No Longer Friendly To Dogs

[BMac91]

Hi All, haven't been around in a while dogs are doing well but had a quick question.

 

A little back story, this is probably going to be long as I feel it is important to know the details to fully assess what you guys think would be the best action to start taking.

I have 2 Sibes (1 Female "Mika" & 1 Male "Kato") both were purchased together as puppies and have been raised together ever since. They are currently 3yrs and 1month old. We socialized with them a lot when they were puppies, however, Kato has NEVER liked other dogs, never made sense didn't matter if it was a dog brought to our house or a dog we bumped into while hiking the trails, his initial reaction was to always give a low grumble growl OR just walk up to them, look at them and bite them straight on the nose. No warning, no bark nothing, just a bite on the nose. We tried to work with him a bit, but continued to get discouraged as it seemed the more we tried to socialize him with other dogs the worse he got. He just really had this "I don't want ANYTHING to do with a dog that isn't Mika" mentality. He LOVES Mika to death, they hang out together and play at home while we are work, they do everything together. If we take her somewhere that he doesn't go, he whines and cries the entire time. I think it is important to note also that his position in the pack has always seemed to be last in line. They both know that I am in charge and listen extraordinarily well inside the house and around the back yard. My wife has a few issues with Mika listening to her every once in a while, not sure if that is typical Husky stubbornness or if she frequently questions my wife's judgement. 

 

 

Well we recently moved into a new house and the fences are privacy fences but are single fence, meaning it's only a single fence that separates my backyard and my neighbor behind me's backyard, as well as on each side of the fence. Well there is a dog on the backside and dogs on the right side that they don't seem to fond of, I could be mistaken but they don't seem to like the fact that they are so close to "THEIR" yard. My dogs aren't very vocal, so they don't bark at them or anything they just try and push their head through the fence at the other dogs and run up and down the fence at them. 

Well, now I fear that this hasn't made Mika aggressive towards other dogs, as we were walking her the other day and a neighbor's dog that is VERY sweet came out and was heading towards Mika to meet her and Mika's first reaction was to spaz out and growl and bark at the dog like she wanted to attack it. I firmly but calmly told her "No!" and to "Sit" trying to calm her, but she insisted that she knew better. This worries me that Kato's hatred for other dogs, mixed with the animosity of having neighbor dogs to bicker with through the fence has made her not like other dogs also.

 

Is this a far-fetched assesment?  

What would be the best way to attempt to correct the actions she takes? We would really like for her to be able to play with other dogs without being a jerk to them. I hate to start socializing again after this happened not knowing if she is going to bite someone's dog or not.

 

[Removed #5]

Blake, without being where I could see the dogs, I'm not going to touch this.  The primary reason is that wrong advice, in this case, could be fatal to someones dog - and possibly yours. 

Part of the reasoning is that some of the actions you describe (running along the fence line, for example) could be simply play or it could be territorial.

The fact that Mika is picking up on Kato's traits isn't surprising - that's pretty common.  I've used a dog who knows what to do to teach another dog who just wasn't getting the picture.  They definitely do learn from each other.  That she wouldn't respond to your correction seriously concerns me.

 

From where I set, 3/4 of the way across the country, I think your best bet would be to get a behaviourist in to monitor their behaviour and offer suggestions on how to correct it.  Birmingham's large enough that you might have one at the University (there is a Uni there, yes?) or you might have to bite the bullet ( $$$$ ) and call one on your own.  Even though these dogs are three years old, it is correctable behaviour, but it's only going to get worse if it's not corrected.

[BMac91]

Yes, the local university here is actually more of a medical university than anything, I am pretty sure they have a large vet program also, I will check into that. At Auburn University, they have an entire dog training program and actually train puppies into service dogs there, so there is that also. 

 

My wife continues to say that we need to film it and send it to Cesar Milan and see if we'd be lucky enough for him to watch it, never thought about contacting a university about it though. Great idea! 

[BMac91]

That she wouldn't respond to your correction seriously concerns me.

 

 

This is what we struggle with the most, and it makes it difficult to take them anywhere. When we are inside the house or in the backyard that will listen to me at the drop of a hat and will only ignore me on rare occasions when they are playing hard and don't feel like coming inside yet, but when you take them out of the vicinity of our house/yard they seem to be completely different dogs. Trying hard to get them back to being able to go to the lake and hiking trails rather than walks around the neighborhood, but they are making it difficult to do so! 

[mydiamond]

I would advise contacting a behaviorist as well. Aggression is definitely not something I want to mess with, especially because I'm not there. However, just out of curiosity, have you tried the following:

 

- View-blocking/distracting the dogs with whistles, squeaky toys or treats when you know they're about to approach other dogs

- Give them a quick correction tug the moment they turned their head (not when they're growling. You're already too late by then)

- Teach the dogs a command word that means "ignore them, focus on our walk" (( mine is "come on" ))

[Tatipu]

I don't have any input on Mika but maybe the reason Kato has never been interested in other dogs and dislikes being separated from Mika is because they were both the same age when brought home.  

 

Sometimes, litter mates bond together instead of bonding with their fellow humans and dogs.  (even though we may think differently)   Here's an article that's a good read on that and fixing the behavior with Kato : http://www.whole-dog-journal.com/issues/13_1/features/Problems-Adopting-Two-Puppies-At-Once_16190-1.html?pg=1

 

In any case, it's an interesting article about having litter mates/dogs the same age and how to go about that issue (if any)

[samajula]

this sucks to hear. i would contact a professional trainer and see what they say.

 

ive been trying to combat Freyas aggression at the dog park and so far i am succeeding! (mind you being in heat is a big part of it)

 

i can generally tell when Freya or another dog is about to become aggressive. their body goes ridged, they only focus on the target etc etc. as soon as i see this about to happen i take Freya away and walk her around in a circle and go back to the dog. if she lunges i quickly change direction until she gets the picture. 

i go back up to the dog and if she doesnt go into "attack mode" lots of phrase and treats! 

 

so far she is getting the picture.

[samajula]

i think the main this is to keep calm and dont stress. if you stress your fluffings will pick up on it and react accordingly 

[BMac91]

Thanks for the replies everyone. I did locate the Animal Behaviorist at UAB and I am awaiting a response now. Thanks for that tip, would have never even thought to go that route, I am hoping she is open to assisting.

 

It may not matter too much, but Mika was already trained before we got Kato. I always say they were raised together, but in reality we got Kato about 1-1.5 months  (I know still a short time) after we got Mika. I really don't know how to tell if he is upset because she is gone or if he is jealous that she get's to go and he doesn't. I always assumed it was the first, but I guess it could be either of them or a mixture of both. After reading the article, I don't necessarily feel like they have a stronger relationship together than we do with them, always felt like it was a 50/50 thing since they spend all day together, figured it was bound to happen at some point. The odd thing is that Mika has no problem being away from Kato, take Kato on a walk without her come back and she is just hanging out, maybe that has something to do with her dominance over him?

 

They don't seem to be under any kind of stress, we have done the few tests we had read about when training them, about being able to reach your hand in their food bowl, or taking it from them and seeing their reaction etc. When we did those tests they did fine, stick your hand in the bowl they would stop eating, step back and sit down and wait for you to move, if you take the bowl from them they would do the same thing, sit back and wait for you to give it back to them, no growling or barking etc.

 

I am usually pretty good about keeping the calm and collective attitude when attempting to straighten things out. Just like the dogs, I learn something new from them everyday, even after 3 years! 

 

On a side note, our dogs have their own mud-room where their crates and toys are and it has a glass door on it. Well, my neighbor brought her dog over to come see the house and her dog was the sweet dog from the first post, so we put our dogs up and let her dog come inside and hang out for a few minutes. They showed 0 aggression through the door when they saw her, Mika went straight to excitement and wagging her tail mixed with kinda what seemed like to be an excited yelp/bark, Kato acted like he could careless about the dog.

 

I definitely want a professional to step in and bring an experienced dog and see what they she/he thinks about the whole situation. Maybe the situation could be corrected without too much grief if the pro has a well trained dog for these situations. It does just blow my mind though, as Kato has no reason to not like other dogs. He has never been in any kind of fight, wasn't abused as a puppy, actually came from a very well respected breeder.

[Jay]

Sorry, I don't have much to really add, but that must be hard, and hard to figure out too!  I have only had a few situations with mine with other dogs, but just like people, some dogs just don't like each other.  I know that really doesn't explain your situation, so I agree with talking to a behaviorist.  My 3 play together just fine, but sometimes other dogs just set Kodiak off (however, he is a rescue so I have no idea how he was treated for his first 3 years).  Nikko is just obnoxious, so I can understand he can be a bit much for other dogs.  

 

Hopefully you can get it sorted though!  I can imagine how hard it is not to be able to take both of them to places