When will she stop being so aggresive?

[Craig Chaplain]

At what age will my Bully stop being so aggressive?

Ok... So Roxi is a English/Old English mix. She is appx 5 or so months old. She is like a little tank which is funny to me, however not so funny to my kids and fiance. We have 5 kids ranging from 5 to 10 years of age. Roxi will jump up on them, knock them down, and bite them. I don't mean bite them in a mean and cruel way but in a very playful way. My biggest concern is she does like to go for the face and I need to figure out how to get her to stop doing that to them. She see me as a the Alpha and will not do that to me at all. We also have two other dogs, male Standard Poodles. One of them is not fixed and still has his testicles. She LOVES to go after that dogs testicles constantly and bites them. I know some of you are chuckling but I don't think Eddie, the Standard Poodle that isn't fixed, likes it too much.

She all in all is just very high strung and hyper little girl. While I like that about her, the others in the family do not appreciate that about her too much. So, are these actions normal of a Bully puppy and will she grow out of these things? If she will grow out of them when can I expect her to. If these are not normal actions of a puppy bully then what do you suggest I do about her? Thanks for any and all responses.

 

[Texas Carol]

Definitely not laughing at these antics as could cause injuries to kids
and/or other dogs (even if accidently) and she could be put down.
This is prime time for teaching her that humans ALL are alpha and to
be respectful to all who share the home. Yes, she's a puppy and she
probably will calm down in another year, can you afford to wait that
long and hope there's no injuries happen? Hopefully others have some
great training tips that have children. Mine are grown and my dogs are
taught what is tolerated & what is not, all along the way. Most of my
breeds have been very alpha, I have no problems as I am MOST alpha.

 

[Craig Chaplain]

Thanks for replying Texas Carol!! I am from SE Texas myself, but live in Missouri as this is where the Army has me stationed right now.

So in your experience and opinion, is the normal for these dogs or do I have a potential bad seed that will take some extensive training? I will not wait a year to train her myself but if the normal census says that she is not acting normal then I may have to recruit some pro help.

 

[Texas Carol]

Craig, thank you so much for your service to our Country, I keep all troops
in my prayers and adding you & yours to list I'm an Army brat, Dad retired
at Ft Hood in 1968 after 2 tours of Vietnam as a helicopter medic.

I'll tag some better trainers than me to help you with Roxie. Reread my post
and I sound snippy, I apologize, there was a young, beloved bully here that
was put down a couple years ago that was not mean, it broke my heart, I
know you aren't going to wait a year to train Roxi and, I am worried about
injury to your kids. We've got great experience here & very helpful members.
EBN is very family minded and welcome here!
@Davidh [MENTION=9157]ddnene[/MENTION] @anatess @bullmama @Manydogs...sorry, there are others
but brain dead tonight, they'll answer your posts soon.

 

[bullmama]

Best thing to do is get the whole family involved in the training. Right now it sounds as though she views everyone in the house besides you aslittermates/playmates and her equals. It's important that not only she learns how to behave , but also that your family learns to be her leaders as well. A great way to establish this is to have the kids teach her to sit and stay, as well as hand feed her food.

Another great training tool even for amateur trainers is NILF, nothing in life is free. http://www.englishbulldognews.com/f...ioral/33985-life-free-training-technique.html


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Craig Chaplain]

Carol, no need to apologize as i didn't see you as being snippy. This is a dog website for owners and I know that everyone on here is passionate about their beloved bullys. I have also learned through time as to no read too much into text based communication as it generally lacks human emotions that humans require to figure out their moods etc so a lot is lost with just text.

Thank you for you support on the Service. I thank you very much for tagging some of the trainers on here. I look forward to their input.

Craig, thank you so much for your service to our Country, I keep all troops
in my prayers and adding you & yours to list I'm an Army brat, Dad retired
at Ft Hood in 1968 after 2 tours of Vietnam as a helicopter medic.

I'll tag some better trainers than me to help you with Roxie. Reread my post
and I sound snippy, I apologize, there was a young, beloved bully here that
was put down a couple years ago that was not mean, it broke my heart, I
know you aren't going to wait a year to train Roxi and, I am worried about
injury to your kids. We've got great experience here & very helpful members.
EBN is very family minded and welcome here!
@Davidh @ddene @anatess @bullmama @Manydogs...sorry, there are others
but brain dead tonight, they'll answer your posts soon.

 

[Craig Chaplain]

Best thing to do is get the whole family involved in the training. Right now it sounds as though she views everyone in the house besides you aslittermates/playmates and her equals. It's important that not only she learns how to behave , but also that your family learns to be her leaders as well. A great way to establish this is to have the kids teach her to sit and stay, as well as hand feed her food.

Another great training tool even for amateur trainers is NILF, nothing in life is free. http://www.englishbulldognews.com/f...ioral/33985-life-free-training-technique.html


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Thanks for the reply. I went in and read it. Seems pretty simple and to the point. The only hard part is being patient haha. She is a big hard headed as I'm sure everyone knows how hard headed a Bully can be.

 

[Texas Carol]

Thanks for the reply. I went in and read it. Seems pretty simple and to the point. The only hard part is being patient haha. She is a big hard headed as I'm sure everyone knows how hard headed a Bully can be.

Really, Craig, bullies are so smart and you might be surprised how quickly Roxi
responds. It sounds like she's a normal bully puppy and not aggressive, they do
tend to be mouthy therefore, bitey, love to lunge and have lots of energy (that
generally does calm down a lot as they get older). Wear her lil butt out with lots
of walks and fetch, etc...a tired dog is a good dog, lol I agree with Lisa, get every
one involved with her training. With bullies, calm, patience & consistency is key
as well as being very food motivated, use her own kibble to reward GOOD behavior
or a high value treat ONLY when training. When she bites on the other dogs, calmly
disagree with the behavior & immediately remove her and leave alone in her crate
or gated off area. A short leash, left on inside the house, is great to quick jerk to
stop biting, lunging, etc

 

[anatess]

Thank you so much for serving America. My grandfather served with the US Army/Navy/Marines in World War II (I'm Filipino) and gave his life for both our countries. It is a great service that takes a lot of courage and love to do what you do.

Your 5-month old pup's behavior is normal in most dogs that age. The typical English Bulldog behavior is playful, smart, and independent. The old English is also protective, and depending on how much pit is in the old English, could be territorial too. Puppies tend to be hyper. And for English Bulldogs, puppyhood can go on for 2 years. Then they tend to slow down as their typical body structure fills up at around that time and tends to cost a lot of energy to move. So they start conserving energy until they need it - so they show bursts of activity between long periods of rest. But, even adult English Bulldogs can run very fast and bulldoze an adult to the ground as they play when they find it hard to stop their momentum.

With your pup living with children, the best method to discipline is to train all of them... pup and kids. For example - your kids will need to learn not to fear the puppy. Running away, screaming, etc., is going to be confusing to the puppy. Puppies takes signals from emotions as well as actions and your kids' running away will send a signal of - "yeah! Chase time!" and then the emotion of fear will send a signal of "something is hurting my friend!" or even "my friend just turned on me!"... which is confusing, so, being a puppy, he may not be well-equipped to respond properly to these signals, so it's a toss up on what he will do - chase the kids playfully, or chase the kids to protect them, or fear the kids... In this case, training the pup is not enough. The kids will need to be trained too. Make sense?

As far as the biting... this is normal puppy behavior but it cannot be tolerated with children. So, when you sense the dog about to bite his friends, catch his attention immediately (your children can be taught to do this as well) with a sharp, serious tone. Then re-direct his attention to something he can bite - like a chew toy. Avoid playing tug-of-war with the chew toy. Tug-of-war with children encourages the dog's instinct to fight for alpha status. Your puppy will need to learn that if a child wants his toy, he will need to let go of it. So that, when you or your children are trying to distract the dog's attention with a chew toy - shake the toy infront of him to catch his attention and then hand the toy for him to chomp on and let go.

It's okay for the dog to play with the kids but the minute the dog displays undesirable behavior, all play should stop immediately and should only resume once the dog has calmed down.

Hope this helps.

P.S. Forgot to address the biting with the other dogs. Since you are pretty well established alpha, it's okay to just watch this and let the other dogs correct him so he can fall in his proper place in the dog hierarchy. But, if you see it's not getting corrected, then you can issue the correction - the same way you catch the puppy's attention when he tries to bite the kids.

 

[ddnene]

I have had bullies around babies… I would suggest getting a trainer involved to help you w/the kids/other doggies issues. One thing I did w/my kids and grandson was to make sure they would help take care of them. Feeding, snacks, washing bedding, brushing… so that way the bullies understood that all the "humans" were alphas. Getting him into puppy training will help too… the kids can get him into a sit/stay when he decides to pounce on them or get out of control. Consistency is the key here, and everyone needs to be on board. Plus the old saying a "tired dog is a well behaved dog" make sure he gets playtime to wear him out, but you have to be careful. Bullies can NOT handle excessive heat/cold temps and they get overheated about 15 to 20 min is enough. Good luck and keep us posted!!!

 

[TyTysmom]

Thank you so much for serving America. My grandfather served with the US Army/Navy/Marines in World War II (I'm Filipino) and gave his life for both our countries. It is a great service that takes a lot of courage and love to do what you do.

Your 5-month old pup's behavior is normal in most dogs that age. The typical English Bulldog behavior is playful, smart, and independent. The old English is also protective, and depending on how much pit is in the old English, could be territorial too. Puppies tend to be hyper. And for English Bulldogs, puppyhood can go on for 2 years. Then they tend to slow down as their typical body structure fills up at around that time and tends to cost a lot of energy to move. So they start conserving energy until they need it - so they show bursts of activity between long periods of rest. But, even adult English Bulldogs can run very fast and bulldoze an adult to the ground as they play when they find it hard to stop their momentum.

With your pup living with children, the best method to discipline is to train all of them... pup and kids. For example - your kids will need to learn not to fear the puppy. Running away, screaming, etc., is going to be confusing to the puppy. Puppies takes signals from emotions as well as actions and your kids' running away will send a signal of - "yeah! Chase time!" and then the emotion of fear will send a signal of "something is hurting my friend!" or even "my friend just turned on me!"... which is confusing, so, being a puppy, he may not be well-equipped to respond properly to these signals, so it's a toss up on what he will do - chase the kids playfully, or chase the kids to protect them, or fear the kids... In this case, training the pup is not enough. The kids will need to be trained too. Make sense?

As far as the biting... this is normal puppy behavior but it cannot be tolerated with children. So, when you sense the dog about to bite his friends, catch his attention immediately (your children can be taught to do this as well) with a sharp, serious tone. Then re-direct his attention to something he can bite - like a chew toy. Avoid playing tug-of-war with the chew toy. Tug-of-war with children encourages the dog's instinct to fight for alpha status. Your puppy will need to learn that if a child wants his toy, he will need to let go of it. So that, when you or your children are trying to distract the dog's attention with a chew toy - shake the toy infront of him to catch his attention and then hand the toy for him to chomp on and let go.

It's okay for the dog to play with the kids but the minute the dog displays undesirable behavior, all play should stop immediately and should only resume once the dog has calmed down.

Hope this helps.

P.S. Forgot to address the biting with the other dogs. Since you are pretty well established alpha, it's okay to just watch this and let the other dogs correct him so he can fall in his proper place in the dog hierarchy. But, if you see it's not getting corrected, then you can issue the correction - the same way you catch the puppy's attention when he tries to bite the kids.

Great post [MENTION=2874]anatess[/MENTION]

Craig - seems everyone here has you covered pretty well. All I can add is that it will take time, and must involve the entire family, esp kids. Right now she basically owns everyone but you, and she needs to know she is not the boss of them. The "nothing is free" method is great, and the kids have to learn to not be scared bc she will feed off their emotions & her behavior will continue. Please be patient with her, and get everyone involved, bullies are one of the most stubborn breeds, but don't let them fool you, they are very smart. She won't like the new methods in the beginning, but she will learn with the consistency that this is the new & only way & will conform. Especially since she's still so young. It will take work & time, but the end result will be so rewarding! Keep us updated with her progress & many pics

 

[Davidh]

As others have said, this is normal puppy play, as bullies like to play rough, and she should grow out of it, with proper training, and she will figure out, it is not acceptable behavior. You have some great advice above so I am not going to add to it. Getting everyone in on the training is key. So be patient, find a method of training that works for you and let everyone have fun and train her.

 

[g8erjackie]

I agree that it isn't aggression and is just bulldog puppy behavior. They can be sharks when they're little and still teething. Make sure your kids firmly tell her "no" when her play is too rough. If you're there you can back them up and correct her if she won't listen. It sounds like she loves you all a lot and just wants to play, but hasn't quite learned how to play politely.

 

[Craig Chaplain]

Thank you so much for serving America. My grandfather served with the US Army/Navy/Marines in World War II (I'm Filipino) and gave his life for both our countries. It is a great service that takes a lot of courage and love to do what you do.

Your 5-month old pup's behavior is normal in most dogs that age. The typical English Bulldog behavior is playful, smart, and independent. The old English is also protective, and depending on how much pit is in the old English, could be territorial too. Puppies tend to be hyper. And for English Bulldogs, puppyhood can go on for 2 years. Then they tend to slow down as their typical body structure fills up at around that time and tends to cost a lot of energy to move. So they start conserving energy until they need it - so they show bursts of activity between long periods of rest. But, even adult English Bulldogs can run very fast and bulldoze an adult to the ground as they play when they find it hard to stop their momentum.

With your pup living with children, the best method to discipline is to train all of them... pup and kids. For example - your kids will need to learn not to fear the puppy. Running away, screaming, etc., is going to be confusing to the puppy. Puppies takes signals from emotions as well as actions and your kids' running away will send a signal of - "yeah! Chase time!" and then the emotion of fear will send a signal of "something is hurting my friend!" or even "my friend just turned on me!"... which is confusing, so, being a puppy, he may not be well-equipped to respond properly to these signals, so it's a toss up on what he will do - chase the kids playfully, or chase the kids to protect them, or fear the kids... In this case, training the pup is not enough. The kids will need to be trained too. Make sense?

As far as the biting... this is normal puppy behavior but it cannot be tolerated with children. So, when you sense the dog about to bite his friends, catch his attention immediately (your children can be taught to do this as well) with a sharp, serious tone. Then re-direct his attention to something he can bite - like a chew toy. Avoid playing tug-of-war with the chew toy. Tug-of-war with children encourages the dog's instinct to fight for alpha status. Your puppy will need to learn that if a child wants his toy, he will need to let go of it. So that, when you or your children are trying to distract the dog's attention with a chew toy - shake the toy infront of him to catch his attention and then hand the toy for him to chomp on and let go.

It's okay for the dog to play with the kids but the minute the dog displays undesirable behavior, all play should stop immediately and should only resume once the dog has calmed down.

Hope this helps.

P.S. Forgot to address the biting with the other dogs. Since you are pretty well established alpha, it's okay to just watch this and let the other dogs correct him so he can fall in his proper place in the dog hierarchy. But, if you see it's not getting corrected, then you can issue the correction - the same way you catch the puppy's attention when he tries to bite the kids.

Wow!!! Thank you so much for taking the kind of time to write out all that advice. I so happy with my decision to join this site, as it usually isn't in my nature to join these kind of sites.

Roxi is taking more after the "old english" looks. She is not going to look quit like all the rest of you guys bullies. I've haven't had my own dog as an adult and I'm 38 years old. I never thought I would love a dog like I love this dog. Her and I are a perfect match for dog owner matches. She is very hard headed but I can pretty much deal with that. I just love the way she looks, her way of communicating with me, the way she plays with me all of her... She is awesome.

I love the way you word everything in explaining what you are trying to get across to me. I don't think I ever thought of it like that, the way she thinks of the kids as her friends and the way she interprets things. Hey my friend wants me to chase her or why did my friend just start screaming at me an turn on me etc. That's a awesome way of putting it.

I will try and incorporate my kids in training her and I will also train my kids as well as you put it. She is not mean what soever and I keep telling my fiance that she is only playing. She has her Standard Poodles which are laid back, gentle, and nice so that's what she is accustomed to.

As far as her biting one of the other dogs testicles, he will not correct her. He is an absolute gentleman with Roxi. He is 3 times bigger than her and won't bite her and when they play together he could hurt her but he is so gentle. That dog is def a lover and not a fighter. So I am going to have to step in and teach her. I will have to use my "Alpha" position with her. It's just not right for her to do that to him. Now, the other Standard Poodle is also very gentle but he is much older. He is going on 7 and doesn't put up with her. All he has to do is look her in the eyes and she submits. It's awesome to watch how much control he as on her without having to actually do anything. It's like she really know if she pushes her limits with him he will put her in her place.

As far as playing. I do have a question I would like you to answer. I planned on making this another thread but I'll as it here to see what feedback I get. I like to play rough with her and my fiance gets on to me about that and says doing that will make her mean towards the kids because she doesn't know better. I get down and wrestle with her, push her around, and I wrap a towel around my arm and she likes to attack it and play tug o' war. Kind like you see on t.v. with the police dog trainers but on a much smaller scale. Her and I both love doing that. So what is your take on that? Is that going to make things worse with her or not? She will only go after that one arm and only if it's covered with the towel. It's like she knows that, that I'm the only one and that is the only arm that she can attack like that. But I just don't want to keep playing with her like that if it's going to hinder her progress with the kids. Thanks again for all the input.

 

[2BullyMama]

The gang sure has you covered!! GREAT advice has been given..... I would add, to hold off on the rough play till she is more settled in and knows it is only acceptable with you. Dogs are smart and can determine the difference in how to behave in situations, so once she stops her pushing around of the kids you can then resume the rough housing -- define a space for it so she knows 'this is the ring' per say. Our girl knew that when we went to a section of the yard.... the hose was coming out and she was going to get to play and attack the water. if the hose was in a different area of the yard, she knew it was off limits. Point is, you can teach/train it, but give it time