Aggressive Behavior in my female animal

[bckrazy]

Hi Pekemom.

I am glad you joined PT for advice... Giselle, especially, is a freakin' dog training genius. I honestly feel that YOU need to step in more regarding the relationship between your dogs - YOU need to let Bianca know when it's time to back off, not wait around for your male dog to do it. He is obviously a more submissive dog, and not only does the bullying make him fearful of Bianca, he will also lose his trust in you as the benevolent leader and protector.

I would feed them in crates, seperated, at every meal if you cannot be right there supervising. DEFINITELY cut off free-feeding if that's what you do currently, because Bianca will end up pudgy and your boy will end up under-fed. For supervised meals, I would feed each from a bowl several feet from the other, and stand in between them. If Bianca goes for his food, quickly correct her with a "NO", block her from getting there, and direct her to her own bowl.

As far as the humping, my dogs hump, too. They hump when they're playing. It's just a dog behavior... it is for play, demonstrations of dominance, excitement, and even just as a way to expend energy. Let them do their thing, unless your male seems scared or agitated. Has your female ever hurt him? Does she start fights? I would definitely set boundaries with the female (and the male) - not allowing her on furniture, not allowing her to guard toys/food/beds, and practicing NILIF religiously should really help to calm her down.

I really only signed up for these forums to find ways to better care for my animals and not to debate ideologies. All I'm doing is saying that breeding is not my concern at the moment. IF I were to breed my animals it wouldn't be for another year or more anyways....One person can only do so much and I already have several causes in my life outside of making people knowledgeable about breeding animals. When 20% of our nation's poorest people are children (we currently have a 12.6% poverty rate...higher than most countries), I find I take a stronger stance of the needs of them over any stance on animal breeding. If animal rights (or whatever it falls into) is your stance, that is great (I'm serious...it really is great). I don't see myself as a bad pet owner for simply not making such things my priority in life.

The thing is... breeding practices DO concern "caring for animals". I'm glad you are waiting to breed, and not jumping into it. Dogs certaintly shouldn't be bred before they're 2+ years old and full grown, anyway. Plenty of people breed dogs the instant it's possible, when they're still pupies themselves, and it's great that you know better.

You are not a bad pet owner if you don't research responsible breeding practices. However, that would make you a bad dog breeder. Would you buy ANY kind of product, or service, from some one who had only a basic idea of what they were doing, who weren't dedicated to doing it reputably? To become a breeder is to become invested in breeding; it is your choice whether or not to do it responsibly, but you're invested regardless. Bringing lives into this world, social, intelligent, fairly long-lived (15+ years for Pekes) lives, really shouldn't be taken lightly. Pekingese in particular is a breed that is incredibly prone to health issues and birthing issues, in addition to being a breed that is rampant with BYBs who are breeding away from their original standard. Consider a $1000 c-section, an injured/dead Mother dog, etc, etc... just for the fun of breeding? All I advise you to do is THINK, long and hard, about the seriousness of breeding before you do it; research is a good thing, the more you know, the better. http://www.learntobreed.com is a very informative website.

I strongly encourage you to, when your dogs are 2+ years old and if you still plan on breeding, get their hips, elbows, patellas, and backs x-rayed, their hearts checked, and their eyes CERF'ed. To not do at least this is literally playing russian roulette with the lives of their unborn puppies. It is also important to consider the temperament of both of your dogs - an "aggressive", dominant, pushy female and a shy, flighty male? I don't know your dogs, you know them. Honestly consider, objectively, if they are good examples of their breed.

[Pekemom]

The thing is, I do step in when Bianca bullies my male animal. The problem is, she does it a LOT. He hates it, and will many times try to climb up to the highest parts of the furniture where she can't reach him (since she is still small). She is constantly trying to drag him into playing with her when he obviously doesn't want to...even if he has been playing with her and tries to stop the play, she doesn't let him until she is ready. We have stopped allowing her on furniture because it became an issue that she started getting on the coffee table and knocking drinks over. Koie generally waits to be asked onto the couch or recliners, but Bianca seems to think she owns them. We also stop her from "stealing" her toys if she becomes too persistent with the behavior-meaning, if she repeatedly takes things from him in a short period of time. I just hate getting up and interfering with it so much because he seems to think HE is the one doing something wrong. So, instead of her changing the dominant behavior he becomes even more submissive.

My fiance and I have been feeding Bianca on one side of the dog gate and the male on the other. We were concerned as well that she would begin overeating. We regulate the servings they get, so we didn't want her taking his since he's already such a picky eater.

The male used to be much more assertive before we got Bianca. With our Weim, he was much more dominant-never let her take his food, never let her push him around, and normally "won" playtime wrestles. He's always been laid back, but it's so strange that he quit being assertive when Bianca came into our home. We're doing our best though to regulate a bit better, and have read (and are implementing) NILIF. It seems like she's becoming very nervous though, so I hope eventually she gets more comfortable with it.



In response to BK, the reason why I wanted to wait in the first place is so my animals would be more mature. I've seen what can happen to females who are bred the instant the first come into heat, and I've seen that it can cause a whole litter of pups to die. I've done my research on Pekes, and what I've learned from it is that I need to do more. I would never breed my animals without being entirely prepared-whether it be financially or simply being knowledgeable. My point is, I'm still considering the option, but not pursuing. Neither me or my fiance have decided if we want to breed our animals. That is why I don't like being forced into a decision that I would like to decide for myself through research and serious consideration. I definitely see your viewpoint, and it is one that I will actively take into consideration when it is time to make the decision. On the other hand, we will probably decide within the next few months what we want for their future because there would be no reason postponing neutering if we decide not to.