Biting
Aussie1
Australia
We have just adopted a 3 month old male desexed bull terrier from the RSPCA (a rescue centre in Australia.)
He was rescued along with around 100 other bull terriers from a puppy farm, all being kept in small cages in absolute squalor.
Since bringing him home 5 days ago he has settled in exceptionally well - no crying & always asks to be let out for the toilet. He seems to have a lovely nature & craves company which is understandable due to his dreadful start in life. He was quite nervous at first but his confidence is growing day by day which brings me on to my next question.
We currently own a 2 year old desexed beagle who has the nicest nature & not an aggressive bone in his body.
We were dubious as to how our beagle would accept the bull terrier & have been pleasantly surprised, they have been playing together & having much fun. They do play rough sometimes (not aggressive, well not yet) & always want the toy the other one has.
However in the last day or so the bull terrier has now started getting extremely excited & biting the beagle on the ears or throat & chasing him every opportunity he has which makes the beagle yelp & run off as he is frightened which is totally not fair as the beagle was here first.
The bull terrier doesn't seem to want to calm down when he gets like this (he is also like this with us sometimes) & we are not sure what to do about the situation as if it goes on surely it will get worse.
Is this normal behaviour? Do we need to stop them playing together completely & separate them which obviously will not work. I have read in some of the discussions to hold the bull terrier down until he calms down but will this not make him think this is a challenge & perhaps make him aggressive towards us & make him worse?
We have also read about not keeping a male bull terrier with another male dog but have been advised this should not cause issues as they are both desexed.
Any advice please.
He was rescued along with around 100 other bull terriers from a puppy farm, all being kept in small cages in absolute squalor.
Since bringing him home 5 days ago he has settled in exceptionally well - no crying & always asks to be let out for the toilet. He seems to have a lovely nature & craves company which is understandable due to his dreadful start in life. He was quite nervous at first but his confidence is growing day by day which brings me on to my next question.
We currently own a 2 year old desexed beagle who has the nicest nature & not an aggressive bone in his body.
We were dubious as to how our beagle would accept the bull terrier & have been pleasantly surprised, they have been playing together & having much fun. They do play rough sometimes (not aggressive, well not yet) & always want the toy the other one has.
However in the last day or so the bull terrier has now started getting extremely excited & biting the beagle on the ears or throat & chasing him every opportunity he has which makes the beagle yelp & run off as he is frightened which is totally not fair as the beagle was here first.
The bull terrier doesn't seem to want to calm down when he gets like this (he is also like this with us sometimes) & we are not sure what to do about the situation as if it goes on surely it will get worse.
Is this normal behaviour? Do we need to stop them playing together completely & separate them which obviously will not work. I have read in some of the discussions to hold the bull terrier down until he calms down but will this not make him think this is a challenge & perhaps make him aggressive towards us & make him worse?
We have also read about not keeping a male bull terrier with another male dog but have been advised this should not cause issues as they are both desexed.
Any advice please.
Comments
I read about that puppymill with over a hundred Bull Terriers in her possession. That breeder hid the fact that she had so many dogs. Her website boasted about her Show dogs and earned titles. It's apparent she fooled a lot of people.
I think your Bull Terrier needs some serious discipline and training. Neutering isn't going to eliminate dominance behavior either. The best thing you can do right now is to control the excitement level which can often amp up a Bull Terrier. Is this behavior being noted while both dogs are in the house or is only when they are outside running wildly?
"It's not just a Dog, it's a Bull Terrier!"
www.bulliesofnc.com
Our EBT is currently 18months old and has only stopped biting us the last couple of months (when I say biting it’s like his testing who is boss). He has always played really well with other dogs and is never aggressive towards them. As a puppy he would annoy a lot of the dogs with his over excited ways and would get barked at but for some reason he never seemed to learn and would alway go back for more! We always found when he was at home he always wanted to test the boundaries and would snap at us when he was being naughty (mostly chewing things).. now thinking back, he was just being a hyper EBT who just wanted to play! Haha!!
We was told by friends to hold him down when he snapped at us but it alway made him even more snappy, becoming frustrated with us so we decided to start to walk away from him when he snapped. We also decided in the summer to take him to adolescencent classes with the dog trust, they asked us to think about when it mostly happened to which we realised it was in the evening, we were told that it was because he wanted to play and that we were to be one step ahead by playing with him before he acted in that way and over the last few months he has really calmed down. I think he had just spent the first year of his life working out who was boss. He now seems to understand “no” and when he does seem to get into that old mood we play with him or go out to the park as it seems it’s just when he is frustrated!
As for the park, we say that Eric is like marmite, some dogs love his over friendly ways where as some bark at him straight away, wanting him to leave them alone... this he is still yet to learn and understand!
Hope that helps?
Your puppy is being a pup Sal and Liam were like this at your pups age it does get better Liam is calming down now he does rough play with Sal so I do allow her to correct him if he gets to rough,when he bites you try saying ouch in a high pitched voice I know it sounds stupid but can work,if this doesn't work when he has bit you get up and turn your back on him you can always get up and leave the room this will take more than a few times for him to understand that his behaviour is not acceptable
Rambo was exactly as you describe your bully. He gets hyper and snappy. At first we were concerned about the biting, we've never had a dog that does that, and with Rambo being our first bully, we were in unchartered territory. We have done 3 6-week training classes now and are seeing improvements. He's nearly 10 months old and the biting has decreased a lot. Now its just a naughty nip to try and encourage us to play. We do not have another dog and as Eric17 said, Rambo is like marmite! (love that analogy!) At the park, some dogs hate his boisterous behavior and some happily join in the fun. It seems that EBTs take a while to fully understand who is the boss and it is a constant struggle, but I truly believe consistency pays off!!!