I need your help

2486 Views 24 Replies 14 Participants Last post by brandyb, May 9, 2007

brandyb

Discussion Starter · May 2, 2007

I don't know what to do anymore. Caesar gets very angry when he's tired or gets woken up. It used to be just at night but now it's in the morning. When I get up in the morning I go down stairs to let him outside for a pee and some play time before I go to work. Shane gets up for work before me. Caesar sleeps on the sofa so when I walk into the living I say "Good morning Caesar" to wake him up before I sit down beside him. This morning I said good morning and sat down. He woke up, stretched, I scratched his back (I just got fake nails, the animals love it!) then his lip started to twitch. I know what that means...he's getting angry. I would love to let him sleep in but he has to go for a pee before I leave for work. I continued talking to him in a soft voice and petting him but he kept getting madder and started growling. So I said "No growling" in a stern voice and tried to put my hand under him to lift him up. That's when he bit me, hard. I was even wearing my terry towel bathrobe and the bite left a terrible bruise. We don't want him biting. What if he bites Shane's son? It hurt me so I can only imagine what it would do to a child. How do I get him to stop biting and stop being so angry. I know I'm not the nicest person when I wake up but I've never tried to hurt someone for waking me. How do we correct this problem? When he does something bad, like steal DVDs and chew them, I stand over him and growl. I'm being the dominant one in the pack. After that he'll put his head down. He submits. But that technique doesn't work in this situation. What are we doing wrong? /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/frown.gif Shane wants to get another dog but we can't bring another dog into our home while we have one with anger issues. How can we make him stop? I just don't know what to do.

This is the bite that I got this morning. (You can see Charlie on the BW calender in the background /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/smile.gif )

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brandyb

Discussion Starter · #4 · May 2, 2007

Bob,
We will start putting him in his kennel at night again and see what happens. Thanks!

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brandyb

Discussion Starter · #7 · May 2, 2007

I called his vet today and we have an appointment for Monday to see if he is in any pain. They can also recomend a trainer if this is just behavioral. We had Bark Busters come in December to work with us and Caesar and it helped a lot with his listening and obeying commands. But obviously there are huge aggression issues. I keep thinking that because he is our first dog (both of us had cats growing up) that we're not raising him properly. /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/frown.gif

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brandyb

Discussion Starter · #11 · May 3, 2007

Caesar will be one year old next Wednesday.
It was Bark Busters that told us to "bah" at him in a growlly voice if he wasn't listening to us. An example of that is when he grabs something that he shouldn't and we tell him to drop it. There were things that I didn't like about them and that we didn't use, like the choke collar. I was almost in tears when I saw the trainer use it on him.
He's never been away from me or Shane for more than a few hours, and he was home alone, so nobody could have been mean to him without us knowing. (except the whole choke collar thing)
We got him when he was 9 weeks old and he spent the whole time with mom and litter mates. The uncle of a lady that I work with got one of the pups from Caesars moms first litter a few of years ago. When we started to have aggression issues (about six months ago)she asked her uncle what his beagle was like and they actually gave him away because he was aggressive and they couldn't control it.
Yes, we moved last month and about two weeks ago we started letting Caesar sleep in the living room. Before that he was in his pen or kennel. We got the pen a couple of months before we moved.
I don't think he's in pain when I scratch him. Last night he was snuggled up beside on the couch and I was scratching him. Then he started licking my face. He is like Jekyl and Hyde. Sweet as pie most of the time but he does not like us near him when we wake him up.
Last night I put him in his kennel and gave him a treat. He wasn't eager to go in his kennel but he didn't fight or growl or anything. Shane let him out of his kennel this morning and put him outside so that I wouldn't have to do it.
I'm thinking that we just need to put him in his kennel every night, but we'll see what the vet says on Monday. I would just like to have a happy little all of the time. Not just most of the time.

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brandyb

Discussion Starter · #15 · May 3, 2007

I looked up NILIF at printed it so I can take it home with me tonight. It sounds like a good plan. I'll also pick up a spray bottle after work. And yes, he has been neutered.

Thanks for your help everyone!

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brandyb

Discussion Starter · #18 · May 4, 2007

When I got home last night I ignored him when he came to the door and then waited until he lost interest in me and then called him over. I ignored him while I was making dinner and he laid across my feet or sat on the floor beside me leaning against my legs. Wherever I went, he followed. We'll keep doing NILIF, so far so good.
I didn't pay any attention to him until I put dinner on the table. We had pork ribs last night and I put my plate down and went back to the fridge. I thought I had put the plate far enough back so he couldn't reach it. I turned around and he was doing the Beagle stretch but he couldn't quite reach so his tongue was fully extended licking the side of the ribs. He had to go outside after that.

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brandyb

Discussion Starter · #20 · May 8, 2007

I took Caesar to the vet yesturday and he's fine. As the vet was poking him and checking him for sore spots he had big grin on his face, tongue hanging out the side of his mouth, and his tail wagging. No Pain!
The problem is me. /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/frown.gif I baby him too much and he doesn't respect me or see me as the master. He doesn't treat Shane the same way, Caesar listens to him. I asked about NILIF and she said it was a good idea. I just have to be patient (more stubborn than him I think) and keep working on it. She also suggested that I feed him his kibble by hand so he knows exactly where his food comes from. So last night I sat down on the floor with his container of food beside me and fed him out of my hand. I'll do it again tonight too. It will just take some time to re-train him.

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brandyb

Discussion Starter · #25 · May 9, 2007

Thanks for the advice Pegasus. He didn't actually break the skin when he bit me, just a bad bruise. If I wasn't wearing my bathrobe he would have though. Beleive me, I'm paranoid about infections (I'm diabetic) so the doctor's office would have been the first place I went to that day.

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