Help Needed! Suddently becoming aggressive!!

[esdmedic7079]

My wife and i have had a 4 yo male bulldog (not fixed) that, up until about 3 months ago, was a great dog. All of a sudden he became very aggressive towards me and my wife. He only does it though when we attempt to put him in his kennel. He used to get excited when we would say "ready to go to sleep" because he knew he would be recieving a treat. He would run to the cage, turn around and wait. Now however, he walks slowly to his cage and before he even turns around, he begins growling at us. We don't give him the treat because we don't want to reward this behavior and just shut the door. He then begins barking very viciously and growling at us. We used to then try and pull him out and punish him for this bad behavior until one day he bit my hand. Now we just put him in there and ignore him. Sometimes when my wife comes over to let him out, he will begin growling at her. She then just leaves him in the cage. This is the only time he is ever shows aggression. The only major change is that recently my wife and i began working nights so he is locked up all day, then we come home and he sleeps in our room. Has anybody had this same type of issue? Does anyone have any advice to help with this problem. It doesn't seem to be getting any better and im afraid if it continues, we are going to have to get rid of him. Any advice is greatly appreciated. Thanks!!

Scott

 

[2BullyMama]

Bulldogs are schedule driven and some suffer from OCD... whenever a routine changes they will react to it in some manner. Does Gunny require being crated while you are away.. can you baby-gate him in a kitchen, bedroom or another room in the house instead of being in the crate while you are gone?

Also, a possibility is sickness or pain, canines when in pain will become what seems to be aggressive, but it is a way of protecting themselves.

It may also be time to get your boy neutered there are health risks associated with keeping them intact.

I will tag some other members to provide more advice and hope we get you the right info to help you and Gunny

 

[Vicaroo1000]

At some point he's associated a negative experience with the experience of being crated. "Pulling him out" and punishing him only compounded the situation. I think one of the biggest mistakes people make with crating dogs is shutting the door before the dog is calm/relaxed/ready to have the door shut. Crating an anxious dog creates MORE anxiety. We humans are always in such a hurry (I have to remind myself of this very thing a lot; slow down!) Waiting a few more minutes until the dog was ready to have the door shut, would have prevented the anxiety. I would bet a million dollars he's not "aggressive" -- he's anxious or fearful and making him do something -- that he's clearly communicated that makes him feel worse -- makes him act out toward the humans making him to that thing. Think about it. If you received a shock every time you took a bite of food, pretty soon you'd not want to eat, right -- regardless of how hungry you were. He needs to unlearn the memory/habit/whatever if the negativity of the crate and you can help him!

Here's what I would do if this were my pup:
Move the crate to a new place in the home. To help "break" the memory of the negative experience. Maybe put a favorite soft blanket in there too - one from your bed, perhaps?
Practice putting him in and out of the crate when you are NOT leaving the home and begin associating something he likes a lot -- more than cookies -- with being inside the crate. Like massage, being brushed and a high value treat. Mix it up. TAKE YOUR TIME. Be calm and be assertive. If you are fearful or anxious when you are putting him in there, he will pick up on that and think there must be some reason to be anxious too. Leave the door open so he can go in and out as he pleases. Hide high value treats inside the crate so when he does go in on his own, he finds a delicious surprise.

Most important of all --- > Before he must be crated; EXERCISE! A good long walk or bubble chasing or whatever he likes to do and he'll be tired and READY for some crate time R and R.

 

[Vicaroo1000]

I just thought of one more thing while I was out smoking....

is the bedding in the crate clean? One time, Bo had peed in his crate and I didn't know it. I went to put him in there and he acted all sulky and negative about it. Upon investigation, he blankie was wet with piss. (My nose doesn't work so good). He didn't want to go lay in his own waste -- something that's a part of a dog's DNA. After I completely cleaned the crate -- top to bottom -- and put in a clean blanket, he was VERY HAPPY to go in and lay down.

 

[Sherry]

My wife and i have had a 4 yo male bulldog (not fixed) that, up until about 3 months ago, was a great dog. All of a sudden he became very aggressive towards me and my wife. He only does it though when we attempt to put him in his kennel. He used to get excited when we would say "ready to go to sleep" because he knew he would be recieving a treat. He would run to the cage, turn around and wait. Now however, he walks slowly to his cage and before he even turns around, he begins growling at us. We don't give him the treat because we don't want to reward this behavior and just shut the door. He then begins barking very viciously and growling at us. We used to then try and pull him out and punish him for this bad behavior until one day he bit my hand. Now we just put him in there and ignore him. Sometimes when my wife comes over to let him out, he will begin growling at her. She then just leaves him in the cage. This is the only time he is ever shows aggression. The only major change is that recently my wife and i began working nights so he is locked up all day, then we come home and he sleeps in our room. Has anybody had this same type of issue? Does anyone have any advice to help with this problem. It doesn't seem to be getting any better and im afraid if it continues, we are going to have to get rid of him. Any advice is greatly appreciated. Thanks!!

Scott

first let me say to EBN and you have gotten some the best advice from both members. Keep us updated and share some pic's of Gunny

 

[babybully]

I just thought of one more thing while I was out smoking....

is the bedding in the crate clean? One time, Bo had peed in his crate and I didn't know it. I went to put him in there and he acted all sulky and negative about it. Upon investigation, he blankie was wet with piss. (My nose doesn't work so good). He didn't want to go lay in his own waste -- something that's a part of a dog's DNA. After I completely cleaned the crate -- top to bottom -- and put in a clean blanket, he was VERY HAPPY to go in and lay down.

Mac is missing this part of his DNA and I'd like to know how to get it back?? He still loves to pee on a blanket in the crate or floor and snuggle up in it. WTH??

 

[Vicaroo1000]

Mac is missing this part of his DNA and I'd like to know how to get it back?? He still loves to pee on a blanket in the crate or floor and snuggle up in it. WTH??

*dying laughing* Silly Mac!

 

[Noyes27]

Mac is missing this part of his DNA and I'd like to know how to get it back?? He still loves to pee on a blanket in the crate or floor and snuggle up in it. WTH??

So weird! My Mack does the same thing! I actually think Mack and my cat literally had a pissing contest on Macks dogbed, I kept insisting I smelled cat pee and everyone tjought I was crazy, until we found the most disgusting, soaked, EXPENSIVE dog bed and tossed it right in the trash

Sent from my SGH-T999 using Tapatalk 2

 

[Vicaroo1000]

So weird! My Mack does the same thing! I actually think Mack and my cat literally had a pissing contest on Macks dogbed, I kept insisting I smelled cat pee and everyone tjought I was crazy, until we found the most disgusting, soaked, EXPENSIVE dog bed and tossed it right in the trash

Sent from my SGH-T999 using Tapatalk 2

Sometimes, it's just better if they DON'T have that cushy blankie in the bed. I know. It looks like torture, laying in that hard plastic pan but some dogs just can't have blankets! Eventually though, they unlearn that "habit". Then you can indulge them with fancy beds and things.

 

[Davidh]

I would get him check out by your vet, it cold also be a medical problem like hypothyroidism, congenital or a neurological problem.

 

[christyjulene]

Marrow bones which you can get these from you local grocery store or butcher. They are sometimes over 8 or 9 inches long so I just ask for them to be cut into 4 or 5 inches; this way all the marrow is reachable for the pup.

These are frozen and raw (front right), do not cook them. Just give right from the freezer, they last for hours and are also great for teething as the cold help with the pain. You can give it to them for as long as you want.

Once the marrow is done, you can stuff with yogurt, peanut butter (front center) or cream cheese and freeze. I also leave them empty (back left) for a few days after peanut butter and let them just chew on the empty bone.

It keeps them busy for hours and when done... they are exhausted and sleep for the next few hours. Very happy bully!

I don't know how to share this and I hope it is ok. 2BullyMama posted it and I thought it was great!

Maybe one of these could be the high value treat that would also wear him out. Good Luck

 

[esdmedic7079]

First of all, thank you to everyone who has offered advice and words of wisdom. We have been trying a couple of different things to see if we can help this situation.
[MENTION=2894]2BullyMama[/MENTION]:
Yes, currently Gunny is required to be crated everytime me and my wife leave for work. We have not tried gating him up in another area yet. He has always been locked up because he used to chew real bad. Leaving him out now would be a completly new concept for him. Due to our schedules, leaving him out may help. I'm a Firefighter/paramedic and work 24hr shifts usually and my wife is a nurse who works 12hr night shifts so he is normally locked up for on average 13-14hrs. This is something he has always been a custom to though so there is really no change to his schedule. But we may have to try that. We were also under the impression that it was too late to get him fixed. What is the age cut off? that is something else to look into. Thanks for the advice.
[MENTION=2614]Vicaroo1000[/MENTION]:
We tried washing his blanket that we leave in there however that did not seem to do the trick. And unfortuntly due to our house set up, we are having a hard time trying to decide where we could move his cage. With regards to the bad experiences, we never used to punish him by pulling him out until after he began this. And for the life of me, i can not remember a bad experience of him doing this before then. We have gotten better that if we have time, and he begins doing that when we put him in the crate, we sit there and camly talk with him. We try to make him sit or lay down in the crate without raising our voice. After some time, he finally calms down and does what we say. However when we make the motions to close the door, he becoms aggressive again. I even played with him nice and hard the other day for a little while before we crated him and he still went in there and did the same thing. Another development with that is that is both me and my wife have caught him sleeping in his crate on occasion. My wife will fall asleep on the couch and when she wakes up, finds him in his crate sleeping. She will praise him and try to give him a treat while he is in there however he begins growling at her the second she tries to give him the treat. It's like if we acknowlege his presence in the crate, he begins to growl. If he had a bad experience with his crate or was scared to go in there, would he still be going in there and sleeping on his own? Thanks for the advice though, we will keep trying things and keep you updated.

[MENTION=2071]Davidh[/MENTION]:
We are going to discuss this with the vet the next time we take him in for his check up.
[MENTION=8502]christyjulene[/MENTION]:
We never really considered getting him one of those bones. We were always afraid he would choke on them or make a mess and possibly ruin our floors. We may have to look into getting him a new type of treat that he can look more foward to.

Thanks for everyones advice and input. It is much appreaciated. Please keep it coming as we are hoping to rectify this situation soon. Thanks again!!

 

[christyjulene]

Getting your dog neutered is one of the best things that you can do for him. It's never to late to neuter.

• Neutering eliminates the occurrence of testicular cancer.
• Neutering markedly reduces the incidence of benign hyperplasia of the prostate gland, prostatitis and perineal hernias in dogs.
• Male dogs display hormonally influenced aggression toward each other. Neutering eliminates much of this behavior without affecting a male dog’s protective instincts towards his house and family members.
• Neutering will often decrease or eliminate other objectionable male dog behaviors, such as mounting furniture and family members.
• Male dogs will cease roaming to find a mate because the hormonal urge to do so has been removed.
• Neutered animals are not sexually frustrated! Intact animals become sexually frustrated when responsible pet owners do not permit them to mate and satisfy those hormonally driven urges. Without testosterone, these urges are not present and the animals are more likely to focus their attention on their human family rather than on reproduction.

If you put an @ sign before their names they will get a notice that you have written a note for them. Otherwise they will have to remember to comeback to this thread. Like this:

@2BullyMama:
Yes, currently Gunny is required to be crated everytime me and my wife leave for work. We have not tried gating him up in another area yet. He has always been locked up because he used to chew real bad. Leaving him out now would be a completly new concept for him. Due to our schedules, leaving him out may help. I'm a Firefighter/paramedic and work 24hr shifts usually and my wife is a nurse who works 12hr night shifts so he would be left out probobally 14hrs a night. But we may have to try that. We were under the impression that it was too late to get him fixed. What is the age cut off? that is something else to look into. Thanks for the advice.

 

[Vicaroo1000]

[MENTION=8567]esdmedic7079[/MENTION] - The good news -- it appears -- is that it's not the CRATE that he's concerned with -- it's the closing of the door, perhaps? Being left in a crate for such extended periods of time, would be a great reason to hate the door being closed. Even though a bulldog is going to sleep the day away ANYWAY, perhaps the issue has to do with humans and the door. Maybe too the "aggression" that you see isn't really aggression at all but just the outcome of being anxious? My Bea doesn't have an aggressive bone in her body but when Bo accidentally hits one of the crate doors (or a puppy gate) -- with like a toy or something -- she freaks out and barks at it like it's going to kill her. I picture her saying, "OMG OMG OMG HE TOUCHED THE GAAAAATTTEEEEEE!" Since he's in there for so long at a time, you really MUST crate a tired dog. I hope that's your first step. Secondly, pack leaders don't fuss over their pack members so make less of a production of him going in the crate. He can sense your anxiousness you know. My friend Shelli Dawn used to say "KENNEL UP!" and her three dogs would immediately go into their prospective crates. It was expected and they did it. Perhaps change your inner message to more "It's your nap time!" rather than, "I know you don't like this and I feel bad for you but get in that damn crate...". It makes a difference, I swear. Try instead of giving him a reward for going in there, he can just FIND a reward for going in there. Hide treats inside his blanket. Don't say a THING when closing the door. Just close the door and walk away. All the "Goodbye" stuff we do when we leave is for human's benefit --- the dogs don't understand what we're saying anyway. Sometimes just the "goodbye drama" can make a dog anxious!

 

[2BullyMama]

[MENTION=8567]esdmedic7079[/MENTION] - I would definitly get him checked for pain, it sounds (at least to me) that he is trying to protect himself and his crate is the 'save zone' so when you come near it for any reason, he growls -- right?

The marrow bones are very thick and he would not choke on them.... look in the groser freezer or meat section for soup bones or marrow bones.

http://www.englishbulldognews.com/forums/showthread.php?18970-Natural-Chew-Bones