Aggresive bulldog..

[Sallygirl]

We have recently added a 2 year old bulldog to our family.. All was well & fine for the first few months - however, over the past few weeks she has become aggressive towrads our 6 year old son. She has not bitten him but has definiatly growled & jumped on him.. In addition - she stares at him constantly if in teh same room .. If he goes into the other room she in close behind just ready to go..
We have tried to teach her that our son is hire in the pack than she is.. By making him stand & tell her no.. But it is just not working. Not sure if how else to address this..

Any suggestions..
Oh - 1 more thing - She will be in heat sometime next month.. Not sure if this may have something to do with it.

Thanks!.

[Karen]

You need to do some obedience training with her, and with your son. Keep her on a leash, and keep her focussed on you. As soon as she starts following him, tug the leash, and tell her "sit" and make her wait a minute. Does he ever do any walking with her? He should learn to walk her on the leash, so she gets used to him being in charge. Is he involved with feeding her, or giving her treats?

Also, yes, her hormones kicking in may have to do with it. Are you going to get her spayed after her heat is over? That will certainly help calm down.

[Sallygirl]

No - our son doesn't ussually feed her.. He does give her treats once in a while & she does fine.
As far as walking her - no.. That's typicaly me. I've always been worried that since they weigh the same she may get away..

& yes - We will be having her fixed.. Were hoping a lot of it has to do with hormones..

We were discussing placing gates through the house to keep her in certain areas when cadens around.. But were unsure if this will have her resent him..
Thoughts?

[Karen]

When he gives her treats, make sure he makes her 'work' for them. So have her "sit" and "stay" then he can give her a treat. That will help her understand he's in charge, and must be obeyed. Dogs love structure, so not necessarily gating, but giving her an area that is just hers like a create, so she has a "safe haven" and a place to retreat. For my brother's dog, it was under the kitchen table, another dog I knew had a playpen that was his "crate" and became his place to retreat to. Even when the actual playpen was eventually removed, he'd go back to that spot for his naps.

[Sallygirl]

Thanks..
She does have a crate that she goes to once in a while.. I like the idea of having her on the leash in the house.. & having him walk her. Any other suggestions. I've just read so many different things that I don't want to confuse or make things worse.
We had a bulldog years before - but never had any aggression issues.. But then again - didn't have our son either.

Thanks again.. I see your from MA.. We lived there a few years back.. Loved it!

[luvofallhorses]

Where did she come from?

[Canis-Lupess]

Please do not try to apply this pack leader thing regarding your son and the dog. The whole idea is flawed and it is now known that domestic dogs are not interested in trying to dominate anybody...even other dogs. They simply act in a way that gets the response in others that most benefits them....as all sociable animals do. As I have observed with my own dogs. one might have their way in one situation but the other might have their way in another. If there was a strict heirachy like in a wolf pack, this would not happen...the higher dog would have it's own way everytime in every situation...unless it chose to allow the other dog to have something and the other dog would know this.
Applying the dominance theory training can stress a dog and make it even more aggressive. Having him point and say "No", to the dog is putting him in great danger and making your dog even more mistrusting of him.

Aggression is a learned behaviour and the dog will use it wherever they think it will get them what they want...or help them avoid something they don't want. It has nothing to do with trying to dominate.

Spaying is always a good idea for a bitch who's not being bred from but don't expect it to make this problem just go away...I doubt it has much to do with hormones and more to do with general learning from the environment. Unspayed bitches produce progesterone with is a natural calming hormone...spaying removes this hormone...so it's hardly going to make a bitch more calm. I've known of some bitches who became more aggressive after spaying although this certainly doesn't count for them all. Mine were done a month ago and I have seen no changes...as is most cases.
Where children are concerned, I really would suggest seeking the help of a behaviourist but please avoid anybody still stuck with the dominance theory. Do a bit of reading yourself on the internet about it and you'll begin to realise why.

Have a read of this website...you'll find it interesting
http://www.dogwelfarecampaign.org/

[bckrazy]

Canis-Lupess! Wonderful post.

The last thing you want to do is make your son more of a threat to your Bulldog. First and foremost, you must manage the situation. She can never be unsupervised around him and vice versa, in case he's doing something to upset her without you knowing. Babygates would be a very good idea!!! As would containing her in her crate when you aren't right there. Check out http://www.iaabc.org/ for a behaviorist near you. A consultation with a trained, knowledgable professional who can see what's going on first hand is essential in situations this serious.

In the meantime, make your son's presence the MOST positive thing in your dog's life. Every time he walks into the room, click and treat her repeatedly. Every time she glances at him (in a non-threatening manner, of course) click and treat Every time he is nearby, click and treat. Use the highest value treats possible, and keep their interactions very calm, brief and positive. Don't allow your son to approach her at this time.

[carrie]

Hello,

Long time since I posted here but this thread just caught my eye.

The "dominance theory" is valid and workable but you must interpret the theory correctly in order to understand it.

Pet dogs, as a pose to wolves, have been bred to be biddable, puppy like and submissive. To ignore the fact that the pet dog has an evolutionary path and cannot help but to react within those boundaries is, in my opinion, very short sighted.

It is VERY, VERY unlikely for you to come across a truly dominant pet dog - I have stated this many times in the past. BUT many pet dogs are forced into situations where they have no option but to try and take the alpha role. This does not mean that the dog is "dominant" or displaying "dominant behaviour". It means that a dog is not feeling safe with the leadership it is getting, basic survival instinct kicks in and the dog is forced to try and make decisions that it is simply not equipped to make in an effort to protect itself. Behaviour issues surface, agression included, because the dog is NOT dominant enough to fulfill the role that has been forced onto it.

The very word "dominance" is much misunderstood. It does not describe overt, agressive or protective behaviour. It is the subtle day to day bonding that happens between members of the household. Pet dogs are wired to be happy as pack members, they do not aspire to be pack leaders. A natural pack leader, a truly dominant animal, will show very little agression, be very calm and relaxed and seem to spend a great deal of time simply being superior and ignoring the minor squabbles and interactions of the rest of it's family group. The dog forced into trying to take a leading role within the family group when it is not equipped for the role or up to the job (and how can it be!?) is the dog that has behaviour issues. An under-confident, unwilling leader is the one who will use agression to try and get others to comply, a "dominant", alpha animal does not need to be agressive - it just is!

The struggling animal, forced into the role of leader will very quickly learn that using agressive behaviour towards people is the quickest way to get them to back off and do things the way it wants. In that respect agression is a learned behaviour for that individual.

It is also an interesting observation that even within a wolf pack the alpha pair will often defer to other pack members in certain situations such as tracking prey or on the actual kill. By understanding this manageable sharing of "dominance" (if you like) we have been able to train guide dogs, for example, to ignore an instruction to go forward if the path is not safe.

Sorry, just had to try and explain that the terminology used by behaviourists is, as it always has been, very easy to misinterpret - we don't do ourselves any favours! We use everyday language to mean very specific things in very specific environments. Dominance in an everday context is a powerful and somewhat threatening word. It has a whole different meaning and set of behaviours attached to it for us geeky people.

[Canis-Lupess]

I would like to say that the dominance theory has been well and truly thrown out of the window...even with regards to wild wolf packs.

Top wolf biologists such as Dr David Mech no longer refer to the breeding pair as alpha male and female. They now refer to them as the breeding male and female. This is because they do not fight their way to the top. They are already there. They were the two wolves that met and started their own pack and the rest are their offspring and function pretty much like a human family with regards to respect etc...
A pecking order may develop in an artificial captive wolf group where they are unrelated as somebody needs to be in charge but it does not generally apply to wild wolves. The only reason it happens at all with unrelated wolves is because they have to decide who will be the breeding pair. With domestic dogs, all bitches come into season and will breed with any male, not just one in a group mating with one male, so it would be a complete waste of time anyway.

It doesn't apply at all to pet dogs. Aggression in dogs is learnt like I said. They do it to avoid something they don't want when other options fail...and they usually do because silly humans ignore them. No dog is trying to take on any leadership role, especially not with another completely different species. And, availability of resources also dictates whether they feel the need to decide who gets what first etc...and as pet dogs are fully catered for with regards to food, water, sleeping places, toys and all the rest, they feel no psychological need to start trying to dominate each other because they figure they'll get what they need regardless anyway.
A large group of dogs was studied in a sanctuary. All of them had been in this group for at least 6 months. Their behaviour towards each other was studied down to the last detail and there was no evidence whatsoever that a pecking order existed in that group of dogs. None of it correlated up to suggest a pecking order. Packs of feral dogs are also loose with no pecking order. Pets dogs are the same.

Dominance is a word very much misused and dogs might use "dominant" behaviour in order to avoid something they don't like or want but it is only to defend resources, not to try and climb their way to leadership position. The dominance would simply be over individual situations, not a general thing.

[mrsmagoo]

i have 2 bullmastiffs there both spayed now but they were aggressive on times before they were spayed so maybe spaying her will calm her hormones down , also i have 5 children we all feed the pets in turn as masiffs can become aggressive over food but there used to being fed by the whole family ,maybe letting your son feed him for a while under supervision will also help

caol