My family’s 8-year old dog, Oliver is a Pitt-lab mix. He has shown aggression every now and then and it became worse when we got a beagle about 5 years ago. We thought we would have to give him up at that time, but he got so much better and we learned more about when he could become aggressive and became more watchful and careful when we saw those patterns/triggers. We got another beagle almost a year ago and we were worried that he was going to get worse again, but this beagle puppy had such a determined spirit about her and never took no for an answer from him. If he snapped at her, she would yipe and run to me, but two seconds later she would be back over by him trying to play. It brought out such a good side of him we had never seen.
Unfortunately, he has suddenly taken a turn for the worse. We don’t know at all what triggered it, but on Christmas 2022, he suddenly started being way more aggressive again and started snapping even at my dad (which he never used to do). He started potty-ing in the house when we leave him for the day and his behavior has just deteriorated more from there. We were so worried that he might be trying to tell us that something was wrong with him. Having previously lost two dogs to cancer, we took him to the vet and had x-rays and blood work done. Luckily, everything came back normal. We are thinking it is just behavioral, but are still so baffled that it randomly started after so many years of him being so good. We just ask for prayers that he improves and doesn’t worsen again. We are worried that if he continues to be more and more aggressive and we can’t correct the behavior, that we might have to make the difficult decision to have him euthanized, which I know would crush my dad. Any prayers would be appreciated!
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