BehavioRx Case of the Month
for May 2002

The married couple in their late twenties arrived with the wife's 10 year-old son by a previous marriage and their 2 year-old intact male German Shepherd. The problem was the dog's growing aggression toward the husband. The dog, "Shane," had been obtained as a 7 week-old three weeks before the couple married, with a view to easing the son's acceptance of his new step-father after he and his mother moved to their new home. Shane was in excellent health and appeared to be thriving on a canned meat diet.

During our consultations Shane was friendly with the son, mother and me, but somewhat aloof to the husband, Dan. As an exercise, the family stood 20 foot apart in a triangle and alternately called Shane to them. Shane raced happily to "Tim," the son, went quickly, tail up, to "Alice," but proceeded at a walking pace to Dan, ears
and tail lowered.

When asked why the difference in Shane's attitude was so apparent, all family members said they had no idea. Dan had never punished Shane and had tried to be friendly with him from the time they got him. In fact, until Shane was about 6 months old, the two of them had an excellent and friendly relationship. Alice said that Shane might be less friendly to her than to Tim because she was the one who had to discipline her son and Shane. Tim had drifted away from our group with Shane they started playing fetch with a ball. Dan and Alice said they would use the "triangle-call" exercise at home during the week to see if that might start producing some balance between them.

The following week saw three situations in which Shane had growled and lunged at Dan, each time when Dan and Alice were embracing before Dan left for work. Tim had been present, but had not spoken or reacted, except to tell Shane to "Stop it."  I then asked Tim if he had any ideas as to why Shane was upset with Dan. To our surprise, Tim said, "Because we don't really like him very much." Alice was frowning, obviously getting ready to speak to Tim.

I interjected, since parents often become upset when this type of thing is brought into the open; "Well, what do you think you can do about it?" Tim sat quietly, eyes
downcast, and Shane began to whine.

"It's plain to see that Shane isn't very happy about all this, Tim. How do feel."

"I want us to like him," Tim was still looking at the floor.

I congratulated Tim on that and suggested we meet next week after everyone had discussed the matter at home.

Three days later Alice called to say that Dan, Tim and Shane had gone to the beach to play ball with Shane and she was thrilled to report that Shane was a changed dog, thanks to both Dan and Tim having a real heart-to-heart talk about how they could do more things together.

The six-week program concluded with a happy family and family dog.

This case illustrates the unspoken emotional rapport that children and family pets can enjoy, and how parental relations can suffer when undercurrents of resentment
exist between kids and their folks.

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