your friend should walk through doors first, don't allow the dog to attack visitors (once he's barked at a visitors approach quietly remove him from the hall and shut him away while the visitor enters). There are so many more simple things to do that can assert your friends place as leader of the pack.
Most dogs are quite happy with taking a back seat once they know that the pack is safe and looked after by another leader - he really doesn't want the responsibility if he can help it.
All the above should be put into place immediately but the poor dogs background needs to be taken into account and worked out in his behaviour. Most problems can be dealt with satisfactorily.
Good luck to your friend.
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