iceprincess
New member
- Apr 30, 2013
- 4
- 1
- Country
- USA
- Bulldog(s) Names
- Tonka
I have a 2 yr old female (spayed). She is becoming aggressive but I believe it is more of a "fear" aggression. This has been getting more and more. She is overweight (75lbs) and has lost the fur on one side and starting to lose it on the other. I brought her to the vet for the first time since she was fixed last summer to see if it might be a thyroid issue, due to the weight, fur lose and increase of aggression. When we walked in she was tucked up under me, when I sat down she sat against my legs and her jaw/head were shaking (as if nervous/scared). One tech came over to pet her and she growled, barked and air bite towards her, then continued her shakes. When we got in the room she continuously tried to climb on me, the vet and tech couldn't get near her to look her over, she would pucker her lips and start to growl. I would sternly say no and she would stop until they would try to get near her again. Finally we had to sedate her to get a blood sample. And even with that she was showing us she wasn't happy with them being near her. The aggression at home is mainly when she's doing something she's not supposed to and you try to get her to move, she will growl, "yip" and air bite while running away, usually to hide behind something so you can get her to go out or in the other room, if you reach to get her out from behind something she will again air bite...if my boyfriend does this she's even worse with him, has actually made contact at times. She has always from day one been aggressive toward other dogs on our road, we live in secluded dead end road but people feel free to bring their dogs down our road, let them off their leashes (most of the time) and let them poop up and down the road. And when we are outside with Tonka she has been known to run after them and hold them down, we have to chase after her and get her to get off of them...not an easy task when she's 75 lbs. I have not really tested her out anywhere else with other animals so I'm not sure if this is a "territory" thing or not. We have 2 cats at home that she will chase in the house if they give her a chance to do so but they are pretty smart and keep their distance. When she was a pup she went to puppy classes, they weren't very helpful. She was fine while there, as long as the other dogs didn't get up in her face (again being on a leash...?? territorial), and no aggression with listening to me, she at this point had ALL my attention to herself. When she is in our car people she don't know can't get too close...again territory is what people tell me.
NOTE: We have a 3 yr old daughter who can do anything she wishes to this bully with no sign of aggression at all!! The only thing we see with the two of them is the fight for attention. Most of the time when it's just myself, boyfriend, daughter and bully things are quiet...as soon as family or friends come over Tonka acts up, very obnoxious, "look at me, look at me"...and we chalk that up to the fighting for the attention (with the 3 yr old). We have a training shock collar. If we take that out Tonka will usually calm right down, she comes over head down and lets us put it on, very seldom do we even have to turn it on...the threat of it usually works. When we go outside we have been starting to put this on, when she won't listen we give her a few warnings then a shock if we have to. This usually is when she's doing something like eating a rock. We haven't seen another dog go by (or at least she hasn't) since we've been trying to put this on her outside. I'm not sure it will stop her if she decides to go after them though because she's so stubborn that when we do have to shock her we usually have to get pretty high in the #'s before she will finally give in and listen.
Any suggestions for anything above would be great! We love her to death but sometimes we feel like she is going to be the death of us :-) And we would really love to be able to take her places and enjoy more time doing family things with her...we're just not sure we can trust her to behave.
PS the thyroid test came back fine. Vet told me to cut her food down (she's already down to 2 cups total a day (3/4 of a 16 oz keg cup) one at night one in morning)...and cutting her back is going to be tough, she acts like she's starving now!
NOTE: We have a 3 yr old daughter who can do anything she wishes to this bully with no sign of aggression at all!! The only thing we see with the two of them is the fight for attention. Most of the time when it's just myself, boyfriend, daughter and bully things are quiet...as soon as family or friends come over Tonka acts up, very obnoxious, "look at me, look at me"...and we chalk that up to the fighting for the attention (with the 3 yr old). We have a training shock collar. If we take that out Tonka will usually calm right down, she comes over head down and lets us put it on, very seldom do we even have to turn it on...the threat of it usually works. When we go outside we have been starting to put this on, when she won't listen we give her a few warnings then a shock if we have to. This usually is when she's doing something like eating a rock. We haven't seen another dog go by (or at least she hasn't) since we've been trying to put this on her outside. I'm not sure it will stop her if she decides to go after them though because she's so stubborn that when we do have to shock her we usually have to get pretty high in the #'s before she will finally give in and listen.
Any suggestions for anything above would be great! We love her to death but sometimes we feel like she is going to be the death of us :-) And we would really love to be able to take her places and enjoy more time doing family things with her...we're just not sure we can trust her to behave.
PS the thyroid test came back fine. Vet told me to cut her food down (she's already down to 2 cups total a day (3/4 of a 16 oz keg cup) one at night one in morning)...and cutting her back is going to be tough, she acts like she's starving now!