Hello! I am the owner of a 3 yr old male westie called Jacques. We had him since he was 7 weeks old and have trained him well since he was a pup. When he was younger he was wonderful and is generally a very loving and fun westie. He has shown signs of nervousness from a young age and throughout his life has had moments of agression and posessivness. We have always tackled the problem with a trainer and he seems to respond well. However myself and my partner recently seperated. Jacques seems to respnd to me as his "owner". Because i had to move out of my house and into an apartment Jacques has been staying with my Ex-partner since August. I make weekly trips to visit him and try to spend as much time as possible. I now have hime for the Christmas period and have brought him to my family home. He was very good, but then the past 2 days he has moments of real agression and becomes very protective. He attacked 3 people and it has scared me so much. When i walk past him he growls. Then the next moment he wants to play. He has a bad skin condition too which i think aggrivates him. So really my question is HELP!!!!! All this has made me very sad as i love him so much and the idea was for him to live with me when i get a place sorted. Now i just cant trust him and think he needs to see a behaviourist. I live in London and he currently lives in Bedford. Any help would be greatly appreciated......sorry for the long email.......my address is slfrosty@hotmail.com............He has been neuted.

Many thanks

Sarah Frost

Has he seen a vet for the skin condition? This could be making him feel very irritable which could be the cause for his agression.....

Hi, I feel that the aggressiveness has possibly been caused by his changes of circumstances/homing situations since your break up. He is feeling insecure and unsure of his status. I am no behavourist or training expert by any means but feel that this dog needs more stablility in his life and not ever changing siuations. I know its hard, and changing family situations cannot be avoided in life. For the dogs sake, decide who he is going to live with full time and the other one should "give him up". I am sure that you both love him and want the best for him and I feel that this may be it. Dogs dont always adapt to sharing arrangements like the children of divorced parents can. I feel very sorry for you as its clear you are trying to do your best for him.

His skin problem is a different issue though it could maybe be made worse by stress, and he is clearly stressed. I dont have much expereinece with allergy /skin probs but others on the board have. If you post about his skin on Health board hopefully you may get some help with it. I can give a little help;
What is he fed on - Westies with skin probs need a low protein diet (22% or less) Real Chicken and plain boiled rice is worth trying. Many complete foods are much too high in protein/fats for a Westie. Some vets like to push products onto owners even though they are not really suitable.
Bath as little as possible, unless your vet has prescribed a prescription one to use regularly
Dont clip - scissor.
Use a monthly drop on flea treatment to make sure there is not even one flea around-westies are very prone to flea allergy dermatitis.
Use non-bio powder for his bedding
Dont use Febreeze or carpet powder
Many owners of Westies with allergies report a huge improvement when the dogs are fed a BARF - Bones and Raw food diet. Lots of info on this site (search) and elsewhere on the internet.