We have a male bulldog, two years old and intact, who has become very possessive of different things. This is a new behavior that he only began exhibiting in the past few weeks. The first instance was when my daughter, who turns 4 next week, set down a stick she was playing with. He picked it up and laid down to chew it. My daughter, of course, got angry and I told her to take it back from him. Obviously a stupid move, but it never occurred to me to do otherwise, as he'd always given up anything we wanted from him (he was taught as a puppy to "drop it" when asked). He didn't immediately give it up as he always had before, which gave me a bad feeling, so I told her to let go and step away from him. Then I went to take it. He didn't drop it and he growled at me. (He had not growled at her at all.) I still took it from him and then he growled at me after I had it in my hand. This was really unexpected, because, since we got him when our daughter was a toddler, he's grown up with toys and other things laying around the house and he's had to give back many, many things that weren't his.

A few weeks later, we had company and had a blanket folded up on the floor after they left. Diesel (the dog) decided he would nap on it, so we told him to move. He growled at us and refused to get up until we told him several times, then he continued growling at us.

Another problem I've had with him over the past few months is that he's tried to mount me several times and when I've shoved him off, he's actually growled at me and when I told him "No," his growling just got worse, to the point that I had to put him in his kennel because I didn't want it to keep escalating.

I live in a pretty rural area and, as far as I've been able to find, there are only two local trainers. Both refuse to work with us at all until he's neutered, although I'm not clear on why. One of them told us we need to practice taking his food, so I'm not sure she's a good choice anyway. I don't know that we could take his food, by the way. He growls if we touch him when he's eating, although we didn't know this until we tried it lately. He eats a raw diet and he prefers to eat outside, so that's where we feed him. We haven't bothered him when eating (we didn't ever know we needed to) so he's not used to it and doesn't like it. He doesn't growl at us walking past or anything like that, even if we get close. He apparently just doesn't want us to touch him or take his food. Is this even a problem? (The food, I mean.)

So after all that verbosity, my questions are this:

1. Is this serious enough that we need a professional or can we still solve this on our own, if we're willing to work at it? We are willing to and may have trouble finding a good trainer locally, but will look further away if we have to.

2. What the heck do I do if the dang dog tries to hump me and then growls when I tell him not to? I'm completely lost on that one!

3. He's always been really good with my daughter, who knows not to pull tails, poke eyes, etc., etc. And we know they should be supervised all the time and the dog is kenneled when I shower, etc., but does this behavior mean it's to the point that I shouldn't even turn my back or have him around her without a leash in my hand? For instance, he's not allowed in the bedrooms at all, so when I have to do something in them, I currently have him wait out in the hall and my daughter may or may not end up there with him when I'm in the master bath for a minute. Should I instead kennel him every time I need to hang up a shirt in my closet, which is in the master bath?

I don't want to overreact to his behavior, which I know is our own fault, but I also don't want to be naive. My estimation of the situation is that he's not really aggressive ; he's just a super dominant personality and we've not been good with pack structure.

Oh, and to add even more chatter to it all, I'll include some more details. We do not allow him on the furniture. He's only ever even jumped on the couch once in the entire two years we've had him and that was because he was chasing the cat (never hurts him, just too rambunctious with him). He doesn't pull on the leash, but he really, really tries to stay just in front of us and it's really, really hard to keep him next to us. We don't allow him in the bedrooms, he was crate trained as a puppy. We don't pet him, feed him or anything until he sits or something. He is contained in the laundry room where his kennel is when we're not home, when I shower and at night. We can't trust him off leash in the front yard, which is a problem I've never had with any other dog. He marks everywhere in the backyard. Everywhere. He will not sit to let us through a door first. It's very difficult for us to get through a door first. He doesn't play with toys. He doesn't even seem to understand the concept - never has, so toys cannot be used for any kind of training. He has snuck into the bedrooms and peed on the corners of both mine and my daughter's beds a few times, but nowhere else in the house.

He is an English bulldog, or one of the other bulldog breeds? You mention telling the dog to do something - how, if at all, do you follow through? Do you enforce the commands at all? What type of correction is he given aside from being told No? How often is he exercised/what kind of phsyical and mental stimulation does he get? What type of collar do you use?

I recommend a strict pack structure routine, Nothing In Life is Free and keep him tethered to you at all times. Leashed/on a long line at all times. Simply having a leash on him will allow you to control him much better, but the level of control does depend on the collar you use and how you use it etc.

Marking in the house, humping, all these are warning signs. Tethering him to you prevents him being able to go do these things. Crate him when you are not home or cannot have him tethered. For now I would leave him alone while eating and not offer him any opportunity to latch on to something and claim it to become aggressive. Tethering/NILIF will help with this also. If he does get ahold of something and won't give it up, lift him up and away from the item or keep him up until he drops it and then move him away. Try to avoid him getting ahold of anything you will want to take away until you have worked on pack structure for a while, consistently, first.

If he does not respond to the pack structure or you have more problems I would recommend finding a trainer experienced with aggression/dominance issues.

To note, if he has never been tethered before you will likely have some issues until you are both adjusted. I tether a dog on a flat collar and use a prong or Dominant Dog Collar with a pull tab or traffic lead attached if I need to give corrections. It depends on the dog.

He is an English Bulldog. If we tell him to do something and he doesn't do it, we just make him do it. I really didn't know anything about corrections until after we started having problems and I started looking more into this website. My husband has smacked him a few times, which I was against, but the dog seems to have a heck of a lot more respect for him than me, so I at this point it doesn't seem like such a horrible strategy after all (sorry - I'm sure that's mean to say, but I'm really frustrated with the dog). As far as exercise goes, I walk him once every day, but not really far as he seems to get winded extremely easily (more than other bulldogs I've had, although the vet ruled out an elongated soft palate) and we try to play fetch with him, but he won't chase a toy more than three times if he'll even do it at all - he usually ignores toys. Mental stimulation...I don't know. I've never had a dog who wouldn't play, so I have honestly not known what to do with him for any kind of stimulation. He's worn a choke chain, but only on walks.

I do have more questions, I just realized. Do I need to move his kennel into a main living area? Right now it's in the laundry room, which is right off the kitchen and pretty huge for a laundry room. We never close that door and figured it didn't matter much, since he was only in there when we were gone or sleeping anyway. My other question is how do I use both a flat collar and a dominant dog collar? Would I use a regular leash for the flat collar and a short one for the dominant dog collar?

Thanks for taking the time to respond! This board and website are such great resources.

It sounds like you have a dominance problem. This is a problem that cant just be ignored or your loved ones could pay a price. Also never allow you daughter around the dog without you right there and preferbly on a short leash. I should know I was attacked a couple times as a kid. They were mistakes because I didnt understand the nature of what was going on around me, and I was twice as old has your daughter. You need to look into buying these videos.

http://www.leerburg.com/308.htm
http://www.leerburg.com/301.htm

But you MUST read these articles see if they help it and go from there.
http://www.leerburg.com/pdf/dealingwithdominantdog.pdf
http://www.leerburg.com/pdf/dealingwithaggressivedog.pdf

Yea, You got your hands full! You are in an emergency situation right now but you are years behind in the learning curve.

Dealing with dominant and aggressive dogs is not really for the amatuer. It is definately not the type of situation to have to cut your teeth on.

Being as you have "trainers" in your area that are going to get you injured with their advice, I would order the DVDs Michael suggested or take a look at the free podcasts on this site to get started on while your DVDs are being shipped.

Howard

Richelle,
where do you live? There are allot of people that read this forum, many of them trainers, maybe you can get a recommendation.

I live in Tipton County in Tennessee, near Millington.

We definitely didn't plan on ignoring the behavior or letting it go on. We actually planned on having a trainer come to our home several months ago because the dog would just never leave us alone at all - you couldn't sit down on the floor to play with our daughter or the dog would be ALL over you, demanding to be petted (which we knew was bad). He's actually gotten a lot better about that one, by the way. Anyway, we were going to do that, but then my husband got a pretty unexpected early transfer and we had to relocate, so things are just now getting settled again.

Is this really that huge of an emergency? I'm not asking because I plan on doing nothing. Doing nothing or excusing the behavior is not even an option. I don't think bad behavior from dogs is "cute" like I think some do. I'm just asking because I can't quite figure out how it got to the state of emergency. We've been much, much less lax with this dog than with the other two we had before him, also both bulldogs. They were allowed on the couch, slept in the bedroom (not the bed), etc. And they NEVER would have growled at us, NEVER. Each other, but not us. This dog has never been allowed on the furniture, is crate trained and locked up when we aren't home or are asleep, doesn't get petted or anything until he does something. Are some dogs just so much more dominant that it's always going to be a constant struggle to avoid reaching some emergency situation?

Edit to add: Oh, and I also want to know because if it's that big of an emergency, I don't know that I want to trust that I'm doing it all perfectly with only videos to guide me. If it's that bad, I need to find *someone* to come here and help me.

How big of an emergency it is and whether you can handle it both depend on you, IMO.

I would not underestimate the seriousness with a small child in the house. And I (we) cannot assess your ability on the 'net.

My suggestions: Order the DVDs now, read the articles and listen to the Podcasts while you wait for delivery, and separate the dog from the child.

I'd start with the podcasts after ordering the videos, and I'd start implementing everything from the articles, eBooks, and podcasts about pack structure and dominant dogs immediately.

This is a job, and you sound like you are ready to take it on seriously. If you are, and if you "get it" from the LB information, and then really study the videos, then you can equip yourself for the job.

JMHO.

If you would like more links, let us know. In fact, here's a directory of all the material (much of it available right now, free, while you wait for videos; IMO, videos of experienced people doing the actual work are priceless, and will cement all that you read and hear into solid pictures of how it's done) on dominant house dogs:

http://www.leerburg.com/dominantdogs.htm

You came to the right place for the tools -- I CAN tell you that.

I think I've read every article related to dominance and dogs and children now. It's true, though, that I need to see examples. I will definitely order the videos immediately. I'm curious, though, as to what I should be looking for in a trainer. The first one I spoke to said we should "practice taking his food" which doesn't seem to be a good idea. (I'd get mad if someone kept taking my food, too.) Another one I spoke to won't come to our house, but isn't that where we need to have the training done? Doesn't she need to see what's going on here? One I talked to charges $500 for a one time four to six hour session and claims that ALL of our obedience and aggression problems are guaranteed to be solved for life in that one session. It doesn't seem to me that one session could teach a dog everything. She does say that we have to work on our own a half hour a day for a month from there, but wouldn't it be more effective to have the training split up into 30 or 60 minute sessions over a few weeks? That way she could see how he was progressing and how we were progressing? Or is that really not necessary? Furthermore, I'm leery of "guarantees" - they seem like an easy way to pretend to be better than others, when you can really in the end refuse to honor it, claiming that the owners didn't practice every day or whatever.

One session can definately take care of a lot, and quickly, but a lot of that will depend on the owner and the dog. An owner that is simply not "catching on" or a really hard dog will slow up progress. I would actually suggest waiting until you order a few videos first. The obedience and dealing with aggressive dogs first for sure. Get an idea what a good trainer actually IS before you try to hire one. Seriously. I have worked with some REALLY aggressive dogs that re-direct onto their handler because the owners brought in a so called "expert" who simply tortured and teased the dog in the name of "desensitizing" Yes, this cannot be ignored, but you CAN do this!. You've already been given some great advice - tether the dog TO you. 100% of the time he is out. Don't take him out when your child is playing, keep him separated for now. When he is NOT out, he needs to be IN his crate with the door SHUT. Not just in the laundry room. Also, how is he fed? Does he "graze" all day as he gets hungry or do you have set meal times with time limits? If you do not yet have meal times with time limits, you need to. I would also start feeding him in his crate, (with the door shut) This is merely a preventative with a young child, and it keeps the aggression from escalating when food is around (crate during YOUR mealtimes too!). If your dog does manage to pick up an item to be possessive of, lift him up and straight into the crate. Go back to pick up the item after he has been put in the crate. These are just suggestions to get you throughout he next few weeks while you learn what to ask a perspective trainer. Who knows, your dog might have such a massive change in personality just by having to work for everything and being crated when not tethered that you may just decide that you can do it ;-)