My dogs are bumming me out

[Glennk]

My dogs are going to be the death of me, well maybe not, but I may end up getting sued over them.

I’ll try to keep it short.

I have two dogs and both were pound puppy mutts. They are full grown generally nice dogs. Hana is my female rot/pitt bull, possibly boxer mix. She is about 5 yrs old. She loves people. I have never seen her aggressive towards anyone. Complete strangers could walk up to her and she would lie on her back and want her tummy scratched. Because of her looks no one does of course. I got her from a friend when she was about 1 year old. She came from a family that had a pure bred female pitt bull and I was told they needed to get rid of Hana because the two dogs were fighting (go figure) and Hana was making frequent visits to the vet to get fixed up. For the most part Hana is well behaved and listens. Her bad side is she will attack any dog for no reason. The bigger the dog the more aggressive she is. Even if she looses she keep going back for more. It is embarrassing and very frustrating. I have had to pay a few vet bills because of it. Nothing real serious – stitches and first aid. The owners of the other dogs were worse off then the dogs themselves. She will not listen when she gets in attack mode (lack of better words), but she does hear me. Her ears go back and she gives a little look back.

Riley as I was told is a male Akita Sheltie mix. He is about 2 ½ years old. Riley is the better of the two when it comes to being aggressive. I guess the only problem with Riley is that he’s a runner and a non listener. This whole post stems from him getting out of the yard. Most times it was because my wife would not shut the gate (now it is locked). If you leave a door open to the free world he will get out and Hana will follow. He wont listen either when he gets out, but he doesn’t bother people or dogs when he out. He just doesn’t listen. I have been told on a few occasions that he was attacking our neighbor’s dog along with Hana. I have never seen him do it, so I can’t say for sure.

Hana and Riley get along good for the most part. Once in a while Hana gets bitchy at Riley and will bite him. He used to submit, but now he gives it right back. It has been about a year since they drew blood from each other. For the most part it is when my wife takes them on walks. If Riley sees a rabbit and yippes about it or pulls on the leash Hana will start biting at him and then they get into a fight. But no blood is drawn and it is mostly growling and teeth showing and a little jumping on each other (this is my wife’s description). Hana now has a muzzle for when she gets like this.

What can I do about Hana’s aggressiveness? We love these two very much. They have a huge yard to run around in. They are well fed and cared for. A dog couldn’t get it better then these two. I’m just bummed out because I know it will happen again. I want to keep Hana until she dies, but…… Not sure we can. These days there is so much to loose if you get sued. I see in the news about peoples pitt bulls attacking people because they got loose. I’m not worried about Hana doing that because I really don’t think she has it in her, but another dog she will. And it could be that prized show dog or it could be another dog being walked by a little kid and then they would have that image burned into their head for the rest of their life.

Here is a link for a picture of the two

http://www.hanariley.com/


Please feel free to ask me any questions as i'm sure there will be.

 

[Purr]

Aw...I'm sorry! I'm really not sure there is anything to be done, except try to keep them seperated from each other. Hana's got that Pit Bull trait: dog aggression. A lot of Pits are fine with other dogs, if they are socialized from a very young age. My own Pit mix goes insane when I'm walking him and he sees another dog (when the other dog is out of sight, however, he whines and cries, so I don't know if he'd attack them or not), and I've had him since he was 7 wks old.

I'm afraid I have nothing to suggest, but I know someone else will. Good luck!!

 

[Glennk]

Aw...I'm sorry! I'm really not sure there is anything to be done, except try to keep them seperated from each other. Hana's got that Pit Bull trait: dog aggression. A lot of Pits are fine with other dogs, if they are socialized from a very young age. My own Pit mix goes insane when I'm walking him and he sees another dog (when the other dog is out of sight, however, he whines and cries, so I don't know if he'd attack them or not), and I've had him since he was 7 wks old.

I'm afraid I have nothing to suggest, but I know someone else will. Good luck!!

Hana and Riley are fine together 98% of the time. She doesn't attack Riley like she does other dogs and she has really mellowed from when we first got Riley. We can control her behavior towards Riley mostly. We use a muzzle and we do seperate the two when they fight. Its Hana attacking other dogs that has me so bummed and she knows she is in trouble when it happens. Oh that and her acting like nothing happened when we gat her back in the yard that kills me.

Hana does that winning and crying as well. She had fooled me once with that so i figured all she wanted was to play. Boy was i surprised when i found out that wasn't the case.

 

[Doberluv]

As a dog owner, it is your responsibility to keep your dog from attacking other dogs, whether it is in your yard or on a leash. You say you have a fence. I don't see what the problem is. I know I'd feel awful if my dog killed some little dog half it's size. I bet you would too. Your dog has breeds in it that tend toward dog aggression and there's not much you can do about it other than keep your dog away from other dogs. If your two are fighting, even sometimes, that would be too much of a risk for me and I'd keep them seperate. Something terrible is going to happen if that dog is allowed to have access to other dogs. I'm sorry you have this problem.

My Doberman is just lately becoming aggressive toward some other dogs, not the ones in my family and not ones he grew up with playing, but strange dogs. He will not have access to them. If on off leash hikes that we take in the wilderness, he will wear a muzzle, just in case the rare...very rare incident happens where we see another dog.

 

[gaddylovesdogs]

Do your dogs escape from your yard? If so, I recommend getting skyline chains, even though your yard is fenced. One chain goes up in the air while another hangs down and clips to your dog's collar. They can run and everything.

I agree with keeping them seperate if they fight. I have three dogs, all females, two of which at times get on eachother's nerves. They can only be together under supervision. We don't leave them alone together.

I wouldn't let the dogs off-leash unless they're in a securely fenced area without any other dogs, personally. If Hana has attacked other dogs before, I wouldn't bring her anywhere public off-leash, like a dog park or something. The injuries might've been minor so far, but some day they could be serious, or Hana could be seriously injured or even killed. Or she could kill another dog.

I'm not trying to sound as if your dogs are bad, and I certainly don't think they are, but many dogs will fight to the death, which I know you don't want.

 

[homelessdog]

Let me first tell you that your problems can definetely be sovled if you're dedicated to working with your dogs. But it's a long process.

First though, their problems need to be prevented. Aggression can never be cured if the dogs are allowed to practice it. Hana should never be in a situation where she can attack another dog. Riley should never be provided an opportunity to escape. I know that that's easier said than done. Also because Hana has redirected aggression (attacking Riley when she can't chase the squirrel), they shouldn't be walked together unless you're able to keep them seperated in an instant should any situation arise.

It would be best to walk Hana alone anyways, so that you can focus on her and work through her aggression issues. I have a reactive dog too, and I'm so happy now that I can finally walk him around the block next to other dogs and people. But I can't walk him with my other dogs because all my focus has to be on him. You have to really watch your dog's body language so that you notice the instant that the dog alerts to something. As soon as he spots a trigger, you need to be there to redirect his attention to you. Soon he'll learn that when he spots a trigger, he should look to you for guideance and you can tell him what to do ("focus. heel.").

If you let her get into attack mode, where she's started lunging and pulling at the leash, it's too late to do anything or try talking to your dog or telling her what to do. At that point you just need to leave the situation with her and start over. If my dog alerts to another dog on a walk and I don't notice and he starts barking, growling or lunging, I back up about 10 feet before the point where he started alerting and then we start again and I watch him more carefully. The next time I notice when he alerts and can get his attention and keep his focus on me. There's no easy fix, but within a month you should see very favorable results. I used the book "Aggression in Dogs" to work with my own dog.

 

[Glennk]

To follow up on a few posts

Both dogs are kept on 25 foot chains during the day and or when no one is home. They would get bored and finds ways out of the yard and lost their freedom. It usually ends up being one of them digs under the fence enough to squeeze out of. It only takes about 6 inches. On one occasion Hana actually chewed off the chicken wire to get out. We have acres and acres of undeveloped land behind our house with rabbits, lizards, coyotes, etc.. I think this is why they like to get out. Both love to chase rabbits, certain birds, lizards, mice etc..

We don't take our dogs to areas where other dogs are running loose. I would love to take them to those kinds of places, but it's just not for them. The only time they get off leash privileges is when we go out to the desert. We actually tie a bucket to Riley to slow him down. It also makes noise so we can tell where he is in the brush.

My wife called a dog trainer the other day and she came by the house and did a presentation. I wasn't able to see it because I work, but she was still there when I got home and she did give me a demo. It sure seemed like what we need, but for $700 a dog it is not the solution. I told her to keep shopping and just pick up some books on the matter. The dog trainer said we should start with Riley first. If we can keep him from running Hana will follow. Hana actually was very well mannered before Riley came around. She would listen when you called her.

Thanks for the info and suggestions. I'm glad to see I’m not the only one with these types of issues.

 

[homelessdog]

To follow up on a few posts

Both dogs are kept on 25 foot chains during the day and or when no one is home.

I didn't realize these were outside dogs. One thing I've gathered from the aggression books I've read is that dogs who are allowed to stay outside on their own quickly teach themselves that aggression works. Aggression is self-reinforcing, so you're going to be fighting an uphill battle unless you can find some way to prevent them from practicing aggression when you're not around.

 

[Doberluv]

A chained up dog will very often become aggressive. Depending on an outside stimulus, they may be often in their fight or flight drive. Since they cannot take "flight" because they're chained, they have only one option and that is to fight. Tying up a dog is a pretty sure way of creating aggression in them. Sorry, but that is fairly common.

 

[showpug]

I had a problem similar to this in my home. One problem...my great dane and pug were fighting!! A lethal combination to say the least. I finally separated the two from each other for life. Once they get it in them to fight, they will usually keep going. You could try training classes (private sessions first) to get your dogs to respect and listen to you more, or I would recommend working with a K9 behaviorist. They can usually identilfy what type of aggression Hana is showing and if there are ways to avoid certain "triggers" that bring it on. On a side note, I would NEVER recommend walking Hana with a muzzle on, or leaving one on her for very long. Muzzles prevent panting and dogs can't cool down if they pant. This could lead to some serious complications.

 

[Glennk]

I didn't realize these were outside dogs. One thing I've gathered from the aggression books I've read is that dogs who are allowed to stay outside on their own quickly teach themselves that aggression works. Aggression is self-reinforcing, so you're going to be fighting an uphill battle unless you can find some way to prevent them from practicing aggression when you're not around.

From what i can tell they mostly sleep all day while no one is home. At least that is what they do on the weekends when we are home. I'm not saying that your wrong, but i just see that being as a major part in Hana's aggression. They get excited when i or my wife gets home and after we let them loose they say hi and then run around a bit play with their toys and each other and then back to being lazy. Sometimes they do play a little rougher then usual, but if it gets out of hand i sit them both down next to each other for about 5 minutes and give then equal attention.

 

[Glennk]

I had a problem similar to this in my home. One problem...my great dane and pug were fighting!! A lethal combination to say the least. I finally separated the two from each other for life. Once they get it in them to fight, they will usually keep going. You could try training classes (private sessions first) to get your dogs to respect and listen to you more, or I would recommend working with a K9 behaviorist. They can usually identilfy what type of aggression Hana is showing and if there are ways to avoid certain "triggers" that bring it on. On a side note, I would NEVER recommend walking Hana with a muzzle on, or leaving one on her for very long. Muzzles prevent panting and dogs can't cool down if they pant. This could lead to some serious complications.

The muzzle we use is not like the traditional muzzle. It allows her to pant and drink water. It is one of these.

http://store1.yimg.com/I/morrco_1830_25217464

She doesn't wear it all the time, just when she acts up. My wife said she is getting better and doesn't have to use it as often. Hana doesn't like it on either.

A question for you. What is the point of having two dogs if they can't be together? Our dogs share the house. They both share their food bowls with each other, toys, beds, etc... They even drink from the same water bowl at the same time. They are like brother and sister and sometimes they fight like brother and sister.

 

[homelessdog]

A question for you. What is the point of having two dogs if they can't be together?

Sometimes you just don't have a choice. You can't very well get rid of a dog that you've committed to, so keeping them seperate is sometimes the only option you're left with.