Kodi bares his teeth

[blessed woman]

Tonight when the pups came in from outside, I called Kodi to me to hook him to his training leash. He was 'confused' and also (I think) stubborn. He and Kia both go through periods when they will lie down when given another command and Kodi seems to be in that period now. Over the course of a few days he has not come to me when I tell him to several times. He moves toward me, then moves away or lies down or goes down then up again. It's usually pretty comical when they default to 'down'. I will call him, wait a few seconds and call again. Usually that's all it takes. Since he's seemed confused, I have at times gently pulled him toward me by his collar while saying 'come' and then praising him when he gets to me. Tonight when I did that, he bared his teeth at me. What's that about?? He's never bared his teeth at me before! However....my husband looked at his paws a couple of weeks ago and said he bared his teeth then, too.

Is this a stage? Are we doing something to cause it? What do we do in response?? I don't want to set a pattern in motion with him. He's doing so well with his re-housetraining and I don't want to cause any setbacks or put any aggression in motion by doing the wrong thing.

[BanaerEskies]

how old is Kodi? I am thinking he is older, but correct me if I'm wrong.   My first thoughts are of some sort of pain, loss of sight, or even dementia since you mentioned confusion.  There is also the possibility of some illness causing the confusion.  I think I would start with a thorough vet check to eliminate all this. 

[eskieagilitygal]

I thought the same thing Nancy and will add, have his Thyroid checked.   Winston's personality changed and he was showing more dog-dog aggression, etc when I had him checked and found out he had a thyroid issue.  He's now on "cheap" meds (Thyroid meds are about as cheap as they come) and he was better almost immediately.    It's an annual blood test and since he's been on his, he actually gets less and less dosage every year, but I have been supplementing with kelp, as well.   WOn't hurt to try.

[blessed woman]

He's 13 1/2. I guess that's where I'll start, with the vet checkup. I don't want to respond to his doing that improperly and he's never done it before!

He doesn't seem confused otherwise. In fact, he's pretty sharp, lol. The confusion part comes I think with the way I trained them to 'down' a few years ago. I did 'sit' first, then 'down'- a one-two command sort of thing. Well, for a long time after that, if I told them to sit and they didn't, I'd wait and then repeat it again. They would then go to 'down'. It was so hard not to laugh! That's what he's been doing with down again lately, in part because instead of having him 'sit' for his dinner, I've been doing 'down' because he'd gotten so worked up for a week or two during the waiting for dinner to be prepared. They've been doing 'sit' for years and the switch confused him especially when he was feeling worked up. The switch HAS worked because he is back to calm waiting for his dinner to be put down. So the combination of switching from 'sit' to 'down' and his impatience has him doing down instead of 'sit' on occasion.

But he has started balking at 'come' to get clipped onto the training lead lately. I call him and wait, and call again, and again. When I was doing it yesterday he was moving around behind me less than a foot or so away. I was trying to get him to come around to the front of me and he just wouldn't do it. So I turned around (slowly, not in a startling way) and took his collar, repeated 'come' and gave a gentle tug. That's why I was so shocked at the teeth! I don't know if he was excited/agitated wanting his pee-pee treat (we DO starve him you know, he needs every morsel he can get!) and wasn't listening or something else is going on.

So yes, he'll visit the vet. But if it sounds like anything behavioral to anyone after a little more detail, please let me know!

Oh! And how should I respond if he does it again??

[snowballsmom]

age was the first thing i thought too, and an age related something. i'd visit the vet too to rule out something else going on.

[eskieagilitygal]

13.5 yrs.  never done it before.  I doubt it's a personality  change. The new behavior has to be something going on physically with him.  Take him to the vet for a good once over.... have eyes checked as well.

[Kathy]

And have his hearing checked. He could be acting confused because he can't hear what you're asking.  Maybe try switching to hand signals instead of voice commands.

Suddenly baring teeth after 13 years sounds like a physical issue to me. He could be hurting somewhere and that is making him defensive about his whole body.

I wouldn't do anything about the baring teeth until you get him thoroughly checked and have tried other things first.  He is trying to communicate something to you in the only way he knows how, and it sounds like "Don't touch me!"  Why would he not want to be touched, except if it hurts?

[blessed woman]

I've wondered about his hearing off and on over the last six months. It sometimes takes a couple of times to get his attention now. I didn't think about that affecting him with this because he was right next to me. But it could be! I'm going to try to get him in this week. If not, the next. School, work, two funerals and a viewing and moving my son home from college this week (NOT a good thing), and a marriage seminar all weekend this weekend...He's not exhibiting any appetite, sleep or energy changes or showing any signs of pain when I touch him anywhere, so I don't feel like it's an emergency. He's his happy, goofy self today! I did take the time to rework 'come' this morning rewarding with his coveted cheerios, lol. I do use hand signals already, but even at his best he didn't always get it, lol! But perhaps that's a good thing to beef up now.

I appreciate all the tips and advice. I feel a little more relaxed and we'll get him taken care of!