Help

iloveanimals

New Member
My dog ,rusty, has started barking at strangers, again.
He will go up them and bark his head off. Which scares people Because they think he is aggressive.

I always tell him off for it, but he seems to be the same, any idea?

He also gets quite agrgessive to my mother in laws older dog. Trying to bite him and attack him. Help!

ALSO
We have two dogs , him [rusty] and a four year old dog called louie.
They seem to be very jealous of each other and constantly fighting for attention with us. When we call one dog, the other one comes. They play quite hard. They are fine on there own though.

What should I do?
 

vicky1989

New Member
in reply to the agression with jealousy, I have this trouble, my dog Diego is fine, but my mother in laws dog Max is VERY posessive over me, I have no idea why, my dad recons it's because I'm the only person that puts him in his place lol.
But anyway, everytime diego comes near me Max attacks him,teeth out and the lot.
I find they play better if I'm not on the floor, I also ignore any attention seeking from max and if he gets nasty I hold him down untill he stops and understands i'm in charge, sounds abit harsh but i either hold him down or he rips Diego's fur out. He is a generally nasty dog though, he's very difficult to control and very head strong. I wouldn't suggest this for a generally sweet natured dog!

Also to him barking at strangers, remove him from the situation, turn around walk other way, when he calms down go back in the direction you was going.
Hope it helps!
 

jasperaliceuk

Experienced Member
I too, have a dog, who is afraid of strangers. It is mostly people who approach him directly, who do not have dogs with them and who make a sudden move to stroke him, and also unpredictable small children.

So I work on making him confident with people.

The first thing to note is that don't tell your dog off for barking. He is doing it because he is afraid and trying to tell the scary person to back off. If you tell him off it just reinforces his belief that bad things happen around strangers. You need to change that mindset so that he sees them as good things.


So, I work on him seeing people at a distance, remaining calm, seeing them and looking at me, he then gets a reward. I try not to put him in a position where people go up to him unannounced which I know is sometimes hard to avoid. Only this week he barked at someone who approached in an alley where he was just too close to be comfortable.

The management of this situation depends on the level of reaction you get from you dog. Obviously you don't want to put people at risk. My dog is happier if people completely ignore him - it is the reaching down or sudden move towards him which is the scariest. So if I am prepared I ask people to ask him to sit and then give him a treat - it can also be thrown if there is any risk of your dog being aggressive.

There are lots of strategies for dealing with this - if you can get behavioural advice that will be useful.

Have a look at 'kikopup' videos on You Tube - she has a new one on dealing with strangers.

Sue
 

tigerlily46514

Honored Member
My dog Buddy, sometimes reacts to other dogs approaching ME. Even his best friends, dogs he loves, Buddy got all up in their face barking and growling to keep them away from me.
A regular here on DogTrick told me, that is a sign Buddy sees ME as HIS property. Well, i am NOT recommending what i did for anyone else, but here is what i did.

Someone here taught me, if we are in a house, remove Buddy to other room, every time. For a few seconds. That worked, too, sorta.

To help buddy figure out i am not his property---I became very dominant over Buddy, like, i am on top of him kinda thing, no, i didn't hurt him, not at all, but, i forced him to submit to me being over him. Til i said he could go. That ws whole new thing for Buddy!!

And i forced Buddy to be held by me, on my lap, til i said he was done being held. (Buddy is not wild about being held..nope.) STuff like that. I talked to him real calm while i did these things, made it pleasant and all. He did become accustomed to it.

Eventually, when we're around other dogs, i was able to get Buddy to lie down and stay, while he watched me pet other dogs. I'd look over at Buddy and say, "Hey, i decide which dogs i pet, not you, sweetie."
I know, i know, it sounds really weird, :msnrolleyes:but this worked. Buddy can now let me pet other dogs.

I know, i know, i am gonna get it now,:msntongue: all that dominant/submission baloney, but, it worked for me and Buddy.
 

charmedwolf

Moderator
Staff member
Tigerlily- I hope you don't get any angry messages over your method or use on dominant/submission because that is exactly what I would do in this situation.

If you don't want think of it as dominant and submissive then think of it as parent and child. Ever watch the show Supernanny? Act as if that is what is going on. You and any other adult can be considered the parents and the dogs the children. You and your mother-in-law as well as any other adult in the house needs to take control. The exercise that Tigerlily did is one that I've done with all my dogs. I call it "Chill out". Hold the dog till they are calm for at least a minute then let go. I would suggest all persons able in the household do this. If you think there is a chance that they might bite then use a muzzle. Again like Tigerlily said let the jealous dog watch as you pet the other. If he breaks his stay correct him. Sooner or later he will realize he is the dog (child) and you are the owner (parent).
 

ryleighgirl

New Member
I am not trying to put the dominant/submission methods down. If it works for you go ahead and use it. I just think people should show some caution with using those methods and make sure you know your dog very well. If I ever tried to use any kind of dominance techniques with my dog she would react VERY badly to it out of FEAR and make the situation 10 times worse. She is not even fearful, skittish, aggressive, reactive, or possessive in any other situation. Again I'm not putting those methods down.

What I've seen work for dogs with jealousy issues was simply feeding them pieces of food at the same time on either side of you. This works because they can't growl and show their teeth at the same time they are eating. It also shows them that good things happen when they are both next to you being calm. Then you could gradually work to sitting on the floor while doing this.
 
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