Dog Training Question....

[Richard]

Backstory: Sister in law lives 30 miles away. Her next door neighbor's daughter (17/18) said she wanted a dog. Mother said "no". Low & behold, a couple weeks later, daughter picks up a dog from someone in a parking lot somewhere and brings it home. Dog gets tethered to tree outdoors. As the story gets to me, that is his life....chasing butterflies and laying about. Oh, then daughter tells mother that she (daughter) has joined the army. So Mom didn't want a dog....daughter brings dog home and then joines the Army..... AND GOT FLUNKED OUT at boot camp. (this girl must be a doozy)

Sister in law felt bad for dog so brought him here to farm sometimes to let him at least RUN and get some energy out.

Long story short.... Rufas has been with us now for call it 8 months. I affectionately (and I mean that word) call him "Crazy Boy"

I'm told he's a border collie. He's got a bobbed tail (if that means anything) He is fast as the wind, very VERY strong (about 35/40 pounds) and you can just SEE his intelligence.... he really is an intelligent dog once you start working with him.

Issues seem to be he's very (we think) territorial. He gets along with all the local female dogs.... but bring a male dog in (sister in law has a male and our next door neigbor has a male) and he goes into red mode. (hence "crazy boy")

If anyone comes to visit OTHER than sister in law, he will go bezerk. He will snap at anyone (other than us so far) but rather than trying to bite them it appears he's more nipping at them with his front teeth.

He had a guy stranded on top of his trailer using the tractor as blockage between he & Rufas.


Brother in law came to visit....he knew about Rufas and was prepared with a plan. He came with extra layers of clothing on, came in wearing welders gloves.... rufas went at him and he "defeated" rufas by holding him by the throat on the ground until Rufas realized that he lost. Within 10 minutes, Dan (brother in law) was taking Rufas out on a leash with HIS dog (female Pyrenese sp?)

Fortunately she's about 2 1/2 times bigger than Rufas so can fend him off.... they played ROUGH but it was play, not violent. (like he's done with male dog next door, coming home with blood)

In the beginning, I was prepared to take him to the pound knowing that he'd be put down. As I've gotten to know him I've come to believe that he's just terribly socialized. He's a VERY smart dog... and his only real desire is to play, play, play, play, play and play more.....then start over and do it again. Has boundless energy.

Still don't trust him in house (not 100% that he's fully house trained) AND his endless getting into things.... so he's lived most of the (mild) winter in our foyer, then on the large deck. Once weather breaks, we've got a fenced in area where he can run but for his ability, it's still restrictive. He needs a good 5-mile hard run to burn some energy off, our fenced in area isn't really big enough for his capabilities. The FARM however, is......but we can't/don't trust him to be free like all the other dogs. (he will actively go next door LOOKING for the male dog to start a fight......he has gone to the NEXT house over and aggressively jumped onto their Husky who's about twice his age BUT she (interesting that he's jumping on a female) anyway she's probably 15 years old so can't defend herself)

So when Wife & I are with him alone, he is a fantastically fun, attentive dog.

Bring a visitor over (mail person, UPS, neighbor, family member) and he goes into red zone ballistic.... but he's now able to deal with brother in law who wrestled with him.


I can't have everyone who might visit first have to wrestle my dog to prove their dominance over him.

I'm not a dog trainer, we got him when he was probably around 2-years old (just a guess, maybe 3-4 but no more) Point being he's ingrained some bad habits that we need to figure out.

Something has to give..... I have a broken wrist thanks to him (I'll spare the story). He's strong enough to pull the wife over if she walks him. Heck, he's strong enough to pull ME over if I'm not ready for his actions.... so something has to give. Rather not take him to the pound because the "good Rufas" is SUCH a fun, attentive loving dog...... but when 'Bad Rufas" shows up..... I'm almost willing to pull the trigger myself.

Any thoughts on how to "break" him from these ugly habits???

 

[Dougeye]

Hey Richard, you've really got yourself a situation here... most "used" (rescue) dogs come with a lot of behavioral problems, and sadly most people are not equipped to deal with them. I've had dogs my whole life, most often more than one at a time. I have a lot of dog training experience, and I wouldn't have taken Rufus on. He has a lot of complex issues, and I don't think you're going to find the answers here on TBN. My advice is to find a really good trainer in your area who can help you with Rufus, and yes, it's costly, but I don't think you'll have much success following the bits and pieces of advice you're likely to get.

One question, though: is he neutered? If not, get that done. Right away. Pronto.

 

[Gem99ultra]

I'm guessing Richard that Crazy Dog is part Border Collie. Markings sure look like it as does his hyper active demeanor. As Dougeye suggested, get him neutered - sooner the better. If you've watched Caeser Milino much on TV, he has some excellent almost instant cures for aggressive dogs. Your demeanor has most of the effect, so 'calm and assertive' will be your keys. Ample activity, i.e. run him down to first get rid of all that bent up energy. Then begin training session, always with a leash.

Crazy Dog must learn who's in charge. Allowing him to jerk owner's around only enables him to thinking that he's the boss, not the person on the other end of the leash. Controlling the food bowl is always a very good tool as well. Don't let him eat when you set down the food bowl until you give the okay.

Best of luck to you. A good dog is hard to find.

 

[MoKelly]

We had a very similar situation with an abandoned long legged Coon Treeing dog. He was about 16 months old. Strong and aggressive. 40 pounds of muscle and energy.

He was a nice dog when exercising and when tired. But when wanting to play, no was not an option.

Took him to a trainer. Same guy who trained our other 2 dogs. We trust the guy. The trainer said after only one session that the dog was naturally aggressive and alpha. He was “untrainable” to be a good pet for the home.

We didn’t like the answer. It was spring so we knew we could leave him outside and thought he’d come to like us all. He did like my older son but was more aggressive to my younger son (who is 6’2” and 250). My younger son would do as you said - pin the dog and hold him down. Trying to show dominance. It never worked.

After a few months, the dog bit me in the hand when I tried to keep him from eating plastic. He then growled at my wife in such a way she was afraid. That was it. We had no choice but take him back.

Long story to say I agree with previous poster. Take him to a professional. It won’t take long for the professional to tell you whether it’s worth the time/effort or not.

Taking him to the shelter was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done.

Good luck!

MoKelly

 

[Citydude]

You have a good family for taking Rufus in Richard. We rescued a Boston Terrier male that was 7 years old. He had the same trait as Rufus. Protecting what was his.

He hated anyone that came near me. Being a much smaller breed, I could pick him up and control him when people came to our home. After a while he figured out they were not a threat.

In some cases, I would put him on his back, hold him down and scold him. He never bit but was very aggressive in some cases.

Most rescues, as you have found out, have a high degree of anxiety. He was like that until the day he died.

As mentioned, a good dog trainer would be my advice. I had no luck with training my Boston.

 

[Richard]

One question, though: is he neutered? If not, get that done. Right away. Pronto.

Yes, wife got that done last Spring or so. With laughter in my voice, I once asked her how many years does it take to drop his levels of testosterone.....because he's still as rambunctious now as he was prior.

 

[Richard]

Ok, so I'm listening to all this (taking it to heart)....

You've got me thinking.... and I'll ask what are your thoughts? (though I've already fired up my work PC to do this anyway!!)

For my work, I help State employee's with their pension and 401K's. As it happened, I just a week ago, had a meeting with a guy who is either:

1. The police officer the dog is assigned to or
2. The person who's in charge of training the police dogs

I'm not sure exactly which....but that should cover his primary job as I understood it.

I'm going to send him an email asking if he knows someone that might be willing to attempt to teach Rufas some discipline. I doubt police dogs are salvations that need to be broken down and re-trained.... they are probably already on a good path. Worst he can say is he doesn't know anyone.

 

[hosspuller]

Rufus looks and sounds like a border collie. A dog bred to herd livestock... that's the nipping part. It's a trait just like barking. He needs a job and someone to direct his energy. With his smarts, a combination of your time, him and an E-collar, he can be taught the limits to his territory. BIL has proved that he's a quick learner.
He'll be a fantastic companion.

 

[dodge man]

Wish I had some useful information for you. I know someone that had had border collies and they are very high energy. My advice is that your, wives, family and visitors health is more important than the pets. Hopefully you can find a trainer to help.

 

[Sigarms]

Richard, I really wish I had an answer for you other than to find a GOOD dog trainer, but I don't.

Very long story on our end, but I'm in the same boat you are in, but this dog isn't aggresive towards people.

I've had a lot of dogs in my home and have done training, but this one is throwing me for a loop. Will say that a training collar has helped to some extent, and ours is housebroken (due to our training). The training collar is generally due to our neighbors dog who likes to come and visit our property/home (like you're situation, two males). Neighbors dog is a great dog, and has been "visiting" long before this other dog came into our lives.

I will say this, if anyone gets a dog and ties the dog up 24/7, I really wouldn't lose sleep over that human being put down. Dogs are kind of no different than kids in that IMO you can really screw them up at a very young age without proper care and attention from my own personal experience (we've done foster care for both four and two legged critters in our past).

Sincerely wish you the best of luck.