Saturday, November 9, 2013

Too many dogs, far too much fighting for pack order, and indoor chaos

Due to the economy, underemployment, or just plain lack of money, my daughter and her family had to move into our home. Two small children and a female bully pit. Introduction into the family where i already have a 16 year old boxer, an adoptive mutt (when my mother moved out of state) and Damon, who is a pit bull and labrador mix. My daughters dog has been here numerous times before, and usually gets along with my other animals, so this was not the problem. It was when my daughter decided to add to the mix, an adonis of animals a beautiful bully pit, with more muscles than brains. As she is used to her rather lazy bully pit, this boy needs constant attention, exercise, and training.... None of which she can do with two very small boys and here is where the conflicts start. Too many people get an animal and not fully think of the ramifications when they do not give a specific breed, especially a muscular working class dog the training they need. His lack of proper exercise, meaning walking him 2-3 miles total per day, causes him to lash out by tearing up doors, pillows, toys, etc... This is the first mistake people make with an animal. 1. Walk and exercise the dog... 2-3 times a day. Dogs will naturally try to set up a pack order and young pups what to fight to prove they are the alpha male. This is the most frustrating, scary, and chaotic fact of dogs. This boy will be a very powerful adversary and needs to be separated and trained. 2. Take the dog to a properly lisensed dog trainer to keep this powerful animal under control, 'man handling' pushing, shoving, anger, screaming, gabing, hitting,etc... are never, never acceptable and will only result in injury... YOURS 3. Timely feedings, about the same times every day, so as not to frustrate the animal. and do not over feed. Give separate bowls to each dog to avoid fighting for dominance over the food bowl. 4. Do not add a new animal to your home when it is already chaotic from added people and other animals trying to adjust. This has been the biggest mistake and we are all now frustrated and causing more tension between the animals as they sense the temper tantrums building in the humans. There are many wonderful web sites with advice for training your animal and i have learned a lot from each one. But i'm writing this post out of sheer frustration, and hoping it may help someone else in a similar situation.

1 comment: