I am still shaking and freaking out over what just happened. Our cat, Patches was sleeping on a chair by the table and my brother's dog Jade was walking by her. All of a sudden, Jade grabs Patches by the HEAD and pulls her off the chair onto the floor. :crazyeyes: Once Jade has her on the floor, she starts violently shaking her and trying to kill Patches. Patches is an old cat and doesn't have the ability to fight back besides to use her claws.
Luckilly, my dad was right there and was able to grab Jade off of the cat. Patches clawed Jade's face so hard that one of her claws came out and stuck above Jade's eye. Other than having a nail pulled out, Patches is okay. I'm sure she is sore since she has arthritis. After the attack, I held Patches and just cried. I'm not allowed to hold her since I'm very allergic, so I'm paying for it with the itchy skin, but I don't care. I had to make sure she was okay.
What should we do with Jade to prevent this from EVER happening again? I'm terrified she'll go after Porky or Bandit one day. Jade gets two one hour long walks each day, plenty of play time and we work on training her in obedience throughout the day. What could have caused her to go crazy like that? How would you have responded to her violence? My dad responded by grabbing her and getting her off the cat and then making her lie down until she was calm.
That is awful poor Patches!!! Does she have any puncture wounds? They can get infected or abcess pretty easily and are sometimes hard to see. I don't think you will ever be able to guarantee 100% Jade will never do this again especially since it sounded like it was unprovoked. I would worry about Porky and Bandit too, it may never happen with them but with the size difference if it does it would be bad...how old is Jade have you seen any sign of this before? I know it would be next to impossible but if it were me I'd do all I could to keep Jade apart from the other three. Can you analyze the situation at all and try to figure out what triggered Jade to attack Patches?
Oh dear! I'm glad Patches is OK. I'd keep Jade away from the little guys if at all possible. I don't have any idea why Jade would go off like that. How terrifying.
Patches does not have any puncture wounds or scratch marks from Jade's teeth. Amazingly, she only got her claw ripped out and I'm sure she'll have some brusing and soreness from the attack. We checked very very carefully for any marks on her head and neck. We'll keep checking her throughout the day today and the next few days to make extra sure she has no wounds. I'm just terrified that it will happen again to Patches or the other two dogs. I don't even want to think of how bad that could be.
Jade is 9 months old, she'll be 10 months old on the 31st. She has chased the cat and other two dogs,but never attacked them. Bandit and Porky have been frightened of her from day one, so we have always supervised their "together" time.
I have no idea what triggered her attack on the cat. :dontknow: The cat was sleeping, so she wasn't moving or anything to proke the "prey" instinct in Jade. Jade had her morning walk and had been playing ball with my dad for a half hour. After playing, she ate her food and water and laid down to relax. After laying down for a few minutes she walked into the dining room and started attacking the cat as soon as Jade saw her. :confused: It was very scary. It was like something just "snapped" and then after it was over, Jade was back to her sweet goofy self. It was the most terrifying and bizarre thing I have ever seen.
This is so upsetting! My blood pressure shot up a few notches just reading this and it's not even my dog. Oh dear. What to do. I would be terrified for the dachsies. The only 2 things I can think of are 1) Separation. Can a dog run be made for Jade that allows her to come into a back porch or room, so that she would have a fenced enclosure along with access the porch? She may only be permitted in the house when someone can absolutely supervise, and if necessary, subdue her. 2) Hate to say it, but maybe she is a one dog only type dog. Would rehoming be an option? This present situation does not sound healthy for the rest of the pets in the house. What kind of dog is she? Could she have some kind of health problem that set her off? Very scary. I'm still shaking. Please kiss Patches (oops, your allergies), please have Porky kiss Patches for me. She must have been traumatized.
Jade has a burrow she dug outside that she loves to lay in. My brother put a piece of rounded tin over the top of her "burrow" to protect her from rain, wind, and snow. We make sure she has access to going out there, anytime she wants. It seems to calm and soothe her. Jade goes to visit her mother (a yellow lab) and her sister on a weekly basis and does just fine with them. Her father's breed is unkown since Jade's mother got pregnant on a hunting trip. :doah: We're guessing from Jade's coloration that he was a German Shepherd. She really has a lot of the German Shepherd features. Her sister and mother are both even tempered and quite friendly with other dogs as well as strangers. So maybe Jade inherited her unknown father's poor temperment?? :dontknow:
Thanks for all your helpful insight! I really appreciate it, I want to make sure this NEVER happens again so if anyone has more advice I will GLADLY take it!
I would take her to the vet to get her tyroid checked. Not just the regular tyroid check that they do they send it out to the lab to check there level (I can't think of the name of the test right now). If that is out of wack it may be the cause of the sudden attack. I would watch her real close. Just last year I had to get rid of one of my dogs because she nearly killed one of my doxies. It was out of the blue. I had let them out at 5 am to go potty and then I heard my doxie crying violently. Ran outside and my golden had the death grip on her and was shaking her around like you described. My doxie is okay after 4500 dollars in surgery and vet bills. But that day I surendered my golden retriver over to my vet. It was the most heart breaking day of my life. I only tell you this because you never know so keep them well supervised. Also, my golden acted like nothing ever happened and was her happy go lucky self afterwards, and at the time I didn't know about having the tyroid checked. Good Luck
Kathy,
Thanks for your idea. I would have never thought of that! I'm so sorry to hear about your horrible experience with this kind of thing. I'm glad your baby was okay.
You need to get Jade to a vet right away and keep children and the other pets away from her in the meantime. This sounds a lot like "rage syndrome" which is a little like a seizure. Here is some information from a web site on it:
"There is another form of aggression, called mental lapse aggression, that has been previously described as “rage syndrome”. Dr. Bonnie Beaver, at Texas A&M, first described this type of aggression. The cause is unknown, but the EEG brain wave pattern resembles that of a wild animal. It is probably not a seizure disorder, as these dogs do not respond to anticonvulsants. These dogs display sudden, violent aggression. It can start at any age, but usually occurs in young adults, and becomes progressively worse. A careful behavioral history shows absolutely no pattern of predictability. There is no known treatment, except euthanasia. It is probably very rare, but can be very difficult to distinguish from a severe case of dominance aggression. In the long run, it probably isn’t that critical to make the distinction, since euthanasia is the safest course in either event."
To read more, go to this web site: http://www.essfta.org/Health_Research/aggression.htm
I hope it isn't anything like this, but you can't be too careful.
Poor Poor Patches!!!!! I am so glad she is okay. I would have been terrified!!! I would definitely take Jade to the Vet to see if they could figure out if she is sick? or if her thyroid is okay and I would definitely have her stay away from Porky and Bandit and Patches from now on....Hugs and kisses to Patches from all of us :comfort:
A thyroid check is in order if out of wack they can be more aggressive at present since it is the weekend I would keep a long line on Jade when in the house that way you can grab her is you need too. Being 8 months old she is a puppy will be a puppy for at least the next two year.She may have a grown body but she still has a puppy brain since Buddy was so much bigger than Patches I kept a long line on him at all times when they were both loose in the house under my supervision. If I had them outside and I could stay with them Buddy was on a tie out cable that way Patches could get away from him if needed.Buddy will be 3 years old in April I recently put his crate up if I leave the house to run to the store I always put Patches in her crate. Buddy is so big and Patches is so little I do not want to chance it.Did Jade get any toys for Christmas that she grabbed & shook the stuffy kind??? Know she should know the cat is not a stuffy but you just never know with dogs/pups. Personally I would have came down on her hard for that infraction to the cat would have left a lasting impresion on that dog/pup for that infraction would had grabbed her collar drug her out of the house telling her off all the way(You leave that cat alone do you hear me) need to work on the Leave it command use a treat teach her Leave it work on it every day till she will not touch what ever you tell her to leave it.Hold a treat in front of her,show it to her if she grabs for it close you hand,when she looks away give her a treat from the other hand. She will soon lear she gets the treat when she is not grabing for it or trying be obnoxious. Then every time she is near the cat or the Doxie's tell her to leave them alone.Of course get her cleared by the vet first you will not be able to trust her around the other fur kids for some time to come just too much puppy brain.Good Luck hope your cat is ok.Papbouv
Thank you so much for that information. I did find some information on Rage Syndrome when I was researching earlier today. I really really really hope its not that. It freaked me out just reading about it. I'm definately STRONGLY encouraging my brother to get her to the vet ASAP, but ultimately, I have no control over that. If I had the money, I would take her in myself and have her checked out immediately. I'm going to show my mom the articles and maybe she can convince him. :xfinger:
I certainly hope your brother takes Jade to the vet. An unprovoked attack like this is very worrisome. I would keep the other furkids away from her even when supervised. If the other furkids are nervous and/or fearful around Jade, she will sense it and that might cause an attack.
Annie
Papbouv and Annie, Thank you so much for your helpful advice!! My dad said something that got me to thinking today. We were talking about yesterday and he mentioned that the cat had laid on Jade's ball. Jade goes crazy for her balls and gets very possessive of them. I didn't know anything about the ball yesterday, so perhaps Jade was just jealous that the cat got her ball? I still think how she acted was inexcusable and needs immediate remediation!
We are having a behaviorist come in tomorrow to see Jade and let us know what he thinks. He is familiar with Rage Syndrome as one of his German Shepherds had it. He wants to observe her all day tomorrow and see if he thinks its purely a behavioral problem or if he thinks its more of a medical problem. He interviewed my brother for quite a while over the phone about different behaviors, things she likes to do, etc... He said his intial thought is that she is a very fearful/nervous dog and may need medication to help with her anxiety. But, again, he hasn't seen her yet, so we can't be sure. He said it is possible that Jade got startled when she spotted the cat on the chair as she walked by. :dontknow: He came highly recommended from a local obedience trainer, so we'll see how it works out.
Good Luck I'm sure it is just her age and she will grow out of it but it is best not to leave any stone unturned since the lives of the other Fur Kids maybe at risk.
Papbouv
Generally if a large dog intends to kill a small cat, the deed is done very quickly! The fact that Patches did not have even one puncture wound or scratch is definitely in your favor. I agree with Papbouv that Jade probably did not have in mind a cat killing, but rather it was very inappropriate play. I am SO GLAD you are having a behaviorist come. A person that really understands behavior and uses positive methods can do wonderful and amazing things!! Best of luck to you. Let us know how it turns out.
Janet