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Behavior, Housebreaking, Obedience / Posession Aggression...HELP!!
« on: March 20, 2008, 01:01:45 pm »
When I joined this board several months ago, I posted about Bodhi showing posession aggression toward Ribbit, our Cocker Spaniel mix....and now things seem to be getting worse.
I am ashamed to say that we weren't very proactive in dealing with this situation when it first arose. The problem seemed to be only with Ribbit, and we figured he was part of the problem....he is notoriously grouchy (typical Cocker), growls alot and attacked Bodhi a few times when he was a puppy and got too rambunctious. Our way of handling this has been to keep them apart during potentially dangerous times. I know we should have handled it differently, but we took the easy way out because we life is busy and hectic and we were nervous about them having another fight. Avoidance seemed to be the easiest solution. Unfortunately, I think this has helped cement in Bodhi's mind that no other dog should be around food or toys in his presence.....a nd this week he has shown aggression to two of our other dogs...
First, I was sitting on the couch eating Chinese. Only Bodhi and Rio (our lab/beagle mix) were in the room...the other four dogs were in their kennels in the basement. Bodhi has never shown any aggression toward Rio....but suddenly he lunged at her snarling. It scared her to death and she squealed and ran away. Bodhi didn't persue her....it seemed like he just wanted to scare her off more than actually attack her.
Then, I was feeding the dogs in the basement. I let everyone out into the yard but Ribbit...becau se of his past problems with Bodhi I keep him in and give him his food in his kennel before I let Bodhi back in. After I fed Ribbit I let the others in....and Dolly got close to the table where their food bowls were sitting and Bodhi went after her. She also ran away rather than fight, and Bodhi didn't go after her.
With Ribbit, things are much more tense. Bodhi has a fit if Ribbit gets near any kind of food....whethe r it be a bowl of dog food or groceries that we are putting away. He will go after Ribbit if he gets near him when he has a toy. They are usually okay together when I am handing out treats, but if one drops on the floor they will fight over it...so I keep ahold of Bodhi's collar. Lately I have been paranoid that they will fight even when there is no food involved, because Ribbit often growls at Bodhi anytime he comes near him. Ribbit rarely backs down, and this rapidly escalates things and turns into a full-fledged fight.
I'm really confused about what to do. We had a trainer come out to our house a few months ago....he didn't give us many ideas. Said we should drill a big eye-bolt into the kitchen wall and short leash Bodhi to it while we are eating. It's an idea, but I don't think restraint is the same as training. We live in BFE, there are no other trainers within 60 miles of us.
Bodhi is so huge. I am afraid he could kill Ribbit without even trying. His size also makes him very hard to handle during a fight...he is stronger than me. And since he is not even two years old, he still has Puppy Attention Span issues....when he gets jacked up it's hard to get his attention to train him. Ribbit is also a problem. He's always been testy, even with us....he will snap at us when we reprimand him....I think he would need to be muzzled to be thoroughly trained.
Any tips, advice, etc. would be greatly appreciated. I can't let this get any worse....can't let Bodhi think he can go after the others for being around food or toys. I am starting to get paranoid....he has never shown any aggression toward other dogs in public, but when I took him to the vet a few days ago I wouldn't let him sniff the other dogs for fear that he would attack them. I'm sure my tension is affecting him as well. What training techniques can I use to curb this posession aggression??
I am ashamed to say that we weren't very proactive in dealing with this situation when it first arose. The problem seemed to be only with Ribbit, and we figured he was part of the problem....he is notoriously grouchy (typical Cocker), growls alot and attacked Bodhi a few times when he was a puppy and got too rambunctious. Our way of handling this has been to keep them apart during potentially dangerous times. I know we should have handled it differently, but we took the easy way out because we life is busy and hectic and we were nervous about them having another fight. Avoidance seemed to be the easiest solution. Unfortunately, I think this has helped cement in Bodhi's mind that no other dog should be around food or toys in his presence.....a nd this week he has shown aggression to two of our other dogs...
First, I was sitting on the couch eating Chinese. Only Bodhi and Rio (our lab/beagle mix) were in the room...the other four dogs were in their kennels in the basement. Bodhi has never shown any aggression toward Rio....but suddenly he lunged at her snarling. It scared her to death and she squealed and ran away. Bodhi didn't persue her....it seemed like he just wanted to scare her off more than actually attack her.
Then, I was feeding the dogs in the basement. I let everyone out into the yard but Ribbit...becau se of his past problems with Bodhi I keep him in and give him his food in his kennel before I let Bodhi back in. After I fed Ribbit I let the others in....and Dolly got close to the table where their food bowls were sitting and Bodhi went after her. She also ran away rather than fight, and Bodhi didn't go after her.
With Ribbit, things are much more tense. Bodhi has a fit if Ribbit gets near any kind of food....whethe r it be a bowl of dog food or groceries that we are putting away. He will go after Ribbit if he gets near him when he has a toy. They are usually okay together when I am handing out treats, but if one drops on the floor they will fight over it...so I keep ahold of Bodhi's collar. Lately I have been paranoid that they will fight even when there is no food involved, because Ribbit often growls at Bodhi anytime he comes near him. Ribbit rarely backs down, and this rapidly escalates things and turns into a full-fledged fight.
I'm really confused about what to do. We had a trainer come out to our house a few months ago....he didn't give us many ideas. Said we should drill a big eye-bolt into the kitchen wall and short leash Bodhi to it while we are eating. It's an idea, but I don't think restraint is the same as training. We live in BFE, there are no other trainers within 60 miles of us.
Bodhi is so huge. I am afraid he could kill Ribbit without even trying. His size also makes him very hard to handle during a fight...he is stronger than me. And since he is not even two years old, he still has Puppy Attention Span issues....when he gets jacked up it's hard to get his attention to train him. Ribbit is also a problem. He's always been testy, even with us....he will snap at us when we reprimand him....I think he would need to be muzzled to be thoroughly trained.
Any tips, advice, etc. would be greatly appreciated. I can't let this get any worse....can't let Bodhi think he can go after the others for being around food or toys. I am starting to get paranoid....he has never shown any aggression toward other dogs in public, but when I took him to the vet a few days ago I wouldn't let him sniff the other dogs for fear that he would attack them. I'm sure my tension is affecting him as well. What training techniques can I use to curb this posession aggression??