reveriereptile
New member
- Feb 12, 2012
- 5
- 0
- Bulldog(s) Names
- Diamond
Hello, I'm new to this site and need some advice. Warning that this is a long post and to skip down to the bottom for the issues that I'm wanting advice on if you don't want to read my filler information.
Here is some background information to start off with. I have grown up around different dog breeds from my parents owning dogs since I was born. I have never come across one like my bully as far as not having the behavior problem to begin with, out growing it, or didn't bother us enough to fix the problem. I always wanted a bully and I researched online and read about them being gentle, become lazy as they get older, snores, farts, and very good with young children which is a must for us. I convinced my husband to fork out the large amount of money for one. We picked the most suitable breeder we found and they even had pictures of the parents of their dogs, the parents, the litter mates, and pictures of the puppy we picked with the weight of her each week.
At 7.5 weeks old we brought her (Diamond) home. The first problem we notice after getting her was she thought she was pack leader. We started walking out the door first, not let her walk pas us, and only allowing her to eat after we ate first. We pretended the toys were ours and only let her play with them when we allowed. My husband played tug of war when she was little but only let himself win.
The next problem is her jumping up and down on people and other dogs. Other dogs hate her due to this problem. Sometimes dogs from other farms nearby will come over and they are the nicest dogs (golden retrievers) but she will keep jumping on them and causing them to try and bite after growling when taking her out to potty or a walk. She has hurt cats/kittens and my MIL's yorkie by trying to jump/play rough with them. If we go to the vets she makes some dogs nervous with her running in place trying to get to them while we hold her back.
With people we can't get her to quit and even try ignoring her and telling everyone else to ignore her. If you ignore (look up with arms crossed and back turned) her she just keeps jumping and has caused permanent scratches on my husband's legs and other people. She has gotten some guys in the groin which isn't pleasant to see happen. One day some of my in-laws were over and they had a 2 year old and if she hadn't been on a leash she would of jumped all over him. No one was paying attention to her even the boy except for me on the other end of the leash and she was digging her nails into the ground trying to get near him to jump up. I'm afraid since we plan on trying for a baby soon that she will jump on the baby while trying to play or out of jealousy.
If we try playing with her she gets overly excited and gets jumping more or play biting hard. We try ignoring her then to avoid adding excitement to it but doesn't help. My FIL was playing with her a couple weeks ago and she got biting to hard so he let out a very loud yelp sound like a puppy would. Instead of stopping like most dogs she got more hyper and continued biting harder even when he yelped and stopped play.
The biggest issue is her chew/eating everything. My MIL is a hoarder but not as bad as the TLC show Hoarders but stuff does get knocked on the floor from being piled up and we can't clean cause my MIL goes nuts thinking someone is going to get rid of something. We usually keep her in our room to avoid her picking up something but she still manages to get stuff off of our dressers, chews on the dressers, or tries to chew on cords we have taped down.
I've tried using deterant sprays, vinegar, rubbing alcohol, cayenne pepper, and lemon juice on stuff to try to keep her away from it but it doesn't work. Also used a can with coins to shake or spray bottle while saying a firm "No" which worked for a bit. We tried offering a toy or treat to distract her or in attempts to get her to drop something without chasing her. Her response was to try and run while trying to swallow the object. I've tried training her commands but had no luck after a month of 15 minute sessions throughout the day except to get her to sit for 10 seconds till she sees another dog or person. We do crate when we are gone or asleep so she doesn't eat/chew something. She has gotten now where she chews her nylabones so rough that her mouth bleeds till we have to remove the toy. She doesn't like kongs and peanut butter makes her sick. I'm starting to wonder if she has pica since as soon as she is downstairs she goes on a full out search for something even after a 40 minute walk. She seems to prefer inedible items over her dog food.
I have looked at about trying classes but every time the class is going on I've either been on my once a year vacation to see my parents since I live 15 hours away or she is in heat. I don't really want to take her to a class while she is in heat and have people trying to control their males cause of my dog.
This year we plan on trying for a baby and building a house. I'm hoping that with a fully cleaned house and fenced in yard that she will get out of the chewing phase due to more room to run around and nothing but her nylabones on the floor. I'm afraid of the opposite of her chewing apart our new furniture, cabinets, or walls. I need to get the jumping and chewing problem fixed.
I thought by now that the chewing would stop with her being almost 2 but I think with the MIL hoarding that it is feeding her drive to chew more. My husband is attached to her more than me. I think it is cause he is the one that usually doesn't watch her when taking her downstairs and I'm the one that gets stuck cleaning up the mess. I did try a muzzle on her to keep her from picking up items cause of his lack of watching her downstairs but she is able to get it off. He also thinks she will be fine around a baby. His parents and everyone else doesn't trust her around one.
Here is some background information to start off with. I have grown up around different dog breeds from my parents owning dogs since I was born. I have never come across one like my bully as far as not having the behavior problem to begin with, out growing it, or didn't bother us enough to fix the problem. I always wanted a bully and I researched online and read about them being gentle, become lazy as they get older, snores, farts, and very good with young children which is a must for us. I convinced my husband to fork out the large amount of money for one. We picked the most suitable breeder we found and they even had pictures of the parents of their dogs, the parents, the litter mates, and pictures of the puppy we picked with the weight of her each week.
At 7.5 weeks old we brought her (Diamond) home. The first problem we notice after getting her was she thought she was pack leader. We started walking out the door first, not let her walk pas us, and only allowing her to eat after we ate first. We pretended the toys were ours and only let her play with them when we allowed. My husband played tug of war when she was little but only let himself win.
The next problem is her jumping up and down on people and other dogs. Other dogs hate her due to this problem. Sometimes dogs from other farms nearby will come over and they are the nicest dogs (golden retrievers) but she will keep jumping on them and causing them to try and bite after growling when taking her out to potty or a walk. She has hurt cats/kittens and my MIL's yorkie by trying to jump/play rough with them. If we go to the vets she makes some dogs nervous with her running in place trying to get to them while we hold her back.
With people we can't get her to quit and even try ignoring her and telling everyone else to ignore her. If you ignore (look up with arms crossed and back turned) her she just keeps jumping and has caused permanent scratches on my husband's legs and other people. She has gotten some guys in the groin which isn't pleasant to see happen. One day some of my in-laws were over and they had a 2 year old and if she hadn't been on a leash she would of jumped all over him. No one was paying attention to her even the boy except for me on the other end of the leash and she was digging her nails into the ground trying to get near him to jump up. I'm afraid since we plan on trying for a baby soon that she will jump on the baby while trying to play or out of jealousy.
If we try playing with her she gets overly excited and gets jumping more or play biting hard. We try ignoring her then to avoid adding excitement to it but doesn't help. My FIL was playing with her a couple weeks ago and she got biting to hard so he let out a very loud yelp sound like a puppy would. Instead of stopping like most dogs she got more hyper and continued biting harder even when he yelped and stopped play.
The biggest issue is her chew/eating everything. My MIL is a hoarder but not as bad as the TLC show Hoarders but stuff does get knocked on the floor from being piled up and we can't clean cause my MIL goes nuts thinking someone is going to get rid of something. We usually keep her in our room to avoid her picking up something but she still manages to get stuff off of our dressers, chews on the dressers, or tries to chew on cords we have taped down.
I've tried using deterant sprays, vinegar, rubbing alcohol, cayenne pepper, and lemon juice on stuff to try to keep her away from it but it doesn't work. Also used a can with coins to shake or spray bottle while saying a firm "No" which worked for a bit. We tried offering a toy or treat to distract her or in attempts to get her to drop something without chasing her. Her response was to try and run while trying to swallow the object. I've tried training her commands but had no luck after a month of 15 minute sessions throughout the day except to get her to sit for 10 seconds till she sees another dog or person. We do crate when we are gone or asleep so she doesn't eat/chew something. She has gotten now where she chews her nylabones so rough that her mouth bleeds till we have to remove the toy. She doesn't like kongs and peanut butter makes her sick. I'm starting to wonder if she has pica since as soon as she is downstairs she goes on a full out search for something even after a 40 minute walk. She seems to prefer inedible items over her dog food.
I have looked at about trying classes but every time the class is going on I've either been on my once a year vacation to see my parents since I live 15 hours away or she is in heat. I don't really want to take her to a class while she is in heat and have people trying to control their males cause of my dog.
This year we plan on trying for a baby and building a house. I'm hoping that with a fully cleaned house and fenced in yard that she will get out of the chewing phase due to more room to run around and nothing but her nylabones on the floor. I'm afraid of the opposite of her chewing apart our new furniture, cabinets, or walls. I need to get the jumping and chewing problem fixed.
I thought by now that the chewing would stop with her being almost 2 but I think with the MIL hoarding that it is feeding her drive to chew more. My husband is attached to her more than me. I think it is cause he is the one that usually doesn't watch her when taking her downstairs and I'm the one that gets stuck cleaning up the mess. I did try a muzzle on her to keep her from picking up items cause of his lack of watching her downstairs but she is able to get it off. He also thinks she will be fine around a baby. His parents and everyone else doesn't trust her around one.