Puppies fighting for real.

[woody67]

Morning All,

We had a really bad experience last night. Our 10 week old Patterdale pups - dog and puppy went for it BIG style last night. Each locked their teeth into each other and NO persuasion would get them apart. The hose pipe on full and a subsequent drenching proved futile. Both my wife and I sustained bites and the dog suffered an injured leg.

The vet said to separate them immediately and that's were we are now. Any small introduction results in aggression and we fear a repeat of last night.

All ideas/thoughts greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Woody

 

[inaspin]

Hi woody
Sorry to hear of your problem but this should be easy enough to sort out, they are fighting fo dominance both want to be the pack leader it is there instinct .

You or your wife will need to remove the problem by becoming leader and second in the pack if another human lives in the house they must become third or fourth and so on, the dogs must be at the bottom of the pecking order they will still want to sort themselves out but if you are recognized as pack leader you will soon be able to put a stop to that.

You say these are only ten week old puppies so they still only have there milk teeth ok sharp little pointy beggars but they nare not going to rip your hand off not untill they get a bit older anyway unless you get control of them now!.

Before anyone says it I am not suggesting cruelty in any way shape or form just don't be intimidated be firm with them when you feed them take there food back from them for a few seconds to begin with and gradually increase the length of time until they realize that you are the boss and you decide when and iff they eat that is what the pack leader does in the wild. You must control them or they will control you and instead of a pleasant dog owning experience you will be in for eight to twelve years of misery especially with patterdales they can be hard going the only other alternative is to get rid of one of them which seems a bit drastic.

Remember they are dogs not humans they can't be reasoned with only trained I have heard people say usually about badly behaved dogs it understands every word I say, no it doesn't what it understands is tone of voice, I bred and trained working gun dogs for over thirty five years and have handled hundreds but I have yet to meet one that speaks our language. Put them in there place and keep them in there place happy dogs happy people.

I hope this helps after reading it through it may read a bit harsh but in practice I can assure you that it is not and it works, forgot to mention if they need to be punished pick them up by the scruff of the neck and just a short jentle shake with a firm no is all that is needed just as there mother would never punish a dog when the moment has passed only at the time of the offense otherwise it won't understand what it has been punished for, use kind encouraging voice to praise them and sharp stern voice to tell them off and a small titbit at your discretion when praising them never goes Amis.

Regards
Berns
Ps sorry fo any mistakes used my wife's I pad for this seems to have a mind of its own I am not sure what it's doing most of the time

 

[Hardwood66]

Sad to say but I would seriously think about putting them down, all it could take is a toddler stepping on it poor and you have a problem

 

[Graham Orm]

Hi woody
Sorry to hear of your problem but this should be easy enough to sort out, they are fighting fo dominance both want to be the pack leader it is there instinct .

You or your wife will need to remove the problem by becoming leader and second in the pack if another human lives in the house they must become third or fourth and so on, the dogs must be at the bottom of the pecking order they will still want to sort themselves out but if you are recognized as pack leader you will soon be able to put a stop to that.

You say these are only ten week old puppies so they still only have there milk teeth ok sharp little pointy beggars but they nare not going to rip your hand off not untill they get a bit older anyway unless you get control of them now!.

Before anyone says it I am not suggesting cruelty in any way shape or form just don't be intimidated be firm with them when you feed them take there food back from them for a few seconds to begin with and gradually increase the length of time until they realize that you are the boss and you decide when and iff they eat that is what the pack leader does in the wild. You must control them or they will control you and instead of a pleasant dog owning experience you will be in for eight to twelve years of misery especially with patterdales they can be hard going the only other alternative is to get rid of one of them which seems a bit drastic.

Remember they are dogs not humans they can't be reasoned with only trained I have heard people say usually about badly behaved dogs it understands every word I say, no it doesn't what it understands is tone of voice, I bred and trained working gun dogs for over thirty five years and have handled hundreds but I have yet to meet one that speaks our language. Put them in there place and keep them in there place happy dogs happy people.

I hope this helps after reading it through it may read a bit harsh but in practice I can assure you that it is not and it works, forgot to mention if they need to be punished pick them up by the scruff of the neck and just a short jentle shake with a firm no is all that is needed just as there mother would never punish a dog when the moment has passed only at the time of the offense otherwise it won't understand what it has been punished for, use kind encouraging voice to praise them and sharp stern voice to tell them off and a small titbit at your discretion when praising them never goes Amis.

Regards
Berns
Ps sorry fo any mistakes used my wife's I pad for this seems to have a mind of its own I am not sure what it's doing most of the time

Wow interesting stuff.

Sorry to hear about your problem Woody. Hope you can resolve it.

We have 2 terrier cross's. A dog, which was here first and a puppy, slightly physically bigger and has become the the dominant of the two straight away. However, we have a problem with them both barking. They bark at anyone coming to the door and any noises from the back of the house. Any ideas insapin?

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Woody - get rid of one? The remaining dog might be o.k. with any other dog.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Sad to say but I would seriously think about putting them down, all it could take is a toddler stepping on it poor and you have a problem

Some breeds that are the most aggressive with other dogs are the gentlest with children, so that might not follow.

 

[woody67]

Woody - get rid of one? The remaining dog might be o.k. with any other dog.

That's the idea Phil in a week or two. It's just hard at the minute keeping them apart - luckily we have 2 separate rooms. Generally they are, and were good natured. The vet said the warm weather doesn't help either.

Thanks

Woody

 

[JakeS]

You or your wife will need to remove the problem by becoming leader and second in the pack if another human lives in the house they must become third or fourth and so on, the dogs must be at the bottom of the pecking order

It can't be stressed enough how important this is, even if you only keep one dog. Cases where an owner is suddenly savaged by their previously-friendly dog are believed to very often be cases where the owner has never really established their 'alpha dog/puppy' position properly, and as such the dog has got the impression that they're the pack leader. One day the owner does something that the dog sees as a threat to its dominance, and the teeth are out.

It doesn't mean you have to beat your dog - just be consistently authoritative and avoid giving the dog the wrong signals. Get a good book on dog behaviour if you're unsure - IIRC it was this one I was recommended, which explains the kind of cues dogs pick up on and what they interpret them as.

(Of course, some dogs also get spontaneous bouts of random psychosis, which there's not much you can do about, but that's largely a breed-specific thing brought about by too much inbreeding.)

 

[[email protected]]

Google Cesar Milan. This guy knows his stuff!

 

[Bigdanny]

follow inaspins Advice. They are very young and its not too late to retrain. Putting them down would be an absolute waste when its you who has to be the leader.
Good luck

 

[Scouse]

Inaspin has given you good advice there; no need to put them down etc. We have a nine month old Patterdale puppy and a two year old Border Terrier dog, and the Patterdale is dominant over the border dog despite being over a year younger. A few fights along the way between them, but they both have their place, stay on the floor, eat after us and recognise their place in the family pack which is the most important thing to a settled, happy dog.

I would say though that these were our first terriers after years of German Shepherds and they have been a bit of a learning curve by comparison.