bertie b

thanks everyone. we are in the gladstone park area. near tullamarine. i am in the process of working through all the people you have suggested! nekhbet - i have to agree with you - he prob has got away with things with us! He has never been like that though which is the part that I have found most distressing......the older dog was a little smaller but still a large dog kelpie - he has become more aggressive in the last 6 mths whilst walking when he sees other dogs. he pulls really hard to get to them and barks at them instead of just showing an playful interest like he did before. he has never really been "socialised" with other dogs except fpor my inlaws who he saw regularly and there was no problem until he attacked the older dog.

thank you all for taking the time to respond Bertie has been desexed. We got him from the lost dogs home at 8 weeks and he was desexed when we got him. I will def buy him a muzzle to walk him to protect other dogs. He really hasn't had a lot to do with other dogs since we had him. When he used to see dogs he used to go up and play with them and be friendly but the last 6 months we have noticed that he has become more aggressive towards them. He pulls aggressively towards them and barks very aggressively at them. I certainly wouldn't trust him to leave him with another dog. He was very familiar with the dog he attacked. It is the same dog he attacked both times. He has spent a lot of time with my inlaws two dogs since being puppy. The old dog is 16 yrs old to be exact. He has slowed down a lot in the last year and is not very active and has a lump under his abdo. We have spoken to his parents numerous times about taking him to the vet to have him tested for cancer and other such things but thats another story. They don't feel its necessary as he doesn't appear to be in pain and he is so old that they would prob put him to sleep rather than do the tests. Thats really interesting what you have said about them attacking "unwell" dogs as this dog is certainly unwell. He has had no formal puppy/dog training. We have always until now been able to manage him easily. My husband and I have decided that he has to have some sort of behaviouralist assessment/training for us to be able to keep him as we are afraid of what he might do. I will google Dr Debbie Calnon and try and get soem contact details. Does anyone else know of anyone who works in this field in melbourne who could help us? I am only new in here and am not sure if you are able to give direct recommendations. If you aren't if you could PM me the details of others I would really appreciate it. Thanks for your time, its not an area that I have any idea about as you can prob tell.....but we love our dog and want to best for him

Hi We have a 2 year old 32kg kelpie x german shepard who is so dearly loved Bertie has always been very affectionate, well trained and no problems. He sits to cross roads, enter the house, before he eats and he comes in at night and sits on a matt with no problems. We take him every where with us and he is like my child. My husband's parents have been away overseas and we had their 2 dogs (both about 20yrs old crippled with arthritis who wouldn't hurt a fly). All was going well and one night when I was cooking tea Bertie attacked the older male dog. It was pretty horrific and the poor dog was yelping and trying to bite back. My dog had him by the neck and drew blood. I had to punch and kick him to get him off the poor dog. I immediately took the other dogs home as I was worried that if it happened when we were at work that the old dog couldn't fight him off. We hoped it was a once off as maybe my dog was territoral. A month later (last night) we took our dog up to husband's mum's. They were good so we went inside - about half an hour later we heard the old dog screaming. DH ran out and he had him by the throat again. My husband couldn't get him off. He had to punch him and kick him many times to get him to let go of the dog's throat. Our dog immediately starting crying and sulking as we have never hit him or kicked him and he was scared of my husband. I know you shouldn't hit or kick dogs but we couldn't get him to release the other dog's throat. We have 2 nephews who are 3 and 6 who adore him and constantly want to come to our house and spend the entire time in the yard playing with him. We have our first baby due in 3.5 months and we are concerned that he may turn on them. We are also worried that he may attack other dogs He is such a big dog and needs to be walked daily and we take him for big runs in the paddocks to exercise him off the lead a few times a week. He is always walked with a halti daily. I am scared that as I am the one who walks him on weekdays that he may attack another dog and I won't be able to get him off and that the other dog might get hurt or the other person if they try and stop it. We have noticed he has become more aggressive in the last 6 months when walked on the lead if there are other dogs - he drags you with all his might towards them and barks aggressively at them. I called our vet today and she said we could either put him down or go through a retraining problem which she doesn't guarantee will work The retraining is very expensive and a lot of work, she said that my dog may also need to go on prozac. She said that the fact that he has grabbed a known dog by the throat is concerning. This is their instinct to kill - by the throat. Bertie has been such a beautiful dog that it's breaking my heart to think I have to put him down. I have been crying since last night and I cried all day at work about this decision. I will put him down if its for the safety of other dogs and children though. Has anyone had this happen in melbourne and know of anyone who specialises in aggressive dog behaviours and who can assess him and see whether we can get him socialised with other dogs ? I want to do whats best for my dog so I would like to try this before and get the correct advice before the other option ..........