The worst of my crew.A dear friend died.His family were not dog friendly so we got lumbered with his dogs.A miniature JRTx Yorkie was heavily in pup at the time.The only male he had was a PB Maltese.All dogs were successfully rehomed very quickly except for the bitch in whelp.So we kept her until her pups were weaned.She was stolen sadly so heaven knows where she is.3 of her pups were homed but I made a mistake on the prettiest one.The day after he'd gone I got a call from the new owner "would we take him back?"Of course I said. The boldest of the bunch was a quivering wreck.They'd shut him in the kitchen alone,they were having an early night tired from the drive to pick him up,and surprise surprise he'd screamed blue murder!"why didn't you offer him a hot water bottle and a clock in his bed if you didn't want him in the bedroom with you?" I asked "He had to start as we mean him to go on" they replied. I didn't bother to say,"He's an infant for gods sake!!" I just took him back. It took a year for him to get over separation anxiety.I took him everywhere with me. Now I can leave him at home when I go out and he mixes/muddles with the other dogs perfectly happily.Don't wanna know the missus,he tolerates her but shows no affection to her.He does however savage the ankles of every visitor,including our visiting family.It's not territorial either.I take him into town and everyone that looks at him (and a lot do,cute,tiny,fluffy)is treated to a show of teeth.If I wasn't so quick a few kids would be missing their fingers by now.We call him the family gob****e.I don't take him out anymore and he's shut away when visitors come. The missus doesn't go near him when I'm out.He doesn't attack her but if she tries to touch him he bites. The whole world is a threat as far as he's concerned. Apart from me.He's likely to outlive me so any ideas?
No replies?? Hmmm odd Must admit, have not been on this forum for aaaaages and was trying to find a bit of info for my very itchy terrier when I saw your post. Have you had an animal behaviourist in to see the dog yet?? Cesar Millan's website is also a good one to browse I find..... Shame, poor pup :-( But then this is no good either though, you can not have such a vicious dog living in your household. It sounds like you need to go back to basics for a bit and show him he is down the bottom of the pack!
Hi Charlie I know that you posted in the terrier section because of the breed but I would suggest posting this in the training section because more of the trainers and behaviourists are likely to see it there and offer advice. Not sure if you can ask one of the mods to move it or just copy and paste a new thread. No disrespect intended to Claudia, but I would avoid trying any CM dominance based training on what sounds to be an already very stressed and anxious dog. You say that the mum was stolen after the pups were weaned, but how soon after did they lose their mum? That may have some significance as to why the dog appears unable to deal with stress very easily.
Sorry I missed your post ~ I would have given you my thoughts if I'd seen it. Your little terrier sounds very much like an elderly dog my friend took on when the owner died ~ although possibly worse!! I think your interpretation is right ~ "the whole world is a threat" & he's learned that showing teeth, snapping & growling, makes the scary things go away. However no way do I suggest that he should be forced to face those fears ~ any behavioural modification needs to be done slowly & gently. You seem to be managing the problem very well in this respect ~ so what is it that you want to change? Do you just want to reduce his reliance on you and/or improve his relationship with someone else? If this is the case then you really need another committed person to help you with this. Your wife? I think that these sort of insecurities & behavioural problems, esp things like SA, are down to having poor early experiences; so being uprooted & scared witless at such a young age, could have been very traumatic, & possibly more so, if there's a hereditary/genetic propensity as well. As the behaviours have been going on for quite a while, there's no easy fix & it will take time & patience for him to start to come round. The things I found helped with my friend's dog were: Give the dog it's own personal space ~ no confrontation, no forcing it to approach people & no allowing other people to approach the dog ~ more or less what you're doing now. If your wife is willing, maybe start to get her more involved in his care ~ but in a hands-off way with no confrontation, e.g. can she do the feeding, can she just sit in the same room & talk quietly to him, can she throw tasty treats towards him? Can she, very slowly, get him to approach her for the treats, then get him to take them from her hand? (subsitute a.n.other willing "victim" if your wife doesn't want to be involved). What makes this dog happy? What makes him feel calm & relaxed? Does he enjoy you grooming/handling him? Whatever rocks his boat, can you transfer this to your wife? What about if she uses the same brush/comb but at the end of a long handle so she's not in his space ~ get him used to this with you first, then transfer to your wife. Does the dog have a favourite sleeping place? Perhaps put an old sweater/T-shirt of your wife's in the bed to get him used to feeling relaxed surrounded by her scent? I don't know if this is useful or what you want, but if not, perhaps give some more info & we can see if we can come up with other ideas.
He sleeps with us under the duvet on my side of the bed.The missus feeds the dogs sometimes and as she clears the dishes after meals is the one to dole out the leftovers. He adores everything I do with him,grooming,except for claw clipping which takes a lot of gentle persuasion and tummy rubs,even being bathed. He was 4 months old when his mammy was stolen.There's no question in my mind that it was that one night away from home that did the damage.He was a different pup when he came home. There's no question of dominance training being either appropriate or necessary.If he even suspects I'm annoyed with him he's flat on his back in a heartbeat and takes some convincing that he's not in trouble. His answer to things that worry him is to jump into my arms. If he perceives a real threat he bites. It's interesting to see the difference between his reaction to strange dogs and strange people. He's all growls and bites with strange dogs too - irrespective of size - for the first five minutes.A proper little Napoleon.Sometimes I wonder if he's trying to commit suicide by Rottweiller.After that initial bullying and the stranger has shown properly submissive behaviour he's as good as gold.I suspect the strange dog is more cowed by the 2 mastiff crosses,the hounds,the boxer,the other bigger terriers,the St B etc (they're all tail wagging friendly idiots who take a sniff and go back to bed) but the gob..... is happy and invites them to play. His attitude to strange people however stays firmly hostile but then people don't crouch with their tail between their legs... What I want is for him to stop biting people!
