Pets

Putting food out for the biblical plague of outdoor/feral cats in my town is the closest I'll ever come to keeping a wild animal as a pet. Some people are retarded and/or have a death wish.

Gavinmad said:

Putting food out for the biblical plague of outdoor/feral cats in my town is the closest I'll ever come to keeping a wild animal as a pet. Some people are retarded and/or have a death wish.

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Why do you do this?

Noodleface said:

Why do you do this?

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Well originally it was because we had a couple cute little kittens out in the shed, now it's mostly habit. Also there's an orange tabby that looks a lot like one of our house cats that recently died. It's not like I'm putting that much food out there anyway.

That's basically what my back yard looked like about two weeks ago.

Aww, that little white one with orange flecks in the 3rd row is a cutie.

Im sure some of y'all have experience with alpha dogs or pits.

He's a rescue, got him when he was about 7 months old, was returned to the humane society 3 times prior. I volunteer there as a cat socialize, ever since my oldest son became allergic to cats. I've had the dog about 6 years now. He's super loving and will sit in your lap despite being over 80 pounds.

Aside from a little growling as a pup over my boys trying to take a raw hide away, he's never shown aggression vs another human. I call him a silver lab, but there's deffinatly some pit in there. He truly hates rabbits and squirrels, growls away them through the window, has 3 confirmed kills on filled mice and a baby rabbit.

I never let him off leash at parks, while walking he wants to size up any big dog we're come across. Little dogs he ignores mostly. If another dog on leash looks aggressive, he wants to go at that dog. Ig another dog ignores him, he ignores back. When I go out of town, ge stays at a kennel and plays with dogs his size fine, but I'm sure they don't let in anything more aggressive than him.

He's never been in a fight, but im sure if her or the other dog got loose on the occasions, ur would have been bad.

My new girl friend has a smaller black lab mix that mostly ignores my dog, so they get along great on walks. Once we had them over at my house together after a walk and my dog started showing some signs of aggression or dominance or playing, not sure. Ge walk walk over to her dog and kid of step on her, almost mounts but not sure. The other dog snapped at my dog and we quickly separated. About 10 minutes later, he tried again.

I don't know what would happen if left unchecked. Since we each have dogs, it's in my best interest that they get along for sleep overs. Yes, selfish motivation.

Any ideas on my dogs actions and ways to help them get along?

Is he neutered?

It sounds like your dog is displaying dominance in his home space, that is also what the jumping/humping is. Neutral ground helps here, but eventually one of them will probably need to come out on top (I subscribe to dominance theory). I recommend you choose which one, because leaving them to work it out themselves can go bad as they fight up the ranks for it. Also, you should clearly establish yourself as the Alpha, not them, and let them know you don't tolerate that shit. You are the pack leader, you tell them what to do, and you didn't tell them to fight.

Also, dogs will be protective of their owners, so when he sees a bigger dog, it's possible he is sizing the other dog up to see if you are safe around them. It's often alot easier when the owners aren't present, then there is nothing to be protective over.

I did the a method I saw cesar milan use to bring my 5th dog in. As much as people shit on him it worked very well. Some people don't believe in dominance at all, I have no problem with that, but it works and explains behavior pretty well in experience.

I took the new dog into the yard, and let the dogs come out (in order of dominance) one by one to meet him. Also, you position the new one to be 'exposed' and on a leash so the pre-existing dominant territory dogs get to sniff him all over, thus keeping the dominant hierarchy the same and letting the new dog know his place in this pack, he starts at the bottom. The new dog doesn't get to move until they are all satisfied. In about 5 minutes all 5 were racing each other and then we were in the house. I have a doberman, golden retriever, etc, but my smaller dog is actually the leader of the pack (under me) as weird as it is.

Noodleface said:

Is he neutered?

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yes

Kiki said:

It sounds like your dog is displaying dominance in his home space, that is also what the jumping/humping is. Neutral ground helps here, but eventually one of them will probably need to come out on top (I subscribe to dominance theory). I recommend you choose which one, because leaving them to work it out themselves can go bad as they fight up the ranks for it. Also, you should clearly establish yourself as the Alpha, not them, and let them know you don't tolerate that shit. You are the pack leader, you tell them what to do, and you didn't tell them to fight.

Also, dogs will be protective of their owners, so when he sees a bigger dog, it's possible he is sizing the other dog up to see if you are safe around them. It's often alot easier when the owners aren't present, then there is nothing to be protective over.

I did the a method I saw cesar milan use to bring my 5th dog in. As much as people shit on him it worked very well. Some people don't believe in dominance at all, I have no problem with that, but it works and explains behavior pretty well in experience.

I took the new dog into the yard, and let the dogs come out (in order of dominance) one by one to meet him. Also, you position the new one to be 'exposed' and on a leash so the pre-existing dominant territory dogs get to sniff him all over, thus keeping the dominant hierarchy the same and letting the new dog know his place in this pack, he starts at the bottom. The new dog doesn't get to move until they are all satisfied. In about 5 minutes all 5 were racing each other and then we were in the house. I have a doberman, golden retriever, etc, but my smaller dog is actually the leader of the pack (under me) as weird as it is.

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i agree with this, i think most of what Cesar says is accurate. I had a friend in vet school who studied all sorts of breeds of dogs in a pack environment. she said every one would act like a wolf pack, leader, fight for dominance, etc. even a bunch of cute pomeranians.

I didn't consider how he acts when i'm not there. even w/ my kids, if they walk over to me, he has to run up to my chain and try to get between us. he's playful but you can tell he rather be in my lap than either of my sons. very jealous. As much as I try to act as the alpha, he's always testing me. and sees himself as above both my sons. he'll do tricks for a treat, but won't go inside or outside unless he wants to when they tell him.

fris said:

he's playful but you can tell he rather be in my lap than either of my sons. very jealous. As much as I try to act as the alpha, he's always testing me. and sees himself as above both my sons. he'll do tricks for a treat, but won't go inside or outside unless he wants to when they tell him.

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I hope your sons are older

they're 7 & 10, both weigh less than my dog. again, he's very friendly. they can walk up to him and hug all over him, they'll be on each other on the couch, etc. they can play w/ his food while he eats, no aggression. but if it's dinner time and they tell him to go outside w/o me in teh room, he'll just sit and stare at the open door.

I really want an English Bulldog. My want made worse by new neighbors parents coming into town around Christmas with a new Bulldog puppy.