what might be wrong with my bully?

[biggie]

i have a 11 month old male english bulldog named biggie. its been 2 weeks now that he wont listen to any command i seem to give. he wont sit come or lay down. he is starting to nip me and he runs away when i call him. he seems to try to dominate me and i don't understand why?he was trained before and often listened really well. he even started to pee in the house . what can i do?

 

[Bulldogg]

This does sound like he may be trying to dominate you. Someone once gave some excellent advice regarding this. I will see if I can find it. First question would be is he fixed?

 

[Bulldogg]

Stated by Froggz in another thread:

You'll want to look into being Alpha of the family, and using certain techniques to train him so that he knows its your house, not his. Small things like feeding the dogs after the family's meal, having him sit before giving the food bowl, making sure he heels and lets you lead on walks as well.

 

[biggie]

no he isn't fixed. you see i've only have him for 2 months . all was well until 2 weeks ago.

 

[Bulldogg]

Yep, he is at that age where the horomones are going to take over, he is testing you and your boundries. Probably why he is peeing in the house, to mark his territory, and misbehaving.

 

[HighDesertBulldogs]

First of all try to catch some of 'The Dog Whisperer' shows on National Geographic Channel! Wonderful way of training dogs that he teaches! For now, every time your dog tries to nip you, immediately grab him by the side of the neck and take him down and roll him over onto his back. Do this firmly but don't hurt him of course. Hold him down on his back until he gives up if he fights you to get up. When he finally submits and lays there very quiet not fighting to get back up give him a tummy rub and make it a pleasant place to be...submissive to you on his back. My male tried to nip me once at 4 mos. old and I did this and he never tried to nip at me again!

Your pup is trying his boundaries with you and learning he can be the one in control. Also pissing in your house when he's potty trained shows his disrespect for your authority. You are basically allowing a toddler to take control. If you start rolling him over onto his back with firmness a few times a day making him submit then you will begin to see a major difference in your dog's attitude. I have three bulldogs and will have them all in the living room and I can roll one over on thier back and the rest will stay a safe distance away watching quietly and respectfully. They know I'm the Alpha and if I roll a dog over they don't intefere out of respect for my authority. I grind their nails, doctor them etc. while they are rolled over onto their backs, giving them a good tummy rub afterwards as a reward. My dog's now roll over instantly for me. It's kinda funny actually.

Hope this helps. You better get a handle on him now and fast because bulldogs can be very bull headed and take over quickly if not trained right letting them know who's boss! You apparently have an Alpha male and he will need you to be a bit tougher on him showing him you are boss...not him. Please let me know how it goes!

Susan

 

[biggie]

biggie was doing all that. he always is patient and even lets the cat eat with him and never eats with us. he was even great off the leash and would always follow behind and come when i called him.. on a leash he is fine and he lets me walk in first and only sometimes thinks he can pass me but i correct it right away.i bring him to the dog park and he is fantastic with other dogs so he gets enough exercise.he used to be over weight when i bought him and now he is perfect and more active. i use to have that perfect dog?i've had pitt bulls in the past and they were a challenge to train but they would never nip when i would correct bad behavors. he challenges me to to chase him to get him on the leash so now i keep him on it . i know that these dogs can be very stubborn.he some what thinks he can challenge me .he isn't fixed and i'm wondering if this might be the reason?ans also he's on the same food since hes a pup i have'nt changed that also.thanks so much for your time.

 

[biggie]

thanks susan ! ive seen the dog whisperer and love it! yes ceaser says to lift the dog up by the scuff of the neck and i've done that.getting him to be submissive is quite a challenge. he will submiss and then try to challenge me again biting my ankles or hands. even if the fight is over he do it again. peeing in the house well thats new now . he does it right in front of you and then a hour later will do it somewhere else.ill keep trying the advice you given me and i hope he will give is real soon. i've had 2 pitts in the past and i never had this trouble with training my dog. i don't understand? thanks again!

 

[biggie]

thanks !

 

[Zenscarboncopy]

Have you tried crate training him? We have crates for our English and our French and they love it as their "space" with the door open, and timeout when the door is shut. When they were puppies, up to almost a year, the crate got put in a room, all alone, for any naughty behavior, whether it be chewing on a shoe or peeing in the house. The "get in your crate" and "bad boy" commands get an instant head hanging "what did I do"? look out of our English. We also crated them every day, starting with 15 minutes, adding 5 minutes a day, up to an hour, all alone just so that they would know the crate wasn't torture, just alone time.

 

[cali~jenn]

All I can say is fix fix fix! Cutty started getting bad somewhere after a year and was not fixed yet. He would listen and most the time was perfect and out of the blue he would just growl and it didnt make sense at all. Got to the point where he was making me very anxious which is not acceptable. With him putting him on his back only encouraged him to get more angry. We got him neitered and 99% of the attitude went away but sadly he isnt the same as he was before it started. He doesnt scare me now when he grumbles and now it is more of a grumble. If we pick him up or pull him on our laps for cleaning he grumbles, even getting loud like a hiss but isnt mad like to bite. It is weird. He can even be sitting in front of me and lean back wanting me to tip him so I can rub his belly and will still grumble even tho he is happy. He isnt perfect but he is good enough. I am not a trainer or anything like that all I know is how my boy reacted compared to any other dogs we have had and for him submission was not working. BUT if he gets grumbly I will make him come to wherever I say to removehim from whatever started it and then I will make him laydown, a form of submission, and just stay there until he is better. I wish we had fixed him sooner but like you we didnt get him until he was older, 9 months for us. Being that he wasnt neutered already we just kinda didnt think much of it by that point.

 

[biggie]

i have no problem crating him he is very good in a crate. you see when i bought this bully he was always in his crate and so he is used to it . i think thats all he knows but i dont want to crate him all the time . he was over weight and not very active where he was and this is something i dont want him to be doing all the time . hes 11 months and was in a crate at this dog training school who also sell dogs. they would let him roam around but not a lot of exercise. yeah they would take him for walks but not enough running.biggie couldn't even climb a set of stairs had to teach him like he was a little 3 month pup.i do crate him and he does well. but he does things to despite. i treat him like a dog no up on sofas or in my bed he has his place and thats where he' s aloud to sleep . like i said its only 2 weeks now i've had this problem him not listening

 

[biggie]

for me to submission him is a fight for control and yes it also makes him more angry..he doesn't even make eye contact with me. i 've raised in the past 2 well behaved pit bulls and never had this problem. biggie is stubborn i tell you! lol!i think ill look into getting him fixed hopefully his attitude will change. i've done a lot of research on this breed and they say they are great dogs and very loyal. thanks so much i feel better now knowing that i'm not the only one that has this problem .

 

[Bulldogg]

Sharing a couple of facebook responses as well:

Judy Stanley sometimes the training is tramatizing to them,and once the trainer has gone then they go back to being the same way, u just have to let him know who is the boss in a loving way,not mean like alot of trainers do !a dog needs to bond with a person,people just seem to forget this or either don't know it ,if they bond with u they want to please u !i ... See Moreknow that is not much help but i just haven't had any behavior problems to mount to anything in my life with my dogs and i have had alot of dogs over my 61 years !

Yesterday at 8:16pm ·

Linda Harris Little my rocki was as stubborn as stubborn could be... I was putty in her hands! Good luck!

 

[cali~jenn]

for me to submission him is a fight for control and yes it also makes him more angry..he doesn't even make eye contact with me. i 've raised in the past 2 well behaved pit bulls and never had this problem. biggie is stubborn i tell you! lol!i think ill look into getting him fixed hopefully his attitude will change. i've done a lot of research on this breed and they say they are great dogs and very loyal. thanks so much i feel better now knowing that i'm not the only one that has this problem .

Your pup sounds like mine. Get him fixed asap and see if that helps. With us it was like day and night really. The longer you wait I think the worse he will be in the end but I could be wrong. Had I known then what I know now, I would have neutered right away and saved this hassle. It was so bad we thought there must have been something medically wrong and they ran bloodwork x-rays etc and it was just him. Good luck and keep us posted!