need some advice please

I have a 6month old male brindle at home and i always said 1 dog is enough, but my neighbor had this beautifule pit that just needed some love and attention and she would be a great dog. neways he told me that if i wanted her i could have her as long as he can come over and play with her. so after a long ponder i went and picked her up from him. and she has been awsome for the most part. i have found out that he got her from a friend of mine and when i got to talking to him he said i was her 10th owner! she is only 18months old! so i fighured that was why she never seemed to trust us. but with a few hours of work every day she has turned around alot. So last week my aunt wanted to come stay the night at my house because her and her husband were fighting alot, so i loaded honey up in the van and we went for the ride to get her. upon arriving i brought her up to everyone there and she let all of them pet her. Well i was waiting for her to get some stuff i hooked her to the dog run they have so she could do what ever. and when my aunt come back out side she had a few dog bones to give her but she couldnt get close enough to her to give them to her! i maen she was snarling teeth and lunging at her with the intent i believe to bite her. so i scolded her and took her off the run and stuck her back on the chain in the van were they were fine. honey actually rode on her lap the whole way back home and was fine with her you know licking her and the whole nine yards. so we get back to my house and my aunt and i were in the back yard getting some wood for the fire pit and once again she couldnt get near her. my question is what would have made her freak out like that? i think she thought i was leaving her like so many others have done. ever since my aunt left the next day she has been fine again. i had my neighbor (not her previous owner) walk up to her well she was on the chain to see if she would be violent but she rolled on her back and let him pet her with no problems. so if that is why she went after my auny how could i fix the problem?

 

I dont have any advice for a fix, but do you think your aunt reminds her of one of her past owners that was mean, so she feels threatened?

 

Rowdie, you dont half pick them :wink:

Im not sure why this dog is going for your aunt, I could take a couple of guesses though, you say the dog has not shown any signs of aggression towards anybody else at all? If your aunt is giving off any signs to the dog....either nervous or threatening through her body language or eye contact the dog would react to that....I agree with honeybears in that possibly your aunt reminds the dog of someone that was abusive, it could be something in the way your aunt looks (her appearance) or it could be her general mannerisms, or her scent....meaning that its not uncommon for say someone abused a dog and the abuser wore a particular perfume/hairspray or something....and some time later the dog will recognize the scent and associate that with the abuse, in cases like this where you know there is a trigger for the dog to attack then youve got a serious problem if you cant pinpoint the trigger and work on that, unless of course you go through a reputable training course and start everything from scratch, have yourself and the dog trained by a professional because then at least that will give you better control of the dog. Does you aunt wear glasses? have others with glasses been able to approach the dog?

I do know that chaining a dog will increase the risk of a dog becoming aggressive and attacking, I think Ive mentioned that to you, although obviously you need to keep the dog under control espeicially around your aunt.

How long have you had this dog now?

 

i have had her about two months now. She ia an awsome dog and i hate to have to put her up when people come over but i dont know who she will turn on. it is the weirdest thing, my daughter can ride her like a horse or do what ever she wants to do to her and she just takes it and does nothing to her she has never as much as walked away from her when she does lay on her or sit on her and watch tv or anything but boy oh boy let my aunt or a person she has never seen before try to go near her or come in my house and it is on!

 

Hi Rowdie.

I think you really need to watch this dog closely, I know you say that the dog is fine with your daughter (she a toddler yeah?) but please be very careful. As youve said your not really sure of her background, if she has had this many owners then its possible that there have been some aggression problems from when she was a young pup, people dont always tell a potential new owner about any bad habits/behaviours, theyre more concerned with just getting rid of the dog.

That said, its is very possible that she has bonded very quickly with you and your immediate family (living in your home with you), some dogs that are passed around a lot usually go one of 2 ways, theyre reluctant to want to bond with anyone and it takes quite a while or they can form a rapid bond to someone they feel is not a threat to them in any way, kind of like they have abandonment issues and so will latch on to the first one they feel safe with. When this happens with a child it can work out great or there may come a point where the child gets a little heavy handed (nothing deliberate...just kids being kids) and the dog will turn.

With most new 'adoptees' there is a settling in period, in general the first 4-6 weeks everything is new to the dog and a lot of them will be on their 'best behaviour', not meaning things like housetraining etc but as far as....they havent quite figured out where their 'place in the pack' is, by about 6 weeks they have that pretty much figured out, are more confident, relaxed and their true personality will show....they say though that a dog isnt your dog until youve had it 6 months, by then you should know exactly what the dog is like and be able to trust it more, any negative behaviours have shown up by then.

Things like training classes where there are other people and dogs around on a regualr basis often help a lot with dogs that not happy/insecure with strangers, your dog sounds like shes being overly protective of your family/home....again that could come fromn being passes around a lot, just as she gets comfortable somewhere someone comes and take her away....not saying it is that just that its a possibility (I cant tell you exactly why shes doing what she is and the best way to handle it without actually being there and watching),

I still think that there could be something that your aunt is doing, unknowingly, that is causing the dog to behave this way towards her, (shes worse with your aunt...unpredictable, or is she exactly the same with anyone she doesnt know?....having a dog chained will make them more defensive of the area they are in and they will feel that they cant protect their 'pack/family' which builds up frustration), the way you respond to the dog when she does this could actually re-inforce the dogs behaviour....most people would make sure the dog is kept away from the person its going for altogether...and of course you need to make sure that anyone coming to your home is safe but locking the dog up or chaining her whenever someone comes around is only avoiding the problem which will gradually build up frustration in the dog and in fact again, re-inforce the behaviour, what you need to do is fix the problem.

If this was just a matter of say a dog 'humping' every stranger that comes into the house then I could give you some tips that will help but it sounds like you have a serious problem on your hands that could result in someone being attacked at some point and your really better having a trainer or behaviourist observing whats going on and helping you that way.

Dont take any risks there is a very real possibility that your aunt or another visitor could get seriously bitten by this dog right now.

 

If this happened at your aunts house while she was penned (in a new place) and alone (without you) it's likely a fear reaction that she didn't recover from with your aunt. I've had dogs in shelter that took me a little time to work with and get happy, some were so bad at first that they were barking and lunging at the bars of their run...once they were comfotable they got to know the rest of the shelter employees quite easily. then when they go to the vet for neuter the same old aggressisve dog is back again....

Recommend obedience training for confidance building (and better control) and socialize socialize socialize!!

Even having had so many homes....she may not have had very much social work off whatever property she was living on at the time....

 

She has been fine with every other person who comes up to her on the chain (the only reason she is on a chain is because i cought her jumping out of the kennel to eat a squirle) but neways ever since than i have had a few house guests and she has been an awsome dog. the only other time she has showed aggresion was when one of my friends came over to the house and had to use the bathroom really bad so he just ran right into the house and she didnt like that (neither did my male) but in my opinion that was just her being protective of the family. my aunt actually came over two nights ago and she walked right up to her and petted her with no problem. she was even able to take her off tha chain and direct her into the house without any worries. This weekend is my wifes college graduation and we are having a party so i guess that will be the ultimate test for her to see if she will or will not freak out. i am not gonna put anyone in danger, she will be chained up in the kennel as usual but i fighured if she is fine with 50people being in the yard than i dont have as much to worry about. HOPEFULLY

 

So then if its strictly only your aunt then there has to be something specific about her, like I said, could be anything from the way she looks at or approaches her to perfume or something that shes wearing....(etc) the person that ran into your house to use the bathroom....like you say, thats understandable.

I would be really careful having so many people around this soon, might just freak her out if theyre too close.

Congrats though to your wife on her graduation