Jaxx'sBuddy

i think she was just showing the puppy her boundaries. she didnt hurt the puppy, she just told him to back off...perfectly normal imo

the highlighted bit i do not agree with. you may have done nothing wrong, it might just be the dogs temperment. please do not immediately blame yourself. get a bahaviouralist in and have a realistic view of the options which includes that the dogs temperment might not be up to scratch and/or there are things you can do to resolve the issues

wow now those are bombproof dogs, what great ambassadors for the breed

Whatever reasonable description someone might care to make; whether it be physical or psychological or emotional or any of the dozens of other terms used to describe different types of dependence. PM me if you wish to discuss further. dont need to discuss txs i worked in the area for years was just curious if you werent talking about physical dependance from feeding someone lots of alcohol what dependance it could possibly be.

It's not my area of expertise but note that I didn't say "physically dependent", and for a reason. Yes, one of the types of alcoholism (described creatively in the literature as "Type I" and "Type II") is more heritable than the other, however both have demonstrated heritability. I don't believe you will ever find a trait that isn't heritable, at some level. then what type of dependant were you talking about?

One point many of you seem to have missed entirely is that this dog is fine with Chazey's children. He is guarding her against all strangers, both adult and children, but has not shown any tendency of aggression towards the family at all. The dog is only just over 12 months and therefore hitting maturity and finding his place in the family pack. A dominant dog, especially a very large one, needs to be carefully shown where it should fit into that pack and getting it wrong leads to the situation that seems to be developing here. If this is the problem a behaviourist should be able to sort it out with the family so they all have more control over the dog and he won't feel the need to protect them so strongly. Go read "Think Dog" by John Fisher and see how people unknowingly create these problems all the time. Other male dogs with female owners, just start this behaviour at about 12 months and experienced owners stop it before it escalates to a problem. I once had a BC that suddenly thought it would be a good idea to growl at any adult that approached me. He was fine with kids, obviously not seeing them as a threat to me. My friends helped me solve this by taking his lead from me if he growled at them so I could walk away and leave him with them. If I wasn't there he couldn't guard me and within about 2 weeks he worked out that if he growled at someone, I would give him to them and leave. That was not the outcome he had planned and the behaviour stopped immediately. I also gave him to friends to work in obedience commands until he was quite relaxed working for anyone that issued commands. This approach though is NOT something I would recommend in this situation with a Mastiff that has a much stronger guard instinct than a BC and the fact that the situation has already escalated. Also my friends and I where all experienced dog trainers, unlike Chazey and any friends that may attempt to help her. On the other hand the dog may just be very aggressive by nature and that would mean that he is truly too dangerous to have around. Deciding the true situation cannot be done over the internet. They need an expert to assess the dog and the family. i think this is there has been a few of us saying that an assessment with a behavioualist is critical and should be done asap.

if you get your food from pet stock and your dog doesnt like it then they replace the food with something else. they also have sample packs to try. my dog is a bit sensitive to dry food so is now on only raw but the ones that worked for her were eagle pack holistic ans pro plan sensitive, both are quite expensive. to get a good quality dry food try to get a super premium food here is a good site http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com/dog_food_reviews/ hope this helps

There are many alleles involved, and I suppose you could say that any one of them has an influence on the likelihood of addiction (the journalists certainly do!) If you study a population you will usually find that they have common alleles that are not common amongst other populations, but with behavioural genetics you will rarely find one allele that is exclusively found only in that population. Schizophrenia is strongly heritable. Yet, find one identical (monozygotic) twin who suffers schizophrenia and their twin, who has identical genetics, is only about 50% likely to develop schizophrenia. Slightly more if raised in the same environment, slightly less if raised apart. Dogs are usually fraternal (dizygotic) twins, raised in different environments. Find a dog who has what some would term "weak nerve" and you will usually find littermates who have similar temperaments. My GSD is an anxious girl, and while I was always able to train her and manage her well, it wasn't until I started supplementing her diet with very small doses of tryptophan (a naturally occurring amino acid) that I was really able to get anywhere with her or make the training really stick. For that matter, if you feed virtually ANY dog a tryptophan deficient diet (say, one based on corn with not much else) they will become what we might call "weak nerved" soon enough. How much depends on their genetics, and very little on their environment. Lots of factors. One model of gene x environment interactions is known as the "diathesis stress model" (Kendler) and it makes a lot of sense and has a lot of data backing it up. It proposes that individuals have a threshold for developing disease or mental health issues, determined by their genes (diathesis). Once environment provides enough impetus ("stress") to cross this threshold, the problem occurs. So, give someone enough booze for long enough, and they will eventually cross a threshold and become dependent on alcohol. It also makes a lot of sense in dog behaviour, for e.g. my GSD only required a slight deficiency of tryptophan (the "stress") to cross that threshold, whereas my Golden could eat corn exclusively for a month and just end up with a bit of dandruff and maybe an ear infection. however, it takes more thanjust being physically dependant on alcohol to make an alcoholic. some people can be dependant on alcohol as you have described then stop with no ill effects whatso ever. then there is another group who have a much more difficult time stopping alcohol and this is likely due to their predisposition to addictions which is possibly caused by genetics.

i dont know, i put a comment about reds not being bred in Oz and to go to a reputable breeder so im not sure what happened ets now i am curious :-)

thank you

i know of dogs that cant eat raw or cooked meat so articles like this arent so helpful for them

Yeah - it has got a bit OT! Sorry! Deelee - I agree with this advice. What is going to happen if a kid comes to visit? Or if the parents have a huge fight? Will the dog think it needs to step in? If it were my house, I'd consult a behaviourist, and then have a very serious think about what to do. It would take a lot for me NOT to PTS. I like feeling comfortable and safe in my own home, and I like my guests to feel the same way. I think lots of people like the idea of a guarding breed to protect their family, but don't think of the negatives that go with it (just my opinion, not saying the OP fits into that category). there are humans everywhere of a dog is HA then to mitigate the risk the dog will either get little to no socialisation of the human in c harge of the dog will be on guard all the time and we know humans are not 100% right or on all the time so mistakes can be made....and the dog can hurt a human and then we know what will happen to the dog. IMO i would have a lot of difficulty supporting a HA dog to be rehomed

i have owned dogs most of my life and as good as i am (sometimes) it is very difficult to pick out the weak nerved dogs (so i can discount them from the pick) when you only have a few minutes/maybe hour if lucky to choose a dog or the breeder chooses for you and you have to accept or reject. for less experienced dog owners they have no hope. so there is a huge reliance on breeders to cull these weak nerved dogs to ensure they are not placed in pet homes.

i agree with this 1000%

totally agree with this

Are you kidding??? I agree the dog should not start viciously attacking the child or even draw blood, but you would PTS if it even snapped near a child who had injured it? The OPs dog has not "chased down a child and killed it" so i don't even know why that was mentioned here... children are defenceless against dogs and can be very damaged by a dog, inpart because they are very close in height to a dog and therefore their faces get the snap. that is why imo it is much worse if a dog snaps at a child than an adult. a dog should know its place in the heirarchy and snapping at a child shows it doesnt know that, this imo is a very dangerous situation.

i agree with this and what DL101 has said. i have had to unfortunately pts a dog that snapped at my child when the child walked past the dog. the child was not walking too close to the dog and was not doing anything to the dog in fact i was following the child and saw the whole thing and i was shocked at what happened. so i do agree that any dog that snaps/behaves aggresively towards any child in my place doesnt get a second chance as long as i am sure the attack was unprovoked.

oh sorry i have joel on ignore as he has been rude to me in the past so i dont see his posts

So glad it has been a positive outcome!! Poor (greedy) little fella. I nearly had a similar outcome when I discovered my Cavalier had got the top off the Dry Food, she was about to have a right Royal feast of Royal Canin!! Little piglet. :D I need feed bins with easier to get off lids for me and harder to get off for her. This one has a really tight lid but if put on tight I have trouble with it. i like screw lids cause i can put them on gently and the dog cant get them off

DL101 you have said this twice and people have continued to give measured advice about having this dog assessed. we cannot assess over the internet so you really do not know the level or extent of the behaviour any more than the rest of us. that is why people are recommending a professional is brought in. the OP needs to have someone come in and assess the dogs behaviour and until this happens needs to manage the situation very carefully

does the puppy get any time outside the laundry? if it does where does it go and how long is it out of the laundry?

snap

i would get a bahaviouralist in to assess the situation as soon as you can. they are better able to let you know why the dog os doing this and what you can do to manage the situation whilst they help you change the dogs behaviour.

this will stop the behaviour really quickly

i am surprised that the title to this thread is "Please Help" but you dont seem to want any advice that is not to your liking. i think you are playing russian roulette with your dogs and you need to separate them until you can get advice and help from a behaviourist who has extensive experience with bull breeds