My dog attacked another dog after waking from sleep. What's wrong?

It’s impossible to know without an exam if that episode was a bad dream or related to pain. Watch Orlando very closely for any repeated episodes, limping or reluctance to move. Once he wakes up, check his nails and make sure none are broken and that there aren’t any wounds on the feet. If you see anything questionable, have him seen by his veterinarian. It’s possible he got a toe nail stuck in the bed and it twisted and if the nails are long, get them trimmed. I hope this is helpful and please feel free to post any additional questions.

Abrupt changes in behavior like this in dogs is very concerning to me. I would be worried about some underlying neurologic disorder that could be going on. If nothing has changed at home, her routine, or the environment in general, then I would suspect an underlying medical issue. I would recommend taking her to be examined by your veterinarian and possibly having some lab work performed so they can try and determine what is going on. Your vet may recommend further work up by veterinary neurologist or may recommend a behavior modification drugs like Xanax or Prozac. I hope this helps. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach. Best of luck.

It's worth being him checked by your vet to make sure he doesn't have a health condition causing him to be painful, though he's very young for that, generally it will be older arthritic animals that develop aggression when disturbed. If he checks out medically, ask your vet about trainers or obedience classes you can get him into. Often a dog showing aggression at a young age mistakenly thinks they are in charge, obedience training would help a great deal in reminding him that you are his pal leader, not the other way around. Also make sure he is getting lots of exercise and mental stimulation, he could be bored and needs something to do. A tired dog is a happy dog.

Sometimes animals do dream so that could potentially be the cause. Also he could have very easily hurt himself but not seriously, for example if he got a dew claw caught on the bedding. If he seems back to normal I would simply monitor him, and you can always take him to a vet for an examination if you are concerned.

Is he running into things around the house? He could be suffering from some blindness which can make them hypersensitive to anyone coming around their face. If this is all of the sudden, it could be due to high blood pressure and I would have your vet check him out to see if he needs to be on any blood pressure meds. Another possibility is that he may have had a seizure in his sleep which caused the twitching. After a seizure, they can be very hypersensitive to any touch or movement until they snap out of it. If he isn't improving, I would definitely have your vet take a look at him to see if there is anything else going on. If he doesn't snap out of it suddenly, then I would believe even more than it was likely a seizure. I would call your vet and talk to them about the seizure. Your vet will likely recommend a panel of bloodwork to ensure there isn't anything metabolically wrong that could have caused a seizure. I would recommend to start a seizure log which records the date, time and what he did during and after the seizure. If these episodes begin to happen often then I would contact your vet about this as well. I hope this helps!

Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach. This sounds like it could be anxiety related, probably due to (or worsened by) the recent trip. Try separating them for a day or so, then taking them for a walk together. If it continues for more than a day or so, talk with your vet about anti-anxiety medications which can help tremendously with this sort of thing. Best wishes to you, Charlie, and Grey!

In most cases, there is indeed a trigger for aggressive behavior like this - even if you aren't able to tell what it is. A skilled trainer or behaviorist could likely help you determine what is triggering it, so I would definitely recommend making an appointment with someone who can evaluate Viktor in person - he/she can also put together a detailed training plan for you to work on the problem. In the rare cases that there truly is no discernable trigger, it is possible for aggressive behavior to be linked to a neurologic disease such as a brain tumor - but this is very uncommon in my experience. The vast majority of aggressive dogs have a behavioral reason for there aggression, even if it is subtle and not easy to identify at first. This is where a professional can be very helpful :)