Dowser showed me his hackles this morning

In the morning I have to seperate the dogs so Dowser and Duncan wont fight. I have a routine where I get the food bowls filled up set in a chew for each dog 2 dog cookies one big one little and 2 soft treats each bowl. I set Dowser out in front then Duncan in back.
This morning Duncan followed Dowser and me in front but never got near the bowl as I set it out but you could see it caused dowser to get anxious and he gobbled up his soft treats fast, so I told Duncan to go inside. Well Dowser followed him in and was all puffed up and his tail tightly curled over his back, but not showing any hackles. I tell him get back out front but he pushes on Duncan a couple times and I yelled at him "Now outside" well as he walked past me he stopped and tightened up and put up his fur, all his hackles front and back went up and he curled up his tail tight again and looked right at me.
I jumped on him fast and flipped him on his back and bit his ear then the top of his nose just hard enough to make him yelp. I told him no and walked away and got Duncan set up for the day.
When I went out front to go to work Dowser was sitting very sheepishly and was doing the little wag with the tail, and his legs were shaking some, so I went and gave him good attention and he relaxed.

He has never ever showed me any type of agression before and I don't really know for sure if it was aimed at me but I hope he knows I am the still the boss of this pack. Maybe he needs that alteration a little sooner than later.

 

I would get him fixed asap, that will help a lot especially after I just responded to your other post, not realizing hle wasnt fixed

look at the thread Dukesdad started, I think it was the beginning of this week or last, and that he had something similar happen with his dog and was looking for advice and got some good responses

honeybear

 

Hehe...you BIT him? He's big! :shock:

 

I was told the flipping thing isn't such a wise choice. Why bite him?
I know I know dogs in the wild nip at each other for dominance purposes...but we aren't dogs.

 

http://www.bogartsdaddy.com/bouvier/Tra ... oll_no.htm

 

Not sure how much I agree with the link you posted. I still need to digest it some more.
I bit him because that's what dogs know, and I refuse to hit him. When he is trying to exert dominance over Duncan he bites and or snaps at him. In my limited knowledge I would think that the dog would be less likely to bit or show aggression if he thought he might get punished for it.

 

Eh, he's not so big. But I am far bigger, and I really did not bite hard.

 

All 3 dogs are behaving very good now. Dowser has spent some time in my lap nuzzeling his head under my chin and laying on his back getting tummy rubs. Duncan waited his turn and got his attention to, and Pepsi just turned her nose up at it all.

 

That's what dogs know....from interactions with other dogs. I'm not convinced it has the same effect when issued by humans. Especially considering that humans far too often misinterpret dog's body language and are'nt able to replicate it very well either (we just are'nt anatomically equipped for that).
If we were better at understanding dog language there would be far fewer dog bites and "unprovoked attacks" to humans.
Just my 2 cents.

 

Not what I would have recommended but this may well have been enough to stop him in his tracks, I dont recall how old he is but I saw that he isnt neutered, if hes around 2-3 years old then its possible he may challenge you again at some point, if hes older then he 'should' have passed that stage were hes going to try and take over the Alpha position....like he already has his place in the pack, dogs with an Alpha drive can be quite happy to take a lower position in the pack BUT if something changes....i.e the current Alpha (you) gets sick or injured....becomes vulnerable in any way....stressed out, not concentrating etc then he might use that as an opportunity to take over the position.
As for flipping the dogs in a situation like this, normally its done with puppies, the earlier the better if its needed, one of my dogs at 3 weeks old (the one that was dumped in a trash can at a day old) decided she wanted to 'attack' me....I almost busted up laughing when she did it because I have never seen so much agression from a 3 week old puppy before...I mean she was really bad, drooling, growling and lunging at my face, we timed her when I put her on her back, she was still fighting after 10 minutes, most I think it takes usually even in a 'normal' bad case is about 3 minutes....I wasnt hurting her by holding her it was just sheer frustration and agression....we had one more episode about a week later.....that probably took about a minute or less on her back..after that I pretty much only ever had to look at her a certain way or lower my voice...she wouldnt dare challenge me...she was agressive with other people though, I never bit her....thats a little risky, while other dogs will bite and sometimes it doesnt take much of a bite for a dog to back off its not just the bite that does it, its the entire body language, vocals and eye contact.....and the dog will pick up on ANY nervousness from you....a slight eye movement, even a blink can indicate to the dog that you want to back off.

As for now, I would defintely watch him closely with yourself and the other dogs, there is a chance it was a one off, something upset him, made hime feel vulnerable or something that day and he got a little too defensive....and...just an afterthought.....only mentioning this because one of my cats would get agressive over this....the dogs all had different reactions...... there were a bunch of quakes in the Salton Sea, right at the end of the San Andreas fault line yesterday and the day before, some were around 4.2....like I said, just a thought, all but one of my dogs usually at least became anxious if there was a quake, I didnt always feel them either, I know there are quakes going on all the time there but, well you never know. :?

 

I haven't been posting on the board for a while, so maybe I am missing something..but I am surprised that others have not posted some resources here as they are obviously needed.

Not only is the alpha roll..bite the ear thing outdated (for good reason) but it's dangerous. If your dog is an alpha dog, he may just answer your challenge some day, and you may not come out on top.

I'd like to offer you some resources that will afford you the skills you need to train and handle your dogs fairly and safely.

Excel-erated Learning, Explaining in plain English how dogs learn and how best to teach them by Pamela J. Reid Ph.D.

FIGHT! A Practical Guide To The Treatment Of Dog-Dog Aggression by Jean Donaldson

Don't Shoot The Dog! The New Art Of Teaching And Training by Karen Pryor

This link takes you to an article on resource gaurding and other links. It also discusses a book Called MINE!...a good read.
http://dogs.about.com/cs/behaviorissues ... _guard.htm

This link explains a type of training called NILIF (Nothing In Life Is Free)
http://k9deb.com/nilif.htm

 

One more thing...I have four dogs, one of which is a resource guarder. I am able to feed all four raw food in the same room and not one of them will look at the others bowl or try to steal food. They leave the room when they have finished their meal. I didn't hit or roll them to teach them anything. I have used the techniques in the books above to gain wanted behavior from my dogs. There was a long time when the one dog could not be fed in the same room with the others..it takes time, skill and patience to train. That has to start with an understanding of dogs and their language.

 

Thanks for the input all.
Might have something to do with the quakes all over California this week or maybe he sensed something going wrong in me. I just found out this morning I have something strange going on causing my eye to go all blurry, doctors are sending me to a specialist down the mountain later today and says it can not be put off even for a day.
Both the male dogs slept almost on me last night and had been very attentive to me since I got home yesterday. pretty much normal but maybe more needy than usual.

 

I hope the blurriness turns out to be nothing serious! I hope you feel better soon.

 

Really sorry to hear about your eye problem, I hope everything goes well at the docs and that your okay.
That might be a possibility for the challenge from Dowser, youd be amazed at how quick a dog can go into a defense or attack mode by your eyes, we use the eye contact in agitation training (used to, dont do it anymore) and I was amazed at how quick a dog can go from happily jumping all over you and licking you to almost in a split second wanting to rip you apart, with just a slight change in the way you look at the dog.

Once again, I really hope everythings okay at the docs.

 

Dogs are still being good, played some chase the water hose with Dowser, since he loves this game. He chases the stream from the hose and attacks it like it was a bad thing.

As for my eye, I spent 3 damn hours getting my eyes poked and prodded and he says "you got the best visual acuity I have ever seen in anyone over 30 might even say your eyes are as good as someone half your age". There is no damage, not oclusions, no swelling and the eye pressure is fine in both eyes.
He even says that there should be evedence of my high blood pressure but there isn't. The blurriness is fading so now things are only slightly blurry after 6 or 7 feet away where earlier it was at all distances. He has recommended a corated artery ultra sound to check if I am getting enough blood to my optic nerves and brain.

On a fun note they put stuff in my eyes to dialate the pupiles so they can see in my eye better. It was hell driving home but as I got on my street there was a lady had driven her truck off the road into the soft sand, I stopped to pull her out with my truck and just as I was hooking up the tow rope a sheriff pulls up and says he will take care of this.
He asks if I am with the woman and I say no sir I just pulled up. Then he looks at the woman who nearly fell on her face just then and asks her about drinking. I start putting my rope away and he asks me to take off my sunglasses, as soon as I did he says holy crap what the hell are you on!
I tell him my story and show him my note to get the ultra sound and my appointment card. He gives me the ok and sends me on my way. In my mirror I can see him putting cuffs on the woman.
I sure am glad to be home safe in my room.

 

hope all goes well with your ultra-sound.

My daughter, when she was about 6, had an alternating 'lazy eye', I took her to the opthalmologist and they put drops in her eye to make her pupils dilate, as we were about to leave I asked the doc if the drops would affect her vision, he said no and that she could see perfectly well, we turn around to leave and she walks right into a table (that was clearly visible)and ended up on her b*tt. :shock:

 

My vision was severly impared. Had I not had my Oakly Sunglasses I would not have been able to see. I tried to remove them as a test once I was outside and was instantly blinded. I was totally unprepared for this exam and the office never told me to come with a driver or any such warnings. I drove the 60 miles home up the mountain by myself with the sun at my back (thank God). The only problems I had was a reflection of the sun off the back window of a truck and some people with headlights on.

This morning my vision seems to have returned to normal and I have had time to think about how careless the eye doctors were as well as my own physician for not preparing me for this exam.

 

I agree with you on they shouldnt let you drive after they test your eyes. I had my eyes tested a few weeks ago and they dilated them, even though I had my sunglasses on driving, things looked so funny, they should tell you you cant drive after they do that, luckily I only had to drive about 6 miles

 

I have always been told to bring someone to drive you when they are going to dilate your eyes. Your eyes will normally adjust to light by making the pupil smaller, but the medicine prevents this from happening. Therefore, there is too much light entering your eyes (which is why you were blinded without your sunglasses) and your eyes can't make the proper adjustments to see clearly. I think it is also very bad for your eyes if you didn't have sunglasses with you.

Sometimes I think doctors get jaded by doing the same thing every day and forget how it is to be on the other side of things. If I were you, I would call the office and let them know (politely) that they should notify people when this is going to happen so they can be prepared.

I'm glad you made it home safely!