Warning to dog owners

RSKY · Jun 9, 2015

My daughter has a Dalmatian that is deaf. He is a non aggressive dog. Dumber than a box of rocks when he wants to be but pretty intelligent when it suits him. He has never shown any type of aggression toward anybody except for two times before last week. The first time was when my sister tried to pet him and he snapped at her and bit her hand. That was about four to five years ago. No warning, had been petted by several other people and when she stuck her hand out he suddenly tensed and snapped.

Second time was about a couple months ago when one of my son-in-law's relatives and his family stopped by. I wasn't there but my daughter said it was the same thing. Wife and kids petted the dog but when the man reached for him the dog growled and snapped. Son-in-law had to hold him back. He was going after the guy.

Third time was last week. Somebody came up to their house and the dog who usually is so friendly it is hard to get away from him suddenly became aggressive. No bites but lots of growling and teeth showing.

Daughter figured it out.

All three that the dog was aggressive towards had defibrillators.

We now think that this super non-aggressive dog is somehow sensing the internal electrical device that these people had and it sets him off.

May be wrong. I am a lot of times.

Anybody have any experience with this?

RSKY

Coyote machine · Jun 10, 2015

That's bizarre, but probably not out of the realm of possibility. I'd check with the dog owner's vet, and see what's what.

TomSeller · Jun 10, 2015

Well it is a hard coincidence to ignore. My dog has been arounds hundreds if not thousands of people and other dogs. Every now and then she doesn't trust someone and bears her teeth. Never biting. Usually it is someone acting too friendly, too quick. When I take her into the office and people come in and ignore her or act normal, she is fine. When they bend down and reach at her quickly she gets wary. It may that the defibs are something different that he is sensing, even given his limitations and he considers it a threat.

forgeblast · Jun 10, 2015

Does the dog have a shock collar? I wonder if its something that reminds him of it.

Tomtint · Jun 10, 2015

I believe that your dog can sense something. My Weimariner knows 15 minuteds before thunder and lightning shows up. It can be bright blue and sunny, but if a storm is coming..he knows it. My other dog is a Doberman, He knows when my wife is a mile away coming down the road. It's crazy.

kcflhrc · Jun 10, 2015

Dogs have some keen senses, that's for sure. As do cats.

Bird · Jun 10, 2015

Our Chihuahua loves just about everyone; just looking for new friends. She never learned to growl or snarl and she's NEVER tried to bite anyone. Day before yesterday, a little boy (maybe 8 years old) wanted to pet her and she avoided him. I have no idea why. She only did that once before, and that time was an older man.

nybirdman · Jun 10, 2015

Dogs sure do have some keen senses and great sense of time.I have a strange dog that coffee makes him want to go out and pee(that is everytime "I"sit down with a cup of coffee "He"had to go out!

Mace Canute · Jun 10, 2015

forgeblast said:
Does the dog have a shock collar? I wonder if its something that reminds him of it.

Speaking of shock collars and dogs doing inexplicable things...my buddy's neighbours have a pair of dogs, both female, that have lived together for years without incident. Just recently though they went at each other in all out battle and severely injured each other. They had to use shovels to separate them. It was mentioned they have an invisible fence with shock collars on both dogs and have them turned up to maximum output and I was wondering if they thought the shocks they were receiving were somehow because of the other dog and decided it was time to settle it in the way dogs do?

I've can't recall hearing about two dogs getting into a potentially to the death fight when they've lived together incident free for years. Any ideas?

Sprinklerman · Jun 10, 2015

Had a friend with a deaf dalmatian , smart dog , trained to hand signals . Then she told me the dogs name , I was whats the point with a name the dog is deaf . She just gave me that look and said I named him anyway .