AGGRESSIVE 10YR OLD JACK RUSSEL

Hi, Our 10yr old Jack Russell has recently become very aggressive for no apparent reason. We used to be able to pick her up, hug her, pat her or give her a scratch on the head. But now if we do any of these things she goes nuts. She growls and snarls and sometimes lunges at you. We have not been the recipients of a bite but the aggressive behaviour can be quite scarey. Especially since she was such a friendly dog before. I feel like I have lost a friend because I am too scared to touch her in case she bites. We have resorted to putting a blanket over her before picking her up so she cant see us too bite. She snarls and growls under the blacket but we feel a little safer. We are planning to make a vet visit for her. Do you have any suggestions about what could be causing her aggressive behaviour after 10 yrs?
Posted: 07/07/2009

ANSWER: AGGRESSIVE 10YR OLD JACK RUSSEL
With this sudden change I think a thorough vet check may be your first stop. It may well be that she is in pain or discomfort and until that is fully eliminated I believe we all may go in the wrong direction..... So wait for the vet review and if they suggest she is OK, I want you to go back to when this started - did anything change, eg house move, job move, schedule change ? anything that could have triggered this. Have she had any contacts with strangers where this could have been initiated? Start eliminating things, so we can get to the bottom of it, so we know what we are dealing with. Only then does it make sense to make some recommendations. When we get older we also change! In the mean time be careful and try not to reinforce the behaviour.
Posted: 07/07/2009