Change in disposition

[indasuck]

Good Evening,

I'm at my wits end and hopefully, someone here can help me out.

First a bit of of background. We bought a puppy(Ebisu) about 2 years ago. About a year later we had an adopted bulldog pass away, so we started looking for another bulldog. We found out that Ebisu's sister, Chita, had never been bought so she was still at a pet shop. She had been pretty much neglected and had almost no human interaction. When my wife and I met her, she wouldn't stand up in front of strangers. She and I "clicked" almost instantly, and she crawled over to me and cuddled. We took her and gave her a permanent home with us. She's been pretty good, only gotten into "scraps" a few times.

Fast forward to last week. My wife and I had to go out of town for a 3.5 days unexpectedly. My wife's co-worker agreed to spend the night with the dogs and the neighbor came over to let them out to releive themselves a few times during the day. During that time she got really grouchy. She snapped at my wife's co-worker (she's never done that before) and now that we've been home, she shakes when we mention walks and HATES to go outside to pee. She growls at my wife and I and has been SUPER protective of "her spot" on the couch.

I'm not sure what to do to get my sweet doggie back and how to get her to stop growling at me.

Please let me know what I can do!

 

[helsonwheels]

Good Evening,

I'm at my wits end and hopefully, someone here can help me out.

First a bit of of background. We bought a puppy(Ebisu) about 2 years ago. About a year later we had an adopted bulldog pass away, so we started looking for another bulldog. We found out that Ebisu's sister, Chita, had never been bought so she was still at a pet shop. She had been pretty much neglected and had almost no human interaction. When my wife and I met her, she wouldn't stand up in front of strangers. She and I "clicked" almost instantly, and she crawled over to me and cuddled. We took her and gave her a permanent home with us. She's been pretty good, only gotten into "scraps" a few times.

Fast forward to last week. My wife and I had to go out of town for a 3.5 days unexpectedly. My wife's co-worker agreed to spend the night with the dogs and the neighbor came over to let them out to releive themselves a few times during the day. During that time she got really grouchy. She snapped at my wife's co-worker (she's never done that before) and now that we've been home, she shakes when we mention walks and HATES to go outside to pee. She growls at my wife and I and has been SUPER protective of "her spot" on the couch.

I'm not sure what to do to get my sweet doggie back and how to get her to stop growling at me.

Please let me know what I can do!

Hello n Welcome!!

Pet shop life will traumatize any dog. Basically you n your wife needs to step up n show who’s the alpha in the house. When it’s time to walk bring yourselves some treats she likes. If she shakes for walks, protects her spot on the couch or you came back 3days later, she has an abandoned issue n protects what’s hers. Meaning you. The couch issue, put her on the floor n no more couch. Guide her to her bed or her crate but definitely leave the crate door open. It’s all about patience n time.

 

[Cbrugs]

Poor baby. Sounds like she had a bad life until going home with you guys. I agree with Helene, she could have abandonment issues since the problems started after you left her for a few days. You need to let her know you are alpha.

 

[oscarmayer]

Once you(the Alpha) left, she became the Alpha and she likes it. You need to regain control of your domain. It may not be pleasant and it will take effort but it must be done. This can either slowly get better or rapidly spiral downward. Take away all privileges and use a lead to lead her where you want her to go. No more couch...that's not hers to protect. You are starting from scratch here.

 

[Manydogs]

I have a 7 year old EB, who lived a kennel life, until 6. She never got aggressive, but had to learn that she had to follow the rules here,and get with the program! They are like children-they don't "think" they want rules, (an "alpha") but they really do. A lot of parents need to learn that,too! Stick with it, as [MENTION=15364]oscarmayer[/MENTION] said! [MENTION=18363]indasuck[/MENTION]

 

[2BullyMama]

You need to establish alpha as mentioned by Chip.... what can help is "nothing in life is free", it is a very easy to use training technique

http://www.englishbulldognews.com/f...ioral/33985-life-free-training-technique.html