Our 15+ year old Jack Russell ***** has attacked our 15+ year old Golden Retriever ***** 6 times now. Last attacked resulted in bad bite to the Jack's nose. We have cleaned the wound and treated it with antibiotic cream and she is resting but still will not eat or drink. She looks like she is in a daze.

Our Jack and Golden have lived together for over a year now and have gotten along fine. We also rescued two other dogs, a Pug ***** and a Queensland Healer neuter male. All got along just fine for this past year. This weekend we had visitors with their dogs, a Jack neuter male and a Golden neuter male and during the visit out female Jack attacked our Golden, and none other 5 times. The visitors left and we thought the anxiety caused the problem, but this morning the Jack attacked the Golden and the Golden retaliated by biting her nose badly.

During the visit, our Jack stopped eating and we suspect that had something to do with the behavior. The Golden never bothered the Jack but the Jack would continue to attack her unprovoked for some reason. Uncharacteristically, our Jack is laying still under a blanket and still will not eat or drink. She is resting, but we have separated all other dogs from her in case she is rabid or something.

We plan to take her to a vet tomorrow, Monday or a vet today if her symptoms change.

Can anyone explain this bizarre behavior? Her eyes appear glazed and when she sees the Golden, she immediately attacks. She leaves the other dogs and cat alone and doesn't threaten us, so it's not random attacks, but rather directed attacks against the Golden who tries to steer clear of her. The other dogs are now afraid to enter the house because of the events.

We love our Jack, but it looks like she has gone senile or flipped out or may have gotten rabid from some wild animal or rodent in our country backyard out here in Pahrump, NV.

Drake

I wish Labman was on, he is really good with dog issues and hopefully he will see the post when he comes back on. I do not know if this will help you but as some dogs get older they do have behavior changes sometimes. I am so glad you stated that you are going to go to the vet, most people do not they just ask a question here and assume they are getting the right answer. Please read Older Dogs: Common Behavior Changes it is from a site called Pet Education.com it should be most helpful, and please check back, I am sure Labman will have better advice for you.

I wish I could live up to Lilly's billing. I have a lot of experience and training, but it is heavy on the younger dogs. I strongly go along with the vet visit. The Jack could be senile or her arthritis acting up. The not eating points to a physical problem too. Otherwise this is as expected as a hair pulling fight in a nursing home. Are your females all spaded? It looks like you used the word ***** and it was deleted. Even if there aren't, I would be surprised to see a couple of neutered males unsettle things so.

I do notice my 12 year old spayed Lab, Aster, takes an acute interest in mail box posts, and is careful to make her visit known. I swear as they get older, they get more obsessed with that.

Post back and let us know how the vet visit goes. If there are no physical problems, we can talk more about behavior.