Why dogs turn on their owners

I had a lovely dog who developed essentially canine dementia. She had never even nipped before but suddenly after she hit 14 she would have episodes of extreme aggression with no discernible triggers. I had to completely separate her from our other dogs and she couldn’t visit with guests because she was just too unpredictable. It was devastating to have a dog go from being the best friend you could ask for, to you being afraid to get your face within bite range in case she loses it. The worst part was that you could tell during her more coherent moments that she missed our old cuddly interactions but we just couldn’t risk it. It was horrible.

When you are truly in sync with your dog you will feel his energy just like he feels yours. You just know.

I’ve had dogs all my life. One was a Pit/Akita rescue that was a real handful. He was great with me and the rest of my household but I never trusted him around strangers, especially adolescent males. And when the trainer mentioned in the vid the change in an animals eyes before they attack, he is spot on. I’d always watch my dog’s eyes when we were around other people and I’d see when he “went somewhere else”, and it would happen fast and I’d immediately remove him from the situation. First rescue. Last rescue. I put more work into that dog than any other I’ve had (under the direction of the behavioralist the rescue referred me too, and although he was great with his immediate family he was too traumatized by his early life to ever properly adjust to dealing with strangers (and to him that was almost everyone other than his household). Regardless of his challenges he was a good friend and I miss him.

3 wks ago my parson russell snapped & groweled at an acquaintance reaching over his head to pet him. This was highly unusual. That night I checked him for injuries & found a severe ear infection. He is healed now & is back to his normal temperment.

I fostered a dog that was returned because of biting. The dog also had seizures. Despite my decade of experience and a very structured and safe environment, she turned on me twice. I definitely said I could see it was a “turn” and something was seriously wrong with her. The rescue would not hear what I was saying and wanted me to still adopt her out to regular families. It created so much tension that I ended up parting ways with them. I just felt it was so incredibly irresponsible. It was so sad and disturbing.

Pain, injury and fear can cause anger in people as well. Thank you for the informational video.

I believe my dog has PTSD. He goes through unbelievable, almost uncontrollable behavior. Thank YOU for your video.

I love his show and thisjust summarizes and lays out all of the basic methods he uses on the show. What i love about this guide youtube.com/post/UgkxKkYeOoCV_w2vPX0CSyVWkhew2c4FY… is that you don' need to read the whole book cover to cover ... You can skip to the chapter (lesson) you want to read about. The book is arranged almost as a problem-solving guide ... Here is the problem and here is what you need to know/do to correct it. This man knows his stuff ... But more importantly knows how to teach people how they can work with their pups themselves!

My dog had a bacterial infection on her face and it also got to her brain. It took almost four years to heal after her treatments. It was so bad at times that I didn’t even know her and she hardly recognized our family or us. She’s my girl again and is nine years old and getting older.

I’m a lifelong dog owner. German shepherds are my breed. Love their intelligence and loyalty. They were/are all very well loved. Active parts of the family. Only once did I have a close call of being bit. Was midday and Nikki just layed down on the couch. I was getting ready to take him for a walk- which he absolutely lived for. Well apparently in that short time he was on the couch he must’ve drifted off into sleep. Probably dreaming about a fine girl dog. Lol. Not knowing he was asleep, i surprised grabbed him (a common play technique I’ve used a hundred times before to initiate play). He jumped up like never before and like this guy said- you can see it in the eyes. Never before seen those eyes and never since. It took maybe 5 seconds for those eyes to slowly dissolve into his normal self. Then after the eyes were gone , knowing my dog I could see he was just pissed, but he was present again. I profusely apologized and we never had a problem ever again. He was in his prime and 120 lbs. wouldn’t have been pretty. But it wasn’t him with those eyes- was sheer instinct. Taught me a very powerful lesson that day

I had a standard poodle from pup, who grew up with my oldest daughter. In the whole 10 years of his life, the only 1 time he growled at her was when he had an ear infection and she was bothering him. She understood he was feeling bad and still remembers it to this day as it was so shocking for him to growl at all. He was the bestest boy. Toddlers could roll over him and fall asleep on him. ❤❤

I can honestly say that I personally have never met a stable Cocker Spaniel. I love how cute they are, though lol

My first dog was an English Springer Spaniel. She showed “Springer Rage” 3 times during her life. I was horrified when I found out from the breeder that my dog’s mother showed similar behaviour, but was still used for breeding, because she was a good show dog! I was only able to control these situations because I’d spent the first two years of her life training her to a very high standard. She was always so unhappy afterwards, knowing something was wrong, but not knowing why. On another occasion, we had a friend with a lovely Golden Retriever who was also well trained, then after a few years she suddenly started showing aggression. In the end they had to put her down, but they asked the vet to do an autopsy which revealed a brain tumour, which of course explained the aggression. As you mentioned Joel in your video.

I love that picture of young Joel with the cougar- the smile on your face shows your expression of doing what you were born to do.

I LOVE that Beckman has the perspective of a father of young children too. Because there's a broader sense of protection and understanding. Really appreciate that and I can't stress how considerate that is.

We had an incident here in Western Australia few months ago where the owner was attacked by one of her Rottweiler and she suffered extensive limb and face injuries and nearly lost her life. There was speculation that her 2 rottweilers were fighting and one of them turned on her when she tried to break up the fight. The police had to shoot the dog to stop it from killing her and the other was impounded by the city but had to put down later as it was then classed as a dangerous dog and she was not in a position to meet the council's requirements. Very sad incident for all involved including dogs, owner and her family.

My neighbor was walking with a large 8 month old Cane Corso, who just got back from a 2 week training session without the owner. I noticed he had on an electronic collar. He was fearful and lunging at me on the leash. The neighbor owner thought it was great and smiled proudly at his dog. I am 70 yrs. old and worked with thousands of dogs and animals over my lifetime as an animal trainer. I told him my opinion on the e-collar and his dog's behavior. I just saw them again as I was coming back from getting my mail. This dog was ballistic now! Lunging, growling, fighting the leash, frothing at the mouth, etc. I will have to bring my taser with me and maybe my knife in case this dog breaks the leash and attacks me or someone else. I've seen this scenario many times before. When the owner thinks this behavior is funny and shocks the dog to correct it, etc. the prognosis is not good at all. 😢🐾🐾🐕🎭

We had a dog once that broke his back and had to be put down. Even when he was in immense pain, he would never hurt any of us (though obviously we were gentle with him). No judgement on any other dog, but he will be missed, some dogs just don't seem to have it in them to hurt people.

resource guarding is a huge issue.. During my rehab from cancer I was weak.. I was on the bottom hierarchy in my home. I had my Rottweiler snap at me several times. I invited him into my space for pets. He moved in real close to where I wasnt comfortable. I got up and he snapped. He has also redirected while someone else was walking him. Not a bad bite but it did break the skin..Some dogs need very strong leadership.

I’m surprised you didn’t mention poor training. Poor training is also a factor in dog’s attacking people. But your information was interesting I love learning new things about dogs.