I’ve been on dog related message boards/forums for several years and have read multiple posts by different people on Rage Syndrome.
Basically its a case of a dog going from lovable pet to Cujo faster than you can blink an eye.
The Whole Dog Journal, Rage Syndrome in Dogs
Experts still don’t know 100% what causes it, anything from seizures, weird brain activity, to brain tumors.
I’m wondering if any dopers have experience with this condition?
My understanding is that it has a huge amount to do with early socialization and conditioning, meaning a pup needs TONS of exposure to different dogs, cats, children, noises, walking surfaces, and situations by about ten or twelve weeks. Dogs that don’t get it because they’re shut in with the mother, or in a kennel or shelter, are very difficult to train and make “safe” later - there is NO substitute, even in the best trainer’s hands, for this early socialization/experience.
And yes, some breeds are more prone to it than others. But even gentle breeds can be uncontrollable biters in adulthood, or have other bad habits that are not fully fixable.
Decades ago when we had a St. Bernard puppy, the vet (or the mother dog’s owner, I forget which) told us that (1) large dogs like SBs mature more slowly than smaller dogs, and (2) their innate personality does not reveal itself until up to 2 years, and (3) every once in a while a dog will turn “rough” upon maturity. If this happens you have NO option except euthanasia. An aggressive chihuahua is annoying. An aggressive St. B is deadly.
Our dog was not as thoroughly socialized as she should have been, but it resulted in her being shy and a bit fearful of new people. She would have gone through a wall to get away from a stranger. Once you were her friend, though, she was your friend forever.
After the rage virus made the canine to human jump, it only took a matter of weeks before civilization as we know it to irreversibly fall into chaos. These are the chronicles of one family that is fighting to survive the end of the world.
The only case I know of directly was a dog that freaked out at the sight of white dogs, and possibly white cats though maybe it freaked out when it saw any cat as many dogs do. Beats me why, but it could be conditioning instead of some physical cause.
I see St. Bernards mentioned above, I’ve heard of them becoming aggressive when they get old, and maybe that’s some form of dementia.
OTOH, many dogs will behave outrageously in the face of perceived threat or invasion of territory, and many of those may have a bark worse than it’s bite. I’d expect the reporting to be somewhat inaccurate concerning the diagnosis and circumstances.
Zeus, our St. Bernard with a quarter Pyrenees we had him fixed.
Does not like small squealing kids. We rescued him and where he came from explains his quirks.
I trust him with me but watch for reactions to others and if I ever think he has turned on me it will be addressed.
Stronger with bigger teeth I always pay attention.
Right now I can still take his food from inside his mouth and he will come to me to take a bad tasting pill. So far so good
I think I know what you are talking about. Nothing like a vicious dog who is far more predictable, or even a spoiled dog who has become over dominant.
I had a 6 year old brittany spaniel who was a trusted house dog and companion. No history or growling or snapping. Out of the clear blue sky he had a bout 3 rages in a month and I had to put him down. I am talking a perfect dog, well trained and socialized.
Most cases are just people mis-reading their dog’s body language so they think the aggression comes out of nowhere but they are wrong. Many people have a lot of trouble reading dog body language. In a tiny minority of cases it seems to actually be some kind of seizure. I would default to “stupid humans” in most cases unless proven otherwise.
I get pretty quick onset rage syndrome with this too.
I don’t think so, cockers are known for this. I think it is a brain abnormailty of some kind. No doubt many cases are attributed to this when in reality someone was just misreading the signals. I spent about 18 years breeding and training bird dogs so was no stranger to all types of personalities. Unless something is wrong most dogs are very predictable and dependable.
I am more familiar with it in Springers and it is more of a thing in the show lines as the hunting dogs don’t exhibit it much.
I have a dachshund and they can go from sweet to snarling attack dogs in seconds. But really in most cases it’s easy to predict and you just need to keep your distance and let him calm down. It happens if he was woken suddenly or feels threatened. Not quite the same thing as rage syndrome, it’s just that dachshunds are psychotic murder dogs.
That is what Rage Syndrome is!
Not an aggressive or fearful under socialized dog.
Not a dog that was born with crappy temperament genes.
Not an abused/neglected/in pain/demented dog, but a perfectly healthy and adjusted dog that suddenly appears to loose its mind.
I’ve had an aggressive dog in the past. A female Shepherd/Boxer/Shiba Inu who killed cats, chickens and small animals and growled at me. I re homed her to an older couple (no cats, other dogs, or kids) who was experienced with “hard case” dogs. She is now happy and pampered.
A dog with Rage Syndrome isn’t like that from what I’ve read.
I’m skeptical of breed-related genetic causes for particular dog ‘syndromes’. Maybe having a ‘pit bull’ (appearance type dog, not a pure breed few such dogs are) makes me over sensitive to it.
I understand if people are trying in good faith to find the causes of dog problems, by narrowing down symptoms and trying to relate it to breed. But I doubt the reliability of either. For example ‘crappy individual temperament genes’ as clearly not being the explanation for ‘rage syndrome’. Perhaps crappy individual genes just follow the Anna Karenina principle: all good dogs pretty much alike, each unsuitable one unsuitable in its own way. Likewise again perhaps I’m hair trigger because of the ‘pit bull’ thing but in that case many of the quoted ‘statistics by breed’ are complete nonsense, garbage in garbage out. Are there really robust stats of ‘rage syndrome’ by breed? If somebody actually finds causes for dog behavior in specific genes and maps it by breed, fine.
Well at least the list didn’t include ‘pit bulls’. 
I didn’t mean genes as in breed, more like both parents had sucktastic temperaments and they pass it on to the pup.
I have an 8 year old Pit mix named Zane, so I understand some of the prejudice against the breed. I’ve also never heard of it happening in the breed.
While it hasn’t been mapped by gene, I think it’s completely incorrect to say there are no breed-specific general behaviors (as in generally true of a breed, not every necessarily true for every single individual). Dog breeds were created for temperament as well as physical characteristics. And for skills - some herd, some hunt, etc. Yes, a lot of dogs can be trained to do various things, but they won’t do them all equally well.
I’d be interested in gene-mapping, but I think humans, rather than dogs, will get more attention there. Us, and livestock, and race horses, and other money-makers.
I would suspect that, if Rage Syndrome is real, it probably is a physical problem that humans haven’t figured out how to detect (other than the obviously raging behavior). There probably are symptoms, we just don’t have a test for it.
Still speculating here - I would suspect there might be an environmental problem related to a dog’s superior odor or hearing, which humans can’t detect.
I agree.
Look at all the “funny” or “adorable” pictures and videos online of dogs who are quite clearly terrified with the small child dangling from their neck, or pulling their ears, or what have you. Thousands of people going “aww”, and I’m freaking out going, “Look at that tight jaw! It’s got half moon eyes! It’s yawning and licking its chops! That’s not a grin, that’s a grimace!” Dogs aren’t furry people, and they don’t show all their emotions the same way we do. And people who don’t get that will be surprised when their sweet snookums suddenly gets pushed to far and loses it.
As to breed specificity, I think there may be a bit of truth to it, but I don’t think it’s got much to do with DNA. I think it has to do with some dogs being easier for untrained humans to “read” than others. I’ve had quite a bit of experience with dogs, and I still have a hard time reading a chihuahua’s body language and facial expressions. With their horrid little pop eyes, I lose the whites of the eyes clue. Their jaws always look tight to me, and their ears are often pulled back with panting even when they’re not upset. So I don’t always see the difference between a chill chihuahua and a tense chihuahua. (Actually, I’m not even sure I’ve *ever *seen a chill chihuahua, but other people seem to like them, so I assume they must be chill sometimes…)
There’s a great video here (warning, it’s graphic) of a lovely dog who gave all the warning signs (quickly) and then attacked in what it perceived to be self defense. The handler was right there, and both he and the person who scared the dog missed it. I bet you a million imaginary dollars that most people would look at this video and say that it was a bad, aggressive dog who “snapped”, rather than a naive human who didn’t read the dog’s signals.
Our cat is on a special diet for hyperthyroidism. Maybe dogs can have the same sort of issue?
My young pittie is a very sweet and extremely predictable guy. In fact, I trust him much more around new dogs/people/squealing kids/new experiences than I do my border collies – not that BCs are known for being entirely sane!
My black lab who passed away about five years ago was very laid-back and loved everybody/everything until about 10 months before she died. She would have outbursts (that I would characterize as “rages”) wherein I was bit a few times, she ripped a gaping hole in the border collie, and became aggressive in unexpected moments. The vet didn’t find anything physically awry, but Tigger died very suddenly and relatively young for a lab – so, possibly, a brain disorder not diagnosed? My mom and sister owned her siblings and my sister’s dog was weird and bitey throughout his life (also died very suddenly).
IME the tendency is to far overstate the similarities of dogs which look alike compared to the variation between individual dogs which look alike. I’m also considering it in practical terms of the general dog population which is largely mixed breed even for dogs called one particular thing. At the other extreme sure dogs of a particular known pedigree might tend to be like other dogs with the same known pedigree, they are fairly close relatives, my first cousins and I share appearance and general personality traits to a greater degree than random people. But most dogs in the general dog population considered to be ‘the same breed’ aren’t necessarily closely related.
IMO if one junked the idea they could predict a dog’s personality by how it looked, it’s not clear it would throw out a net positive amount of useful information. And again I’d say to those who disagree with that, prove it either by pointing to the specific gene or with actual scientifically controlled statistics. Not ‘everybody knows’ or ‘I’m a dog person and I know’ etc. I’ve heard too many people give that preamble then follow it with nonsense.
