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Q & A - Agressive Dog
by: Sandy, Michigan
 Q: We were heartbroken when, after six wonderful years of love, we had to return our nine-year-old greyhound Hanna (aka Dear Ms. Diane and DiDi) after she snapped at our two-year-old daughter, not once but twice. Luckily, there was no permanent damage done the first time, and the second time she was muzzled. We love Hanna dearly and miss her terribly, but know it was the right decision for Hannas psyche, as well as our daughters safety. She has since snapped a three-year old boy too. We want to help the rescue group find a good home for Hanna and it would be helpful to have insight into why she attacked our daughter and the other boy. Can you help?
A: upon checking in with Hannah, I got some interesting messages from her.
I asked her about the nipping... She relayed great sorrow in leaving her family but the first thing she said was, "Not ready yet, not ready yet"...then I got a mixture of emotions from her, so I just let her continue. I felt an instinctual feeling coming from her, something rather impulsive and not anything that she thought about, it just happened. She also said she meant no harm, she told me that this is what she would do for her own 'babies' and then made me feel a maternal feeling, like controlling her own pups. She said it was very much about needing to 'control' the little ones not about anger or fear. She made me feel that this was instinctual and never meant for harming. Only what a mother does to control her young. The control thing came up a lot so I sense that she feels very compelled in this way. "I just need to know where I stand," she announced.
Was your daughter the only younger child she was around? Some dogs don't like the energy of young children, its too jerky for them and they will lash out like to tell them to knock it off or try to put them in their place. I feel like she needs to be guided and taught how to stay calm and relaxed in the presence of children, not to try to correct them, control them or otherwise show her dominance. Dominance, not aggressiveness. A human mother can be dominant over her children and not aggressive, same with dogs.
Since the first thing she told me was 'not ready yet' I would make sure she is properly socialized with all children, even if she does not go to a house with children. If she were mine, I would want her to learn how to behave in the presence of a child. There is always a risk of coming across a child even if she goes to an adult household so I would make sure she had plenty of practice. There is still a lot of confusion on her part, I did my best to explain everything to her. I hope this helps! She also sent you love love love and thanked you for taking such good care of her :)
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