That was exactly what I was thinking. My first show golden became very dog aggressive and finally I had the sense to have her thyroid checked. It was low, put her on thyroid and within a few weeks she was perfectly normal again (sweet temperament). And sadly (and I think connected) she died a number of years later of what we think was ehrlichiosis. Back then it wasn’t well known that they could carry it for years, Even now most vets apparently don’t know to check.
Ehrlichiosis [and Lyme and every other TBD] can “go dormant” and “hide” in places like bone marrow or the spleen for *years*.
Something stressful....*or* nothing at all, can kick it into active gear and lay out a dog really quick.
One of my Ibizans came here with it as a pup and we never knew until he was 4, his symptoms flaring up right after the matriarch of the pack passed away.
[the local vets had just gotten the life saving SNAP tests]
Heavy, long term medication kicked it into remission and he lived another 10 years, eventually suddenly succumbing to Lyme mediated kidney failure.
My beloved Odin was born with Lyme but was diagnosed at 5 months and 3 months of Doxy wiped it out to the point where his titers are <9, which is considered “clinically insignificant” and as close to “cured” as can be.
Like many Dobes, he’s also hypothyroidal.
He got snotty with the other dogs, growled at me a couple of times and next thing he knew, the “vampires” were drawing his blood to be over-nighted to Dr Jean Dodds.
Tragically, two of his brothers from a previous, identical breeding were put down before they were even 2 years old for “extreme aggression attributed to brain tumors”.
[I kid you not]
I’d bet everything I have that their thyroids were blown out, too.
His is not genetic, not auto-immune; it’s “familial” meaning the bitch was hypo while pregnant and every one of her pups were when they were born.
I know of one of his litter mates who was returned to the breeder “broken” because his owner decided to “beat the aggression out of him”.
[the breeder is total idiot and is still breeding those hypo bitches every year, even though her “heart dog” _dropped dead suddenly_ last summer. that dog was a textbook picture of low thyroid and she disregarded my pleas to get the dog checked]
Odin is constantly monitored, frequently re-tested and meds adjusted and he’s great, now.
I’m sorry about your girl.
I lost my beloved Minny a year before TBDs were even a topic of potential diagnosis for local vets.
The boy who lived to 14 had the same, identical symptoms and cheap pills extended his life dramatically.
She never got that chance and no vet would listen to me.