coastie_wife

It's not the pack order thing which bothers me:) My beagle gave in pretty much immediately. My issue is that *I* am getting injured in the aggression, and that it has become much worse in the last month. She is not just being aggressive toward him, she is snarling at ME when I attempt to curb it (and no, I do NOT do physical punishment with my dogs). I dealt with a very aggressive alpha male for 3 years, one who bit me every time I had my period....even after he was fixed. Now I am dealing with an alpha female doing the same thing, regardless of my menstrual cycle, and when she's not in her heat. Like I wrote, I am more skittish because of the past, but no, I don't think her marking her territory and snarling at us and the other dog is normal dog behavior.

Oh, no problems there. My mother and I both belong to a chi-rescue group, and there are several (responsible) people willing to take her in, and if she cannot deal with being one dog out of 2, 3 or more I have others already willing. She's a wonderful dog, but I'm beginning to think she needs a one dog home.

As I have posted on here before, just over a year ago my family adopted a beagle/terrier puppy. He is wonderful with the family, barks and digs but no major issues. He has been housetrained for over 6 months now. In April of this year we took in a female chihuahua mix off the street, and she has been not much but trouble. She is approx. 2 months younger than the beagle mix (he is 16 months old) and is nowhere near housetrained, although we've done the same with her that we've done with him. She comes in the house and 'marks'. She even lifts her leg :o She is not aggressive toward people, but she is becoming increasingly aggressive toward our other dog. Two times in the last week I have narrowly avoided being bit by her as she attacked our other dog (who is 3x her size).....simply because he was getting attention from me. I have tried separating them and giving them individual attention.....but they each cry and whine until they are reunited. She growls and snarls if I give him ANY attention in her presence....as well as clawing me to shreds. Honestly this subject wouldn't bother me so much if I hadn't had to put a beloved family pet to sleep last year over his insane aggression. With him (as with her) he didn't start out aggressive, but despite neutering him, training him, loving him, etc......the aggression just got worse, until he attacked my husband and left nerve damage in one of his hands. I am therefore more sensitive to dog aggression than I might otherwise be. I am afraid that if this does not improve, my husband will get rid of her. I love her dearly, but the other dog I raised from a pup and he is my baby. He should not have to deal with being bullied because we pay attention to him--attention he deserves. And btw, she gets plenty of attention too...she's the only other girl in our household, and she's my little princess :) Getting her training is not a possibility right now--husband and I are divorcing (amicably) and I will be moving out in about 2 months. Right now I cannot take either dog with me, although I will be able to in a few months. Anyone on here have experience with this issue? Any suggestions?

Both current dogs are rescues. The first I adopted almost a year ago from a Petsmart adoption weekend that happened on my b-day. His mother was an 'almost' purebred beagle....could tell she had something else in her, but no idea what. Father unknown. He is a terrier mix of some sort, with a bobbed tail, pricked ears, one blue eye, one hazel eye, beagle coloring and about 25#, lol. Our other dog was a rescue off the streets. She is a chihuahua mix of some sort. Not quite longhaired, but not short haired either, and kind of 'dappled' coloring. Could be a doxie mixed with a chi. Before these 2 we had a purebred weimaraner who we adopted from a family who could not take care of him. Got his papers, and he was VERY inbred. This inbreeding is part of the reason we ended up needing to put him down. He was becoming increasingly aggressive despite our getting him fixed and taking him to animal behaviorists and breeders. He acted almost 'crazy', but had zero health problems.

Damn, he is SO handsome :angel: Wish I could have another doggie.....I would love to have a handsome guy like that around here :D

Lol, I didn't see the dog in question, too busy helping my son off the bus from school and such. I *thought* they mentioned it being a pit bull, but I could have been mistaken :oops: For the record, I have owned a boston, so know what they look like, lol. But like I wrote, regardless of breed, previous aggression toward humans (and sometimes other dogs) should be a 'warning' sign to jerks who do things like that :P

This reminds me of a Judge Judy episode I watched yesterday, where a young guy brought his pit bull terrier to a company 'family' picnic and let her/him off the leash, whereafter he/she mauled a 4 or 5 year old girl and almost tore her upper lip off. His reasoning was that she 'antagonized' the dog, but he knew BEFORE letting the dog off the leash that he/she had previously been tortured by mean little kids, and STILL allowed the dog off the leash around children, without warning people he/she was skittish around children. Regardless of the breed, the fact that the owners were cited about the dog previously biting someone means that A. The state should have followed up, and B. The owners should have been MUCH more vigilant. The fact that things like this happen makes me sick.

"How is someone's age relevant? Age should and does not have anything to do with one's ability to like/dislike children" Because a young teenager calling a small child names a grown up likely would not is a bit more understandable. If a grown woman or man was calling the child an idiot (which I thought she was at the time) my response would be MUCH harsher than a teenager. MOST grown-ups understand that children under 7 can only do what their parent ALLOW them to do. Most Teenagers do not have the life experience to know that.

First off Crazy, I think you should have written your age in your first posting. A 14 year old saying nasties about small children is MUCH more understandable than say, a 30 year old. As I wrote, I'm not overly fond of them myself, but as a mother I *get* it better than most who have never had them. Secondly, a child between 6 and 10 should NOT be running free with a potentially damaging device. Pay attention, ask others, and eventually you will discover where she lives. And again, children that age range are not BORN bad (some can be, I'm speaking in generics), it is rare that their bad habits were not born of their parents. It doesn't matter her age....if it is under 11 and older than 3....the parents SHOULD be involved. Simple as that. I hope you are able to work this out :)

The thing is Seijun, I mostly agree with you....but like some others I see the 'my dog can do....but children cannot' thing going on. Why would you punch a child but not a dog? A 13 year old who does not know better is no different than a 3 year old dog who bites because he was not taught better. My son got a squirt gun last week. His first ever. He knew not to hit his daddy or me with the squirt gun, and was told not to do it to his friends or dogs. So 10 minutes unsupervised with the gun....and our neighbor rings the bell. Apparently he squirted her, and when she asked him to stop, he refused. He no longer has the squirt gun. I am VERY happy she told me.....she said that she has raised 3 boys and knows boys will be boys, but would want to know if her boys did that. I thanked her, and meant it. He got the toy gun taken away, just as he would have no more options about the dogs if he did such things with them. RESPONSIBLE people do NOT leave irresponsible children with animals. It really is as simple as that.

"Sorry, I guess I got myself worked up.. But yeah, as a general rule, I don't like kids. I am not disputing that some kids are wonderful with animals, but others.... Didn't any of you read the news story last month where a 9 and 11 yr old (I think those were the ages, both were under 13) put a PUPPY on a BARBEQUE GRILL and CLOSED the lid!?? The puppy died, these children did that for FUN. No doubt, their parents are partly to blame," Yeah, I guess parents who should have total parental supervision *might* be paritally to blame for what the kids do :roll: And let me bring up again, this discussion was NOT about 9-11 year olds, it was about a child who is 7, at BEST. The age where parents would get arrested if the child was left home alone. RESPONSIBLE PARENTS DO *NOT* RAISE CHILDREN WHO WOULD DO SOMETHING CRUEL TO AN ANIMAL. I saw that my son did dumb things when he was 2 to our dog....he therefore was not around another dog until he was 5 1/2. If you think kids doing cruel things has nothing to do with the parents, you're dreaming. And BTW--would you have punched the dog for poor behavior?

I have a 7 year old who, left alone with a dog on a shock collar, would probably think it was funny to zap him. He also farts at the dinner table, because his cousin did it this summer and laughed about it. Chances are very good that if the parents cared, the child would not be alone with the dog, walking him. I don't trust my child to walk either of our dogs, he's not responsible enough. For crying out loud, you are discussing a child who is at best in second grade! My son cannot be trusted to take his lunch to school because he ends up giving half of it away on the bus because the kids 'really like the kind of pudding/cookies he has' :roll: It is not the 'dumb child' you should be mad at....it is the 'idiot parents' and perhaps yourself that your initial reaction is to blame a 6-7 year old rather than them. Please don't take that as an attack, it just astounds me watching my 7 year old that someone could be attacking the child, when at this age they should still be TOTALLY under parental control. The fact that this child is not should tell you what her parents are like. They do not learn to be cruel alone. It takes parental or peer influence to get that way...and responsible parents do not allow peer influence to become so strong at such an age that it is 'cute' to torture a dog. That is usually the result of parents who don't care about the child OR the dog. The type of people who would then put the dog down if he/she were to bite said child. And btw: I'm not a big fan of kids either. I enjoy my son, and his friends, but I'm in no rush to go have 4 more, and I don't run around taking care of other children. I KNOW they can be demon spawn....but I also know that very few turn out that way unless the parents are ignorant asses.

I keep my dogs collars on. I don't work outside the home, and if I am going to be out longer than an hour or so I put them in the crate. I hate to think what would happen if they were to snag something, but without their collars, were they to get outside, I might never find them.

Thanks, kind of thought that would be the answer...and our terrier/beagle mix is good for that....

......now my previously almost 100% housetrained dogs can't come in the house without messing :o Actually, my beagle/terrier mix, who we've had almost a year (since he was 8 weeks old) has only messed in the house 2x (in the 2.5 months we've been here), and both have been urine when I did not let him out before bringing him in the house . The dogs are currently in our heated/air conditioned workshop, which is full of doggy toys, treats and their beds....not happy about it, but until I can trust them better, it's where they stay except for a few hours of the day. I let them outside every hour and a half to two hours, and then they come into the house for up to a half an hour before going back in the workshop. They get plenty of attention, and get daily walks. It is our chi mix who refuses to go potty outside. We took her in off the street 5 months ago and when we first got her, she rarely, if ever, went potty in the house. Now she refuses to potty outside. Once in a while she will mark on a spot where our male does (they are both spayed, but she just got spayed last week), but usually she just goes wherever she is. We have tried taking her out more often (every 20 minutes or so for over 3 weeks...pain in the rear, but I'm a stay home mom), but she shows NO interest in it. She doesn't get punished for making messes in the house, but as soon as she does, she gets put back in their room, immediately, while our other dog gets to spend more time with the family. Is there anything else I can do to get her to stop messing inside? I can't help but feel she's punishing us for leaving her (during the move it was necessary for us to leave her with my mil, and leave the terrier with another family member--they are best buds and can't stand being separated) this summer, although there was no alternative. The ENTIRE house is carpeted, so them peeing is more than the simple nuisence it was in our last home, where everything was hardwood and linoleum. Any suggestions would be helpful.