For those of you who have been kind enough to offer advice on Barney's behaviour, you may be interested to know that we have had the results of his blood tests back today.  They are clear and show no abnormalities.  This is good news of course, but does put us back to questioning what on earth we should do next.  The vet gave Barney some tranquilisers on Saturday and this has made a big difference, but obviously it can't go on forever, nor would I want it to (think I'll take the remainder).  The vet now says that it is just Barney's personality!!!!!  We have been told to ring the surgery tomorrow when the behaviourist is in to speak to her about his problems, so here we go again.  Oh well, if nothing else perhaps we can prove what he is like to her and perhaps we could persuade her to see him in his home environment to see the full extent of the problem.  Keep you posted!
Lorna

Hello Lorna,
Im glad to see that there is nothing physically wrong with Barney but, as you say, it must be annoying that you do not know what triggers him. Is there any way you could maybe video him when it happens? then you could show the behaviourist exactly what hes like. Or maybe record each time he does it (time, date etc) and what you/ he has done just before he gets violent.
It must be very hard to cope with so I wish you the best of luck. I hope the behaviourist helps :)
Sara

A further update Sarah.  Thanks for your concern.  I managed to get a recommendation from a friend for a behaviourist who would come to the house and see us.  As Barney is at his worst in the home, I thought it best that someone see him here.  The lady was lovely and showed us how to use the disks that I had been sold.  She talked to us instead of at us and she even managed to get Barney to let her give him a short session with the grooming brush - just the soft side of course.  She doesn't think that he is really aggressive, just very self-centred, excitable and young (he had his first birthday last week).  We have been practising what she taught us and we have had two weeks of better behaviour and less biting, but just over the past couple of days, he seems to have accustomed himself to the noise of the disks and they are no longer stopping him when he decides to chew us or jump up.  I think we may have to call the cavalry back in, and she did say that she would be happy to come back if we had any problems.  She also warned us that it is going to take time, as he is a very strong-willed dog and although he is a real, and usually loveable character, he is very attention seeking and this is his way of getting it.  We have to change his biting and jumping for attention to good behaviour to get that same attention. It seems to make sense, but he is certainly starting to fight back, so we must remain firm!
Thank you for taking an interest and finding us way down the pages - it's nice to know that people are still keeping an eye open for our progress.
All the best
Lorna