I adopted an Australian Shepherd mix thought to be around 2 years of age in November of '07. When I got him, he showed no signs of aggression and was calm and playful. After a couple weeks, we started to think he had been abused by his last owner because he would cower his head when my husband would pet him and when we would correct his behavior, he would go and hide in a different room. He never showed aggression towards us, he isn't food aggressive and he has never been anything but playful towards my 5 year old stepson. Last week, the dog was outside by our other dog playing like he has done pretty much every day. Our other dog is a 13 yr old female who is not spayed, she was a breeding dog. The Shephard mix is not neutered.
Well, last week, I called the Shephard to come in the house and he would not come. I went out by him to hook him to his leash to direct him inside the house, and when I was walking out to him he laid down flat on his belly. I
Reached down to attach the leash to his collar, and he jumped up and started barking violently at me. He did not try to bite me, but I didn't stay out by him to find out if he was going to bite. When my husband came home, he tried to bring the dog inside and the same thing happened, except my husband instead of running away like I did, grabbed a cookie sheet that was on the grill and hit the dog with it because he thought he was going to bite. When he hit the dog, the dog stopped barking and came trotting back up to come in the house.
My husband now wants to get rid of the dog because I am 6 months pregnant and he is worried about another incident or one of us getting bitten. Will getting him Neutered make any difference or will the female protectiveness still happen? We plan on getting one or two more female dogs for breeding so they will not be Spayed. Is this behavior what I should expect from not on, or can I do something to help the dog? I had two dogs die this year and would hate to give this one up since he is such a good dog the rest of the time! He hasn't showed any other aggression ever in the last 5 months that we have had him and has shown none since we have kept him away from the other dog. Please Help!
Casey