Agression?
I have a 4 month old bull terrier who I've had since 8 weeks old, his name is Sergeant Pepper, Sarge for short. I am head over heels for him and love him- I've always wanted a bull terrier since I was a little girl. Sadly, he is very aggressive, and I've done nothing but show him love since day one. Sarge shows aggression toward my son- has lounged at him while his back is turned toward him multiple times when he was about 3 months. (My son is 6 and has never disciplined the puppy and is very loving toward him) He also has food aggression toward the other dog (a pug) and has to be leashed while feeding and separated. I started taking him to a trainer right around when he turned 3 months old because I wanted to try to fix this. Sarge is a genius and learns VERY FAST and has excelled at training and has not been aggressive toward my son recently- however I keep them separated for the most part or Sarge on his leash with the prong collar(the trainer recommended) while they interact with one another. Yesterday he got a hold of one of the pug's toys and I could not get it from him without him growling and trying to bite me-I had to dump food on the floor for him to drop it without me or anyone else being attacked. (the toy was very small and he was trying to swallow it and would have choked) Today, my grandfather brought him over a present which was a stuffed squirrel toy and he was playing, the pug came over toward him-he lunged at her and I caught him mid-air (thank god) and held him until I could get someone to put the other dog downstairs so I knew she was safe. Sarge did not try to bite me, and in fact, he normally does not ever show aggression toward me, but does to everyone else. One thing I find strange is that if he is playing with a rubber toy- he is fine with the pug being around and runs around her wagging his tail. Both of these instances, the toys were "life-like"..and he went insane. I'm really afraid because had I not caught him mid-air, I'm afraid he may have mangled the pug. He bites a lot, but I think it's more puppy-play and he gets a bit carried away and has bruised my skin on occasion (but it's not aggressive like the other situations I have written about). Sarge shows me soooo much LOVE for the most part and gets two nice walks a day for his energy and also I play with his chew toy throwing it down the hall so he can run back and forth. I had one vet suggest to get him fixed- one said wait until 6 months... but both didn't believe that he is aggressive. However, he is very friendly for the most part towards people- it's just these types of instances where he does show aggression. I love him with all of my heart, he is a cuddle bug to me and I never want to have to get rid of him. PLEASE HELP. Also, we are still seeing the trainer weekly, which he LOVES. I attached 2 photos below of him- he's the most handsome guy!!
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Comments
Bull Terriers don’t just want to be dogs, they want to be family members and know their determined place in the family.
If nobody sets the rules, they will make their own rules.
Going after the kid or the other dog is an absolute NOGO. Catching him before he can cause damage is a matter of luck. He needs to be shown and told unmistakably that this kind of behavior is not being tolerated - EVER!
You are controlling the situation right now and interfere and manage, which is good and you should keep doing that. But that’s only half of the plan.
Bull Terriers have a very strong mindset and just as other male dogs, especially young male Bull Terriers often tend to develop some dominance issues, if not stopped in time. THIS is your time!
He is being nice to you to the point he benefits from it - that is not respect. But respect is what he really needs to learn immediately!
Right now in the house he seems to be following instincts, not rules.
For the food guarding feed him ONLY from your hand for a few weeks until he stops the guarding, show him that you are the leader, providing the food. (Keep the pug away during this procedure, so the Bull Terrier can focus on you). Feed him on fixed schedule, so he can develop routines. Dogs need and love routines. It gives them a sense of security and they like to settle in those routines. That goes for bad, but luckily also for GOOD routines.
Toys that are being fought over or not given away on demand are taken away and only reintroduced slowly once he has learned that he will not be allowed to force his will against anyone by aggression. Neither he nor the pug will have those toys. If that means no toys for a while, that’s how it is.
Look up “pin method” or “pinning” in the search of this forum. I think your dog could really benefit from it.
Omit dominance games or competitive games for a while, such as tug.
Keep up with the obedience training, because that teaches him to comply in a fun way.
Right now he is just a little dominant. That can be fixed. But if nobody corrects this behavior, this could be a real problem one day and pose dangers to your kid and the smaller dog - if it does not already.
They want rules and they need them. A no tolerance policy - as hard as it may feel right now - is giving your dog the BEST chance to lead a happy life. Because once he knows what’s being tolerated and what isn’t, he will be happy to follow those rules and by this have a great chance to never get into any serious trouble caused by his behavior.
He is so cute outside! Now give him the chance to mature into the most lovable individual from the inside. He is a good dog - you need to help him show it!
And … if you find one, I’d REALLY suggest to consult a trainer experienced with this breed, because many dog trainers that are not familiar with Bull Terriers are just as overwhelmed by their personality as the owners.
First, let me say I've got the impression that you feel somehow offended by philsergeant's comment. I can assure you that he would never comment in underhanded or offending ways. He is being a great help for a lot of people in this forum all the time and his advice is real, as is his sense of humor, you may perhaps just have taken the wrong way.
As for the pinning, there sure are other ways, such as timeouts and a lot of training.
But before talking about other ways, please allow me to try and make sure that we’re on the same page regarding the pin method, because this actually is a very powerful and successful method. But it comes in several different levels so to speak, and the amount of pressure to be applied needs to be adjusted to the individual dog and situation in order for the method to work and lead to the desired results.
Maybe you can just describe when you have used it in the past and what exactly you did.
Also, if you don’t mind me asking, besides the prong collar how exactly did the trainer advise you to deal with the situation and how did his suggestions work out for you so far?
What is his opinion of the entire situation?
Currently to me it sounds like things could become dangerous for your kid some day, if the aggression can not be controlled. Also the pug seems to be anything but safe in the house. What does he think about that?
Don't get me wrong. I am not questioning his competence, just trying to see the big picture here.
Because you already have a trainer who indeed IS experienced with Bull Terriers, but still feel so helpless that you seek help in this forum. That tells me some things are still going wrong somehow and I try to understand where exactly the problem is.
Thank you for taking the time to write down more details. This is very helpful to understand the situation better.
First of all, I would strongly suggest to work on the food guarding by hand feeding for a while, like already said. NO more food from a bowl, only from the hand of the feeder. The feeder is the adult/ are the adults in the household, who are being growled at. This will also easily help you control his eating speed, the same effect as the slow feeding bowl, only now he has to interact with you in order to get his food. Huge difference!
It is a good thing that he loves the training. You can also use this and let him work for his part of his daily food ratio. Play things like fetch with a feed bag and reward him for bringing it to you by letting him take some pieces out of the bag. If you are afraid he will take off with the bag, put a long lead on it to keep control.
He needs to learn that the people are the ones GIVING the food, not taking it away. And if he does good things, he’s getting more.
This way at the same time he learns that giving things away does not mean he looses, because right after that he will be rewarded with praise and food/ treats.
You can also train the “Leave it” and the “Let go” command with him using his food or treats. First the not so attractive objects, later with toys he was making a fuss about.
Also - just in case you are not already handling things this way - don’t just take things away from him. Try to make him give them away on his own and make a trade: He gives a toy away - even a not so attractive one he gives up easily - he gets a treat. If that does not work for you right away, slowly work with him on the “Leave it” and the “Let go” command with a neutral object and skip toys for now.
Also praise him/ reward every sign of good behavior (this can also be done with part of his daily food ratio or treats). This will show him which behavior you WANT from him. Is he nice around the pug eating a treat? Praise, reward! I he staying calm around your son in a situation he did not stay calm in before? Praise, reward!
As your dog seems to be very fixated on you, I would at least suggest that both, you as well as your husband should do all of these things with him. To be honest, I’d even start off with letting your husband do the feeding and rewarding while urging you to stay a little more neutral (not ignoring) with the dog for a little while - leaving most of the cuddling and affection to your husband, so Sarge gets a chance to focus on the other person and really try and make new friends in the household. As I understood you are the one least growled at and he growls more often at your husband. That’s why I am suggesting it.
As for the pug I agree with the vet that putting some kind of order during the feeding will probably not work already or make things even worse.
It can spark jealousy and in the worst case cause more aggression against the pug. For now I think it is a good idea to stick to feeding them separated (different rooms or times) as you already do and not have Sarge associate any kind of order with that. At the most I’d try and work on that later, once you have a better general control over the food guarding and insecurities.
Not letting Sarge reside at any “dominance” supporting platforms such as the couch or bed for now is probably ok, IF the same goes for the pug. But I would only do that, if this has sparked problem situations in the past, such as pushing the pug from the couch or his favorite spots.
Dogs have an understanding of “unfairness” and if he feels that the pug is being privileged in certain situations that’s not helping his jealousy.
Right now he is already getting a “special treatment” and he feels that. Your second explanation paints a far more detailed picture of your dog not having found his place in the family yet and going against everything he feels threatening his position or privileges.
The kid and the pug are the smallest members of the household and obviously least respected by him.
At the same time they are probably the two individuals he feels his privileges and rights most threatened by.
It will be hard to teach him to respect them, but it is not impossible to teach him to accept them and to know that he is not allowed to go after them.
I am a little skeptical about the prong collar and keeping him in his crate all the time.
But I think this suggestion is probably more meant to help to control the situation and avoid accidents than it is meant to have any kind of educational effect on the dog.
Having a collar and maybe a short training leash (http://www.amazon.com/Lupine-Training-Leash-Larger-1-Inch/dp/B0041S3824/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1447685107&sr=8-1&keywords=short+leash) on him all the time is probably a good idea to be able to get a good hold of him quickly when his aggression occurs.
Based on that I would allow him to run free around the house as often as possible in order to enable a normal day for him (But I would not leave him alone with the kid or the pug for now!!!)
Regarding the pinning:
The pin method is meant to make the dog give in and submit to your will. If the dog does not submit or starts fighting after being pinned, chances are that pinning can spark more aggression, because the dog may have not really decided to give in and is perhaps the type that rather flees forward (attacks) than runs. In that case and looking at all of the other circumstances it may also add to the dog’s feeling of being treated unfair, which bears the potential of building mistrust in you as the owners.
When using the pin method, it is vital that your dog in any other regard knows that you love and want him! That’s what philsergeant meant by saying discipline has to come with love.
With pinning there is only a thin line between the dog accepting you as the one making the rules while knowing that you love him and he can trust you and your decisions AND the dog deciding to back away from you or lunge at you.
As you have obviously found pinning not effective for you and your dog may rather react by going forward than giving in, building trust, routines and confidence and letting him feel that he is an accepted member of the family overall may be the better way to go in your case.
Here is an interesting article on another view of “dominance issues” and another look at the pin method (alpha roll), which may help you to a better understanding of what your dog is feeling right now and which measures may be a good idea:
https://apdt.com/pet-owners/choosing-a-trainer/dominance/
I am actually a torn supporter of the pin method. It can be really effective (in our case it helped big time!) with an unmannerly dog that is going past limits every now and then out of mischief. But it really depends on the personality of the dog and the owner, if intimidation will help and not damage the relationship.
In your case your dog shows signs of insecurity and a reason why he shows a “bring it on” attitude after being pinned may be that he thinks he needs to FIGHT for his standing in the family. That means he is insecure about who he can really trust and feels like he can only depend on himself. Your dog seems to be lacking security and the confidence that he is an equal member of the family.
Under the given circumstances, I’d focus on enforcing every positive behavior, giving him love and attention. He needs to associate good things with ALL of the family members in the house. If you feel it’s safe, you can also let your son give him a treat for being a good dog. So he learns there are good things coming from your son (only if that’s safe to do!), too.
At the same time you should make good use of removing privileges and attention right after he shows unwanted behavior so he can make up his mind about, if he really wants to loose attention and good things over his actions.
Jumping at your son may be an act of playfulness rather than aggression - I really don't know, because I have never witnessed the situation myself. Bull Terriers are very strong and at the same time have hardly any awareness of their own physical strength.
Nonetheless, going after the pug and the kid must be disrupted and especially in these cases Sarge still needs to feel immediate consequences to learn he's not allowed to do this. But instead of keeping him in his crate, I’d try ignoring him for a while right after that happened (all of you) and maybe keeping him in a separated place for some time. Not his crate, but another room, for example. His crate should be a place he feels good in, a refuge, not a cage to confine him over longer periods of time. His crate is his room. Just as routines and love he needs his own places.
After the “silent treatment” is over, and he is behaving normal, he should be cuddled and played with etc. again and really feel he is part of everything as long as he is behaving friendly.
I would also try to really figure out the situations sparking aggression in order to determine, if there are constellations with the kid and the pug that can just be avoided by making different arrangements.
I am pretty sure that these are mostly situations of jealousy or Sarge feeling disadvantaged.
Just try to really remember the circumstances right before the aggression happens. You do not necessarily need that on video. If you try and analyze the situations right after it happens, you may be able to find a pattern. Most of the time it's the little things.
This way will be a much longer route than the pinning, involving training, managing and controlling in the meantime and take a long time to achieve your goal. During this time it is vital to be consistent.
The measures should aim on protecting your kid and the pug and building the trust of your dog in you.
I think you already know that, but maybe my post is helping you to find a few new perspectives and some more measures to take.
Just in case you like to read, there is a wonderful book about clicker training with Bull Terriers - a very rare combination
http://www.amazon.com/When-Pigs-Fly-Training-Impossible/dp/1929242441/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1447718135&sr=8-1&keywords=when+pigs
Even if you ever consider to actually do clicker training, this book is still worth reading, because it holds A TON of very useful information about this very special breed.
I am sure that for the sake of your family, your son and both of your dogs you will make the right decisions and not give aggression a chance to poison the piece.
I will be happy to hear how everything works out for you. And just in case - which I do not hope to happen - things get worse, don't hesitate to turn back to this forum full of great members and valuable advice to find more help.
But if those are his baby teeth, it can happen. No worries. Djamila actually lost teeth until her mouth was almost "empty" until her "adult rocks" broke out of her jaw.
I only hope that the remains of the tooth that only came out partially will not cause any problems. But that will either reveal itself or should surface during his next routine vet check at the latest - which hopefully always includes a look into his mouth.
Have fun with the book!
It's a good thing to give him something to chew on - provides relief to many teething puppies.
To stop nipping during play in his case, I’d interrupt play and cuddling every single time he gets too rough and ignore him for 5 minutes. Sooner or later he will get that nobody wants to play with a roughneck.
Some suggest to yelp loud like a puppy, because allegedly that's how puppies tell each other when the playing gets too rough. But I am not sure, if in Sarge's case this would be a good idea, considering his attitude. The "silent treatment" leaves less space for him to feel superior.
Dogs are very, very good at reading situations and humans and developing routines connected to certain triggering and reoccurring events and I think that often tricks us into believing that they have a clock hidden in their belly or can actually tell the time by the hour.
We often are amazed how much our dogs seem to be working like clockwork, always waking up at the same time in the morning, going to bed, wanting food at the same time or knowing when we come home etc.
Then again we all know about things like circadian rhythm and the effects of rituals and fixed habits (also in humans).
However, telling time like humans does require complex cognitive abilities, involving long term memory and looking into the future. Dogs are able to anticipate, but only based on past experience.
Science still seems to be unclear about the real extend to that dogs are actually able to tell time. I can only talk about what I have read myself. I am not a scientist. And I for all know scientists believe that dogs are not able to tell the exact difference between time periods.
However, they actually seem to be able to tell short from long in a way, only not exactly as we do it. Studies have revealed that dogs left alone only for a moment do greet their owners differently from dogs that have been alone for several hours.
So my example of 10 minutes and 2 hours was indeed not a good choice.
Here’s some better info than my words about the controversy, and the internet is full of it:
http://www.patriciamcconnell.com/theotherendoftheleash/do-dogs-know-how-long-weve-been-gone
http://www.animalplanet.com/pets/can-dogs-understand-time/
Whoever scientist really hit the nail on the head, it IS and remains amazing, how dogs are able to adapt and handle time in SOME way!
He's 6 months old an full of energy. I think he is acting pretty normal. Just needs the time to grow up and mature. Some of them are wild and need more control and consistent and determined owners. Mila also did a lot of humping when little with her toys. I never considered that a problem as long as it does not involve members of the house or other animals - because humping can be a sign of the dog wanting to dominate others. And that is not acceptable.
Not crating him all the time is good choice, if I were the one asked. I guess it does not hurt, if doggie actively learns to come down and have a calm time. But Bull Terriers do have energy, and they need outlets. Crating them for long periods does not help that. I don't understand the trainer's point here, if it is not just intended to prevent accidents.
Regarding the spaying: This is a decision that every owner has to make himself/ herself. But that much can be said, it's never a guarantee that spaying will fix behavioral issues.
It was strongly believed in the past and spaying was advocated by vets for several reasons. But that has changed due to current studies and changed scientific knowledge.
Many vets actually no longer recommend spaying, if not necessary for any particular reason, e.g. health.
Because like said, there's no guarantee that behavior will be fixed by it. Younger studies also revealed that spaying can actually bring more health disadvantages for the dog than formerly assumed. I am no expert on that topic. Just use Google and do your own research on the internet. Then make your own decision.
What kind of awful trainer tells a person to put a dog in a crate "all the time?" That's not training, that's prison. Being in a crate for any other reason than rest is likely to just make him more anxious and hyper and cause you more problems. I'm glad you've decided to give him more freedom.
Honestly I think he's just being a young dog. They're going to misbehave and be wild, you just have to know when to say enough is enough!
He's 2.5 years old now. He's still a Bullie and stubborn but when the prong goes on his best behavior goes on. We don't even have to pop the collar, he just knows we mean business and well mannered Stoeger makes an appearance.
We still have problems with him interacting with other dogs due to his female human's nervousness while handling him around other dogs.
All the advice in prior posts will help you and Sarge immensely if you stick with it and are consistent. The free advice on this site is a million times more valuable than what your "trainer" has suggested.
I don't know, if you are using a real crate or something else.
We have one of the largest available versions of these plastic kennels - which are originally made for transport - in use as a crate for Djamila. We also own a smaller one for the car. She loves both of them.
While enclosed in this, it should be a lot harder for a dog to find weak spots to chew on from the inside compared to the bottom of a dog crate.
Of course, if your dog chews up things will depend on some more factors such as the material you put inside for comfort and padding, as well as the mental state of your dog (anxiety, boredom, stress).
In addition to the advantage mentioned above these kennels also provide a really cozy refuge for the dog vs. crates, because the dog feels less exposed. It also limits the visual field of the dog. In some dogs with anxiety this can be helpful, in others it could have quite the opposite effect. Sadly that's something you will only know after a trial run.
Yet, I've never tried the cage style crates, because I always liked the idea of my dog having kind of its own real doghouse in our house or apartment.
We have cameras at home, so we could watch her rioting in that box so hard that she basically went through half of our living room with it.
We rushed back home. When we arrived, she seemed to have cooled down already. Only the box had shifted a few yards. Yet no damages whatsoever. Can't help it, still makes me chuckle thinking about it ...
I think she got really angry about being left alone. That one time remained the first and only time she has ever done that. Since then she has loved her retreat and has never ever shown any signs of being unhappy when being home alone.
While the idea of making the crate more attractive to doggie with the Nylabone sounds good overall, I would be a little worried about Sargie chewing up and swallowing the Nylabone when alone and getting bored, since he has shown destructive tendencies already and also has proven to EAT what he chews up.
But that's really hard to assess without knowing the dog and all the circumstances.
One thing is for sure, with Bull Terriers owners often need to be creative.
Yet, I still think, if there's nothing mentally wrong with Sarge, he may just be one of the harder nuts to crack, needing a little more firmness. The trainer may already have seen this threat and therefore advised the prolonged crating, which at first I did not understand. But it remains true that this is not a solution for Sarge to spend his life with, either. If nothing else helps immediately I would think about having Sarge wear a muzzle at all times he is around your kid for now. That's not training, but a simple safety measure, until you have found better solutions.
In terms of better solutions I keep my fingers crossed for all of you. Sadly my resources for remote advice are exhausted.
I have spoken to 3 separate rescues (Recycla-Bull, Blue Ridge and Big Apple) and have told them his history and they all said it is best to euthanize him because he is a danger & spoke to me about sudden rage which sounded like him. So, at this point it looks like Tuesday the 18th when his "quarantine" is up, I will have to do this. I would like to try to bring some type of positivity away from his life because most of the time this was not who he was! I took out the breeders papers and started looking more into them which sadly, I was not aware of the importance of this before. When I googled the address listed (which was not where I picked up Sarge) it was not even a real address. I believe that he is running a puppy mill and found ads online with litters for sale at the moment! I did call him more than once about Sarge but realized quickly that he was not going to help nor did he care. Sorry for such a LONG post but, I wanted to reach out to a community of bull terrier lovers, because despite what Sarge did to our son, he was and is a part of our family and we love him! This is the hardest thing that we have to do.
I am truly sorry you had to go through this ordeal with Sarge and although your mind is most likely bringing you back to the times in which Sarge displayed the loving and proper character of a well-natured Bull Terrier there's no question he has a screw loose which makes for a safety risk for your family and any other family. Sometimes it's best to eliminate the risk of serious bodily harm by euthanizing a dog which has been evaluated by a trainer and veterinarian and said to be a danger to people.
"It's not just a Dog, it's a Bull Terrier!"
www.bulliesofnc.com
So sad to hear that in your case the events developed so dramatically - for everyone involved. I really don't envy you for the hard decision you have to make now. But looking back at how long you have tried, it is comprehensible that your options are exhausted and that this is no state in which a normal family life is possible. It's just straight dangerous. I am glad that your son and your partner did not suffer really severe injury if I read that correctly. The injury that has happened and the trauma these events have caused will hopefully NOT haunt you for the rest of your life.