I just need to vent about my dogs

[BurchFunnyFarm]

I recently bred for a litter of hog dogs. Everything went wonderful with pregnancy and birth. I have been blessed with 12 chubby bundles of joy and a healthy caring mother dog. We have 4 adult dogs and apparent problems started after weaning the puppies. They have gotten more mobile and exploring their world and my two male dogs hate them.

They growl whenever they come near and even try to get in their pen and steal their food. Camo, one on my male dogs, goes it their area and growls and bites at them and started refusing to eat his own food. So I relocated where the adult dogs are fed and monitor the puppies 4 times a day while they eat and then remove the food to remove the problem.

Well it got worse and I was afraid the big dogs would hurt the puppies so I chained Camo up and kept my other male inside away from them. Apparently camo bit a puppy on the head in their pen when a neighbor boy was there. Twice puppies hot near him on his chain and he nipped them. So I had to chain him up inside my garden where they can't get to him.

My larger older male, who is the sire, bit two of them just for going near him and put a puncture in ones lip. So now I have to supervise the large dogs at all times when outside.

It gets worse....my husband let the big dogs out in the morning and came back to bed. When I woke up and went to feed the puppies there was blood on the light colored ones and I began to investigate. What I found was so horrid I almost broke down. Still I am wrenched with grief, pain, and a sense of failure.

One puppy had its eye ruptured and puncture wounds, another had a swollen cheek and puncture wounds. I didn't think to look in his mouth until tonight because of an odd smell and his poor little jaw is broken!!! His top jaw where his chewing teeth are is broke loose from the roof of his mouth and just awful.

By a stroke of luck my husband won a thousand dollars in a raffle at work yesterday. I will now be able to take them to a vet tomorrow. I have been taking care of these puppies at home since the incident and I feel absolutely horrible. I feel like this is all my fault and that my dogs are out of control. I just can't handle or stand this aggression in my males and part of that money is going to them getting neutered!

When I saw inside this puppies mouth my heart broke. They are acting playful, eating, drinking, and in good spirits but I know they are in pain and I know these injuries will change their lives forever. I feel like now they won't have a fair chance in life or be able to fulfill their purpose for being created, to hunt wild pigs.

I guess I'm just looking for encouragement, advice, an *** chewing, or anything at this point. I'm so upset and wish I could undo their hurt and make them better.

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[Chickerdoodle13]

I have to say this. I read all this, I have had dogs my whole life. I also have a four year old and a home daycare. A dog who will attack a puppy WILL attack a child. A crawling baby especially. If you think puppy's annoy a dog, a baby is up in the dogs buisness like no other. We are very lucky to have the best dog ever. She loves our car, son and when the daycare kids get all over her she doesn't even car, she loves it! I make them back off for her safety. She's getting older. I have been around dogs who nip at puppies, and while it might be normal, these are always the dogs I hear about having to be re homed because of aggression when babies are brought into the picture. So if you have small children around I would make sure these dogs aren't around. I agree that putting a dog on a chain is very wrong and makes the problems worse and would never do that, but I would never have these dogs around small children.

Children, in my opinion, should never be left alone with dogs until they are old enough to know how to respect the animal's space. This is why many dogs attack children, not because they are innately aggressive in the first place. I can't tell you how often I hear owners complain of aggressive dogs. They tell me "he/she bit/attacked without warning" when in reality that dog gave every sign it possibly could to tell the owners it was unhappy with the situation. Dogs have pretty limited ways of telling us they are uncomfortable, so we have to learn to be more aware of these signs before fear or anxiety reaches the level of physical aggression.

 

[Granny Hatchet]

sounds like you have some very aggressive dogs and i would not trust them around children . even after a neuter, they have tasted blood and will want more. i am so sorry . i know you did what you could to protect the pups but accidents happen and that is why they are not safe.

 

[Sonya9]

Some male dogs really don't like puppies.

What will you do with that pup/s if your other dogs are already fighting and you can't find homes for the disfigured puppies? I expect some of your dogs will be sent to the pound to die when this problem gets worse.

Neutering can certainly help prevent more puppies but it can't be expected to change an adult dog's temperament. It may soften them a bit or it may not.


I am a dog lover and I have never bred a litter, I have however rescued over 100 dogs and also raised orphaned or needy puppies from birth. To me each and every dog's life is a precious thing and a HUGE responsibility not just when I have them but also when I find them homes. If they don't find good homes that will love them forever that would be my personal failure because they all deserve that and it is my responsibility to provide it for them.

 

[memphis]

Puppies can be a huge annoyance to older male dogs. Some males can be very patient with puppies, that said, I never mix puppies with older males unsupervised. You need to keep them separated. Even if the older dogs aren't aggressive, there is always a chance a big dog could accidentally hurt a pup. Neutering may help with male aggression but a lot of the time it probably won't change their behavior towards puppies. Puppies are just annoying to older dogs. So please separate. There is really no way to modify the older dogs behavior and you don't want to take a chance with another injury.

 

[Sonya9]

Ugh! Hard to watch those dog bite videos!

If you watch it is obvious the dogs are getting stressed and not comfortable. Licking their lips and glancing sideways is canine body language for "I don't want conflict, please back off, I don't want any problems and this is getting uncomfortable".

Both of those dogs were doing that a LOT before the face bites, they were trying to tell the other "Please back off, I am not comfortable and I don't want trouble" yet the other didn't understand and made even more "aggressive" moves by sticking their face in the dog's face.

 

[Peaches Lee]

If you watch it is obvious the dogs are getting stressed and not comfortable. Licking their lips and glancing sideways is canine body language for "I don't want conflict, please back off, I don't want any problems and this is getting uncomfortable".

Both of those dogs were doing that a LOT before the face bites, they were trying to tell the other "Please back off, I am not comfortable and I don't want trouble" yet the other didn't understand and made even more "aggressive" moves by sticking their face in the dog's face.

I have to wonder if the handlers recognize their dogs are uncomfortable and if they do, to not appear rude, don't say anything. I feel bad for the reporters because they are trying to be enthusiastic and nice but really have no clue about animal behavior.

 

[GAchickennewbie]

I have to wonder if the handlers recognize their dogs are uncomfortable and if they do, to not appear rude, don't say anything. I feel bad for the reporters because they are trying to be enthusiastic and nice but really have no clue about animal behavior.

IMO-a handler should ALWAYS watch to see how their dog feels about a situation. That's just being responsible.

A handler's main priority should be protecting their dog. That's part of being an alpha. in order to do that, reading the language our dogs are giving us is how we protect them and those around them.

 

[Peaches Lee]

Oh, and here's the flip side. A handler warns a person about their dog and they are met with "oh, it's okay I have a X breed of dog"

I work at a vet clinic and will steer people away from dogs to avoid attacks and the person I'm leading will always say "Oh, my dog is fine with other dogs!" and it's like, yeah, but that other dog might want to rip your dog's head off!

 

[Chickerdoodle13]

I know I will probably catch flak for this (and I certainly don't expect to change minds) but I've been working with some of the behaviorists here at the vet school and I was amazed to find out how different the domestic dog's hierarchy is compared to the wolf. The lady I was studying under mentioned several times that a common mistake (which has been perpetuated by Caesar Milan I think) is thinking you have to be alpha. She explained that there is a difference between alpha and respect. In domestic dogs, you see a whole different social system that is very different from the wolf's. You don't start seeing "alpha" behavior in dogs until they begin to revert back to feral behavior, and even then it's usually more a hybrid of the two.

She said a lot of the issues she deals with are referrals after owners have tried the alpha thing on their dogs and it backfires. After seeing some of the training in action, I can totally see how this makes sense.

When we give a dog such a domestic setting to live in, we can't expect them to act (or respond) like their wild ancestors. I also find "alpha" training to be particularly more dangerous.

I have some time this week and can look for more articles on this. I'm actually curious myself, because although I agree that domestic dogs behave very differently than wolves, I don't have a lot of knowledge about the studies done to show this.