Rage Syndrome in a German Shepherd Dog? - Page 1

Three days ago, my 2 year old GSD attacked my husband and then attacked me for no apparent reason. We have owned/bred GSDs for 40 years and have never encountered anything like this. The attack was sudden, very violent and frightening. Afterwards the dog acted happy and calm. In other words, like he normally acts. This is not a dog with dominance issues. He knows his place. We have never once had an issue with this dog.

The Neurologist thinks it is a case of Rage Syndrome; rare, but not unheard of, in GSDs. I wasn't sure if this syndrome was even for real until now.

I would like to hear if others have encountered this in GSDs. Please, in GSDs *only* as I'm not interested in other breeds with the disorder.

Thanks in advance.

The 'Syndrome' certainly seems to be a real thing, or at least in breeds such as Cocker Spaniels where there have been many cases and so much research has been done. I don't think anyone just dismisses it anymore. Personally I have never come across it as diagnosed in GSDs, nor have I actually experienced anything, in GSDs, that I would have wanted to label "Rage".  However,  I am aware of many cases over the years where such 'out of the blue', 'out of character' attacks on owners and families have occurred; some of these "my dog suddenly turned on me" attacks may have been down to Rage Syndrome, but nobody put that label on them ?

The trouble is, often in such cases not enough is done to determine whether the reason why the dog suddenly bit might actually have a more prosaic cause; some dietary ingredient, perhaps, or a trauma that startled the dog (maybe not immediately and obviously connected to the biting event), or something else. There is always the story of the "pencil driven into the ear" variety.

Couple that with the widespread and long-standing horror of the GSD breed, at times stirred up by the Press &c, because of its connections with guard dogs, war dogs, bitework, and so on, which even today still leads some people to cross the street if they see a GSD coming, such reports of dogs 'turning' have got mixed into a general mire of myth and misinformation. Unless proper records are taken and serious research done, it is hard to distinguish exactly what may have happened.

Certainly it is irresponsible to breed from stock where events like this have been recorded, but breeders may not get to know of such attacks (and anyway there are unfortunately a lot of people breeding who would not care; or worse, would breed deliberately with such cases, under the misconception that this behaviour makes for 'good' 'strong' Shepherds ).

 

You need to be as sure as you can be that the veterinary neurologist's diagnosis in your own case is accurate;  and if you are satisfied of that, then I think, however 'normal' your dog has returned to behaving now, you seriously have to consider euthenasia.  That is not easy to say, or to do; but indications are, in Cockers and some other breeds, that this could almost certainly happen again.  With any dog of any sort of size and weight that could allow it to inflict serious damage  on a human, perhaps even resulting in a death, particularly to a child, it may be a risk you ought not to take, sad though that is.

My sympathy to you.

As Hundmutter says never heard of this in GSD but definitely in Cockers. Can I ask what the dog was doing directly before this attack?

I thought it was more prevalent in Springers, and it's still considered rare even for THAT breed.

Could it be some sort of epilepsy attack when we're talking about GSDs?

Thank you so much, Hundmutter, for responding to my post. Very informed response and very much appreciated!

Mrdarcy, here's a detailed description re the attack. It was early evening and my husband had just brought the dog inside after a ball play session. I was in another room and I heard what I thought was a dog fight. It was actually the dog attacking my husband. He had just closed the door when the dog went berserk and attacked him. Thankfully, he had on a very heavy coat!

As I entered the foyer, the dog stopped attacking my husband and came up to me wagging his tail, wanting to be loved on; i.e. a normal greeting. I commanded him to sit, which he did immediately. I was rubbing on him and talking to him in a soothing manner. At this point, he went very stiff on me and began growling in a deep guttural way. Before I could do anything, the dog bit me on the wrist and then grabbed my arm. I could not get him off, so I called for my husband. He was able to restrain the dog. I walked out of the room to inspect the damage to my arm. I went back into the foyer where my husband was restraining the dog. As soon as the dog saw me, he tried to attack me again. Luckily my husband was able to restrain the dog and get him into a crate. Since this incidence, the dog has acted completely normal.

I hate to use this overused cliche, but the dog did turn into "Cujo." Even while he was attacking me, I couldn't wrap my mind around what was happening. The dog had a crazed look in his eyes. He was actually treating my arm like it was a jute roll or something. Very determined not to let go.

This is absolutely heartbreaking for us. We love this dog so much and we know we will most likely have to euthanize him. I'm off to the doctor's today for another look at my injuries. Afterwards, we must decide what to do..

Swarnendu, some researchers do indeed believe that Rage Syndrome is actually an expression of a petit mal seizure.

Very sorry for what is happening to you. It is very frightening because of the unpredictableness. Decades ago my family had a half GSD that could snap like that. The signs he was about to "rage" were indiscernible to the unawares. Our dog attacked my brother and had him by the throat one night simply because he opened my parents bedroom door to let them know he was home, after being out at night. There was another episode where he was playing with a good male friend of mine, a common enough thing they would be considered buddies, where one minute they were playing and in the next it was very serious. I was able to stop it before there was any bloodshed. My friend however, was terrorized and bloodless.

While we all loved our dog, when he got hit by a car and died shortly after these unprovoked incidents, I know my mother was actually relieved.

Thank you, Beetree. We are absolutely devastated. I bet your mother was relieved when your dog was killed, but that was a very sad ending for the dog.

Never heard of the Rage Syndrome at all, but I do know of an interesting story from my grandmother on what had caused a GSD to suddenly attack it owner. My grandmother breed white GSD for many years so she often had stories from other GSD owners on things that happened with their dogs. One story was that a 3 year old imported male working line sable GSD has suddenly attacked his owner and nearly tore this arm off. Health issues and any abuse form the owner were quickly ruled out, so as a last resort the breeder was contacted and asked if he knew of a reason for the attack...

Turns out the breeder had actually originally planned to sell the dog for personal protection, but had fallen on hard times and needed money quickly so he sold the dog as a pet. So the dog was trained to attack on command in German, which was ironically the language of his next door neighbor. So realizing this was a possible lead on why his dog attacked him, and that at the time of the attack he was in his backyard and could remember the old neighbor guy yelling at his son for some reason, he went and asked if his neighbor had shouted out the word attack in German when he was shouting at his son. And yes, the old guy was angry at his son as he had gotten arrested for attacking a guy in a bar, and screamed at him German "Why would you do something so stupid! I did not teach you to attack people in anger!"

So after the owner talked to his neigbor, he searched for a protection trainer and had the trainer work with the dog and found out that yes, the dog did attack on command, and so he would have to learn all the German protection training words to be able to prevent any further attacks and to work with the dog so he would not attack on anyone else's command but his owner's command.

 

So, WAGSDS, do you know what sort of training your dog has and if he could have been triggered by an attack word, or even maybe a silent handsign command? Hidden training in dogs can cause issues of all sorts it seems.

Yes rage syndrome happens in GSDs. Some really good info/advice here:

http://ezinearticles.com/?Unpredictable-Aggression-In-Dogs---Rage-Syndrome---A-Neurological-Disorder&id=998912