No More Seizures, No Fly Snapping, Less Aggression, but... Another Bite

[Catalyzt]

Not as bad as the worst one, but easily the second worst.  Top of my hand, multiple punctures, double-tap.  The speed is always such a shock.

I screwed up.  We know that Spike doesn't like to have his hair pulled for any reason, even just to pull out a twig that got stuck in his fur, particularly on his hindquarters.  And my wife had just pulled something out of his fur that morning, and got nipped.

What possessed me to try to remove a some debris from the fur on his right leg?  Or why didn't I just try to brush him, which would have been fine?  It was just the gentlest tug on his hair, but he really nailed me.

I did give him a big NO-- very loud voice, but completely in control, no sudden movements-- and sternly escorted him down the stairs and into the kitchen for a 15 or 20 minute time out.  He did NOT want to go into the kitchen, but I did not give up, and eventually, he followed verbal instructions (very loud, firm voice, but not screaming.)  When his time out was over, I made it clear the punishment was finished.  He lay with his head on my leg while I ate lunch.  He barked briefly at two neighbors on the walk, but responded quickly to correction.

I'm so disappointed-- in myself, mostly.  I expect him to be safe 100% of the time, which is just not realistic for this dog.  He's safe 98% of the time, and even the 2% of the time he's aggressive (with the exception of the bad bite at 18 months) the aggression is predictable.

I'm really not the great dream-warrior guardian I imagine that I am-- and he's not the perfect, fantasy dog that's a perfect watch dog, only a guard dog in the most rare and extreme circumstance, and we don't actually communicate by telepathy.  

I'm humbled by his shortcomings; they are a reflection of my own.  If he is roughly 21 in dog years?  He's no more likely to be aggressive, and injure himself or others, than I was at that age.  

I want us both to be superheroes, but we're not.  I want to give us both permission to make mistakes, but it's not easy.

Thanks for listening.

[bradl]

It's not easy. I feel your pain; figuratively at the moment, literally in the past, and probably again in the future. We're all just doing the best we can, dogs included.

It feels like maybe we  have to compartmentalize a bit sometimes so that we can take joy from the best parts while still coping as best we can with the worst parts (dogs and life at large). 

[Catalyzt]

Well said, Brad, I appreciate the advice, and I think you nailed it: You can't let those bad moments take center stage in your memory.

It's funny, because on the surface, he acts like nothing happened.  But I saw it again: He's a little quicker to obey me after I correct him since he had his big time out.    

Today, something really strange happened.  When the pool guy comes, Spike always barks and gives him a hard time, on and off, until he leaves.  Today, when the pool guy arrived, Spike barked vigorously, and I asked him to quiet down-- this time, he did so almost immediately.  He then jumped in my lap, when he knew the pool guy was 20 feet away, behind the closed blinds, on the other side of our patio door.  He's never been able to relax quite that much before-- when he stopped barking, he would still pace restlessly, or snuffle indignantly.

The other thing I notice since his time out yesterday: When he wants to go out, he will still come up to me, stand on his hind legs, and set his front paws on my knee as I sit in my office chair the same way he did before with one difference:  He used to gently stick his neck forward, to let me know he wanted to gently kiss my nose, which I would let him do.  He's not doing that right now, almost as if he's backing off and reassessing: He's not going to let his face get close to mine until he's absolutely sure he can control himself.  I'm going to respect that.

I noticed something else: A little fly snapping, just one or two, today.  It could be that some neurological activity triggers the aggression, or that the aggression gets his nervous system agitated and increases the fly snapping-- which probably also increases the risk for seizures.  What I think:  Both of those things are true.  The causality can go either way.

[pkcrossley]

i really relate to this. it seems like we should be able to guide them and keep them safe at all times, but succeeding 999 out of a 1000 times doesn't seem to us good enough. Spike, despite his background, is obviously a true cairn. they have lightning quick reflexes and massive impulses. Spike has his own neurology, but i think there is a bit of this in most if not all cairns. they are bred to have hair triggers and to fight for their lives without thinking about it. in civilian life, they try heroically to affect the manners of lap dogs and tolerant shepherds, but every once in a while the veneer slips and there is the real cairn, a reflexive fighter who is literally quicker than the eye -- and, i am sure, quicker than their own thoughts.

i think you are perfectly right about the neurological connections. my cairns would get kindled up, almost in the way that horses do, and then the slightest thing could set them off. the key is to avoid kindling and keep everything as calm and casual as possible, which you seem to very good at. it can never be perfect.

it is so interesting that you find the time out effective. i had great success with my cairns. i found they have very strong consciences and regretted losing their tempers. they did indeed seem to be trying a bit harder after a nice time out. for dogs who really believe the whole universe revolves around them, being put out of sight and out of action makes a very  deep impression. my dogs seemed to be impressed with the asymmetry of it: they had to suffer being ignored and the humiliation of not being able to bother anybody for w while, but i on the other hand had no misery at all--not what they had in mind, since the cairn way is to fight everything out to the last dog standing. i saw this in my dogs many times, the conscious determination to check themselves, knowing their own natures conflicted in some ways with what they really wanted out of their partnerships with humans. i have always thought of cairns as little david bannermans, always on watch against the emergence of their own Hulks. but it is a superpower--if Spike every thinks you are in danger, he will probably get big as a house pretty fast.

a bite from needle sharp teeth in a massive jaw doesn't do anything to elevate the mood, i think we can all say that from experience. but i think you and Spike are a spectacular success.