You don’t know me at all, but my dog owes you her life (twice) and I wanted to thank you, from the bottom of my heart, for writing Good Owners, Great Dogs. A little over four years ago, my fear aggressive black lab, Sam, became dangerous. Truly dangerous. She bit my husband, she bit me, and she had attacked our younger dog. We had a toddler and we were frantic. I had actually read your book several years before and it had helped me figure out how to manage her fear aggression and even that was such a huge blessing. She had seen a behaviorist at the time her vet determined she was fear aggressive and the behaviorist felt the best solution was to put her to sleep. I disagreed and that’s where your book came in the first time, so it had already saved her once.
This time, I thought maybe the behaviorist had been right and Sam was at the end. We had to barricade her in our room to keep her away from our son, she had no joy no anything, and was snapping, growling, and all the things that are the stuff of nightmares. BUT, I remembered reading in your book about the suddenly aggressive dog who was put to sleep and then they discovered severe ear infections after the fact.
Sam was scheduled for a teeth cleaning, but her vet was arguing against it as a waste of time if we were seriously considering putting her down. I suggested, instead, that we consider it an opportunity — check her more thoroughly than he ever had in her previous three years in his practice. X-rays, everything. Look for anything that could be causing such a dramatic shift. If he didn’t find anything, then I would feel like I’d done everything I possibly could for her and would be able to let her go to the bridge with peace in my heart.
My husband took her in that morning. The first phone call came at 10:30a. He found a slab fracture with exposed nerve. After he shot the x-rays, he called again, degenerating discs in her lower spine. He poked around a while longer and then let me know that she also had, you guessed it, a really deep ear infection. And then the blood work came back. Her thyroid had failed.
Any one of these things could have caused her to be snappish, angry, and more aggressive than ever. All of them together, we are so, so lucky that the only people she bit was the two of us. He pulled the broken tooth that day. She’s been on pain management and thyroid replacement ever since. She turned 13 in March and is still my best girl (though don’t tell the younger dog or my daughter that I said that).
Attached is a picture of Sam taken on her birthday. She thanks you, as do we all, for writing your book. It definitely saved her life!
Beth Latshaw