cbmcts
Well-Known Member
Help, thoughts and any ideas please.
I have a 10/11 year old rescue JRT who I got just over 2 years ago - I collected him the same day he came into rescue (the rescue knew I was looking for another dog at the time) We were told that he had been in the same home all his life, was good with other dogs, clean and quiet in the house. He was given up because his owner (an older man I believe) had finally got social housing after spending a couple of years sofa surfing and the winter of 2010/11 in a caravan but the new flat didn't allow dogs. He's not good with dogs or quiet but he is lovely with people and a fantastic house dog - absolutely spotless indoors.
At the time he arrived I had just lost a JRT bitch very suddenly but I still had my ancient old JRT bitch and my 6 yo Rottie. I was concious that the old girl only had limited time left at 20 yo and the rottie had never been on his own so was just starting to put out feelers for a potential companion for him when the old girl would have to go. He met both of mine, tried to hump the oldie who told him in no uncertain terms that was a BAAAAD idea (she was the type of dog that was always in charge of other dogs but who very rarely had to make a big deal of it IYSWIM) and the rottie was a saint with little dogs no matter how horrible so just ignored his snappiness. So all was (fairly) peaceful at home although I had to separate him at food times as he would harass the big dog constantly for his food, same with toys. Again, the rottie was always very tolerant with him and just ignored him or walked away. Outside however, was always a completely different matter - he screams and lunges whenever he sees another dog, he will bite if he can get to them and all recall goes out the window. Luckily he only weighs 6 kgs so is at least controllable! Needless to say that he only goes off lead now if he's wearing his baskerville muzzle with the strap between the eyes so he can't remove it. While wearing it he just mopes along and will ignore other dogs.
I did lose the old girl in October 11 a month after her 21st birthday and funnily enough the JRT was the one who missed her. Him and the rottie lived very happily together, played well and got on for another year until I very unexpectedly lost the rottie to bone cancer in October 12.
Some time later I thought about getting another dog, preferably another big dog for 2 reasons - I work fulltime and really don't like leaving a single dog at home and the other is selfish, I wanted another rottie/rottie cross as they are a breed I love and have had for many, many years. I knew that integrating another dog would be difficult but not HOW difficult...
I have taken him to dog training to try and improve his DA. TBF, as they insisted (rightly) that he stayed on lead and muzzled that was easy as he behaved but we couldn't move on from there - they wouldn't allow it. I've always let him mix with friend's dogs, that's been a bit more mixed results. 90% of the time he's ok with them after the first aggressive snappy snarly meeting but he does every now and again go for them. A particular trigger seems to be if anyone 'gives out' to another dog - in he goes with his teeth (I noticed that with the rottie too) but can be stopped with a verbal command. If another dog fights back, within seconds he's on his back screaming in fear but he'll still spend the rest of the time with that dog trying to sneak in a bite from behind.
I had another rescue rottie on trial a while ago. With hindsight, it probably wasn't the best match as it was another male 11 months old but this dog has tested absolutely fine with quite a few other dogs as he's been in rescue for a few months. A lovely dog, very energetic, very, very bright and begging for some training and I fell in love with him overnight! There were a few scraps the first day and I pretty much left them to sort themselves out. However, JRT just kept on going for the rottie - it was relentless, everytime I turned my back and unsurprisingly the rott was starting to retaliate. There was no way I could leave them unsupervised while I worked. Neither was crating the terrier (the rott didn't crate, that was one of the reasons he was handed to rescue) as I'm out too long at work. My house also doesn't make it easy to safely keep them apart while I'm out either. So the rott had to go back
We've been back to training, one to one this time and using a stooge dog which has been more successful but this week while walking we've had 5 different dogs come bounding up and it has sent him right back to where we started. He bit and got bitten by one on Friday, quite a nasty bite and he's back to being a screaming banshee whenever he sees another dog. He caused havoc at the vets on Friday! Today he also tried to really have a go at a bitch he knows well belonging to a friend and they used to get well...
So what next?
Do I give up the idea of another dog especially a big one?
Continue with the one to one? Even though the trainer is very wishy washy IMO and lives by clicker training?
Find another trainer - anybody got any recommendations for South Essex?
At this point I'm tempted to give up and get a cat as his friend (he loooves cats )but next doors cat will probably kill it - Simon thinks, no knows he owns the entire road!
I do love this little dog dearly but he's been more hassle than any other dog I've had in 30+ years - I've obviously been very lucky that any problems they've had have been solvable with a bit of time and some work, none of them have been so frustrating!
All ideas and advice gratefully received with a creme egg to all!
I have a 10/11 year old rescue JRT who I got just over 2 years ago - I collected him the same day he came into rescue (the rescue knew I was looking for another dog at the time) We were told that he had been in the same home all his life, was good with other dogs, clean and quiet in the house. He was given up because his owner (an older man I believe) had finally got social housing after spending a couple of years sofa surfing and the winter of 2010/11 in a caravan but the new flat didn't allow dogs. He's not good with dogs or quiet but he is lovely with people and a fantastic house dog - absolutely spotless indoors.
At the time he arrived I had just lost a JRT bitch very suddenly but I still had my ancient old JRT bitch and my 6 yo Rottie. I was concious that the old girl only had limited time left at 20 yo and the rottie had never been on his own so was just starting to put out feelers for a potential companion for him when the old girl would have to go. He met both of mine, tried to hump the oldie who told him in no uncertain terms that was a BAAAAD idea (she was the type of dog that was always in charge of other dogs but who very rarely had to make a big deal of it IYSWIM) and the rottie was a saint with little dogs no matter how horrible so just ignored his snappiness. So all was (fairly) peaceful at home although I had to separate him at food times as he would harass the big dog constantly for his food, same with toys. Again, the rottie was always very tolerant with him and just ignored him or walked away. Outside however, was always a completely different matter - he screams and lunges whenever he sees another dog, he will bite if he can get to them and all recall goes out the window. Luckily he only weighs 6 kgs so is at least controllable! Needless to say that he only goes off lead now if he's wearing his baskerville muzzle with the strap between the eyes so he can't remove it. While wearing it he just mopes along and will ignore other dogs.
I did lose the old girl in October 11 a month after her 21st birthday and funnily enough the JRT was the one who missed her. Him and the rottie lived very happily together, played well and got on for another year until I very unexpectedly lost the rottie to bone cancer in October 12.
Some time later I thought about getting another dog, preferably another big dog for 2 reasons - I work fulltime and really don't like leaving a single dog at home and the other is selfish, I wanted another rottie/rottie cross as they are a breed I love and have had for many, many years. I knew that integrating another dog would be difficult but not HOW difficult...
I have taken him to dog training to try and improve his DA. TBF, as they insisted (rightly) that he stayed on lead and muzzled that was easy as he behaved but we couldn't move on from there - they wouldn't allow it. I've always let him mix with friend's dogs, that's been a bit more mixed results. 90% of the time he's ok with them after the first aggressive snappy snarly meeting but he does every now and again go for them. A particular trigger seems to be if anyone 'gives out' to another dog - in he goes with his teeth (I noticed that with the rottie too) but can be stopped with a verbal command. If another dog fights back, within seconds he's on his back screaming in fear but he'll still spend the rest of the time with that dog trying to sneak in a bite from behind.
I had another rescue rottie on trial a while ago. With hindsight, it probably wasn't the best match as it was another male 11 months old but this dog has tested absolutely fine with quite a few other dogs as he's been in rescue for a few months. A lovely dog, very energetic, very, very bright and begging for some training and I fell in love with him overnight! There were a few scraps the first day and I pretty much left them to sort themselves out. However, JRT just kept on going for the rottie - it was relentless, everytime I turned my back and unsurprisingly the rott was starting to retaliate. There was no way I could leave them unsupervised while I worked. Neither was crating the terrier (the rott didn't crate, that was one of the reasons he was handed to rescue) as I'm out too long at work. My house also doesn't make it easy to safely keep them apart while I'm out either. So the rott had to go back
We've been back to training, one to one this time and using a stooge dog which has been more successful but this week while walking we've had 5 different dogs come bounding up and it has sent him right back to where we started. He bit and got bitten by one on Friday, quite a nasty bite and he's back to being a screaming banshee whenever he sees another dog. He caused havoc at the vets on Friday! Today he also tried to really have a go at a bitch he knows well belonging to a friend and they used to get well...
So what next?
Do I give up the idea of another dog especially a big one?
Continue with the one to one? Even though the trainer is very wishy washy IMO and lives by clicker training?
Find another trainer - anybody got any recommendations for South Essex?
At this point I'm tempted to give up and get a cat as his friend (he loooves cats )but next doors cat will probably kill it - Simon thinks, no knows he owns the entire road!
I do love this little dog dearly but he's been more hassle than any other dog I've had in 30+ years - I've obviously been very lucky that any problems they've had have been solvable with a bit of time and some work, none of them have been so frustrating!
All ideas and advice gratefully received with a creme egg to all!