Are genetically engineered dogs that snap and become disloyal plausible?
I am imaging a world in which a minor plot device is that there is a strain of dogs that were genetically engineered so that they are even more loyal than ordinary dogs at first, but at some point in their lives, either due to a triggering event or just the passage of time, suddenly flip. Then they become not just not loyal but actively traitorous - biding time until a good opportunity to maximally betray its master comes along.
This trait may have originally been introduced in order to assassinate foreign leaders and terrorists, but, when engineered dogs bred with other dogs (sometimes undetected), this trait spread and is now present in some small percentage of domesticated dogs in much of the world.
Is this possible or realistic? Are the examples of existing animals that behave in this manner or something similar? What triggers might make sense for such a trait?
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