Ruben, You need to give us much more data than that please. We need to understand history, occurrences, other behaviour. The first things that I can tell from the photos alone is that she? has at least two other entities to be jealous of. Which means, if she has a Bullie character (and most do), she will tend to nip at you when around them or at whoever is giving them the attention, because she wants it all for herself. At worst she might nip at either of them for getting the attention.... there are ways around that, if that be the case, but let us know the full story.
In the beginning God created English Bull Terriers, in the image of EBT's, God created all other breeds.
When I read the title of this thread, about unpredictable and irregular snapping and then clicked it, there's a big picture of a peaceful dog about a foot or two away from a newborn.
Ruben please could u put a text up it would be nice to hear how things r going by the look of the picture it looks like a happy house but would be nice to know how u over come the situation and found a balance beautiful photo .
I noticed that @Ruben attached a document on his last post. Seems like he's having difficulty with his computer allowing him to type within the body of the message. annotated below is his message:
(Ruben I hope you find an alternate computer to utilize in order to keep us updated with your Bullie.)
Hello All. Im sorry this last post was my first time on here and I had heaps of trouble posting my message. The photos worked but not the text...I will give it another try.... Ruben is a 2 & 1/2 year old boy. He still has his nuts and has never had a partner. We got him as a little puppy and has ever since been a loved, treasured, integral part of our small family. Rumba (the brown dog) was already part of our family and Ruben followed and loved her like crazy, she was his best mate. Unfortunately Rumba died in early January. Ruben "snapped" (aggressively growled, turned head sharply towards her and barred teeth) at our little girl (now almost 12 mths) twice in 2 weeks recently. The first time we called benefit of the doubt for him (I locked him in a travel cage and didn't give him any love for a day) but the second time he was sitting right at our feet and she was on the ground too (no damage was done to her. We were devastated but due to it being our baby girl instantly called that we would have to get rid of him. Since then our love for him has softened our resolve and we are now thinking that we would get a muzzle for "family time" (when he is around the young ones). Also I wanted to check with other Bull Terrier owners if there is any simular situations out there and how they are handled (hence talking to everyone here)? We are also going to try and not treat him like such a human i.e travel in the back of the ute, not sitting on the outdoor chairs, no more inside time. Ruben has a bit of a history of getting "snarly" at us if he is getting properly told off and is cornered. he has also had an unwitnessed go at a young girl in our yard. She was staying here and had been socialising with him all week. She was a shy gir land apparently just went to gave him a pat and he did break skin on her with his teeth. We don't know if he was asleep, sitting, lying or what. We love Ruben but we love our daughter more. I really really want to keep him and have the two of them interacting like they did before this happened (you can see from the previous photo that they were always socialised together from day one, literally Ruben and rumba were outside the room when I gave birth). Any suggestions and simular experiences would be appreciated... thanks for your time. p.s when trying to post this message I get a red caption reading “Body is required”???
- Steve Gogulski "It's not just a Dog, it's a Bull Terrier!" www.bulliesofnc.com
It sounds like you have a very dominant Bull Terrier with some bad habits. I wish I could say this was a phase he was going through during his adolescent age but based on your detailed explanation of past occurances and behavior I feel Ruben has some very bad behavior traits that can be dangerous for your child and other children. Over the years I have seen only three adult Bull Terriers who were very nervous and anxious around children which would "snap" out of the blue and bite or attack a child. I can only speculate that it was caused from the fear and addrienilan produced from a child that the Bull Terrier senses and responds negatively from. In all situations where I have interacted with a Bull Terrier of this nature I have noticed similarities with all of them which included very dominant behavior. You didn't mention about Ruben's behavior towards other dogs (besides Rumba) and I'm willing to bet he is aggressive and overly interested in every dog he sees even if it's from a distance.
All three of the Bull Terriers I've mentioned that had the same ill temperament as Ruben were ones that were rendered to us from good owners who may or may not have raised and socialized them appropriately. One thing was for sure about all three - they were dangerous around any child and could not be trusted regardless how much future training was conducted. Luckily I found homes for these Bullies where there were no kids in the household and no other animals. A dog with this type of character requires a strong owner with quick and effective enforcement during the times the dog shows unwarranted behavior. Any type of dominance behavior should be immediately corrected and this type of training starts when they are small puppies.
Rarely will you ever hear me provide feedback where I feel as though the Bull Terrier can't be corrected and transformed into a trustworthy good natured dog. However, based on your depiction of Ruben's past and present temperament I feel he is a serious safety risk to your child. The problem you're going to have is the mere fact that you observe Ruben being kind loving towards yourself and other people 99% of the time and continue with hope that his sudden and unproved "snaps" will simply go away. These are often the dogs you read about in the paper that ended up mauling a child and the owner is quick to state that the dog never acted this way before.
Changing any dog's behavior is usually something that can be done through dedicated and professional training. However, there is nobody that is going to utilize their child as a test dummy to correct your dog's behavior, therefore training him to react differently to a child's fear, excitement, adrenaline, etc can not be accomplished. There's obviously something that causes this reaction in these type of dominant Bully breeds that can effect some dogs and adversely change their temperament and tolerance of children or people they feel they are more dominant of.
I wish you luck with Ruben but my advice would be to find him a home where he can kept away from children and disciplined in a manner where he knows he can not get away with any form of dominance behavior. I wish I knew the reason why dogs like this have a sudden "snap" and feel the need to bite or attack a child but it's unclear. One second everything can be just fine and the next second it can be down right dangerous. It's a very risky decision having a small child around any dog that is a potentially load gun.
- Steve Gogulski "It's not just a Dog, it's a Bull Terrier!" www.bulliesofnc.com
I have to say I totally agree with what steve has said I've only had my bully 2 yrs and a first time bully owner but I have had dogs around me all my life and i have never had any aggression from any off my dogs ever towards anyone or anything am very concerned about rubens behaviour towards your child it's very frightening it's even more frightening because u can be there with Ruben and your daughter observing his behaviour he could react and bite in a spilt second and could result in a serious injury also having the two together I'm almost certain will cause u to be feeling anxious which is a normal behaviour in fear of Ruben snapping out the problem is he will pick up on this and make him more unsettled u need to be able to trust your dog with your child and this is clearly not the case I know u love him but I know u love your daughter more rehoming him is for tge best he is a strong powerful breed and the damage he could do I don't even want to think about I have a six yr old and I trust my dogs with out a shadow of a dout they r all fantastic temperaments etc but I'm always carefully none of my dogs r ever left in the same room with my daughter if there is no adult present because I'd never take that risk if any of my dogs snapped once at my child I'd rehome them some where with no kids .good luck and I hope u do what is best it's hard when u love your animal so much and want to put things right but sometimes u can't and certainly not at the risk of a child .when it says body requires it's the little white paper along the bottom line of symbols ill post photo press that before u write message I had same problem it turns the screen black to text .
Oh boy, this is heartbreaking to read. However heartbreaking this is, though, it will pale in comparison if Ruben makes actual physical contact with your beautiful young daughter, or any other person or pet.
Steve put serious thought and consideration into his advice to you, so please consider his words carefully and seriously.
Thoughts are with you. None of this is easy. I'm positive we are all hurting with you.
This is such a sad story and I really do feel for rubens owner they r being put it a really sad situation and I'm sure we all fill for u as I know I do and I know others will we r here to surrport u no matter what .
Hi everyone, thanks for all the advice, concerns and thoughts. A lot of it is ringing true, however Ruben is not an over dominating dog. He just wants to play with 80% of other dogs he meets (on the beach, walks etc) and the other 20% he avoids all together. Rumba (brown dog) was the leader except at feed times she would avoid him as he was very protective of his tucker. You are right BigBear (and thanks for the help with this message, I would never have figured it out) we are now very nervous when he is around our daughter and he is so very much picking up on this. that is why we were thinking of getting a muzzle for him so we could all relax with him around and let him see that he can still be part of the family, happily. try a muzzle???? AAArrggghhhh I don't want to make this decision...he is so beautiful. He's our little mate!
My opinion is that if he were ever to snap at your daughter it would be because he was jealous of her, not afraid of her or intimidated by her. I know it's risky, but I would let him spend as much to as he can with her, WITH you in very close quarters and WITH a tight hold on his collar. If he sees that she can be loved at the same time as he is receiving praise, then, with time that possible jealous reaction could be defused. It will also demonstrate to you whether or not he is capable of that level of jealousy... if he is going to try it, he'll try it then... so hold on tight.
In the beginning God created English Bull Terriers, in the image of EBT's, God created all other breeds.
I was thinking the same as phil jealously or As your daughter is young she would have spent a lot of time crawling around the place on the floor and was wondering if Ruben has been allowed the lounge about on sofas etc I say this as it could be a alpha problem were if he has hes thinking he has a higher ranking than your daughter .just a thought .
Soooo sad! Sounds like he started the aggression when the other dog passed? Maybe you could get him another friend curious if you ended up having to re-home? What a rough situation, i know the love you feel for him!
Comments
How old is your Bull Terrier?
"It's not just a Dog, it's a Bull Terrier!"
www.bulliesofnc.com
"It's not just a Dog, it's a Bull Terrier!"
www.bulliesofnc.com
(Ruben I hope you find an alternate computer to utilize in order to keep us updated with your Bullie.)
Hello All. Im sorry this last post was my first time on here and I had heaps of trouble posting my message. The photos worked but not the text...I will give it another try....
Ruben is a 2 & 1/2 year old boy. He still has his nuts and has never had a partner. We got him as a little puppy and has ever since been a loved, treasured, integral part of our small family. Rumba (the brown dog) was already part of our family and Ruben followed and loved her like crazy, she was his best mate. Unfortunately Rumba died in early January.
Ruben "snapped" (aggressively growled, turned head sharply towards her and barred teeth) at our little girl (now almost 12 mths) twice in 2 weeks recently. The first time we called benefit of the doubt for him (I locked him in a travel cage and didn't give him any love for a day) but the second time he was sitting right at our feet and she was on the ground too (no damage was done to her. We were devastated but due to it being our baby girl instantly called that we would have to get rid of him.
Since then our love for him has softened our resolve and we are now thinking that we would get a muzzle for "family time" (when he is around the young ones). Also I wanted to check with other Bull Terrier owners if there is any simular situations out there and how they are handled (hence talking to everyone here)? We are also going to try and not treat him like such a human i.e travel in the back of the ute, not sitting on the outdoor chairs, no more inside time.
Ruben has a bit of a history of getting "snarly" at us if he is getting properly told off and is cornered. he has also had an unwitnessed go at a young girl in our yard. She was staying here and had been socialising with him all week. She was a shy gir land apparently just went to gave him a pat and he did break skin on her with his teeth. We don't know if he was asleep, sitting, lying or what.
We love Ruben but we love our daughter more. I really really want to keep him and have the two of them interacting like they did before this happened (you can see from the previous photo that they were always socialised together from day one, literally Ruben and rumba were outside the room when I gave birth). Any suggestions and simular experiences would be appreciated...
thanks for your time.
p.s when trying to post this message I get a red caption reading “Body is required”???
"It's not just a Dog, it's a Bull Terrier!"
www.bulliesofnc.com
All three of the Bull Terriers I've mentioned that had the same ill temperament as Ruben were ones that were rendered to us from good owners who may or may not have raised and socialized them appropriately. One thing was for sure about all three - they were dangerous around any child and could not be trusted regardless how much future training was conducted. Luckily I found homes for these Bullies where there were no kids in the household and no other animals. A dog with this type of character requires a strong owner with quick and effective enforcement during the times the dog shows unwarranted behavior. Any type of dominance behavior should be immediately corrected and this type of training starts when they are small puppies.
Rarely will you ever hear me provide feedback where I feel as though the Bull Terrier can't be corrected and transformed into a trustworthy good natured dog. However, based on your depiction of Ruben's past and present temperament I feel he is a serious safety risk to your child. The problem you're going to have is the mere fact that you observe Ruben being kind loving towards yourself and other people 99% of the time and continue with hope that his sudden and unproved "snaps" will simply go away. These are often the dogs you read about in the paper that ended up mauling a child and the owner is quick to state that the dog never acted this way before.
Changing any dog's behavior is usually something that can be done through dedicated and professional training. However, there is nobody that is going to utilize their child as a test dummy to correct your dog's behavior, therefore training him to react differently to a child's fear, excitement, adrenaline, etc can not be accomplished. There's obviously something that causes this reaction in these type of dominant Bully breeds that can effect some dogs and adversely change their temperament and tolerance of children or people they feel they are more dominant of.
I wish you luck with Ruben but my advice would be to find him a home where he can kept away from children and disciplined in a manner where he knows he can not get away with any form of dominance behavior. I wish I knew the reason why dogs like this have a sudden "snap" and feel the need to bite or attack a child but it's unclear. One second everything can be just fine and the next second it can be down right dangerous. It's a very risky decision having a small child around any dog that is a potentially load gun.
"It's not just a Dog, it's a Bull Terrier!"
www.bulliesofnc.com
"It's not just a Dog, it's a Bull Terrier!"
www.bulliesofnc.com
Steve put serious thought and consideration into his advice to you, so please consider his words carefully and seriously.
Thoughts are with you. None of this is easy. I'm positive we are all hurting with you.
thanks for all the advice, concerns and thoughts. A lot of it is ringing true, however Ruben is not an over dominating dog. He just wants to play with 80% of other dogs he meets (on the beach, walks etc) and the other 20% he avoids all together. Rumba (brown dog) was the leader except at feed times she would avoid him as he was very protective of his tucker.
You are right BigBear (and thanks for the help with this message, I would never have figured it out) we are now very nervous when he is around our daughter and he is so very much picking up on this. that is why we were thinking of getting a muzzle for him so we could all relax with him around and let him see that he can still be part of the family, happily. try a muzzle????
AAArrggghhhh I don't want to make this decision...he is so beautiful. He's our little mate!