Please help me, I dont know what to do about my bully.....

[harleyshay1]

Hey guys! It has been a while since I have been on, but I was hoping you guys could help me with a problem I am beginning to have with my bully, Sadie. She was spayed last Tuesday (a little late for an almost 4 year old, I know) and every since then she has been acting stranger than normal. I also have to cats that she has been around for at least 2 years now, so they are nothing new to her. Since she came home from her surgery though, she has been acting more dominant towards them. She is especially towards Sasha, the younger cat. According to my boyfriend (we live together), none of this behavior occurs when I am not home. When I am home though, if Sasha even comes in the room Sadie runs at her real fast trying to scare her off. It is like she doesn't even want her in the same room. The closer she gets, the worse Sadie acts. Sadie also wants to be right next to me now. She has always wanted to be close, but she has gotten to where now she is almost laying on top of me before she is satisfied and will be still. When I am just laying down, that is fine, but when I am trying to study for my classes, this becomes difficult to deal with. I will give you another example of her behavior towards Sasha as well. Last night I was sitting on the couch trying to study, and Sadie was on the couch with me. Well, Sasha decided she wanted to lay on the arm of the couch (somewhere she has always liked to sleep), and as soon as Sasha jumped up there, Sadie couldn't keep her eyes off Sasha. She was focused on Sasha, so I was trying to hold Sadie back and calm her down. That did not help. She soon got turned around and began growling at Sasha. So I started getting louder with her and telling her to get off the couch. I tried to push her down, and she kept growling. Right before she jumped down, she growled towards me and snapped a little bit like she was trying to bite. I love my animals and try not to spank them, but if Sadie hurts me or my cats, she is going to be in a world of trouble. I don't know what to do. She was never like this before. She goes Friday to get her stitches out, so I plan on asking her vet about this, but I wanted to see if I could get yalls input too.

Thanks!

Harley Shay

 

[Vikinggirl]

Hi, I'm sorry I have no experience with this, but if I had to guess, it could be hormones. After I got my guys spayed and neutered the vet told us it can take up to a couple of months for the hormones to leave their body. I'm sure someone with more knowledge of this will come along and offer some advice. I would also ask your vet when you take her back for her follow up. I hope this something temporary and she is herself soon. Good luck Hun. Please keep us posted on how she's doing. Sending love, hugs and prayers your way

 

[2BullyMama]

I am thinking she is in pain.... is she on any pain meds? I would keep her off the furniture (jumping up and down) till her stitches are out. Also, since the behavior is only when you are there, could be she is feeling a need to claim you

 

[Ashleym]

The only thing I can think of is that this is a reaction to pain or as vikinggirl suggested hormones. I know when Fergus is feeling not so well he will be right next to me wanting love. She probably wanting space to be with mama with no other near. Hopefully she will be back to normal once the stitches comes out.

 

[dolphin]

I agree. Bulldogs tend to claim people like property . But also, Cats and Dogs as a basic rule of nature do not get along.

 

[harleyshay1]

Her vet gave her some pain medicine that I gave to her regularly the first few days and slowing gave less doses. Even when the pain meds should have had time to wear off shes acting like this. She isn't nearly as bad with my second cat, it is mainly just the one, Sasha. It seems to only be when I am there. I don't know if she feels the need to "claim me" or not. She is a very timid bully, and not very social (this is because the breeder man that had her for the first six months of her life kept her in a small pen and only had contact with her once a day. She is better than she was in the beginning with her timidness, but she is nowhere near where she should be). She has been left without me before at my mother's house for a few days at a time when I went on vacation, and she never acted like this upon my returning. This is, however, the first time she has ever been left at the vet for any type of procedure. Every other time I have taken her to the vet for check-ups and such, I have made it a point to stay with her. So maybe there could be something linked to this. I dont understand why she would be so aggressive towards the cats though.

 

[harleyshay1]

I forgot to mention, Sasha doesnt even do anything to bring on Sadie running at her. Sasha can simply walk into the living room and as soon as Sadie sees her, she charges her. Sasha has gotten to where she is scared to even come into the living room at night when I am home now.

 

[JAKEISGREAT]

Ok...take a big breath..I think there are a couple things going on..first of all..she just underwent major surgery and won't be herself for a few weeks. They react strangely when out of sorts. Christine is right..keep her from jumping up and down for a week to 10 days.

The second thing I see is her trying to dominate. It is looking like its Sasha she is bullying..but actually, it's YOU. She is trying to claim the top spot. This might have happened under normal circumstances..but the surgery probably exacerbated her behavior. I would put her on a leash and if she makes the slightest twinge of a move towards the cat, correct her. A firm NO and bring her tight to you. Go through the motions of showing her YOU are pack leader..make her sit for her food, you lead...she follows...etc. As quickly as she started this, she can let it go. I would have her on a leash and encourage Sasha to be her normal self. The cat goes here he wants..Sadie does nothing. Do not even accept a look!!

We actually have used this method when my hubby has brought home full grown stray dogs right from the streets. They usually hated cats with a passion, but quickly figured out, they re off limits. Once they could let the cats wander freely without a second glance, all was fine..and we NEVER had not her problem.

Good Luck! Be firm and consistent..and this goes for your boyfriend too. Human behavior and expectations MUST be the same towards Sadie!

 

[harleyshay1]

She is definitely a dominant dog, and very demanding (always has been). So you may be right JAKEISGREAT. One problem though, is the boyfriend....he is not good at enforcing anything or punishing the dog. He will tell her to stop but thats about it. I will tell her to stop and make her come lay down or something to show her that is bad behavior and I do not like it. Last night after the episode with Sasha on the arm of the couch, I put her back in her pen and made her stay there to try and show her that if she acts up shes going up and not getting to spend time with mommy. I know it is my fault, and it is going to sound bad when I say this, but she is almost fully untrained. When she goes out on a leash, sometimes she walks by me, mostly she walks out in front and pulls. I have tried to correct this, and other behaviors, but when I try to fix it but the boyfriend doesnt get on board and stick to it shes getting mixed signals. Ultimately, she has always been a good dog, just spoiled so I could deal with it. But this aggressiveness is not okay.

 

[Baconator]

I think you have some great suggestions above, one thing I would check out is to google nothing in life is free dog training. Many of us have had to go down this road to regain alpha status with our bullies since they are so prone to things like this. Good Luck, here is the link to an article about the training style

http://www.humanesociety.org/animals/dogs/tips/training_nothing_in_life_is_free.html

 

[JAKEISGREAT]

She is definitely a dominant dog, and very demanding (always has been). So you may be right JAKEISGREAT. One problem though, is the boyfriend....he is not good at enforcing anything or punishing the dog. He will tell her to stop but thats about it. I will tell her to stop and make her come lay down or something to show her that is bad behavior and I do not like it. Last night after the episode with Sasha on the arm of the couch, I put her back in her pen and made her stay there to try and show her that if she acts up shes going up and not getting to spend time with mommy. I know it is my fault, and it is going to sound bad when I say this, but she is almost fully untrained. When she goes out on a leash, sometimes she walks by me, mostly she walks out in front and pulls. I have tried to correct this, and other behaviors, but when I try to fix it but the boyfriend doesnt get on board and stick to it shes getting mixed signals. Ultimately, she has always been a good dog, just spoiled so I could deal with it. But this aggressiveness is not okay.

Ohhhh Dear..well, you need to explain to him how very important this is. In the end, you want a balanced bully..which means a happy balanced home. Everyone will be miserable and it won't be safe for Sasha..let alone ANY future dogs, cats or EVEN babies to be with Sadie. She is a good dog..just doing what dogs do. It's the humans that normally mess it up and the dogs get the blame..and often then the humans give up on them. The dogs end up being rehomed or in shelters. You've given Sadie a great loving home...and it's important for your boyfriend to follow through!

Another thing...you need to stop the behavior BEFORE it happens. That's why the leash and correction is so important. Learning her triggers before she acts on them and not punish her after by putting her up. She won't get the connection..if the pen is the correction. The correction is on the other end of that leash...before and while the behavior is happening. The connection has to be through you and your boyfriend.

 

[Texas Carol]

Great advice already given you, I just want to encourage you...no need to be apologetic
for any of these things you've mentioned. All of these things have or are happening in our
lives too. For example, I adopted Cami, a retired breeder, from a caring home that had life
changes & couldn't keep her, she's 5 1/2 now, needed to spay her but life kept interfering
but finally had her scheduled tomorrow. Wouldn't you know...4 days ago...spotting...she's
going into heat! I feel terrible putting her thru this at her age. Lisa @desertskybulldogs told
me that it's best NOT TO SPAY just before, during or right after a heat cycle so I canceled
her appt tomorrow and reschedule 2 months from now.

My Brutus~RIP~became very protective of me after Hubby's sudden death. Went from
loving my cat to chest butting her off the bed and guarding me~putting himself between
me & her. You & BF need to calmly but firmly let her know, her actions are unacceptable
and immediately remove her from yourself, she'll get the message. I do think her hormones
& recent surgery has caused this but if not stopped, it will escalate. Good luck & GOD bless!

 

[Davidh]

You have some excellent advise above, plus her hormones are going crazy right now too because of the spaying. Do the things the others have told you and make her earn everything, and before you know it your sweet baby will be back.

 

[harleyshay1]

Hey guys! Thank you all so much for all of your helpful feedback. Sadie goes to get her stitches out tomorrow, so I am still going to ask her vet about this behavior. But after corresponding with you guys, I realized that I needed to be more dominant than her in order to show her that I am the boss not her. When I went home that afternoon, I began being more strict about her behavior ( I know I should have when it first started, but its soooo hard to look at those little puppy dog eyes and put her in her place. They just look so pitiful when they dont get what they want. ) and correcting her when she did wrong. I have even began making her sit before I let her back into the apartment after going out to potty. After this, she is beginning to do better with Sasha. She still starts to run at her sometimes, but usually when I say something she will turn around. I call this progress. Now, she is still demanding about other things, but all this will have to come with time. My main concern is the behavior towards the kitty cat. Now for the boyfriend, he still does not get it. But I have always been the one to do more of everything with Sadie. He is more of the bystander watching unless he is at home alone with her. When it is just him home with her though, this is when she tends to sleep. She always wakes up and wants to do everything when Mommy is home. I will have to work on him too, but as long as I can get her to listen to me better, hopefully it will be easier to get her to listen to him as well.

Texas Carol, I hate to say it but I laughed a little when I read that yours would chest bump the cat off of the bed. I can just picture Sadie chest bumping Sasha.

Thanks you guys, yall haven been a lot of help. You have also made me feel less bad about the behavior going on. It is good to know that I am not alone with these things.

 

[JAKEISGREAT]

I have an idea!! Lets crate your boyfriend when you are away!!

Seriously..good job and remember..even the little steps make a difference!