I was just at the vet's office and one of the vets asked me about the various genetic tests we have for the breed. He has had a "breeder" asking about genetic testing for rage syndrome in retriever breeds.

I know of the syndrome in the spaniels but have never heard of it in any retriever breed, particularly Labradors. I did mention that if a breeder needs to test for it in this area I need to know the pedigree so I could stay away from it. LOL

So, has anyone heard of it in Labradors or Goldens?

Google is a wonderul thing! Just type in "Rage in Retrievers and you get a whole bunch of links. Why not add another stupid test to the list. How about there has been aggresive dogs since the begining of time. Pretty soon we won't be able to breed dogs at all since there will be nothing good enough to breed!

about 30 years ago I personally knew a golden (male) who had sudden rage syndrome. I actually witnessed one of the "attacks". He would suddenly go off and attack his owner for no reason whatsoever. The time I saw it happen he lunged right at the womans midsection like he wanted to rip out her insides. She defended herself and we were able to get him off with her not being hurt, although she was terrified. In a few minutes, he was calm again. Most of the time he was wonderfully sweet and loving. The dog was put down. Since then I have heard of it happening in goldens from time to time.

About 10 yrs ago, I found out about "Agressive Dog Syndrome" as it was called then with a 4 yr old neutered male. It was like a Jekyll & Hyde syndrome - VERY scary to say the least. I found out that it can rear its ugly head about 1.5 yrs to 2 yrs of age as a dog matures. NOT something I ever want to deal with again. I haven't heard of a genetic test for it and was told at that time, the root cause wasn't known.

Google is a wonderul thing! Just type in "Rage in Retrievers and you get a whole bunch of links. Why not add another stupid test to the list. How about there has been aggresive dogs since the begining of time. Pretty soon we won't be able to breed dogs at all since there will be nothing good enough to breed!
****************************************************
Speaking of 'Rage Syndrome'

I have personally known several well bred Labradors throughout the years with Rage Syndrom

I witnessed rage syndrome in an English Springer Spaniel when working at a vet clinic in the '80s. A woman who did Springer rescue was sleeping with the current rescue dog asleep on the bed with her, and woke up to him attacking her for no reason. This was the third and most serious of the attacks for no reason. She dropped off the dog at the clinic to be euthanized on her way to the hospital.
True rage syndrome is a brain malfunction, like a seizure disorder, and is (or was) hereditary in Springers. These dogs are out of control and don't know what they are doing. I have never witnessed rage syndrome again, and have personally never heard of it in a Labrador.

Thank you. This is what I was looking for an no internet search would have given me this information.

Were any of these recent? I'm wondering if it's something that is growing in the breed.

Cathy,

My sister does rescue and transporting. She and her husband rescued/adopted a beautiful black Lab from La. who had sudden rage syndrome. My sister had four other dogs...a Vizsla and 3 Labs...and two cats that Tally usually loved, slept and played with for about a year. Then the sudden rage kicked in and Tally would attack which ever one happened to be nearest her. Sadly, my sister could do nothing else but put Tally, who was only about 18 months old, down. My sister and her husband were devastated but knew, after much soul-searching and prayer, that it was best for all the animals. The pup was her happy little self within minutes of each occurrence.

This was only last year that this happened.

Linda

I've seen it in a Lab mix (rescue). It was like your most gentle family pet suddenly going Cujo. He drew blood on me. Quite frightening. Unfortunately the decision was made to euthanize him. Once a dog has bitten and you know about it, you are legally liable and can be sued even if the dog is adopted and many years pass without incident. Also, this dog had no shots so there was the concern about rabies as well. (He was negative thank God.) Quarantining him would have been very difficult for the caretakers and the dog. But if he was my own dog I would have done a complete workup as people have suggested especially thyroid before I made a decision about euthanasia. I still would have a great concern about the potential for future attacks - I witnessed a child bitten in the face and he had significant scarring both emotionally and physically. That's something you don't forget and you don't want to be responsible for in the least bit.

It's a terrible dilemma. I wish the best for all involved.

Nancy, although this was a rescue dog, we ran thyroid tests and did x-rays on this dog and they came back normal. I spent hours on the phone with vets at the Vet College discussing different possibilities and finding out as much I could about each one. After tears, sleepless nights & realizing how badly this was affecting my dog worn family the reality was that this boy couldn't be rehomed without me having nightmares (never mind the liability issue) which confirmed our decision to have him pts.

I had never heard of this in Labs before reading this post. Several of the dogs mentioned were rescues. Were they known to be pure Labs? If this syndrome is, in fact, in our breed and is inherited (note the IFs ), I would consider it to be THE most serious problem we face as breeders. As all of these dogs had to be put down, it is lethal for the dog, and it could seriously injure humans, as well. How can we go about discovering if we have a problem here? Any ideas?

I do wonder if it is genetic. The only dog I personally knew with anything similar was a flat-coated retriever whom the owners had to keep separate from their other dogs because she would make these sudden attacks on the dog. At the time I knew these people she had not attacked people. She had been sweet tempered until a certain point in her life and then started these attacks. Turned out she had a brain tumor. I address this to the breeder who has known of several dogs over the years. Were these dogs related to each other? Everyone else who has seen it in a Lab saw only one case and usually in a rescued dog.

Peggy, the rescue dog we had wasn't papered so I had no clue about his lines. Seems that this is a rareity and I hope it stays that way in ALL breeds! I'll drop the vet college an e-mail tonight & find out if they've done more research and perhaps have an update I could share.

The Lab rescue I mentioned also had no papers.

I added this paragraph to my first message but realized that anyone who read the message in the nine minutes between the original and the edit would miss it.

I do wonder if it is genetic. The only dog I personally knew with anything similar was a flat-coated retriever whom the owners had to keep separate from their other dogs because she would make these sudden attacks on the dog. At the time I knew these people she had not attacked people. She had been sweet tempered until a certain point in her life and then started these attacks. Turned out she had a brain tumor. I address this to the breeder who has known of several dogs over the years. Were these dogs related to each other? Everyone else who has seen it in a Lab saw only one case and usually in a rescued dog.

I ask that you all ask yourself 2 things about rage or so called rage syndrom, what envierment were they in and was the tyroid tested. I previously bred Akita's and rage can mainefest itself from a thyroid condition and many don't know enough about this to check and as mentioned before what are the circumstances of the pedigree are there dogs in the pedigree that maybe had temperment disorders or issues wish may not of been bad breeding , very well could be caused from other health issues undetected. I believe for the most part this doesn't exsist in this breed and for those that appear to have something like this, I believe there is most likely an under lying reason for it.

and know my head is not in the clouds I just believe we are all doing our v ery best to breed sound dogs mentally and physically and upon occassion there is a bad apple does that mean we have rage in Labradors in my opinion not likely.

Mostly I work in rescue, and I didn't believe there could be such a thing as rage syndrone for many years. And especially in rescue you blame bad behaviour on outside factors. Abuse, neglect, lack of owner knowledge. But honestly there are just too many of these dogs with these sudden breaks. And there are more every year. And they are not all older dogs who endured years of abuse, neglect, and being passed around before coming into rescue. I do know first hand when a dog is relinquinshed that has any kind of history of aggresion, situational problems etc, a full blood panel including T3,T4 is done. Sometimes the problem is physical and more often not. Granted these are not all pure breds, for the most part dogs coming into rescue are not part of a carefully planned and executed breeding program. But there are just too many and too many young for it to always be abuse neglect etc.

Peggy,

My sister's Lab was a purebred, papered Lab from a breeder in LA. Although purebred, she was from an 'accidental' breeding between brother and sister. Tally also had at least one physical problem...and that was with her eyes. She was only one year old when my sis had to have her put down after four 'sudden rage' incidents in one day. She did have her vet do extensive testing and all test came back normal. The pup really had no idea what she had done when she came out of the attack. She was a sweet, gentle Labrador most of the time.

Linda

I've seen WAY more nasty well bred goldens than labs. I think that we as breeders do not tolerate bad temperament and most of us won't even keep a dog with issues such as this.

Years ago, I had a dog that was dog aggressive but NOT people aggressive . I stopped showing him and neutered him immediately. I kept him though because I liked him and I didnt want to pass his issues off to someone else when I knew what his triggers were. He mellowed as he got older, and funny enough he loved all his kennel and house mates, just didn't like non-labs.

I had a chocolate girl years ago who had rage syndrome. She was 18 months old the first time it happened. We were out front with her and a friend's puppy (her younger sister). They were laying down toe to toe just relaxing in the shade. For no reason Diva attacked the puppy and ripped the entire right side of her face OFF. I am not exaggerating either. Luckily, the Emergency vets were able to reattach her skin and she recovered with minimal scarring. She was tested for thyroid and had a full workup. All negative. I was going to euthanize her, but a really close friend took her. A year later she started in with new symptoms; snapping at the air as if there were a fly bothering her. She has a condition called fly-biting syndrom as well. She is now on Phenobarb and has been fine for the last 6 years. If you would like the pedigree, please email me privately.