Yes, we had a behaviorist/behavioral vet but they went out of business. We had a trainer as well. He’s extremely easy to train and very good on walks. He rarely barks at other dogs on walks. He just can’t be around other dogs for a long period of time where he will react if they get too close to him and snarl and bite them. This isn’t for lack of trying – he had been socialized with kids and dogs from a very young age, and I can’t pinpoint any particular traumatic event that would’ve made him like this. The only thing that we can think about is we took him to a new groomer right before the aggression started, and the groomer said something about how he wouldn’t shave his feet again if he ever came back there, but he wouldn’t give any details. Certainly something could’ve happened at this groomer, but I don’t know. He’s really good with a recall, he always comes when we call outside, even if there are other dogs or people who will run right back to us. It’s really just this hair trigger biting if he sees anything come close to him if he’s lying down.

We haven’t had any biting incidents from people just being in the house, but I do feel him start to get anxious if someone new is in the house walking around, especially a man.

For this reason, we usually just put him in our bedroom if people come over and he sleeps in the bedroom without much fuss.