this bull Terrier i have had for nearly 2 years is not my first, my first was a male who did come from a BYB i did exactly what breeders and owners and trainers told em to do to train him, i used posative reinfocment, re-direction and NILF everyday from day one he learned obedience quickly was very smart. unfortunatly by 4 months of age he becamse severly aggressive towards food he would attack me if i so much as walked into the room while he was licking up melted snow from the carpetting at the front door and he would grab you and NOT let go he would look at you and growl and try to shake your leg or arm.
i didnt know much then other then posatie only training and NILF i didnt know anything about aggression, i was 18 i contacted his vet to find a trainer or behaviorlist who could help me they gave me 2 numbers the first was a local trainer i contacted her and she told me she knew nothing about dealing with aggression, she taught herding dogs and agility classes contacted teh second number again the guy knew nothing about aggression issues he only did basic obedience and my boy knew all that.
so i looked farther i looked all over the upper MI and couldnt find anyone willing to help me or give me any help. i found one behaviorlist in WI but he was not willing to come and see me and i couldnt keep driving 500 miles for help, especielly when the pup would only do this in the hosue and no where else. by 5 months old he had moved into become possesive over toys or dust bunnies he happend to be sniffing on the floor if i so much as asked him to sit while offering a treat while he was "busy" he would turn to grab me. which he was a 35 pound dog by that time and he bit hard i always had to wear long sleeves. i finally contacted the breeder who told me to bring him back so i threw in the towel.
after that i began trying to figure out what i had done wrong to cause such a problem, i had done everything everyone had told me, i used posative reinforcment, he knew 12 commands by the time he was 3 months old and he knew them PERFECTLY he was a great listener untill he wanted somthing. i never hit him i never jerked him around i never used a choke chain or prong, never needed to for walking he knew how to heel after 2 days of working at it.
so thats when i become obsessed with learning EVERYTHING about dog behavior i began watching the dog whisperer on mute JUST to watch the dogs, watching youtube videos, reading trainers blogs, trainers videos, buying book after book reading book after book collecting dog fancy mags to read thru all the articles about training, talking to other owners and trainers on forums. i also began giving advice out to my sisters freinds and neighbors and who ever else needed help with there dogs working with some of them one on one, i even helped a few random people on the street with there unrurly barking dogs or dogs who wouldnt come back when called or dogs who would come up to snap at my legs i woud ask the owner if they needed any help and give them my input.
i ALWAYS let people know right off im not certified and if they dont feel comfortible with my advice to not take it and to only take advice they feel comfortible with because only the owner truly knows there own dog.
why i chalked bettys experince up to a poor breeder? because i am good freinds with MANY MANY MANY Bull Terrier breeders and owners we talk all the time on FB in chat rooms thru e-mail thru forums even a few by phone, these are people who have had 45+ years of experience with Bull Terriers i even have freinds who rescue and a "mean" Bull Terrier is a rare find a Bull Terrier who DOESNT like people is even rarer to find when i was have problems with my first male i had so many who did not believe me, even the breeder didnt belive me untill heh ad taken him back for the first week and ended up bitten himself.
so am i quick to chalk up an aggressie Bull Terrier to poor breeding? yes i am because of what i know about them.
hence the reason i went to a good breeder. you also ask WHY i only could choose from 3 puppies? there were 3 puppies in this litter, the breeder told me i could wait for another litter the reason I choose to not wait is because the mother and father both had the look i wanted im intrested in doing some showing with her, nothing serious just for fun and Bull Terriers have 3 "types"
theres the terrier type which is a leaner smaller dog, the bull type which is more bull dog like thick,stocky and short then you have the dalmation type tall and can be thick or leaner.
i prefere the bull type thick and stocky which is what both mom and dad are so i had a very good chance of turning into a bull type as she ages. his next litter mom was a in between bull type and terrier type so in the middle and dad was a terrier type so most of the puppies would probably be terrier types or inbetween types. also Chimeras mom had the best personality of his dogs IMO she was very mellow and very laid back very feminine while most of his other females where high strung and hyper or very domineering. daddy was hyper also but reminded me of my own male and was very sweet and affectionate.
grandma on moms side was an athletic girl mroe terrier type but very submissive and i enjoy a drivey dog since i have been intrestedin doing light weight pulling and i often use a flirt pole for excerciseing as well as biking in the summer.
and like i said before, just because a puppy is "alpha" with its litter mates, doesnt mean its going to be 'alpha" towards people, of which she is absolutly NOT domineering towards people at all but very submissive and laid back, she has lower energy level then my 2 year old male, he can out play her!
i have not had many puppy rearing experiences no only 3 my first male BT, my now male BT and my sisters poodle puppy i raised myself from 8 weeks as my sister is...lazy to say the least.
i have had good results in training other dogs, i have personally dealt with a dobermon who was possesive over furniture and would growl and lung at whomever would try to sit down on the couch she was on, taught her a solid "off' command without getting bitten,
worked with a dog aggressive yorkie slowly desensitizing to other dogs on walks
worked with a beagle/huskey mix who was very very dominant, she was a puppy going thru puberty and was becoming aggressive, she would claim the owners bed and if the owner would try to lie down and sleep she would bite the owners face. i taught the owner how to get her more excercise while useing NILF everyday and to NEVER allow the dog up onto the bed or other furniture freely.
worked with a lab mix who would blt out the door every time it was open and not come when called, taught the owner to NEVER chase the dog and to never scold the dog for coming back. worked on a long line with toys a solid recall while working at the front and back door that when the door opens= no running out
female BT i have now would attack me male BT due to being nervous she would become anxious by his excitment and would throw herself at him to attack him, not severly but still. taught her some self soothing by going to a crate to lie down when she becomes upset while also doing NILF to let ehr know that only I give corrections not her and hte only option to has is to go to her designated spot and chill out away from the other dogs. im slowly teaching her how self control also so that she doesnt depend on her spot for self comfort, but in her spot i keep a small satchel of lavender so she will assotciate the scent with relaxing so later on when she becomes anxious on a walk i can bring out a toy with the scent of lavender on it to help her relax because the brain will automatically associate the scent while working on a focus command.
theres more but i think this post is getting quite long enough
Re: barking/growling-im stumped
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but stick around because you will learn alot and no one here cares about 1st impressions.
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