*sigh*... What do I do?

Question

-_-* Since my dog (husky/chow mix) was a pup, my bro liked to scare the Hell out of him... Now, Steele's afraid of people... He's not a fear biter or anything, but sometimes it'll get so bad, he'll urinate if someone tries to pet him... From now on, I'm just going to tell people not to approach him, and let him get used to being around people without them all throwing their hands on him.... But what am I going to do about my brother? He's 17 nd should be old enough to know not to act stupid, but, no he still feels the need to irritate Steele by scaring him, stomping at him, chasing him, etc. Steele is scared of him, but when my bro walks away from him, Steele will follow him, and if he runs, Steele will chase him. But he'll never go close enough to him. Sometimes Steele will play with him or let my bro pet him, and just when I'm thiking things are turning around, Matt goes and scares him again! -_- Steele's never gonna get used to him...

And no matter HOW much I fuss and rant at Matt to stop scaring him, he always winds up going and doing it again. If Matt so much as walks in the door, Steele will bark at him, and when he comes in the kitchen (the kitchen and living room are separated by a fence) Steele runs from him, and looks back and watches him.... I'm getting sick of it. -_- Help?!

At this point, it's nearly IMPOSSIBLE to get Steele used to Matt. Especially if he keeps scaring him! -__-*

Oh, forgot to add, my dog just turned 1 year on Feb 17. And he has just been neutered 2 weeks ago, if that makes any difference....

I think what is is when Matt scares him, is that he's /trying/ to play with Steele, but doesn't realize he's scaring him more than playing with him. And then seldomly, there are those times when he gets pissed off at Ateele for barking at him so much, that he will deliberately scare him or throw something at him. >=( Apparently, he can't get it through his thick skull that he's barking at him BECAUSE he scares Steele...

LMAO at Cricket! xD I /should/, huh?

Oh yeah, the main reason Matt scares him, is b/c he thinks it's funny when Steele barks at him...

*continues* ...When Steele barks at /while/ he's hiding under my chair. -_- Poor Steele. =(

*sigh* Yeh... I'm only 15, still livin' at home...
I've told my mum about this before. I /cried/ because this upsets me so much. My mum said she'll have a talk with Matt. Well, Matt behaved for all of... 7 days, and now he's right back pickin' on Steele again... -_- When I tell my mum about how it upsets me and he REALLY needs to stop doing this, she does that facial expression like, "Weeeeeell.... *shrugs*" And apparently she can't see what might happen in the future and it seems like she wants to wait for Steele to wind up dead before she realizes, "Oh! He shouldn't have scared Steele like that..."
That's what happened with my last dog, Strider. She always put off getting him Heartguard, and after 2 years, FINALLY gets him tested. Low and behold, he's got heartworms, and 2 weeks into treatment he died from suffocation! >=( My mum doesn't see what can happen until it /actually/ happens, then it's too late. -_-*

Answer 1

Take your idiot brother to the pound! I am amazed that your brother acts like this especially when you seem so caring and understanding, so many dogs come into rescues terrified of people because of fools like Matt. Can you talk to your parents about controlling your brothers behavior he is upsetting you as well as Steele, I hope they are supportive of you, sadly your bro may be creating a death sentance for Steele if he ever does bite a stranger out of fear, he could be put down and your family could have a law suit on their hands all because Matt is a cruel idiot!

Answer 2

I am reluctant to say this, not knowing your brother Matt, but it sounds like Matt may be in need of some counciling. Have you discussed this issue with your parents? I think a family sit-down discussion is in order. What Matt is doing to Steele sounds very unhealthy at any age, but at seventeen Matt should definately be able to able to see the cause and effect and understand the concept of empathy. The likely reason why Steele follows Matt, regardless of Matt scaring him, is that Steele is a dog, and recognizes Matt as Alpha to him and is trying to placate him as a survival technique by following him - albeit at a distance - as he recognizes his dominance over him. This is an extremely unhealthy situation ... both for the dog and for Matt, in that this behavior on Matt's part directed towards a relatively helpless creature is being allowed. The phrase "stomp at him" portrays a particularly agressive and threatening action. This is not a normal behaviour for a human towards an animal that has not threatened them. Only you and your family would possibly know any situations that might explain your brother's behaviour, but in no case is it an acceptable situation.

If you cannot discuss and resolve this situation with your parents and your brother as a family then I would highly suggest that you consider finding a home for Steele where he will not be subjected to this type of behaviour. I personally have an Australian Cattle Dog that I adopted from an organization that rescued him as a 7 mo. old puppy that was being used as a "bait dog" puppy, as a training object to teach Pit Bulls how to fight. (I'm not picking on any breed here, just the evil people that did this.) They even went to the extent to file "Buddy's", my name for him now, upper and lower canine teeth down to keep this puppy from scarring their fighting dogs. Now, I don't mean to draw a direct correlation with your situation, but I can tell you that I've had Buddy for a year and a half now ... and he was still a puppy when I got him ... and he's just now starting to come out of the fear behaviour of constantly rolling over and exposing his belly in subserveance and peeing all over when he gets scared.

My suggestion again is to resolve the issue through family discussion and rule setting, or love your dog enough to let him find a home where he can be unafraid and learn to trust people again. If not, you could end up with a very big problem on your hands with Steele -- although it won't be his fault. If your brother doesn't come around with counciling with your parents he may need some professional guidance.

Best wishes to you. You have done the right thing by asking these questions. You sound like a very caring and responsible person. Please follow through. God bless.

Answer 3

Talk to your parents and Steele's vet. This would be most effective at the same time. That's what I do when my mom doesn't believe me about something with my dog. That's how I plan to get her to let me put puppy girl on a people-food diet. Good Luck! ; )

Answer 4

One of mine sighs. It's hilarious. When he will get excited approximately whatever, typically getting me to play with a precise toy, then comes round a nook and sees one of the most different cats ready to become a member of in, he we could out a large sigh of frustration. I consider unhealthy that he is disenchanted, however it's humorous.

Answer 5

first things first-you need to tell your brother that he needs to start respecting you-by being mean to your dog and you ask him not to is lack of respect-- you need to have a deep conversation with him-nothing else will make matters better unless he understands how you feel and why he shouldn't be doing that to your dog!!
*one question it do you live at home still? if not don't allow your brother to enter into your house untill he decides and learns to respect you and play by your rules!!
good luck with your brother-he seems to need more help than your dog-but as well good luck with your dog-as soon as he doesn't get picked on any more the sooner he will be able to trust a little more in people-
one more this that you should consider is what your brother is doing is a bit of animal abuse-especially if your dog react to him and his actions like you say!!use than on your brother as well!!

Answer 6

my dog is a year old and she pees when guys come up to her cause shes nervous w/ deep voices. just encourage the dog after your bro leaves the room. maybe show your dog that theres nothing to be afraid of. It also depends on if you can kick your brothers butt. Start scaring him in the middle of the night do the same thing to your bro that hes doing to your dog...... when dogs are puppies they need a whole lot of confidence.

Answer 7

my bro did too when we got our dog BOSCO and he still does it to this day and BOSCO is 2 years old and we got him when he was 8 weeks old. my dog barks at my bro in the morning because he is kinda stupid in the morning. when me and my bro get into a lil' fight he starts to bark like crazy because when he was a puppy i would cover him when my bro got mad at him and was throwing things so now he protects me. my dog is afraid of my bro but he still lets him pet and everything else w/ him. hope this helps a little

Answer 8

I think your brother is very abusive to the dog. If your parents can't stop him from doing this, the kindest thing you could do is to find a peaceful new loving home for your dog.

Answer 9

Rehome your brother, preferably with a family with a really fierce dog that will teach the idiot a good lesson on how to treat animals.

Answer 10

well tell your bro not to scare him put him next to people but get a good lesh incase he bites