Rescued male English bulldog

[Chellehandley23]

Hi all-
So my husband & I rescued a male English bulldog a year ago last February. He was an abused & neglected pup. The vet said he can't be any old then 2. We have another male, 4 year old English bulldog. When we first brought the rescued pup home, he was (is mostly) such a love. As time went on, he became very aggressive with our other dog when food, treats, toys were involved. Since last July, we feed, give treats, play with toys separate. That has helped. No more issues. They have become really close & love playing together. Lately, the rescued pup has started being somewhat aggressive towards my husband & I went it is time for their walk. He LOVES his walk. But as soon as his harness is on, & we say lets go, he turns around and starts nipping at us. At first we thought it was out of excitement, however, now he is becoming more aggressive. As well as that, he is starting to randomly attack the other dog mid way through the walk. Any suggestions on what this is showing & how we can fix it??

[Karen]

Hi all-
So my husband & I rescued a male English bulldog a year ago last February. He was an abused & neglected pup. The vet said he can't be any old then 2. We have another male, 4 year old English bulldog. When we first brought the rescued pup home, he was (is mostly) such a love. As time went on, he became very aggressive with our other dog when food, treats, toys were involved. Since last July, we feed, give treats, play with toys separate. That has helped. No more issues. They have become really close & love playing together. Lately, the rescued pup has started being somewhat aggressive towards my husband & I went it is time for their walk. He LOVES his walk. But as soon as his harness is on, & we say lets go, he turns around and starts nipping at us. At first we thought it was out of excitement, however, now he is becoming more aggressive. As well as that, he is starting to randomly attack the other dog mid way through the walk. Any suggestions on what this is showing & how we can fix it??

He is now comfortable enough to start challenging who is in charge. You have to be very firm about the fact that you are, and make sure he gets plenty of exercise. Feed him send, and have you done any obedience training with him? His nipping one he has his harness sounds like he's just getting over-excited about his walk, not actual aggression. So try putting his harness on various times without going for walk, so he gets more used to that. And before walks, make sure he is calm before you set out.

[Chellehandley23]

Ok, thanks for the response. Any idea why he is starting to attack our other dog while walking?

[Karen]

Excitement, I am guessing it is play attempts, or "I am the big dog here" - not actual "I wanna hurt you" - what does it look/sound like?

[Chellehandley23]

He is definitely attacking him. It's been pretty bad to where my husband has to come take our 4 year old home because if we try & walk the rescued pup home he begins jumping & nipping at us. We can't change direction on him without him doing that.

[Karen]

Definitely you need to do more obedience training with him. When he starts to get nippy, immediately stop, make him do "sit," then "down" and have him hold that fir a minute or so, keeping his attention on you. When things are calm again, you can give him the okay, and resume walking, but be prepared to stop and the minute he starts acting up. Walking is a reward, and it can be taken away for any misbehavior! You will have to be far more stubborn than him, and no be afraid to look silly to anyone watching, but you can work though this. A calm walk gets praise at the end, a contentious one is not terribly fun, and he will figure this out in time!