Coolio became aggressive, leaving us heartbroken.

We welcomed our little baby Vizsla, named Coolio, into our family in August 2015. He was the cutest little thing, with his wrinkly face and massive paws, and immediately I was in love.



We were determined to do everything right, from Blake (my husband) getting up every hour during the night to let him out to go to the toilet, to feeding him a raw diet and most importantly ensuring that he was taken on so many adventures with us. Coolio became part of our family, and there weren’t many places that we wouldn’t take him.





During that first week, I took him to our holistic vet in Sydney and was informed that they thought he might have hip dysplasia (not common in the breed) and that he also had a heart murmur which would hopefully go away.



Still, during the first year of Coolio’s life, we had so much fun together. We would always take him around to our families houses for BBQs, and he was the life of the party, so cute and so cheeky. As soon as we would come home or he would meet someone new he would need to go and find a present for them, whether that be his blankie, a toy or a leaf he just found.





He was the perfect dog and the perfect companion and we trusted him implicitly.



Everything was moving along just as we planned. Until it wasn’t.



Suddenly, Coolio started becoming aggressive and possessive over things like the couch, our bed, the beanbag, me and especially his food. If we would be sitting on the couch with him and one of us moved he would bark, growl and lunge at us.





Not wanting to admit that there was an issue, I hoped it would go away by itself. It didn’t, which is when we consulted our vet, a behaviourist and our trainer. It could be dominance aggression, he might be anxious, he could be in pain – to be honest, it was all of these things combined which created the perfect storm.



One night Coolio was in the kitchen (where he knew he wasn’t allowed) when he jumped up on the counter and found a spoon. We heard it crash to the ground, I heard Blake go out to see what was happening and the next thing I hear was screaming.





He came into the bedroom and closed the door – we sat there in silence trying to comprehend the fact that Coolio had just bitten Blake - forcefully. Thankfully he had a thick jacket on, because if he hadn’t we would have been off to the emergency department.



The next incident occurred when he was snuggled up to me on the couch, he had been there for a good 30 mins. I went to rub his belly and he turned and snapped at me. Thankfully he didn’t connect with my face.

Another time my dad, affectionately known to Coolio as “Papa Bear” was over helping us fix things around the house. When dad was leaving we were standing at the front door saying goodbye and Coolio lunged and tried to bite him, completely unprovoked.



Even writing this, I can’t believe we let this go on for as long as we did. If this was someone else’s story I would be saying, “How could you not have done something sooner, he’s dangerous!”





But it’s not someone else’s story; it’s mine, and I was wanting so bad to play happy little families that it clearly clouded my judgement.



We had a couple of holidays booked. The first one was for three weeks and Coolio stayed with our trainer. He had the best time, and not one incident.



The next holiday was for a few days and he was minded by one of my friends who loves dogs and is comfortable and able to handle big dogs. They had a great time; no incidents.





Next time we went away for 10 days and Coolio was again minded by my friend. I didn’t hear from her except when she was sending us cute pics of them on adventures together. No incidents (or so we thought) and this basically helped make up my mind that Coolio was fine.



She came over a few days after we got home. She then told us that there were two significant incidents but she didn’t want to worry us on our honeymoon.



How do you deal when someone tells you that the dog you love with your whole heart bit them? She was clearly upset having to tell me, I was upset having to hear it and it felt as if my world was crashing down. It’s one thing when he attacks us, but I couldn’t let him attack anyone else.



At this point I was 14 weeks pregnant.



We got the trainer over and explained what had happened and he said we had two options, re-home him or put him to sleep. I knew he was right, but I struggled to come to terms with this.



The vet agreed there were two options, the same our trainer gave us.



I just don’t think I could have re-homed him knowing that there is the possibility of him harming someone else.



In his last few days, he saw all his favourite people one last time, ate the most amazing foods and created memories with him that will remind us of how good everything was, before it wasn’t.





I believe that the soul lives on forever and will be reincarnated in another form. I have to remind myself that Coolio came into our lives for a reason, to teach us so many lessons and for that I am so grateful. He also had lessons to learn and hopefully, he learnt what he needed to from us so that in his next life he can move on.



As we were trying to come to terms with the fact that Coolio would no longer be with us, he kept doing things that would remind us of why we had made this decision. Not a day went by when something didn’t happen, he lunged and tried to bite Blake several times during the week, culminating on the very last night with Blake being bitten quite badly on his leg, requiring a trip to the drs.



In a way, I feel like Coolio was acting this way to make it somewhat easier for us, he did always look out for us and try to protect us (as weird as that sounds).



On his final day we took him to the vet, and on the way we stopped off at a park and had a little play for the very last time.





As soon as the vet came outside to me I burst into tears. He spent time with us talking through what would happen and then took Coolio to another room to sedate him.



He was laying down resting his head on my hand and I bent down to kiss him and tell him how much I loved him. This was the closest I had been able to get to him in the past year without worrying about being attacked.



He slowly drifted off to sleep, and Blake was rubbing his ears which was his favourite and he groaned, he was loving it. His last moments were spent with the people that he loved the most and who loved him just as much.



Life will move on, it always does. But there will always be a part of Coolio with us everywhere we go.





You get a dog knowing full well there will come a time when he will no longer be with you. We didn’t expect that to be so soon.



In so many ways our life will now be better moving on - we don’t have to walk on eggshells around our house. I can close my computer lid without fearing he will jump out of his beanbag and potentially lunge at me.



But at the same time he’s still not here and I miss him.



To Coolio: unfortunately, your demons were too great to overcome. We love you very much and feel privileged that you came into our lives and taught us so much.



Until we meet again,



Rest in peace our lil man.