Aggression problems

[ahuff]

In February, we adopted a new dog (pit bull) named Alta. For the most part, she has been a great addition to the family. She does extremely well with our cat and our pug, Beefy. Beefy is definitely the dominant one of the two and Alta willingly gives up toys/treats to him. For the last few months we've noticed Beefy harassing the cat more frequently. Last week, he actually charged at her, bit her tail, and shook it aggressively. Today, he aggressively snapped at our pit bull twice, even though she wasn't doing anything more than sitting next to the couch.

Has anyone experienced their pug getting aggressive when adding new pets to the family? He has NEVER acted out like this and it's strange that his behavior is becoming worse the longer we have the other dog! (Last weekend, our pit bull displayed some fear-aggression while we were out rock climbing...) I swear, these fur kids will be the death of me!

Any advice on what may be causing this sudden increase in aggression and any helpful tips would be greatly appreciated...

[freak]

i have the the same issue with my pug and pugapoo , its gotten so bad that we keep them seprate all the time unless im holding the pug. its all about the pecking order and letting everyone know whos in charge, i have read stuff on this and tried a lot of things with no luck. so we just deal with it and correct the bad behavior as we see it happening. we had the pugapoo first and then added the pug a 5 year old rescue, they were perfect together for the first 5 months then it slowly started.

good luck
ed

[Tinker's mom]

I would be separating them all the time until you figure out what is going on.It only takes one time of the pit returning the aggression to the pug and you could have a fatal injury.Have you consulted your vet or a behaviorist? Prayers you get a solution.

[mishoga]

Oh I hope this doesn't happen here. I see that my little girl is challenging my boy more and more and she is getting bigger and expected to be larger than my boy.

I see my boy get mad sometimes when they are playing and he grabs onto her skin and bites and shakes her hard. I don't like that. But then they literally will lay on top of each other when napping. Go figure???

[ayleash]

I am not a pro, but, while my Captain had been the first dog in the pack, and was oldest, and *I* treated him like the top-er of the two, then three, then four dogs.. in fact, he knew he was in over his head - and one of the pack knew it too... it led to some scary events when Captain, pre-emptively panicked and struck out at the others... and then they could not back down... "Demoting" Captain really helped... but it took a professional behaviorist observing them all together to point it out to me.. then it was clear as day... even tho no "Scary event" happened as she and I watched! All the communications were going on - I just did not see them...

Consider a consultation with someone in your area?

[AMC7181]

Although I haven't personally experienced any aggressive behavior in my dogs, I think I'd be looking for a pro to help figure it out. I think the important part is to find a behaviorist whose philosophy you agree with so that you're comfortable with his/her approach to alleviating the problems. I would also want to know how long he/she has been working with dogs, if he/she has any professional affiliations with organizations related to dog behavior, and I might even consider asking for references.

Sounds a bit like an interrogation, I know, but I wouldn't trust just anyone to work with my dogs on behavior modification.

https://iaabc.org/ - appears to be a certifying organization and they do have a search feature by location. I can't vouch for them but thought I'd pass it along. Good luck!

[sassismom]

Meelah can be aggressive at times I keep a small spray bottle of water handy, usually if I pick it up they stop, this has worked well just don't shoot them in the eyes, I usually use a heavy mist or shoot them in the butt!

My grandmother used to throw a bucket of water on the hunting dogs when they would get bossy with each other of course they were outside in kennels so a spray bottle should do the trick I also say ant ant (not sure how you spell the sound) they have learned that is a stop word.

[ahuff]

Thanks for the support and advice. I'm glad I'm not the only one out there who has experienced this! We actually work very closely with the trainer who does the temperament testing at the shelter we adopted our pit bull from and is heavily involved in the animal world out here in SLC. She has something like 20 + years of experience with animals/training. We are actually meeting with her after our regular Monday class to talk about our pit bull's recent fear-based aggressive reaction towards a stranger, so we will now be adding Beefy's attitude problem to the list.

I really hope we can nip this in the bud before it turns into something dangerous and uncontrollable. Since it's not two small dogs, the logistics to keeping them separated at all times for an extended period of time is impossible. We really wanted a cohesive pair as our intentions were always to take them out hiking, camping, rock climbing with us. :headshake:

Wish us luck! Will keep everyone posted.

[ahuff]

Annnd he did it again tonight... twice. He was cuddling in the crook of my leg and Alta walked past the couch and he nipped at her. She *like a doofus* just kept walking. We immediately scolded him and put him in the kennel for a time out. As soon as we let him out, he did it again!

*sigh* I seriously wondering why he's doing this now??? After almost 6 months!!!

[xxxxxxxxxxxxClementine]

Hi,

I'm not a professional trainer, but I have trained a few dogs including three service dogs.

From what I've heard and seen in classes, it's usually just dominance. By adding another dog to the pack sometimes it takes them time to figure out who's going to be who. When I added clementine to our pack my then 2yo standard poodle became very protective of clementine and toys/food with our other dog uki (a beagle mix). Often snapping at uki when she played ruff with clementine. Also, their age affects their behavior too. Sopa as an adult has become alpha whereas before uki, Being then the older bigger dog used to be alpha. Right now things have settled with them. Sopa is more dominant now with uki in general, but they arent getting into fights anymore. The trainer I worked with recommended I let them sort it out on their own dog terms because often times we think like humans and by interfering end up making things worse. She said that as long as there's no blood I should just let them figure things out in their own dog word. It ended up working with our three dogs. Sopa is the boss now, and uki seems to know to respect her more, clementine is spoiled even by Sopa (:

About two times the fights did get bad, uki had a little blood on her ear each time. At this point I considered separating them, but it was about two weeks after these incidents that things became balanced. It's hard not to butt in when it gets like this, but for us it did work out just by letting them choose/accept their roles in their on way and on their own time.

I understand each situation is unique and varies in so any factors, but you could consider trying it. IMHO.