My Bullie is biting people
Hi everyone, never posted before but I’m now at the point of really worrying about my bullie. I rescued him at 6 DAYS old, the mother was killing the rest of the pups and the owners were not interested in taking care of the two puppies left and I rescued my now very big 35kg Troy. I have grown up with bull terriers and am totally in love with them. Troy is now nearly 2 years and over the past 6 months we have noticed a bit of a temperament and aggression towards myself and my husband. He bit my husband in the face a couple months back which landed in surgery and 13 stitches later. It was not Troy’s fault as my husband had put his face by Troy’s whilst he was sleeping and so the reaction was not even questioned. We sometimes forget that Troy is a dog and not a human since we have had him from 6 days old and we love him to bits and pieces. A few weeks back he bit me on my nose whilst I was playing with him, but he growled and then bit me. Luckily I didn’t land up with stitches m, just a nasty scar later. Today he has now bit my helper on her arm when she tried to take his blanket to wash it. I have told her before to not disturb him when he has his blanket but she didn’t listen and I am now dealing with this. My question is that i have never had a bull terrier bite like this, I don’t know what to do?? Please any advice will be helpful. I do so much research on the breed daily and feel I really know the breed too, Troy has been for training and has been brought up in the most wonderful environment, could it be that he is too spoilt? I really am running out of answers here. Please help!!!
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Well my guy is 10 now. I had a couple issues when he was younger with biting faces.. errr. Provoked both times. One by my brother who just met him playing with him on all fours with a few shots of whiskey in him. Not a good match at all! He was two and bit his face. also having about 13 stitches and my brother holding a grudge against me for quite some time. He also had another incident with a elderly lady. long story... honestly.. it was snowing out and I walked over to give her some veggies cause I was worried for her. Did not realize she had been drinking and was drunk. I was sitting there as she carried on with all sorts of stories trying my best to figure a way to escape. Murphy my bull terrier was by my side. She got emotional leaned on the backside of my dog and literally grabbed his snout and stuck her tongue in my dogs mouth. Murphy bit her lip. I cant explain all the crazy insanities in this story. Result. She tried to get murphy put down. I hired a bad lawyer that was of no help to me. Ending in 20,000 lawsuit on my hands. Im a bartender. I don't have 20 grand for myself let alone anyone else. me. claimed bankruptcy. Also knowing 1000 percent I was not guilty an d neither was Murphy.
It has been quite a journey with My Best friend. I have learned a lot abut myself as well as Bull terriers. Mine is super male and a bit dominant. very sweet though. He has had night terrors since he was two. its honestly quite disturbing at times. He has flipped in the middle of a dream waking up wide eyes not understanding what had just happened to him. He has come at me a few times also. once while sleeping on me. I was sleeping also. woke up in full attack mode. whew. he was in a complete dream not conscious of what was taking place. I have a good handle on him now. he has checked me a couple times. for example when i have been depressed and used him as a shoulder to cry on. He snapped at me and was like buck up and stop with the sulking. he has no interest. lol
I got Murphy when he was 1 year old. He will be 10 May 31st.
He is my best friend, protector, loving beast and sweetest friend Ive ever had.
He is an animal. My dog is intact. I do not breed him. Im sure there are pent up hormones from not breeding. my guess. My mother has a female bull terrier that is fixed. He humps her a bit here and there. not the full monty tho. they fought for a few months until we slowly talked them into loving each other. Now they are best friends. She much more docile.
I don't have an answer for you. Just thought I would share my story as sometimes its good just to have some comparison or feed to take into thought.
I also took him to aggressive breed dog school with a woman here who focuses on dogs with aggression. really helped me understand dominance.
Also when they are young they need lots of exercise!!! I rollerbladed with Murphy regularly and also play ball with a chuck it all the time. these have been saving grace,
Love to hear other peoples suggestions for bite aggression or snapping with bullies.
Cheers!
Vita and Murph Dog!
Thank you so much for your message! I can’t tell you how comforting it is to know that my bullie isn’t the only one that is going through what he is. Thank you so much! Did the aggression training help with Murphs aggression? Or did it just teach you about dominance?
Troy is such a wonderful and sweet boy but he does have that side to him which I need to watch carefully. I am with him 24/7 basically as I work and run my business from home so he gets loads of attention. We go walking daily for atleast 30 minutes and I play a good 30 minutes in the evening with him. I do daily command training which I have found he really loves and he really does enjoy knowing that he is a good boy. I socialized him from a young age with other dogs and people of all ages but that all seems to have gone out the window and I worry about his reactions to strangers or a visitor.
I only believe in positive training and have never enforced negative training on Troy so it’s just so strange these outbursts.... I’m also at the point of thinking that it is genetic. Like all things, I spend dedicated time daily do training without troy and trying to divert attention from aggressive situations as best I can but any other advise will always be appreciated.
Thanks for the message
Cheers!
With regards to the alcohol aggression, perhaps when your brother went on all fours whilst intoxicated, Murph felt challenged and with it ending up in a bad bite perhaps that has left a bad experience for Murph and so further associates alcohol with such incidents, especially since the next one was with an elderly lady too that was intoxicated.
My mom took a packet out the cupboard when Troy was still a little puppy and flung it to open it up and this frightened Troy to no extent. The next time I took a packet out the cupboard he came running for me and wanted to attach the packet but I remained calm, let him smell it, reassured him that it’s ok and that the packet won’t hurt him and now he is fine when he sees or hears a packet. I must say I have sure learnt a lot from Troy that none of my other 4 bull terriers taught me.
Troy is my special case boy!
thanks for response.
The aggressive breed bully school taught me dominance and consistency training. maintenance. I think since I was working with Murphy it helped him learn to obey an that I am the lead. One thing i notice that I struggle with is... Dogs like perfect routine. for the most part. If I was a robotic human. I would be the best owner ever. Meaning get up let dog out at 830am, feed every day exactly 9, take a walk at 9:20 and tire the pup out. then go about my day and have an equal routine in the evening. feed at 6pm. play ball for 45 min. something of that sort. DOGS LOVE ROUTINE. it helps them understand so much better. not always the easiest on my part. I do understand the dynamic though and take it into consideration on a regular basis.
In regards to my brother on all fours intoxicated. YES! absolutely was challenged. I truly dont believe that, that was the situation that caused further aggression issues. I got Murphy when he was 1 year old. I got him from a biker dude. that lived on a farm. I dont know what he went thru the 1st year of his life. In all honesty now that Ive had him for over 9 years. I believe its genetics. 100 percent. I believe he is not a fan of altered states of mind. For the most part. especially alcohol. I know that Murphys crate is his safe place. He loves his crate. so anytime I feel insecure about a situation I will crate him. for example children are around. Or a person I feel his behavior could be ignited. One thing I have learned. Trust your instincts and dont be afraid to speak up. If you feel someone is pressing your dogs boundaries or your boundaries. Say something. Ask them to please leave your animal be. It took me a long time to be fierce with this. I have no issue whatsoever now. You are protecting you animal as well as yourself. and the others around. Be the lead on this situation. state it. inform. We have two bullys. one female and one male. female is fixed. male is not. it took us a good 3 months to talk them into being friends. they love each other dearly. Kinda like a marriage. They still have there moments. Murphy attacked her a couple times at the beginning. I dont really socialize Murphy otherwise. In regards to off leash play. He is just not that guy in his current situation. He fights and dominates. If I want to socialize him. I will go for a walk on leash with another dog on leash. etc. or or female bully which he is fully comfortable with now. Ive noticed to embrace some behaviors and state my security in each situation. it helps everyone. Im sensitive and so is my Bully Murphs!!