AGGRESSION CAN NOT SEEM TO BREAK IT!!
First here is some background i have a bull terrier girl, almost a year old, no children in the home, no other animals in the home, me and her dad only! Since day one she has always been a biter, its not all the time, she has chill time where she sleeps, plays with toys, romes the house, lays down and loves to go out back and run around.( we have a big fenced in yard) but she will Randomly come up to you and bite you, out of no where, she randomly looks at you and starts barking or growling and makes her attack, she will be walking and randomly jump on my back when i am sitting down and start biting my ears. when i am getting ready for work she will be on the bed about a foot away from me barking at me the whole time, when i go over to pet her, she bites and wants to jump and be mean. it's just outburst of aggression all the time, she bites so much i do put a mussel on her to try to teach her because saying no biting does not help trust me, she acts like she can not hear or don't understand it, she even ignores me sometimes when i call her name, but she listens and pays attention when you say treat treat or have a treat in your hand you can make her do any trick, sit, laydown anything she listens very well but only when it involves a treat. i hate making her wear the mussel and honestly half the time when i take it off she wants to bite again, she also gets so aggressive that she runs around the room, pings off the walls, goes completely crazy, balls to the wall. she will run away come back bite me and take off like a bullet again pinging all around the walls and running like crazy. I actually did look this up and a lot of bull terriers do this, they say the best thing is to not move and try and ignore it like it is not even happening, i have to actually hold my dog, wrap her up like a baby and feel her heart rate go down before i release her to keep her from going nuts when i let her up. The more you tell this girl NO, the more she does NOT LISTEN, she knows what it means, but she does not care it seems like. she will go to bite my hand sometimes when she is calm and first starts doing it out of no where i will look at her and say no she gets real close, and stops, then she keeps on doing it for a while until she full on bites and goes to attack again, Its like no matter what i do, i can not get her to listen!! and STOP!! I would think she is doing this to get attention but she gets plenty and is very spoiled ( my only daughter and baby lol ) she goes to the dog park, loves other animals, never been in a dog fight is very friendly with other dogs. she does jump and bite them and try to play but its just that, playing! I just don't know what to do to make the aggression change. she will go to bite my feet, i say NO, she stops, then does it again, i say NO, she does it again, NO AALA!! looks at me and keeps doing it. When other people come to our house she wants to bite them too, but if we have a cook out and there is 20 people over and some other dogs, it's a completely different dog... goes up to people, wants to be pet, is so friendly but if two people come over, she bites and jumps and wont leave them alone. When i put the mussel on my her, she freezes like she cant walk, or do nothing and she will not play at all, it's like the only way she knows how to play with a human is to bite them, but she has got to the point where if i say go get me the rope or ball or toy she will do it, only if the aggression level is first starting out...when she first starts to bark or bite, if she has been biting me repeatedly and i say go get a toy, she won't. she also constantly knocks stuff off my coffee table i tell her no and fix it and she knocks it off again... i really don't know what to do to help my dog and myself. I don't want her to bite me all the time and i don't want her to wear a mussel all the time, thats not right, she does have sweet times where she lets me kiss on her, hug her, hold her like a baby, pet her to sleep and talk to her like a little baby too, she does have a sweet side, but the sudden outburst of random aggression scare me. is this something she will ever break?? is this something i have to just deal with, because hey it's just her? DOes anybody else have this problem, and if so have you fixed it? and how? I don't know why she is always ready to attack the people that spoil her. We don't hit our dog, at first we did but it does not make her learn... it gets her more aggressive where she thinks its a game and will go tat for tat! hitting does not help, and we do not do that anymore, when she bites its a automatic mussel from her dad, with me i will give her a few chances to correct herself by saying no, Bad girl, You don't do that, NO, NO, NO, stop it... i give her way too many chances than i probably should... i just try to talk to her calmly, but that never works either. she just grows at me. two people at my house, she goes off!! 20 people at my house, totally different dog friendly as ever. without mussel sometimes, so aggressive!!! with mussel totally different, calm and does NOTHING, barely moves, she just freezes i try to get her to jump on me and play with the mussel on ( to show her hey you can still play without biting) she won't do nothing. i really need some help with this, its been almost a year now, and no changes have been made. Its the one thing we can not seem to grasp, we can not make her stop, Apple bitter does not work, i've tried it several times, she don't care about the taste. If anybody else has this problem, Please offer me some advice, anything will help, or at least let me know its not just my princess that does this. LOL Thank you so much, Any information at all is helpful to me.
Comments
NOW.. as far as hucklebutting around and acting like a wild lunatic, I think that all bull terriers do this and are kind of known for it. Rosco does it at least once per day and he seems to think it is hilarious. We will let him exert a little bit of this excess energy until he lunges to try to turn over the recliner and at that point we say HEY HEY HEY! And he stops or slows down. We did have to send Rosco for some professional training. They are a difficult breed to properly train in my opinion but it made all the difference in the world with him. The biting thing has to get under wraps quick. Not sure if you have a trainer in the area that works properly with EBTs and/or electronic collars, but a simple vibration and NO might be what would help to redirect her. I certainly would not try to train on an electronic collar though if you aren't experienced. See if you can find a good trainer to work with you.
I hope that helped in some way. I am sure the big dogs will chime in with some very useful information to help out as well!
I consistently used the pin method I NOTICED WHEN I SAW SOMEONE SMACK HER NOSE I ALMOST SMACKED THEIRS but miss BIT EVEN MORE I HELD HER INTO SUBMISSION BY PIN METHOD it cooled me down.
Now sometimes I have to hold her and say CALM DOWN she's a strong girl and I can't scold her for being excited I LOVE SEEING HER HAPPY.
ITS HARD BE PATIENT and when miss did that to me SHED WANT TO PLAY
Then sometimes it was LIKR SHE WAS SEEING WHAT SHE COULD GET AWAY WITH. AND ID RESPOND OUCH!!!!!!!NO BITE!!!! AND SHES LEARNED NOT TO BITE. I TRIED MUZZLING HER ONCE TO CLIP NAILS SHE WENT BALLISTIC TWO MEN COULDN'T HOLD HER!!!!!!!
I SPEND ALMOST 24 hours a day with miss sometimes 21&1.2
But miss learned by six months that's not acceptable and I pinned down. At a year old u may want to curve her out of that they're too strong and can cause injuries NOT ON PURPOSE .
SORRY I CAN GIGGLE I REMEMBER THOSE TIMES. AND IT SEEMS NORMAL BULLIE BEHAVIOR if she's pinging off the wall. Had she had a walk. Do you snuggle with her out of the crate. Look on her about the pin method it helped me.
BTW I can't believe what a difference a harness made it made her proportionate.
I KNOW ITS HARD ITS REALLY HARD BUT I'VE LEARNED THAT IF I LET MISS GET AWAY WITH IT ONCE she expects it from then on out
I'm glad I took time to BOND WITH MY BULLIE and teach her NO BITE AND WHEN SHE BIT ID OFFER HER A FROZEN RAG A BONE OR TOY. IM A FIRM BELIEVER A BULLIE IS BARKING FOR A REASON either my ATTN or potty time
Now miss face is scratched from Rotty pup biting her face IM NOTICING MISS NIPS HER EAR showing her how it feels. The way it seems
Hang in there SEARCH THESE FORUMS ITS A TREASURE TROVE OF EXPERIENCES AND HELP.
THE PIN METHOD IS USED INSTEAD OF HITTING I CANT HIT MY FRIEND but I have to say IT WORKED.
Now I'm noticing how my VOICE AND SOMEDAYS IT SEEMS IM HOLLERING ALL DAY affects her listening
A good EBT is a tired EBT.
I'm on my first, so the sample size is low, but they are not sedentary lap collies.
When researching the breed before getting Chooba, I read over and over that they have high daily exercise requirements. From personal experience, just being in the back yard did not suffice. Chooba needs an hour min. daily walk on top of playtime. On days he does not recieve adequate exercise I keep an exorcist on speed dial.
P.S. I love my bullies too much to ever hurt them or make them fear me ... You must do it lovingly, but fully.
@philsergeant I swear Rosco must be part of the small percentage. I would pin him down, he would completely stop, let out the deep breath, lay there like he submitted and then no matter how long I held him there he would get right back up like a jerkface and try it again and almost seemed at times to have more gusto in proving his point. It was extremely frustrating and exhausting for me. The only thing that worked for us if he was completely out of hand was to tell him NO and make him stop the behavior and go to his kennel area and the playing was over. He still didn't seem to be bothered by it, he would just go in there like a hard headed teenager. I know it sounds crazy, but I "SWEAR" that Rosco did not develop a conscience until he was 12 months old. He could care less if he was in trouble or you corrected him on something before then and it was almost a marked moment when we could see the change in him where he knew he did something wrong (tore up his blankie or whatever) and when we came in he had that look of remorse. Maybe it is just a maturity thing or really having an understanding of the lesson they are being taught. Now Rosco is so in tune with us and how we communicate with him that I can look at him and say his name softy when he is about to do something wrong and he will look over and correct himself. Rosco will be 14 months on the 31st.
As for the aggresion vinny is the same but only with my girlfriend. He basically is bullying her. He barks at her, growls, bites but never hard. Pulls her hair. She has recently toughened up to it tho and gives as good as she gets and he has now stopped it completely. i think its perfectly normal, and not aggresion. He just needs to be told in no uncertain terms. This is not acceptable. And its worked for us. The problem for a while was that my girlfriend was not assertive enough and he didnt take her seriously.
Hi Bulliemama,
First of all, it is nothing wrong with your girl. It is
definitely not an aggressive behavior and it is more likely to be a combination
of dominant behavior, challenging hierarchy system and attention seeking. And
the house rules and lines that needed to be drawn from the first day she joined
your family are not laid clearly. Simply bad communication.
It is all my personal opinion, based on your email, I divided into several
issues as below:
First of all, we have to understand dogs are simple. They
learn through:
- Positive association and negative association.
- Positive reinforcement and negative reinforcement.
- Repetition (Repeat the same exercise over and over, but
never repeat the same command, such as no, no, no, no! = very simple, do I stop
as first no or I can choose to stop at fifth no and still get a treat)
- Tone of our voice (High pitch "happy = Yappy, happy
to see you home" & Low pitch "angry=growl").
- Dog training = Behavior modification (let your dog understand
what behavior is wanted and unwanted & Dog Psychology (Natural canine
behavior + human command)
1. but she will Randomly come up to you and bite you, out of
no where, she randomly looks at you and starts barking or growling and makes
her attack, she will be walking and randomly jump on my back when i am sitting
down and start biting my ears.
- 1 years old bully is very energetic
and like a human teenager. She is showing more “unwanted play behavior”. As I wasn’t
there to see him, and you never describe her body language (Ear, tail, foreleg
pressing down etc.) But, believe that, if she really wanted to “bite” you and “attack”
you…. It is a totally outcome. She is more on “nip” and “launch”. She more likely
to do that to you than your husband and you more likely response to her behavior
by “Aww…No…Stop it” with pushing her away. My guess – with the pains of her
nip, you responded with a high pitch voice. Imagine, in dogs world, if she do
that to another dog and dislike her behavior, it with response with low and
growl voice or high pitch happy voice? Pushing her away, initiated a play mode,
your pushing response after she jump on you are same as 2 happy dogs launching
and playing with each other. My suggestion is to keep a toy near where you sit,
as soon as she display this unwanted behavior, grap her collar (and hold her
muzzle “firmly” with another hand if you can), give her “a” low growl simple “No”
command and look (stare) into her eye, do not give in or let go of her before
she relax, as soon as she stop and relax herself, praise her calmly and take
our the toy to play with her. Preferable a toy with rope for you to hold on.
Let go of the toy as soon as she showed a lot of interest with the toy. This
toy is a toy for you to play with her. Don’t let it laying around when you are
not around to play with her.
2. when i am getting ready for work she will be on the bed
about a foot away from me barking at me the whole time, when i go over to pet
her, she bites and wants to jump and be mean. – “Mom is leaving! I am not liking it”, what is she doing when you are
away? Where do you keep her when you are away?
3. it's just outburst of aggression all the time – I will say “rough behavior”. A true bite
from her, you won’t be having your ear J or wherever she bite.
4. She bites so much i do put a mussel on her to try to
teach her because saying no biting does not help trust me – I trust you on that. Because we can’t speak
canine language and she don’t understand English, only tone they knows. Putting
a mussel does not teach her anything. What happened when you take it off after
30 minutes or longer later? She didn’t learn anything from muzzle, you are
simply suppressing her excitement and putting an equipment on her that she is
not comfortable and dislike. So she
refused to move at all. If she understand and comfortable of the muzzle, she
will move around freely as far as it is not too tight and she can breathe
easily. Muzzle is a preventive equipment. It is not a training equipment for
pet. In police work they do train muzzle training.
5. She acts like she can not hear or don't understand it,
she even ignores me sometimes when i call her name
6. but she listens and pays attention when you say treat treat or have a treat
in your hand you can make her do any trick, sit, laydown anything she listens
very well but only when it involves a treat.
– Don’t ever call her name to punish,
scold, put on muzzle or anything that give her negative association. From now,
keep some hot dog in a small container in living room, kitchen. Call her name to
for a treat, Call her for a simple command such as sit, and remember “come” is
a command, do not use it when you are not sure she will response and you have
no way to reinforce it. Then slowly reduce from treat every time and replace
with a good pat. Make it like a game, when you call her it is definitely
positive, it can be a pat, a hot dog or nothing! It is dog psychology!
7. i hate making her wear the mussel and honestly half the
time when i take it off she wants to bite again, she also gets so aggressive
that she runs around the room, pings off the walls, goes completely crazy,
balls to the wall. she will run away come back bite me and take off like a
bullet again pinging all around the walls and running like crazy.
- As I mentioned in No.4, Muzzle teach
nothing, it is not an educational/training tools. It is a preventive tools and
suppressing them.
8. I actually did look this up and a lot of bull terriers do
this, they say the best thing is to not move and try and ignore it like it is
not even happening.
- Instead of don’t move, I may suggest
stand firm, hand behind your back, show no interest and communication with her.
9. i have to actually hold my dog, wrap her up like a baby
and feel her heart rate go down before i release her to keep her from going
nuts when i let her up.
- She is constantly challenging your
alpha and hierarchy system status. Continue to love her like a baby but stop
treating her like a baby. Stop letting her sit on your lap for now, everyone
love it, but until your dog know she is always “below” you, don’t let her on “top”
of you. Grab the collar and hold the muzzle (I use hold, not grab. Imagine, you
hold your husband hand firmly, not grab your husband hand firmly) start letting
her know “it is okay, when you are calm, I am calm, everything is going to be
okay.” Say it to her, say it to yourself, dogs can read our feeling and body language
better than us.
10. The more you tell this girl NO, the more she does NOT
LISTEN, she knows what it means, but she does not care it seems like. she will
go to bite my hand sometimes when she is calm and first starts doing it out of
no where i will look at her and say no she gets real close, and stops, then she
keeps on doing it for a while until she full on bites and goes to attack again.
- “No”
is a command. Don’t give a command you cannot correct or reinforce. And never
repeat a command without any response. IT works very simple: 1 command, 1
action, 1 praise. Or 1 command, 0 action, 1 correction then repeat again. I
suggest that have you dog on collar all time, buy a cheap light leash, cut it
to 3-4 inches and have it on the collar all day. Easy for you to give her a
quick “jerk” and let her know what is wrong. If you are on flat collar, for you
to able jerk properly, allow four finger to go between collar and her neck. And
remember a quick jerk is like a sudden and short tap. Don’t pull and hold. It means
nothing to them. A sudden quick jerk!
9. Its like no matter what i do, i can not get her to
listen!! and STOP!! I would think she is doing this to get attention but she
gets plenty and is very spoiled ( my only daughter and baby lol )
- Communicate. Just like human, but we
communicate through words for a better life. But dogs are born to be wild,
train to be happy.
10. When i put the
mussel on my her, she freezes like she cant walk, or do nothing and she will
not play at all, - No.4
11. it's like the only way she knows how to play with a
human is to bite them, but she has got to the point where if i say go get me
the rope or ball or toy she will do it, only if the aggression level is first
starting out...when she first starts to bark or bite, if she has been biting me
repeatedly and i say go get a toy, she won't.
- Excitement, not aggression.
12. when she bites its a automatic mussel from her dad, with
me i will give her a few chances to correct herself by saying no, Bad girl, You
don't do that, NO, NO, NO, stop it... i give her way too many chances than i
probably should... i just try to talk to her calmly, but that never works
either.
- I suggested above. 1 No. don’t give no
no no. Your girl may ask you in her mind “Mummy, do I need to stop at first no,
or 5 nos, or after 5 no and 1 stop it.”
Anyway, just for sharing.