Canine Multiple Personality Disorder

We have two Jack Russell Terriers. Buster who is 2 and Tilly who is 10 months. We got Buster when he was 11 months old as his previous owner couldn't cope with him as she had just had a baby and lived in a flat. Without being biased Buster is a handsome stocky dog and is very active. He spends most of his time barking at dog walkers walking past the bottom our garden. The downside is he can be quite grumpy and it seems to be getting worse.

One minute he will be playing with you tugging his rope or you could be taking him for a walk in the woods and he seems to be enjoying every minute. All of sudden he starts to growl and show you his teeth when you stop playing or get him back to the car to go home. He hasn't actually tried to bite any of us but if he is sat on a chair and you disturb him he will growl at you. His mood can change in a split second.

He was badly treated in his previous home and was kept in a cage with a litterbox for 24 hours at a time. He is scared witless of any brush and we heard that he was hit with a brush when he was a puppy. If he sees a brush he runs a mile.

I guess my question is does anyone know how we can help stop him growling at us as he seems to have about four different personalities. One is where he runs around the garden like a lunatic, seemingly happy. To the playful with his toys and our other dog and kitten. Then the snappy teeth showing grump. If you move him from where he wants to be like on the chair or in front of the fire he growls all the way to his basket as if he is chunnering at us. Then if you go near him he will just growl. Any tips? We want him to be happy given his crappy start in life...

I'm not sure why you think the dog has a personality disorder - would you expect a human to be happy 100% of the time? Dogs can be happy, playful, scared, tired, frustrated, all manner of emotions that they display in different ways.

Has he been to the vet for a thorough health check? Definately worth ruling out pain as a potential cause, for exampel if he was hit as a puppy he may have old injuries that haven't healed well - this could be why he's happy to settle on a chair but then growls if you move near him or go to touch him, he may feel sore from having laid in the same position for a while. There are some medical conditions that can cause anxiety and aggression too - for example, thyroid issues.

Also I would look up trigger stacking, it can explain "unpredictable" aggression. You may think his personality is changing from minute to minute but it may be that he is able to tolerate so much, and then the stresses overwhelm him. For example, say you had to wake up early. You're grumpy from dragging yourself up out of bed earlier than usual, you step on the upside down plug of your girlfriend's hairdryer, you're out of toothpaste, you burn your toast...minor grievances that you may ignore or have a ittle grumble over. You leave for work, get stuck in traffic, you have another grumble. Get to work, it turns out it's actually Saturday and you didn't even need to get out of bed at all! You drive home in more traffic, get home to find you've locked your keys in the house in your rush this morning, you have to drive over to your relative with a spare set because your girlfriend's away for the weekend. When you get in, you find the dog's got a tummy bug and has left some presents for you all over the house, you clean it all up and finally get to sit down and chill out - and the phone rings...it's a sales call. You listen through their speil and then cut them short to get rid of them..finally time to chill out, when your doorbell goes off. It's the kid next door, his ball has gone over your fence for the 10th time this week. Enraged by the morning's events, you stomp out to the garden, grab the nearby gardening fork, pop the ball and chuck it over the fence with a torrent of complaints! Perhaps an over the top, aggressive reaction, but someone understandable given your horrible morning - but the kid doesn't know that you've had such a bad day so your response seems out of character.
You might find that this emotional response has given you an outlet for your stress and you feel much calmer the rest of the day. However, your stress levels don't quite reach "0" and you may find yourself getting irritated by little things again over the course of the weekend. It takes a few more days for you to calm down completely and get back to your usually rational self.

The same thing can happen in dogs. That scary hoover Mum or Dad used this morning worried them, but not too much. And then that annoying dog from next door barking at the boundary fence got them a bit wound up, but you called them in before they got too stressed. Then there was that visit to the V-E-T for a checkup, which gets their heart racing. All those stresses building up, and the next time they bump into a dog out on a walk, they may react in a much different way to how they may have reacted if they'd gone out for a walk and met the same dog before you did the hoovering. Try taking another look at the dog and how it's behaved and what it's been exposed to before these 'episodes' of aggressive behaviour and you may be surprised to find a link, even if it relates to things that happened yesterday or the day before.
http://www.dogster.com/lifestyle/how...es-like-tetris

^^^ agree

also try and not think of him growling and being grumpy as a bad thing - he is telling you he is not happy with something - that is a good thing that he is telling you
Once you have ruled out medical reasons you then need to work on making him happy with the things

teach him getting on and off a chair is fun - play it as a trick - 'on' treat, 'off' treat and tuggy game, 'on' treat' 'off' tuggy game

Same with going into the car - or back on the lead - dont make it a boring end to the walk, make it a fun thing teach 'in/out' of the car means another game, a nice treat, a drive somewhere more fun

poor soul hasnt had a good start in life, has seen scary things, I imagine if he was hit with a brush then his growling will most likely have been met with human aggression as well
Hopefully in his new home he can start to learn that he can comunicate safely, and as he relaxes and you understand each other better his growls will hopefully get less and less

Can I recommend that you read The Culture Clash by Jean Donaldson. It is a very good introduction to doggy behaviour and training.
TBH the dog sounds pretty normal to me. The reactivity can be addressed by training.

^^^^^^ sound advice. The JRT we have now is good but I had one before that chuntered and grumbled all the way to her bed if you got her off the settee and she was never ill treated. Remember they are strong willed little dogs and training is a must

He doesn't have a "personality disorder"he is simply using the only tools he has learnt work with humans. The growl & the snap ! He has learnt presumably in his previous home that this behaviour gets the human to move away or stop what they are doing.

What you have to do is to teach him to trust you completely & that he has no need to defend himself from you.

His growl is a warning that he is not comfortable with whatever you are doing. so if you tell him to get off the furniture & he growls, then use reverse psychology & by throwing a high value treat on the floor & using a clicker to mark & reward his action of getting off the furniture, it shouldn't take him too long to learn that getting off the furniture is far more rewarding than to stay on the furniture & get ignored.

Baby steps is the way

I've not been on for ages, but totally agree.
One of my girls used to be somewhat collar shy (thanks to my dad's rough handling of her) and used to grump if you went to move her from furniture when she'd got comfy.

I was told that it was unacceptable, she shouldn't be allowed to react in such a way, and to 'tan her ****' - sorry 'bottom' - (this from a vet nurse who regularly gave out unsolicited behaviour advice).

Needless to say - I didn't. I recognised that she had just got comfy, she had a pre-existing issue (collar shy) and that it was stressful for her when you reached towards her and she had finally got comfy.

I did the 'on - off' tricks with her, I taught her that it was ok to growl to communicate but that ultimately she still had to do as I said. When she growled, I didn't back off - but I didn't go towards her. I'd reassure her, and work on the issue that she clearly had at a different time.

Nowadays, I can do anything with that dog - it didn't take long for her to accept this and now I don't need to move her from the furniture because she doesn't tend to get on but if she does, I just have to tell her. I can, however, if I need to - get hold of her and move her with no reaction.

If your boy has been roughly treated, his issue could also be that he's collar shy or hand shy - especially if getting in the car involves you touching him, or of course, you'd get hold of him to put his collar on.

I overcome this with the rescue dogs I work with by feeding them as I touch them/their collar and always finish touching them BEFORE the food runs out, make it a positive thing, build up how much you touch them, how rough you are, moving their collar around etc. whilst feeding treats/playing a game.

Whenever you go to put his lead on or put him in the car feed him a treat as you do it - and then make extra efforts to do it throughout the day.

As Dyane says - baby steps all the time... even if you think 'well he doesn't have an issue with that' do it anyway - take it from 'doesn't have a problem with it' to 'enjoying it' - it'll set him up for the next stage.

It may also be worth putting a fence up a little way into your garden so he can't get right to the bottom and wind himself up barking at dog walkers - as explained above - stresses build up and he's already worked himself up to a certain degree before you even look at him if he's chasing up and down barking in his spare time. Cutting that out might bring him down a little.

Take a look at his diet too - because diet can really make a huge impact on behaviour.

Thanks a lot for the replies! I was over exaggerating when I said "personality disorder" just that he can change at a split second. He's a nice dog just as I said I think as he was neglected as a puppy and then beaten with a brush when he did anything. That must be confusing for him. We will just have to be patient. We really have no idea what we are doing when it comes to rescue dogs as we have always had puppies. I have ordered a copy of that book and will give it a good read. Genuine thanks though - appreciate it!!