So Hero our 8 month old was unbelievably brilliant through Christmas and up to New Year's Eve. Then it all went horribly wrong. After hours and hours of loud banging and whistling fireworks ( more than we've ever had near us before) Hero then struggled to settle that night. New Year's Day became a nightmare. He was over tired, couldn't settle no matter what we tried, bit every one in the family who came by. Going on walks started lunging at the lead and biting at our clothes. Chasing his tail and biting his hind quarters. Eating loads of grass and was sick. Next day went on a major humpfest, kept going to bite OH who then became very angry and lost control shouting at me. Endless barking. And so the extreme behaviours continued into Friday no matter what calming and distracting methods were tried. He would only let me near him and became very clingy. Had monthly visit to vet Friday morning and told her what had been happening and that I was concerned bout anxiety due to seasonal overload, things out of the norm and the fireworks and working himself up over every least noise. Also could it be physical or medical. They did thorough checks as had I at home to check for a physical issue. But nope all fine on that front. Then he got bitey and kept trying to hump the vet. Conclusion unless tests show otherwise - overload, excitement, touch of anxiety but mostly raging hormones confusing the heck out of him. Over last 24 hours behaviours have now lessened to more manageable level and Hero is settling down better to his usual self doing his training, playing, walks, etc better. What a shock to the system this sudden explosion was for me and everyone else, let alone Hero but although exhausted all of us except Oh seem to have survived that ok. Vet did warn that going through all the hormonal changes over the next few months will test us big time and to expect quite a few outbursts. Just unfortunate that there was a really big trigger before it all started so he was already unsettled. Nevermind shock now over as he has never bitten hard like that before but we'll continue to work through it with him. Not sure if hubby will survive without imploding though lol
I'd disagree with your vet! If this occurred after the fireworks and that entire evening of them going off, you can be sure that this is what the cause is. His hormone levels aren't going to have dramatically increased in one day. Manic behaviour is very often caused by anxiety and stress... Sadly many vets put things down to hormones - and then urge owners to neuter - when hormones are not very often the cause of the problems. Why are you going to the vet for monthly check-ups?!
Basically goes for weight checks, see how he's getting on with food because he had a lot of problems early on and for flea and worming treatment. They actually haven't pushed at all for neutering. They refuse to do large male dogs until 18 months at earliest unless medical reasons make necessary. Our vet actually doesn't like people to jump too quickly to make a decision on neutering before careful consideration of the pros and cons for the dog and what is most beneficial for the dog. They are only doing monthly checks until he is a year and then will reduce to twice a year unless any problems occur again with his health. I think the hormone thing was thought to be part of the issue because of how he was humping everything in sight. Think it was just such a big shock at how he reacted so extremely when he had been so brilliant lately.
