Why is my dog aggressive and biting after a vet visit? What to do?

The bite appears to have broken the skin, so the best thing you should do is flush the wound with water for ten minutes. This will help to flush out any germs that are in the wound. We (veterinarians) are not allowed (legally and ethically) to give advice about treatment for people, so I have to recommend that you seek medical help from your doctor. They will be able to better assess the wound, provide the necessary treatment, and give any vaccines if necessary. I know that the doctor will want to ensure that your tetanus vaccine is up to date and possibly recommend rabies prophylaxis. If Skyler had the rabies vaccine around three months, and he is only five months now, then he should be up-to-date. It's best to bring your dogs vaccine records to the medical appointment to be sure. I hope that helps and all is well.

Dog's don't bite on accident. He bit because he was uncomfortable with the situation and sounds like he's still on high alert after the incident. I'd recommend giving him lots of space and lots of love from afar by way of tossing him special treats. Rocky may need to be separated from your other dog for a while if he can't stand you being around him. It's possible he's in some pain if one of the nails was cut too close, or that he's still upset from the fear of the nail cutting. If he doesn't calm down in a few days, I'd recommend another vet visit to discuss medications to help him calm. Wishing you the best of luck in this tricky situation.

Anxiety can lead to aggression, and it may be Skye's anxiety has gotten so great that she is now acting aggressive. I'd have her seen by a vet for this to discuss putting her on anti-anxiety medication.

Hello, I would recommend having your vet check your dog, it could certainly be behavioral but it could also be something medical going on by your description, such as an infection or a rash. Your vet will start with a good physical exam and be able to get some answers for you.

Oh dear! I'm sorry to hear that you're having this problem with Onyx. Human-directed aggression in dogs is a complex behavior issue that can have many different causes, so I'm afraid it's difficult to say what might be causing this without a full behavior history and an in-person evaluation. This sounds like a very dangerous situation for you, so if you want to keep Onyx, I would strongly recommend making an appointment with a veterinary behaviorist who can evaluate him in person and help you determine what is causing this behavior. Aggression issues like this can be treatable in many cases with careful management and a good training plan to work on the problem, but this should only be attempted with assistance from a trained professional. You can search for a board-certified veterinary behaviorist in your area here: www.dacvb.org

Poor thing. My two top would be that he was really sore before and/or after the surgery and remembers that being traumatic. Fear-based aggression is very common in dogs. Your comment that he seems worse than before the surgery makes me think perhaps he never loved having his feet touched, and if that's the cause, having an injury could have caused him to think "see, I was right! awful things happen when people touch my feet!" even though I'm assuming the injury itself was unrelated to a person. Since he's gotten to the point of biting, I would recommend talking with his vet about some medications (such a prozac and/or trazodone and gabapentin) to help him calm and then working with a very qualified trainer on desensitizing him to having people touch him. I would also recommend never letting kids interact with him until he's more comfortable, so that no one is in danger. Good luck with this very difficult problem.

Oh dear! That is a worry for sure! It's really important that you don't get hurt, because dog bites can be pretty serious. I would suggest making an appointment with your vet to talk about possibilities. They might be able to link you up with a behaviorist, or dog trainer that could help a lot. There also could be medications that might help. Or, like you said, there could be a medical problem that is upsetting him.