Taking Ruby (child aggressive) to behaviorist

[Riley's Mom]

Originally Posted By: BowWowMeowBecause Rafi had some issues with other dogs when I adopted him I taught him to go behind me when he felt threatened or unsure of a situation. That worked like a charm. He is now rock solid with other dogs, even if they charge or try to intimidate him. And if he feels threatened or unsure he will still use my body to protect himself.

Wow! What a cool idea! But how did you teach him to do this? I can see teaching getting him behind you with a command and a treat or whatever, but to do it only when he's afraid, how'd you dooooooo that?

Back to the OP's dilema ... we didn't have any luck w/a behaviorist, in fact the one we went to I'm not sure isn't just a quack and the other-dog aggressive test she did was a joke and a half.

I agree on the fear-aggression "diagnosis" the others mentioned, that's what it sounds like to me, too.

But since she's showing aggressive tendencies towards other dogs AND children - these are both symptoms of thyroid dysfunction. I would have that checked, blood draw at the vet and my suggestion is to not use their local lab but instead have the blood sent for testing to Hemopet in CA. Best lab in the country for this and not expensive.

[goatdude]

Had Ruby out today at a park where a lot of young kids play. She was fairly calm and I did the "present her to kids at a distance and reward good behavior with treats thingy" and all. I'm also getting her used to the head halter.
Riley's Mom, I'm taking your suggestion and having her thyroid tested. Ruby has days where she is just very mildly reactive, like today, where she was very close to being a normal dog, and other days (yesterday) where she is just off the charts. It's worth a shot.

[Riley's Mom]

ron ... I'm glad you're going to do this. Nobody expected ours to have hypothyroidism ... sometimes its apparently just not real obvious.

Just an FYI, http://www.hemopet.org is the best in the country for blood testing for this. That's where we have our furkids blood sent. Because for us this involves aggression, I wasn't taking any chances and turns out our local lab uses a different level as far as normal/not normal than hemopet so I go w/hemopet since they're more accurate. If you decide you want to do that, you need to visit the hemopet web site and download the paperwork to fill out that has to be shipped w/the blood. I found their pricing to be very reasonable.