HELP! Agression in deaf 16 week old American Bulldog x Puppy!

[226699]

Hi,

My 16 week old American Bulldog x puppy has been showing food aggression for about a month now. We have been feeding her from her bowl bit by bit and by hand as well as training with treats etc. There hasn't been any improvement and we are looking for any help! As well as that she is aggressive if other people are eating, you can't go near her or touch her as she gets into a weird state like a zombie, blank expression unless you try and stroke her she will growl and lunge and has bit before.

Don't know what to do with her, she is not aggressive to people or dogs in general and friendly with strangers so don't think it's her character and her parents were friendly. This isn't our first puppy we have a lab and had a springer spaniel who were easy and only faced a fear of male aggression in the lab.

Does anyone have any help? Thanks!

Edited to add: I think at least partly a cause to this is she always used to get into the bit and we had to pull her out and she started growling when we went near her by the bin which must have escalated. The bin had been removed rather than us working on it!

 

[Booboos]

If she is possessive of her own bowl/treats try swapping them for a 'higher value' treat so that she gets more used to giving up 'her' food. Also try making it more difficult for her to possess food, e.g. instead of feeding off a bowl that she can guard, scatter the food all over the place so she can't be everywhere at once.

As for her being aggressive when others eat, perhaps pop her in another room until she learns to settle in her bed/crate while you eat?

It's also worth getting some advice from a trainer who knows the dog personally and has seen the behaviour. Are you going to training classes with her?

 

[Broodle]

This will probably be no use, but food agression was dealt with on an It's me or the dog programme I watched the other day. VS demonstrated the feeding bit by bit method - she only added a new handful of food to the bowl when the dog was looking at her and focussed on her, to reinforce the idea that she was the controller of the food.

However, to me (complete non expert) it sounds like you have gone beyond simply trying out techniques like this if your dog has bitten already. If I were in your shoes I would be getting an expert in to help.

 

[Dobiegirl]

It is very unusual to have aggression in one so young and you say it started about a month ago which puts her at 12 weeks. If this is true aggression my first port of call would be a vet to thoroughly check her out. I know you say she is deaf and this brings added problems in that its going to make her insecure but I would also want her eyesight included in the full check up.

 

[CorvusCorax]

Get a good trainer in, used to bull breeds, this isn't something we can advise about properly over the internet.

Was her mother present from birth right to sale? Or was she hand-reared/removed early?
Was she properly socialised in a house before sale?

As others, when one sense is down it may make her more defensive of objects/food.
Don't flame me but I have seen video footage of a deaf bully being trained really successfully with a remote collar on a buzz/vibration setting, private message me with your rough location for more info. PLEASE do not even think about trying this until you have spoken to a trainer, though.

 

[226699]

Get a good trainer in, used to bull breeds, this isn't something we can advise about properly over the internet.

Was her mother present from birth right to sale? Or was she hand-reared/removed early?
Was she properly socialised in a house before sale?

As others, when one sense is down it may make her more defensive of objects/food.
Don't flame me but I have seen video footage of a deaf bully being trained really successfully with a remote collar on a buzz/vibration setting, private message me with your rough location for more info. PLEASE do not even think about trying this until you have spoken to a trainer, though.

Hi, yeah we have considered a vibrating collar for recall but at the minute we just let her off in enclosed areas! But I have seen one on youtube trained with one.
Well, when we got her she was the last puppy out of 14, her mum wasn't in the room, but there were about 3 visiting children so the mum was outside. She let the mum in and she was fine, puppy ran to her and drank and she was friendly. They said she was out so she didnt knock the kids over as she was quite excitable, but again the kids were all over both of them with no trouble! There was food in her bowl 24/7 until we got her, dont know if that is bad?
The puppy has been good with training so far, got sit in 10 seconds and can paw/lie down - has not been aggressive when training! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fOAM67cVr-A I'll PM you now