# My new rescue dog has jealousy issues, I have children and I'm very worried...



## Lois' owner (Apr 26, 2011)

I am very attached to my new dog, I got her from Birmingham Dogs home about 2 weeks ago now,, and in this time her behaviour is worrying me.

She is approx 6 months old, and possibly a Staffie x lab

I let her of the lead the other day and she is normally quite good with other dogs she got a bit to rough with this smaller dog, and jumped on her,

Then,

Yesterday I had a BBQ and my friends dog was round, I told my friend not to feed my dog but she fed her dog, and my dog got jealous and pounced on her dog, and bit her, drawing no blood, but still not good behaviour.

Then

Today my wife was playing with one of my sons when Lois (our dog) jumped up on her and wanted fuss which my wife gave, but as soon as the attantion stopped, she bit my wife again drawing no blood but still, not good signs.

I dont want to give up this, she is an awesome dog, and her behaviour has been good on the whole she is good around my kids, but I'm worried like she has done with my wife and this other dog, she could turn and bite her, and this would devastate me as I would have no other alternative but send her back, to the home.

Today I rang up a Dog trainer, who said these were warning signs of learnt behaviour, and the behaviour will probably get worse, this TBh is breaking my heart!!

I phoned up Birmingham Dogs home, and asked to speak to their Behaviourist, but they are on holiday until the 3rd May, which is worrying.

I phoned up a private behaviourist who will offer me 12 months support and help with all aspects of training for £300 but this is a lot of money, and I cant afford it right now..

Is this Bitch, a wrongun, I was told I wont no the real dog until after 3 weeks when she is settled in. Yet she is showing some unwelcome behaviour, and it needs to stop ASAP. I'm doing research and trying to train her, but I'm no expert.

This is my first time venturing on here, I'm sure it wont be the last, so a big hello from me, and thanks for reading my first post on here:001_smile:

Some pics

HERE
HERE
HERE

Does anyone know what breed she is? We think Staff x Lab?


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## Rolosmum (Oct 29, 2010)

I am not an expert, hello and welcome, but i think you may be right to be a little worried, from my experience with dogs and children, they usually get bolder the more comfortable they become, not less so.

I could be wrong and it could be that she is just so desperate for attention that the minute it stops she has no idea how to behave, possibly you could be ready and use a clicker and treat the minute you stop play, but before she has a chance to get jealous, so that she associates stopping play with something good also, and then go back to playing with her and stopping again etc so that it isnt a case of its finished now and that is it over.

I would try something to try and rectify it at least until you can discuss with the rescue behaviourist.


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## Lois' owner (Apr 26, 2011)

thanks for the fast reply, it doesnt mean then that I have to give this dog up?

theres hope?


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## Cleo38 (Jan 22, 2010)

I would disregard what the dog trainer has told you - how do they know her behaviour will get worse without seeing her?!

Your dog is trying to settle in to her new home & things do take time, you really do need to be patient.

You are right to be looking at her behaviour but it is very difficult for people to give advice without loads of info. As she is a young dog it may be that she has never been taught 'enough' & gets too excited.

When your wife & son were playing how was this? Were they chasing, squealing, laughing alot? It may be too much for your dog & although she wants to join in does now know how to control herself.

Is this proper aggression or is she playing? What is her body language, did she growl?

What happened with your friends dog? Were they playing? What happened prior to the 'bite' from your dog? Where did she bite her? What happened afterwards

I really do think that you can work with this dog, believe me my second rescue dog has been hard work but we are getting there.

I know people are always wary of giving advice without seeing the behaviour if biting is involved. If you are unable to wait for the rescue behaviourist then have a look for a *registered* behaviourist Welcome to APDT - Association of Pet Dog Trainers UK. I paid £80 for inital consultation (2hrs) with the ladt we see & now attend follow up classes.

Also have alook on various threads on here (this site has been a godsend to me!) & http://petcentral.yolasite.com/printables.php which is another pf members site that is brilliant.

Just be careful not to leave you dog with your kids unsupervised (this would applyu to any dog you have just rehomed) & try to behave in a calm way around her at first, so no rough games, no hyping her up, etc

Hope things work out for you all


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## hairydog (Feb 15, 2009)

Stick with it, 6 mnths old is still a puppy, plenty of time to learn, it's more than likely pushing the bounderies to see what it can get away with, try a crate, when she gets out of order, crate her for 10 mins-time out, dont let it walk over you, be firm, with out shouting!


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## Sled dog hotel (Aug 11, 2010)

Lois' owner said:


> I am very attached to my new dog, I got her from Birmingham Dogs home about 2 weeks ago now,, and in this time her behaviour is worrying me.
> 
> She is approx 6 months old, and possibly a Staffie x lab
> 
> ...


6 mths is a difficult age for any dog, even ones that were pretty good and no trouble before, usually start to push to see what they can get away with, ones that came before on recall suddently dont. its the dog equivalent to a teenage kid. Two weeks is about the time when a dog will start to see what it can get away with, they tend to spend at first ussing the situation out and seeing where they fit in the order of things. However having said all this I take it you may not know a lot about her previous history? Breeding and early socialisation plays a big part in what will shape the dog, If she has missed out on a lot in her early life then this is likely to be playing a large part in all this too.

Not being able to see the offlead situation it may just be possible there was no intent in jumping on the other dog, and it was just over exhuberent play
coupled with not enough socialisation and learning any doggie communication skills, in which case that can still get her into trouble.
Given the fact this is the age recall tends to go awry anyway, personally I wouldnt let her off at the moment until you get some training in place.
You can start teaching recall. A whistle can be good. Start indoors with treats, each time you blow the whistle then treat, she should follow you, after a few sessions of this, try it in the garden when she is sniffing about, stand by the back door and whistle, when she comes then treat, use it every time she is in the garden, then try whistling from indoors, treat when she comes. Then use it outside, on either an extendable lead or long line. keep calling her back, treat and send her off again, keep doing it throughout the walk. Vary it, sometimes throw a ball a few times before sending her off with the command go play, sometimes play tug, others call and run in the other direction so she chases after you. This should keep attention and focus on you. start in places with little distraction, then build it up over a week or two to more distractions. Finally if she is responding, leave the long line on, but use it as a drag line, so you can grab it if need be. If that all goes well then finally you can let her off. again lesser distractions at first building up.

With the situation with the bar b que, if the other dog was just brought in to her territory with no prior introduction that could have been a factor. Also food is a high value resource if dogs are going to kick off then foods usually one of the main factors. so to a degree although far from ideal situation, it can be explained to an extent. A big part and cause of it was human error or it sounds that way.

When taking on a rescue dog, its very easy to feel sorry for him/her so can tend to be lapse with giving them any boundaries and rules, its easy to over fuss and worry so much about them settling in its easy to give in and let them get away with things. Personally I would start basic training a 2 or 3
15 minute sessions a day mixed with a bit of training, teaching sit wait stay
down etc, use treats as rewards when she does it and praise. Instigate play and finish the play yourselves. Make her sit for meals, treats,chews. She needs to work for things, and boundaries need to be established.

I would give her her own area too. With her bed, her toys, and chews. I would ensure that she has some down time in this area at certain periods throughout the day. if the kids want to play, then she goes in her area, its not as a punishement, if done rightly with chews and toys and things to keep her occupied its fine. It also gives you somewhere to put her when the kids want to play, and gives her boundaries too. It also is somewhere to wind down rest, and if she starts to get ovr excited and hyper. This is when sometimes problems start, they get hyped up over excited and thats when nipping and loss of control can happen. Also keep up her exercise levels. An adequetly exercised dog, is more likely to settle easier and less likely to get so over exciteable and get hyped.

These things are "starters" that should get you started in putting management in place. Dog training classes would be good, look for a small structured well run class with an accredited trainer who uses reward based methods.

I think it would be an idea to get her assesed with a behaviourist and get a hands on opinion too.CAPBT COAPE Association of pet behaviourists and trainers are good. CAPBT - COAPE Association of Pet Behaviourists and Trainers E-Mail [email protected], should find one in your area, you might even be able to find one of their training classes too. You can ring and enquire re charges etc. Otherwise wait and get an appointment with the homes behaviourist ASAP, if you really cannot afford it.
A training class shouldnt be that expensive though.

I hope the frw ideas to try in the meantime will help you manage the situation better until then.


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## Lois' owner (Apr 26, 2011)

Tha is for the replies you have all be stars!!!

Do you think I should buy a muzzle? Just until IM SURE I can trust the dog?

also did anyone check the photos I linked to? Any idea what she is crossed with?

Many thanks!


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## Emmastace (Feb 11, 2011)

I am no expert but I don't think I would have put either staffy or lab in there as first choices. I would have expected a slightly bigger and heavier set dog from that combination. Can't see either breed in the face although it is difficult from those pics.
Might be some kind of sight hound in there, I get a bit of something like a patterdale around the head.
Like I said, I am useless at guessing mixed breeds. Someone else might have a go though.


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## Cleo38 (Jan 22, 2010)

Lois' owner said:


> Tha is for the replies you have all be stars!!!
> 
> Do you think I should buy a muzzle? Just until IM SURE I can trust the dog?
> 
> ...


Regarding the muzzle, it's difficult to say without seeing what occurred but personally I wouldn't at the moment.

I would start as advised by Sled Dog Hotel, giving her boundaries, making her work for some treats/her meals by basic training sessions.

I wouldn't leave her unsupersied with your children & as suggested, give her hew own area that is off limits to everyone but her.

Also there is a fantastic sticky regarding dog body language that has proved really useful to me. My second rescue dog went through a period of attacking Toby (my first dog) after a few days of settling in & it was such a worrying time. From advice on here, workin with her & helping her settle in we overcame this ..... now just have to work on other issues!


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## CarolineH (Aug 4, 2009)

Good advice by Sled Dog Hotel. 

Also please remember that this dog has only been with you for two weeks. She is still settling in and will naturally be insecure. Also, if she has had poor training, socialisation and training before, she will not know what good behaviour is and what is NOT acceptable. Patience, commitment and perseverance is key here but you have to really want to keep this dog. So follow the advice given by Sled Dog Hotel. A muzzle may help stop the biting but it is not a cure for the underlying problems that this dog has probably through no fault of her own.

The dog trainer should not have 'assessed' your dog over the phone like that. I would look at the link given by SDH and go from there.


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## Sled dog hotel (Aug 11, 2010)

Lois' owner said:


> Tha is for the replies you have all be stars!!!
> 
> Do you think I should buy a muzzle? Just until IM SURE I can trust the dog?
> 
> ...


I wouldnt leave the dog alone unsupervised with the kids, or when the kids want to play high energy games and things, or even if they have their toys out on the floor. It can be setting the dog up to fail, either with her getting hyped up and over excited too, which can lead to nipping and mouthing and going over the top. or where she can take their things, and the kids inadvertantly without thinking try to get them back which I think you said is an issue sometimes too?

One way to get over this issue is to teach leave and drop. As a stop gap while teaching it, you can "swap" what she has with something of high value treat wise, show the treat using something like cheese,chicken hot dogs is good (Good for her training and recall too by the way) she should drop what she has, as she drops it say drop, repeat drop and give her the treat. If you are worried that as you go to pick what she has up in the "swap" and in general it might be an idea at first anyway, keep her interest in the treats by walking away, so that she can smell and see it, you can then entice her into her area or another room, ask her to sit, give the treat, shut her in and then go and safely retieve what she had and shouldnt and put it away.

A good thing to get is a dog control gate, if for example her area is going to be the kitchen, instead of shutting her in with a door so shes totally isolated
you can use a dog control gate instead. Works same as a baby gate, but higher. If you dont think she can/could jump a baby gate you could even try one, but dog control ones are higher and more robust.

You can even train through play, once you have taught her sit, extend it to wait, with the sit you treat immediately on sitting. with the wait you command wait pause then give the treat. Extending the time between the wait and treating repeating the wait before giving the treat. Once you have this reliable with a good period for wait, use it to throw a ball, then encourage her to find it, once she picks it up, call and encourage her to return with it. Show her a treat, she should go to drop it repeat drop and give the treat, pick the ball up, then start again sit,wait, find it, retrieve drop.

The way I teach the leave. Is sit wait. Then step back, put a treat down a couple of feet away, cover with my hand say command leave, repeat leave,
then uncover the treat and tell them to take it.

Obviously you have to teach each exercise before going on to the next one.
You cant do all the parts in one go. As you get success and one thing becomes reliable. ie a sit, extend to sit wait, then you can try the retrieve
game. concentrating on the find it, then build up the retrieve, then the drop and so on.

Sorry this is so long winded, but on a forum you have to explain each bit its hell of a lot easier to show someone.


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## Sled dog hotel (Aug 11, 2010)

Lois' owner said:


> I am very attached to my new dog, I got her from Birmingham Dogs home about 2 weeks ago now,, and in this time her behaviour is worrying me.
> 
> She is approx 6 months old, and possibly a Staffie x lab
> 
> ...


Just checked over your post to see if I had missed anything, and I have which is one vital thing.

You said when your wife was playing with one of your sons, the dog started jumping up on her for a fuss that your wife gave. But as soon as the attention stopped she bit her.

The dog may have got hyped and overexcited, wanting to join in, when pups get over excited, they tend to loose the plot, can even go totally deaf they become so intent. She jumped up for attention, which your wife immediately gave, doing this your wife inadvertently rewarded the behaviour. Dog jumps for attention, gets attention it works, the dog gets the reward. next time dog wants attention it worked before so jumps up. This is what the behaviourist meant by a learned behaviour.

Next time the dog does this, tell your wife to fold her arms turn her back and walk away from the dog, and ignoring her, no talking eye contact nothing.
Only when the dog stops and stays that way and is calm then she can stroke the dog and give attention. asking the dog to sit and treat first too.
If the dog carrys on then, put her in her quiet area for 5/10 minutes, let her out, ignore her for a further minute or two, then if she stays calm, get her to sit treat and then attention and praise.

You need to do this consistently every single time.
Calm behaviour = treats, praise and attention.
Jumping up mouthing and nipping = nothing at all. Everyone needs to do it.

Depending on her previous history, it may take a lot of repetitions and consistency, but if its carried out each and every time, then she should get it. Also make sure when/if the dog is laying down calmly or in fact calm anytime, make sure she gets a few words of good girl, and a gentle pat on the head or stroke. This too will re-inforce the good calm behaviour.


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## Lois' owner (Apr 26, 2011)

thanks for all your replies I really appreciate them, you have given me so much info, its very heart warming!!!

Thanks you!!!!!!!!


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