At wit's end...aggression in one dog, potty issues with the other?

Question

Me and my husband are at wit's end with our pups. We resucued a Border/aussie /bernese mt dog mix when he was just under a year old. He had been adopted out once before, but it wasnt a good fit for the dog. We adopted him, he was shy when we met him, he warmed up quickly to us. We asked if he had issues with other dogs, they said no he was living with up to 10 other dogs at the rescue and he neevr had an issue.He was pretty shy for the first month we had him, then one day our roommate when to pet him while he was laying down and it strattled him and he nipped at her. since then he's been aggressive towards other dogs and kind shy of people. His aggression is horrible now, and seems to be getting worse. he's been in classes and was doing ok, not great he still cant get near a dog, except one. We adopted this other dog, shes still a puppy about 6-7 mons. She is having explosive diaherra, she has to be crated day and night when we cant watch her.she howls at night,we havent slept for2 day

We took the puppy to the vet and she is getting much better. she has finally sleep through the last two night. The vet changed her food, and she has a few meds.
We've been using Ceasar Milan's teachings. walking the in house before the dogs, walking techniques... etc. The older one is getting better within the house and beginning to come around with the walking, instead of dragging.
We do have the older dog in classes, with other dogs and have been for over 4 months now. He was doing ok, we havent had class since we got the puppy though (super bowl, and we whave class on sundays). I've looked into a few other training options locally.

Answer 1

You need to take the other puppy to the vet. It may be stress and anxiety but it could be instestinal problems as well.

The best answer and advice I can give is to hire a trainer. You're dog won't be allowed in training classes due to it's aggression. An at home trainer can asses you, your home, both the dogs and the situation and tailor a program to fit your specific needs.

Dog aggression takes time. It's breaking an old habit and retraining a new one. The dog may be dominant, scared, anxious, etc. It could be a large variety of problems.

The other dog sounds like it's VERY stressed and suffers from seperation issues. The crate should be used as a santurary. Make it a big deal when the dog goes in, special treats and pets. Take the dog to its crate even when you're not crating him and leave the door open but still give treats and pets. The dog won't see it as he's about to be left alone AGAIN.

Establishing your status as Alpha and maintaining rules and discipline will help bring out the confidence in both dogs. Dogs need rules and regulations. Commands for everything, to eat, to got outside, to be up on the furniture, etc. When you put the dog in sit or down - a command to get back up.

Dogs thrive in a structured atmosphere. They need to know where they stand if not they fill that void w/ aggression, and destructivness.

Setting rules will help fill this void.

What helped w/ my setter who had dog aggression issues - she became best friends w/ the DOWN command.

I always walk my dogs in heel first of all. Heel gives the dogs something to concentrate on - you and your pace.

To teach Heel: I use a prong collar and highly recommend it. A prong collar is used to correct the dog in a natural way. You'll have to do this w/ one dog at a time - eventually you will be able to walk both at the same time.

With a loose leash walk your dog, when he starts to pull abruptly turn the other way and snap the leash. Don't tug, or pull, just one quick correction to get your dog's attention. Then walk and repeat. It took only a few hours to teach my dogs.

Walking is away to establish and maintain pack order also.

Now that you've taught them to heel - on a walk - when you come across another dog watch for the tell tale signs - folded ears, stiff body, raises hackles, straight or slow wagging tail, curled lip, low growl, wide shifting eyes - then IMMEDIATELY tell your dog to down and keep them there.

Your dog will be submitting to you and accpeting you as the protector instead of him trying to be.

Again.. hire a trainer. It may seem like a lot of money but like I said it's worth every penny to have a training session tailored to you specifically.

Good Luck

Answer 2

Take you pup to the vet immediately. I adopted 2 puppies from the shelter and they had parvo. It can be deadly and needs to be treated by a vet. Also separte the two dogs. It the 1 year old one is not fully vaccinated it is at risk for parvo if that is the problem with the pup. As for aggression I would talk to the vet and continue to take the dogs to classes. Ceasar Milan's book The Dog Whisperer is really good too.

Answer 3

As far as your aggressive dog - I hate to say it, but there may be no hope for him. Since you have been giving him lots of love & attention & training & his prob is only getting worse... He may be "un fixable."
If he is a danger to other animals & to other people, then he should be euthanized. I know this sounds terribly harsh - but it's the best for all involved.
You would feel terrible if he bit a child or something, or perhaps one day killed a small dog.
As for your puppy, if you haven't had her checked for internal parasites by your vet, please do so. It's a very inexpensive check. Just take her in & he will do a fecal exam for a few bucks. Then she can be wormed if necessary. If you've already done this & she is free of worms, then she may just be nervous since she's in a new home.
Do not change her food. This will only aggravate the problem. Give her simple foods such as just a bit of her dry food, mixed with some plain cooked rice.
You can also crumble a pepto bismol tablet in her food. Don't give her immodium as some dogs can get very ill from this.
Good luck.

Answer 4

The dog should be crated or attached to you at the hip every single instant when you cannot supervise him, and never allowed in the bedroom again. The number one mistake people make with crates is they only use them when they're away from home and/or asleep, thinking the dog should have freedom to roam un-supervised when the humans are home. Do not be afraid to start having that dog spend time in it even when you're home, just too busy to keep an eye on him. If you are doing crate training but the dog still has an opportunity to go in the bedroom and pee there, you are defeating the purpose of crate training.

Answer 5

Hi,

Its a pitty dogs can not talk, you can go to classes and this may be a new surrounding area for your dog, he will behave differently.

However, keep an record of when your dog behaves a surtain way and with whom. He maybe aggressive to males only or to woman only, this will go back to his previous home, he may have been abused by either a women or a man. It can be a smell like aftershave or perfume. It is hard to figure out, the easy way out is to bring him back. ( alot of people would but you are seeking help) But please do not, you will find the problem with patience and if you sort this, you and your husband, the dog will be yours for life.

He would not have an issue with other dogs in the pound, as there were so many they have a authority system in a pack and other dogs will be submissive to the authority in the pack. He probabaly hated it and now he finds he is his own dog (man) the shyness was submissivness in your dog. He has a problem how to behave because he has never been thought as a pup.

Now is time to start, Aggression in dogs are at certain levels, attack is the best devense, this is one that can be sorted with the help of other owners. Your dog has been bullied al its live and he had enough, so rather than finding out if the dog is friendly or not he attacks. If you have friends with kind sweet dogs introduce them to each other as he is a he, a female would make it easier, now do not forget dogs will be aggresive when on the lead more so than when they are loose so if you can at all take your dog to a friends house use the garden, your dog is in strange environment and not leased. However try it slowly as if there is aggression you may want to controll the situation. Try this a few time with different looking breeds. My dog was aggeressive and now he associated a lot of breed with kind dos as when he sees a simular dog he automatically asumes they are friendly.

Do not make things worse by screeming at him or punishing him instantanously as this may work against you be patient and calm.

An other reason that a dog is aggresive is when his hearing is less than it should be, get your vet to check it out. This, if you know this is the case you can get him to face an other dog rather then having them come out of an angle that he did not hear them coming. Your room mate had starteld the dog, this may be the reason or your dog was in a deep sleep and was genuinely startled, this would happen to humans too.

He is lucky with you as "parents" youre looking for help, I will try my best to sort you out if I can, he should be a lovel dog with its mix as they are good trainable dogs.

His aggresion will get worse if you do not try and kelp him and I believe if you keep a record to what kinda dog he is aggresive or when where and how, its detective work, but you can do it.

Take your other dog to the Vet immediatly, it may just be a sudden change in diet which he can not handle, better food than he is used to, or it may be something serious either way your vet should check him out and its piece of mind for you.

It is a good idea to get an other dog if you have the right environment for this as it may help the other dog as well as one other reason could be he is plain lonely and want company of its own kind, as I said if dogs could tell you, it will be great for immediate effect. But in a way in time your dog actually will tel you if you do the detective work.

Hope its of help to you, good luck and let me know.

Answer 6

Your second puppy needs to see the vet about the diarrhea. It's not a housebreaking issue if it's diarrhea ... that sounds like a medical issue or a dietary issue. What type of diet is she on (kibble only, canned, raw food diet, etc)? Have you tried withholding food for 12 or so hours? I would not feed her anything for about 12 hours, then after that ease her back into eating (maybe just some plain cooked rice and bland cooked chicken). You can also try canned pumpkin (NOT pumpkin pie filling, just plain canned pumpkin), as it is high in fiber and tends to "bind" your dog up. Keep her hydrated, though ... plenty of water available. If the diarrhea doesn't stop after that, go to your vet.

Answer 7

the aggression could be from the home he was rescued from. There could be something in the dogs psych going on. keep a diary of when it happend and who it happened. talk to your vet and get his input. As far as the other dog it could be a number of things from a worm in her systom to a virus called Parvo which is deadly. Again I would take her to the vet and get testing done. I hope this helps!

Answer 8

i would give up on either of them
1. get the puppy to the vet, if he gets a clean bill of health...
2. Get both of them to a veterinary behaviouist, a professional who is medically trained to assist in assessing and solving behavioural issues in dogs, they can greatly fix your situation

for now i would up the excersize for the berner and muzzle him if you have to and socialize him until he is tired of it, take him everywhere, and on foot, make him tired and bored of meeting new people and dogs, muzzled, you should be totaly oblivious to his urges to bite, bark and get away, just act like he is a plastic dog who you are dragging around.

you should see an improvement

Answer 9

Cesar Milan. The dog whisperer. Get in touch with him immediately. Watch his show on national geographic channel. as for the potty issues dog, he may be sick!!!