porkerboy

Have a 3 year old bulldog male -Oscar. He's been such a placid dog ever since we had him.

A couple of days ago he started to act "funny" around my brother - who at 23 yrs is the youngest in the family. Didnt think much of it. Then one night he growled once at him, then back to his normal self. Then last night - was sat on my mothers lap (does it all the time). Brother approached - dog suddenley went berserk - jumped off the seat and pounced on my brother - growling/showing teeth etc. I pulled him off and threw him outside - despite water on his face he persisted to growl ever time my brother put his face around the door. very very scary seeing a bulldog like that.

Cant understand his behaviour - such a placid soft dog until last 3 days.

Only thing I can think of is that the dog thinks he is more dominant. My father has just been in a RTA - been in a wheelchair last 3 months - I reckon the dog has sensed a change in family dynamics and now wants to work his way up the "pecking order".

Going to take him to the vets. Any one with bulldogs or similar have any sensible advice??

Porkerboy

pslewis

Has your brother tormented the dog or hit it in any way??

Has your brother taken to wearing out-of-the-ordinary clothes? Cycle helemt for example?

Pete

The Snug Rhino

or those cycle shorts...the lycra ones. they are even worse for bulldogs.

King Eric

Sounds like he was either protecting your mother or as PS Lewis has touched on...has been tormented or even perhaps shouted at by your brother.

Has he ever shown this kind of behaviour before?

Get your brother to feed him for his next few meals....and get your brother to show himself pretending to eat some of his food. He (the dog) needs to learn he is bottom of the food chain (and pack)

r32

Cant keep a nasty dog, off to see Jesus?

Scoob99

iTrader: (1)

Has he had his nuts done, If not I would recommend it.
Cheers
Colin

Diablo

I think you've hit the nail on the head with that one. He sees himself as pack leader and was protecting your mum.

Getting his nuts off will help.

And make sure your brother has done nothing to torment him.

Chances are, though, he sees your brother as the main threat to his now dominant position (sorry dude, you're way down there )

have a look at my post on Sonic's thread about how to manage pack ranking. And stop letting him sit on people.

OllyK

Indeed - physical location is important to dogs as well, make sure the dog is on the floor and so is his bed. Try and keep some rooms or even upstairs dog free. No sleeping on the bed with you, or when you're not there. Ensure you do through doors first, if he tries to go first, turn round and walk away from the door. You can also work with them on a lead where if they try to go through the door first you just shut it, you keep opening and shutting the door till the dog gets bored of not being able to get through and turns away, then you go through and call him through after you. Also with dominance it isn't necessarily a quick or permenant fix. If you get it sorted and let him revert to his old ways, the problem will come back again.

davegtt

My previous Bulldog was similar in a way. They can be very intimidating dogs (even though theyre soft as sh!te even when trying to be nasty ) and if they sence somebody is wary of them they try to take control. We used to have loads of friends around and the only time ours would bother them would be when he senced they might be scared of them, I take it your dog knows your brother for a long time and its not a new face for him.

I know Bulldogs are a PITA to train, mine can be very unruley but Ive made sure he understands the command "NO" in a stern voice he will always stop what hes doing and have a think. Its about the only command he responds too unless hes in a hyper trying to burn off some energy (i.e. just after hes had a dump...lol)

All I can think off is you corner your dog in say the kitchen with a baby gate and try and train the dog to get used to your brothers face.... Obviously the dog can not get to him and you are in a position of command with the dog locked away.... As someone else said, make sure the dog can see your brother put his food in his bowl, try to show it that he is above the dog and he doesnt get fed without calm and respect.

Good luck with him

Any pics?

p.s. we had or old one castrated, didnt help one bit for me. Probably has different effects on all dogs though. It is supposed to be a good way of calming a dominant or territorial dog down.

jjones

save yourself £15 and use a spade