Miss Daisy

thank you so much for these! passing them on to my aunty. she is pretty keen on getting her dog some help.

Definitely a lot of work needs to be done! I'm located in Northern Sydney if anyone has any recommendations I would appreciate it!

Like I said it's only for breakfast and I know it's not ideal but I'm a shift worker living with my frail grandparents - I can't and won't expect them to be able to feed my dog all the time. And her food doesn't get left out all day and no it's not too hard to separate them. I also don't think you don't understand that this post is about my aunty's dog, not mine and therefore whatever she decides to so is HER choice. I'm merely trying to get feedback. Some feedback has been helpful but I don't appreciate your additional comments on the way my family and I interact with our dogs. I appreciate your post on meds for your dog but other than that I'm finding your posts completely unhelpful. We are not perfect with our dogs and I get that, we don't have a ridiculous amount of years etc etc hence why I'm asking for help not judgements.

My dog doesn't eat all her dry food at once so that's the only time that they are fed together. Anything else and I feed my dog inside. It's not exactly practical for us to feed the dogs separately all the time, they only get breakfast together and that's just dry food for my dog.

I guess it just makes it a bit difficult when both dogs eat differently for the majority of the time (they get fed separately though unless it's just dry food). I do appreciate seeing that it is not necessarily dominance though.

And you'd be wrong. Even very low ranking pack members will resource guard - its a natural reaction to perceptions of threat to resources. The bigger the sense of threat, the greater the reaction. Feed him in a crate so you can all relax. This dog sounds like he has considerable social anxiety. Frankly I wonder if you'd be better off not walking him at all. What about when he has his own food bowl, but he goes and takes my dog's food (not the dry biscuits, only meat) and growls and attacks her if she goes near the food I've put down for her? Would you still say that's not dominance?

was meant to edit.

He's not being punished OR misunderstood. My dad's shepherd is incredibly tame and gentle and doesn't go anywhere near him, and my brother's shepherd (only a puppy) is only interested in playing with my collie. Keep in mind you're only getting snap shots of a FEW experiences, not the whole story - we're incredibly good to him especially how he reacts to us AT TIMES. I asked for advice and thoughts on medication, not for judgements from someone who clearly has no idea of the whole story.

He's really possessive of food - you cannot go near him when he's eating or is guarding his food without being attacked, I would say that's more dominance. And sometimes he'll just come and sit on one of us. We are aware of his triggers though and are sensitive around that but it really gets to a point where we can't do much about that (when he's barking horribly eg). I really do feel for him. I honestly want the best for him, he absolutely loves it when my collie plays with him and he has enjoyed walks in the past and he loves coming inside and human interaction.

Yes, when he is walked he is not walked near people and he wears a muzzle when he's out (and at the vet). I'm assuming it's anxiety because he gets really scared of other dogs in the family (except my collie that lives with him, he is fine with her) especially the shepherds if they go near him. He hides whenever they come over. He is very dominant and I know a lot of his behaviour comes from that. Due to his behaviour he doesn't go out often because it's so dangerous and I guess that just makes the problem bigger (he's also really resistant to go out for a walk some times). He hasn't attacked someone as bad as he has tonight with me (and there wasn't really a trigger, he was chewing on a tissue near where I was playing with my dog). But my aunty is going to take him to the vet.

Hi, I know that meds (in general) should not be the first option, but I was wondering what people's experiences were like when their dogs have been on medication for anxiety? My aunty's dog is a maltese x shihtzu and ever since he was a pup, was always a barker and really aggressive and bites people even people he knows. My aunty has spent over $1000 on dog trainers etc. He's 7 now. It's really hard taking him for a walk because he goes to attack people if he walks past, it's hard having people over because he does not stop barking. He attacked my arm tonight when I was playing with my dog, and managed to rip through my jumper into my arm three times and left me with several bruises. I've suggested it to my aunty before but I honestly think that he really needs some meds. He was separated from his mum and litter at 5 weeks which explains why he is like he is.

flickr https://www.flickr.com/photos/mariagabriella/ :)

I haven't had a bad reaction to my pup yet. What annoys me is that people come up to her and just randomly start patting her saying how cute she is without asking permission to pat her, and people assuming that she's a boy (uh, just ask if she's a girl or a boy - plus she has a pink leash).

I imagine so. My brothers GSD recognised my dad's GSD the day my dad brought my brothers dog home. He would go up to my dad's GSD and try and play with him and sit when them. My border collie hasn't come across other BCs yet but she loves my brother's GSD who was from the same breeder.