River’s Training

Around 1yo River started becoming reactive to people and getting his nails trimmed. He would bark and lunge at people he deemed scary. He’d try to bite me when I would try to clip his nails. I tried to train him myself at the time but I eventually gave up as I never really saw any progress with him. Things just got worse and worse. In October, we went on a family trip to Colorado. We happened to travel along with my aunt and uncle. During the trip, River had his first case of unprovoked aggression (I saw it with my own eyes.. I wouldn’t have believed it otherwise). He ran up to my aunt out of nowhere and gave her a bite. It definitely wasn’t him being playful.

Recently, River has been starting small fights with my senior dog Sawyer. River will lunge, growl, and bark whenever he feels Sawyer is a threat (mind you Sawyer is 11 and does nothing but walk by River). Last night was the first time it’s ever turned into something super physical. I was making a treat bowl for my pet rats. It had a few dog treats in it so both dogs came up behind me. River got upset with Sawyer. River growled and barked at Sawyer and then grabbed him by the face with his teeth and drug him across the living room. My dad grabbed at River in an attempt to get River off of Sawyer because at this point things were turning bloody. River then let go of Sawyers face and grabbed him by the tail. My dad eventually got River off and he’s been muzzled and on a leash since. Sawyer can barely walk and has many wounds.