More likely it's fear. What breed is it, and have you had a puppy before?

He is a Lowchen. Yes, I have had several puppies before. Currently we only have a couple of cats.

I have never seen anything like this before.

Take your dog to training class, run him before hand for a good 20 minutes. Work on snapping your fingers at him and telling him NO, Firmly - dont yell. Try not to show fear, he will pick up on it. I suggest you walk your dog daily on a leash (dont just let him outside to play or do his business) leash walking is very important. Two to three times a day at the very least.

Well the breeder is very concerned about this behavior. She is going to take him back to live with the litter for a couple more weeks. I guess we will see how things go.

daggett, do you know if the litter was temperment tested? It would have been done on about the 49th day. There is one combination I would be very concerned about if pup was temperment tested. A shy puppy with a fight response vs a flight response. It happens rarely.

Please let us know what happens with him. I'm very curious as I foster many puppies for my local shelter. I have never seen this kind of behavior before and would like to know in case I run into it in the future.

I do have one comment though on walking puppies. It is imperative that puppies are not walked in public places until they have all of their shots, usually by about 21 weeks. The threat of parvo is very great and every precaution needs to be taken.

Sher

Yes the puppies were temperment tested. The only information that the breeder gave me was that he scored mostly 3's. The breeder is on her way to pick up the puppy now. He has had several "outburst" already today. It is very disturbing to see.

He is taken for several walks a day. We only do this in our yard. He has only had his first shot.

Please let us know what happens. This is very disturbing and some of the possibilities that I can think of are not good. I am very pleased that your breeder is showing responsibility and concern - kudos to her. Did the vet see this puppy AFTER the aggressive behavior started or only before? Have you told the vet about it?

Best wishes for a good outcome and please let us know.

Good to hear they were tempermented tested. 3's are good, middle of the road pup. What I posted above about a very shy pup with a fight vs flight response is a dog that ends up "a fear biter". Did she mention how the rest of the litter is behaving? I sure hope they can identify what is happening. Good luck. I am glad your breeder is being helpful.

The breeder has visited. We talked a lot and she seems to think he is a very dominate puppy. He displayed the same behavior with her as he has been doing with us. She believes that when he rejoins the litter his sister who is even more dominate will put him in his place. However she beleives without a very strong and experienced handler he would revert to his old habits.

She also believes that this dog could nip a child in the future. He will always challenge to be the leader of the pack. We are looking for a easy going family companion.

She brought along his brother who is a very different personality. She said that he has shown no dominate tendencies. She left him for us to access and see if he will work for our family.

Dagget I have a puggle (part pug, part beagle) that used to do that when she was just a few weeks/months old. We handled it like you would handle any other agressive behavior, by telling her no in a stern voice. She's about a year old now, she still does the growling if you bother her, and actually we think its kind of funny because sometimes she doesnt even realize she's doing it. She's just making noise, (if you move her when she's sleeping or something) but I know what you mean, it was scarey and I thought she was possessed or something because she seemed to go into her own world without warning. I even thought at one point we would have to give her up, because I was afraid of this 10 lb dog.

linda117,

It is exactly as you described. He seemed posessed and out of mind. I don't think he even recognized us. It would go on for 5 minutes or so.

I hope it goes better with this new little sweetie.

You sure bought from a reputable breeder! If she is right and your pup was the dominent one and that is what was being displayed you should be fine with another from the litter. Every litter has a dominent pup and a pecking order on down to most submissive. The dominent one decides when to eat, sleep, play etc and the other pups in a litter never make a decision till they are away from the litter. (unless breeder separates them at times) The said dominent one will always be a challenge and needs a really strong obedience training and alpha pack person. That can be so hard to do for many of us when dealing with a toy breed. Good luck.

I'm sorry, but aggressive behavior as described that goes on for five minutes, with no apparent cause, not seeming to recognize the family - this is not simple dominant behavior. Personally I would be very concerned that this puppy has a physiological disorder that is manifesting as a rage-type syndrome. If the puppy has not been thoroughly examined by a vet SINCE starting this behavior, the breeder should really have it checked.

Further, I am no longer as pleased with the breeder. She thinks this puppy could nip a child and she sold him to a family that wants an easy-going companion? What in the world is the point of the temperament test and the buyer questionnaire is she is not matching the personalities? If you said you wanted an easy going pup she should have sold you one, not one whose dominance was already an issue.

I hope your new baby works out well for you. I'd love to see pictures, I've never seen a Lowchen.

I really beleive she is a great breeder. She only breeds a litter every 2 years, we had to have a home inspection before we could be considered to purchase a pup. She is very active in the breed club and shows. She has even offered to pet sit in her home if we need to go out of town.

I believe that the puppy's rage was not as apparent in her home. I belive the rest of the litter kept him in line. She only said she believed that the puppy could nip a child after our visit today.

I really think she is trying to do the right thing. Her contract has a 2 week return policy for any reason. I guess only time will tell. I'll post some pics after my son gets home from school. I'm not computer savy enough.

Thanks for all of the help.

daggett, I agree with you. Your breeder is trying to do right by you and her puppies. If you bought from a pet store I doubt they would be any help. I tend to agree it may be more than dominent behavior but she was immediate to your response and took the puppy back. She will watch and evaluate and without doubt you are carefully watching your new one. How is it going with the new one?

So far the new puppy is doing great. He is laid back, gentle and snuggly. My 7 yr old oriental shorthair has even sniffed him and is staying in the same room. He stayed under my bed the whole time the other puppy was here.

The breeder has given me another 2 weeks to decide if this little boy will work out.

He should not be engaging in "rough play." Puppies should not be teased or tormented to the point that it makes them agressive. He needs consistent gentle care and play. Returning him to the litter will not teach him how to behave with humans. Only humans training him will teach him how to behave with humans.

A trained dog behavioral professional should be consulted, not the breeder.

The puppy was not teased, tormented or engaged in any rough play. We had the puppy less than a week. He was agressive when we simply took him outside for housebreaking. Given the aggressive behavior he displayed from the begining, we did not feel it was our responsibility to contact a behavioral professional. We were within the two week return period. The breeder does not cash our check and we can not register the puppy during this time. Even if I had wanted to contact a professional I would have had to contact the breeder with this suggestion. I spoke daily with the breeder and this was her suggestion. She wanted to exchange the puppy for one with a less dominate nature.

I do not feel it was our problem to fix. The breeder had to make this choice.

The new puppy does not display any of the behaviors that existed in the previous puppy.

daggett, I think you did the right thing as did the breeder. Of course the breeder would want to know what was happening with any pups and what you ended up dealing with is not normal behavior. It could be many things and it is the breeders responsibility to take the pup back, observe, get a diagnosis and treat. I hope you are enjoying your new pup.

Daggett, I agree with Eandhl. You did the right thing to call your breeder. She did the right thing to come and get the pup and give you a gentle pup. Your breeder sounds like an excellent, responsible breeder to me. She will observe the pup. It is very likely that the pup temperament tested just fine and showed no sign of anything wrong before you got him, and yet there is something wrong. Some problems take a while to manifest and show up.

Breeders aren't gods and they can't know everything about how a pup will turn out to be when they are only 8 weeks of age. Nobody can. Nor can they be blamed for everything that could possibly go wrong. If they're doing their best to be informed, conscientious and responsible, that's the best anyone can do. Your breeder seems to fit that description beautifully.

I have never lived with that breed so I don't know what is normal, but based on all the different breeds I have known and the many, many puppies I've raised, I find your description of this puppy's behavior worrisome. It may or may not be serious, but it's good that the breeder will be holding him back and observing him carefully.

I know of a case recently where a very good breeder sent a pup of a nice tempered breed home with a nice family. She took the pup back at 6 months of age because he was growling and snapping at the children in the family. She didn't know if the children had provoked it or what had happened, but she did the responsible thing -- and way more than that. The dog behaved strangely, growling at the wall at times, just weird. She worked with a behaviorist, but this didn't sound to me like anything a behaviorist could fix. She took him to the vet. And finally, she took him to a university for a very expensive CAT scan. What they found is that the pup was actually missing the left frontal lobe of his brain. It simply was not there -- some sort of birth defect. She showed me the pictures. She continued to work lovingly with the dog, but in the end the dog had to be destroyed as he was large and posed a very real threat to humans and did bite. When he wasn't being dangerous, he was the sweetest dog you'd want to meet. His breeder was the best you could ever find. She was heartbroken, but she gave that pup every chance. She then sterilized the parents and quit breeding for good. It was a very sad story and I really felt for her.

I used to breed and show dogs. I once purchased a dog who acted somewhat like what you're describing at just 9 weeks. I'd never seen anything like it either. I put the pup on a plane and sent him back to his breeder. I found out later that the mother of that pup had a horrendous temperament and never should have been bred. I hadn't been able to find that out in all the research I'd done beforehand. Fortunately, the breeder took the pup back and returned my money. I wanted that pup to show and breed. There was no way I was going to breed that temperament; I didn't even want to live with it... and I teach dog training. But there's nature and there's nurture, and at 9 weeks old we are generally looking at nature.

There is also something called "rage syndrome" in some breeds of dogs. We don't fully understand it and it's likely that there is more than one cause for what is being lumped under that heading. Some cases have responded positively to epilepsy type medicine, as it's like the dog is having some type of seizure. Other cases are being attributed to other causes, or are simply not yet understood. In many cases the dog has to be destroyed.

Congenital problems are not always possible for a breeder to spot, or easy to avoid. Some problems might be in a great grandparent, and might only affect one pup out of a litter, skiping generations. Conscientious breeders are doing great work in many breeds establishing much better record keeping, and working with the scientific world to try to eliminate defects from their breeding programs. This is costly for them and they have my deepest respect and best wishes.

There is a great deal about the brain and behavior that scientists, doctors and veterinarians simply don't know yet. In time, hopefully we will have much better answers, and better tests to be able to tell whether a dog is simply like Linda117's dog, or whether is has a physical brain anomalie or a chemical imbalance of some sort. We will probably see medicines and techniques emerging to overcome some of what we are unable to overcome today.

But for now, you did exactly what you should do, and so did your breeder. I wish her and the pup the very best of luck. Let's hope that has a happy ending for everyone, and she truly owes you no more explanation than she has already given you, and undoubtedly at this point has no better explanation.

In the meantime, I'm very glad that you have a nice mellow little cuddle bunny there to love and cherish, and to enjoy for years to come. I hope you will be posting of many happy times together.

oceanna, Very well said!

Thank you, Eandhl. Very sweet of you. :-)

Oceanna,

Thank you for all of the information.

The breader has been great. She has been in contact with me everyday since the new puppy has arived.

The new puppy continues to do great. He has not had one accident in the house. We do watch him very carefully but he has even gone to the door and waited for us to take him out. His personality is working out much better in our home.

Daggett, I'm so happy to see that you now have the puppy you wanted. I think you're going to do great together. Some pups are easy to housebreak and some are the pitts. Well, so be it on that. But on temperament, nah. You just demonstrated one of the reasons why it's so important for all of us to buy from a responsible breeder.

Happy puppy to you! :-)