New Member Dog Agression Problem Bull Terrier & Frenchie

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Miss'J
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Joined: Thu Jul 22, 2010 1:02 pm

New Member Dog Agression Problem Bull Terrier & Frenchie

Post by Miss'J »

Hi...i have a male english bull terrier, female english bull terrier and a male french bulldog. I homed the french bulldog first at 7 weeks old, secondly the female bully at 8 weeks old, and thirdly the male bully arrived at 8 months old, the other two were 6 months old. The male bull terrier started to show agression towards the male frenchie a few weeks after he arrived, he is now 2years old and 4 months. He has attacked my male french bulldog several times, a few of those times have been near misses. I have had consultations with two different dog behaviourists who have advised me that it is competitive agression and from experience since i have had them all it appears to be jealousy and them all wanting my undevided attention. My two males came into contact with eachother yesterday and after difficulty i was able to break up the fight between them, however
i got caught up in the crossfire and my male bully bit my left small finger and punctured it. My partner and I are at our wits end with this situation and love all three of them very dearly and dont know what to do.

If you require anymore info with regards to this please do not hesitate to ask me and all opinions are welcome.

Kr Miss'J
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Mattie
Posts: 5872
Joined: Tue Jan 09, 2007 5:21 am

Re: New Member Dog Agression Problem Bull Terrier & Frenchie

Post by Mattie »

You have 2 choices, you can manage the situation, that sounds easy but it isn't, these 2 dogs much never be together, they must always be kept seperate. They are both young dogs, can you live keeping 2 dogs seperate for ovber 10 years. If you don't keep them seperate you could end up with a dead dog, that isn't very nice thing to happen especially as you love both of them.

The other option is to rehome one, again a difficult decision but if you do, you and your dogs will be able to live peaceful lives, if you manage them life won't be peaceful but very stressed.

This is probably what you don't want to hear but we have to put the dogs first and not the owners.
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oszoli
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Joined: Fri Aug 06, 2010 2:19 am

Re: New Member Dog Agression Problem Bull Terrier & Frenchie

Post by oszoli »

Personally this is what I would do first get a muzzle for the two dogs get one that is specially fitted for them one that is comfortable but safe. This way you do not have to worry about neither the dogs or you getting bitten.

Now if a fight breaks out with the muzzle on no problems as they can't hurt each other. But that way you can just jump in between and separate the two dogs now the thing is that just separating them is not enough you must make sure they also calm down so you are going to have to stay between them until both dogs are calm and relaxed.

What I usually do when my dogs get into a fight after separating them I stay there until I am satisfied that both dogs now have no interest in each other.

However if I see that the dogs are about to start again I use my voice and body to keep them apart.

But you mentioned that some people believe that it is a competitive aggression in this case I would do exercises where the dogs would have to wait for a reward say for example I would make it the point that while I am playing with one dog the other has to wait, or when coming to feeding what I do is I put the food down than I wait till all the dogs are relaxed.

After which I hand the food out based on which dog relaxed the fastest. I think it will take you a while but it can be done the idea is to teach your dog that relaxation and calm gets you reward but aggression and tension gets you nothing.

Hopefully this will help you.
troop
Posts: 55
Joined: Thu Aug 05, 2010 4:50 pm

Re: New Member Dog Agression Problem Bull Terrier & Frenchie

Post by troop »

hi i am currently having a similar problem with my newbie Harry and my lovely boy Jake. Harry doesnt seem to used to meeting dogs and although i have pretty much got him integrated with the rest of my pack he and jake as the two top males are another matter.Luckily i can send Jake away if they start a fight and then i just block them with my body until things calm down.Jake will always get bored and would rather play with his ball than argue which does help but im still struggling to calm Harry down but things are getting better and i try to keep good things happening when all the dogs are together so im hoping that eventually i can keep all the pack in one area without bloodshed ... good luck with your bunch x
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Mattie
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Joined: Tue Jan 09, 2007 5:21 am

Re: New Member Dog Agression Problem Bull Terrier & Frenchie

Post by Mattie »

oszoli wrote:Personally this is what I would do first get a muzzle for the two dogs get one that is specially fitted for them one that is comfortable but safe. This way you do not have to worry about neither the dogs or you getting bitten.
Dogs can do a lot of damage to another dog with a muzzle, in fact dogs have been killed with a muzzle, the safest ones are the basket muzzles, the soft type that fits over the nose, the dog can still do a lot of damage biting, they also give the owner a false sense of security.
Now if a fight breaks out with the muzzle on no problems as they can't hurt each other. But that way you can just jump in between and separate the two dogs now the thing is that just separating them is not enough you must make sure they also calm down so you are going to have to stay between them until both dogs are calm and relaxed.


Dogs can do a lot of damage with a muzzle, they can kill another dog, it is dangerous to rely on a muzzle to solve this problem.
What I usually do when my dogs get into a fight after separating them I stay there until I am satisfied that both dogs now have no interest in each other.
Each time a dog gets into a fight the fight gets worse, fights should never be allowed to happen which can be virtually impossible to do.

However if I see that the dogs are about to start again I use my voice and body to keep them apart.
Good
But you mentioned that some people believe that it is a competitive aggression in this case I would do exercises where the dogs would have to wait for a reward say for example I would make it the point that while I am playing with one dog the other has to wait, or when coming to feeding what I do is I put the food down than I wait till all the dogs are relaxed.
How much knowledge do these people have with dogs? How much do they understand dogs, making a dog wait like this is asking for trouble, your dog won't always wait but will attack.
After which I hand the food out based on which dog relaxed the fastest. I think it will take you a while but it can be done the idea is to teach your dog that relaxation and calm gets you reward but aggression and tension gets you nothing.

Hopefully this will help you.
It is dangerous to use treats with 2 fighting dogs so close, I have been their myself.
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