seemingly random aggression?
So it will be 2 weeks tomorrow that I have had Kirby. He has been such a good boy up until a few days ago. He and Franklin have been getting along great, playing like crazy, Franklin has tolerated all of his obnoxious puppy behavior with very little fuss. A few days ago Kirby was being particularly obnoxious so Franklin did a bark correction to him (kirby was jumping all over him and nipping him when we were playing fetch). Well Kirby FREAKED OUT on Franklin and turned into a little Tazmanian devil being very aggressive. I broke them up and separated them and then a few minutes later when they had settled down they were fine and acting like nothing ever happened. Fast forward a few days and the dogs are playing a game of tug (which they have done EVERY day since I brought Kirby home). Well Kirby stole the toy and went and laid down with it and Frank went to go get it to continue the game and Kirby flipped out AGAIN. Not just a growl or nip but a lunge and chase going after Franklin when Franklin was retreating, basically cornering Franklin so he would have to react. I just don't know what to do about this behavior because Kirby is so bipolar. He is a super submissive and timid dog one minute, licking Franklin's mouth and rolling on his back and then a few hours later he transforms into Kujo. I haven't seen any behavior changes in Franklin that would cause Kirby to feel threatened and I am worried this may be the real Kirby coming out. I am now at my parents' house for the weekend and they have a super sweet black lab that was playing really well with Kirby yesterday and today and then again today Kirby all of a sudden went Kujo on their dog. I just don't understand this behavior and don't know what to do about it. I know that Franklin and Kirby will likely need to establish a pecking order, up until now Franklin was just accepted as dominant. The problem is though, that Kirby will be super submissive one minute and then all of a sudden try to dominate Franklin. I know it's got to be confusing to Franklin and while I don't want to interfere while they try to establish who's boss, I also don't want to have a serious fight. Franklin doesn't fight but if he is cornered with a dog attacking him, he wil certainly stand up for himself until he can get away. I guess right now I am a little gun shy with the fighting because we just had a fight with the rescues at my school. Three pitbull sisters who have been getting along great, all of a sudden the most "submissive" sister decided she wanted to kill one of her siblings. The 3rd sister joined in because of the whole pack mentality thing. One of my classmates got bit twice breaking them up and I am absolutely certain the dog who was attacked would have been killed had they not split them up. As it is, the "victim" was torn to shreds and needed a ton of stiches and staples to put her back together. I don't want to have to deal with this kind of stuff at home with Franklin and Kirby so want to make sure I am dealing with it properly. Do I break it up? Do I let them fight and establish who's boss? Not sure what to do.
Replies to This Discussion
-
Permalink Reply by Bev Levy on
-
It is possible that Kirby has not had a human that behaves in an understandable way before and is still trying to figure you out. If you remain consistent he should relax and become used to things but it may take a while. You are correct that fear does not equal being in charge. I think consistency does.
-
Permalink Reply by Shou on
-
I haven't seen anyone mention this, so I figured I'd throw it out there... Have you ever thought about clicker training? Of course, I haven't had my own dog to try it out yet, but from what I've read, it sounds like it would be a good idea for you and Kirby, especially the being fearful part. I don't know if you're familiar with clicker training at all, so I will just summarize.
Basically the "click" (which doesn't necessarily need to be a "click", but just some kind of noise marker) is what tells the dog that he's doing something right. You start by training the dog to associate the click with good things. That's usually treats first, but later you can stop using food. There's a technique called "shaping" where you click for anything remotely close to what you want the dog to do. And slowly you make it harder and harder to earn the click by being more specific about what you want him to do.
For example then, you might start out by having Kirby on a long leash, stand far away from him without tugging on the leash (just to make sure he doesn't run away). Have treats ready. Call his name, and if he looks at you, click, and treat. Once you guys have that down, don't click until he starts moving towards you. But do it in small steps. Let him learn that going towards you is a good thing. One foot towards you at first? That's fine, click and treat. And slowly move up to only clicking when he's right in front of you.
There're a few other clicker training techniques as well, some of which might help with having him and Franklin get along too, if you're interested in it. But I'll stop rambling. If anyone else is more familiar about clicker training and wanna jump in and say more, I'll let actual dog owners do the talking. Haha. In any case, good luck, Melissa! I'm rooting for you and Kirby! (And Franklin too, of course.) :]
-
Permalink Reply by Melissa and Franklin! on
-
You know that is a good idea. I am familiar with clicker training but have not used it with any of my dog's so far. I generally use my voice as the "click" so to speak but since Kirby is so fearful of people it may be a great way to reward him for doing good. I have been randomly dropping treats to him and calling him over and giving him treats and that is going ok, but he still isn't much better. I am also working more on leash work, sit, stay, come, etc to get him to focus more on me. The problem with him is if I reprimand him in ANY way (which is usually just a "no") we go back about 5 steps, but if I give him an inch he will take about 10 miles. There is no in between with him, its either utterly obnoxious in every way, or totally afraid to do anything. I need to try to slowly bring out the good behaviors without him going so totally overboard (for example, once I pet him and tell him good dog he will lick me like crazy and NEVER stop and jump all over me and try to climb in my lap and bite my hands and if I don't let him do that he will come around behind me and climb up my back until I have to tell him "stop or no" and then we are back to square one again or regressed even further with fearful behavior). Just the act of standing up will send him running, so I've been trying to condition behaviors like that as well. I stand, he gets a treat, if I walk towards him and he takes off I call him over and he gets a treat, etc. just trying to teach him there is no need to run from me when I move toward him. I know it will take time, so hopefully this is working, and I think I will start using the clicker as well.
On a different note, Franklin FINALLY stood up to him once this morning. Kirby hasn't been showing any aggression since the incident this weekend but is still obnoxious around Franklin, jumping all over him, nipping at him, etc. and Franklin finally had enough and nailed Kirby (not with teeth but with a lot of noise) and Kirby immediately backed down and gave Franklin some space. I think if Frank just did that a couple more times Kirby would learn quickly not to do that. When he is healthy I am going to take him out with my friend's dog who is a good teacher of manners. She isn't mean, but she doesn't tolerate bad manners and she will hopefully teach Kirby quickly what behaviors are ok and what is not. he doesn't seem to have any boundaries so hopefully with both me and some friendly dogs teaching him, he will learn impulse control and good canine behavior.
-
Permalink Reply by Anna Morelli on
-
Good for Franklyn! This is what I was talking about in my earlier post. If Franklyn stands up for himself, I would verbally join in big time and even take a few steps toward Kirby to cause him to back up, kind of a chain reaction inevitably started by Franklyn. It should last no longer that what is needed to get the message through, and no grudges held. You can do the same when you take him to interact with the dog your friend has, described above ( a good idea to try, just keep it at the two dogs, not with Franklyn also).
-
-
Franklin did an excellent job in correcting Kirby today. Just a quick but forceful bark and Kirby backed off right away and so did Franklin. I tried to let Franklin know he did a good thing by correcting Kirby. Franklin is such a people pleaser that I think he held off this long because he didn't want to do something he wasn't supposed to. Hopefully now that he has corrected Kirby and I, for lack of a better word, encouraged the correction, he will see that correcting Kirby is totally within his rights. He's a pretty patient dog so I don't really forsee him going overboard and bullying Kirby, and if he does I will definitely step in. Since I haven't seen anymore aggression, I'm hoping it was just a passing thing, or some type of insecurity that he has addressed. The dogs have been allowed to play and have resumed all their normal fun play behaviors, but Kirby is still only allowed limited freedom since its only been 4-5 days since he was showing the aggression towards Franklin and my parent's dog. We have also been really working on basic obedience and leash walking for a couple of short sessions each day to hopefully teach Kirby I'm the boss and he needs to listen to me and also to teach him not to be so scared of people. At least he doesn't do the submissive pee thing with me anymore, still does it with strangers who want to pet him though, hopefully that will go away with time.
-
-
Ditto
-
-
He disagrees today, I trimmed his nails for the first time and boy was that an experience, neighbors probably thought I was chopping his toes of one by one! Lol. Thanks though :-)
-
-
Oh yeah, Sparty acts the same way! I don't even try anymore, we just go to the vet since he already doesn't like them.
-
-
I guess with rescue dogs it really can be more difficult. I know usually when I read about clicker training, they always say the point is positive reinforcement, so you don't really wanna have to tell them "no". But if they're doing something they aren't suppose to, you try to distract them away and offer them the correct behavior. Once again like I said, I've never tried this out so I don't know if it's the right way, but maybe if he's getting too excited to play, just stop playing. If he bites your hand, offer him something else that he's suppose to chew on. I really hope the clicker thing will work out well for you! I've heard so many wonderful things about it, that's why I decided that is how I will train my dog when I get him too. And good for Franklin! Keep us posted on how it goes with those two! :]
- ‹ Previous
- 1
- 2
- 3
- Next ›
Rescue Store
Stay Connected
FDA Recall
Canadian Food Inspection Agency Recall
Groups
We support...
Badge
© 2024 Created by Sam Tsang.
Powered by
