A Very Angry Lil' Bit(ch) - Page 1

Well, many of you read about Carl's complications with his recent surgery, & I appreciate all of your well wishes. Now I have to ask for your opinions on the behavior of Carl's GSD, Lil' Bit. As you can probably surmise, Carl can't care for his dog while he's laid up. All the dogs are used to his care, but Kali, Ansgar, & Beckett have all been trained by me, & respect me, & are wonderful to care for. Then there's Lil' Bit. She's been exclusively Carl's dog, except for an occasional walk or playtime. Lil' Bit is upset. She's usually a good natured prankster, but now she's showing her evil side. I have had to crate her, she's picking fights with the other dogs, & was beating & tearing at the bedroom door to try to get to Carl. She was laying happily at his feet, but when she realized he was not taking her out to her liking, she did a perfect bark & hold in front of him, teeth snapping with every bark. She snaps her teeth at me when I feed her, when I'm putting her collar & lead on her, & when I'm trying to keep her from pulling me over outside. She never pulls Carl. She snaps at me with every correction. And when she figured out I wasn't afraid of all that snapping, she started a new tactic. Now she's charging me, & since I don't flinch, she dives between my legs, bashing her way through, trying to knock me over. She gets a couple of yards away & turns around, looking just like she's laughing at me! So, she must mind me, I won't allow this disrespect. But do you think she's trying to annoy me, hoping that I'll give up & get Carl? Which, of course, can't happen. Any thoughts? jackie harris

I guess I can't post photos from my phone, sigh! jackie harris

I am laughing my heart out..............and some would say that dogs have no feelings or emotions????

I have no advise, but hope someone else does!

I would put a pinch on her and leave her in her crate until it is time to go out, if she acts like an ass, say fine back in you go.  Or you can put a pinch on here take her out in the yard and have a come to jesus meeting with her.

I'm with Donnerstorm.... time for a come to jesus meeting.  Shes gotta get knocked down a peg or two.

Flipp her!

Here she is, I did put a pinch on her, it's slid down her neck in this photo, & thus she was pretty oblivious to my 'bigtime' correction. She did, however, growl at me when I tried to put the collar on next time. I had to grab her by the nose/lip & hold her rather tightly to put the pinch back on, & she stood there like a good one & behaved nicely after that.....but when I put her back in her crate, next time I walked by, I heard a low, soft little growl that quit when I knelt down & made eye contact with her. Then she kind of licked her chops a little, but held eye contact in a challenging fashion. Little terror! LOL! She's gonna have to get over herself pretty quickly, 'cause I'm who she must deal with for awhile. jackie harris

Basic instinct, food control. She only eats what she behaves and accepts from you and continue using corrections at appropriate times. Keep using crate. Perhaps let her crate same room as him see if it helps her be calmer as a whole if his health can take it. Keep long  tab on her, but I would never leave a pinch on full time.  You control all she needs for now. She cannot see him if it esculates her behavior at all. You may be forced to send her to someone who has daily time to be with her. Removing her from scent of him and home may be best for her state of mind during this time. One of my dogs has issues without me but will stay with my son as long as he knows I am not on the property and am truly not around. Only then will he eat or go outside or settle. When I am home even if I am down with the flu or something he will not even leave me to do his business with the others or even if they try to drag him out of the room. He is a different dog and settles if he knows he is stuck at a property and I am not there so he just has to deal with it. My 220 pound 6 foot 2 husband has to fight this 85 pound 9 year old dog tooth and nail to drag him away from me to take him anywhere I do not go. We make him go off with him because just in case something goes on and they have to care for him they have to be able to. I have only had him a year and he is getting a little better about leaving me lol Even my service dog will jump at the chance to leave my side to go to the store with dad if he is asked along but not this boy. My eldest said it took him two days but he calmed and behaved first time I went out of town leaving the dog and he cared for him. After that he accepted it and behaved each time I went out of town and left him with my son, but my son cannot take him away if I am there.

Jackie if Carl is feeling strong enough, I would ask him to watch my interactions with her and get his opinion on how to handle her, since he is the one most familiar with the bitch.  In fact that might be really good for not only the bitch, but for Carl as well, get his mind on something he can help you with.  After all, you KNOW how much men LOVE telling us what to do and how rarely we take their advise!!!!!!!! 

Barring that, everyone knows I love a good CTJ dog meeting as much as the next guy, but I think in this instance I might want to not start a war with this dog quite yet, after all her world is upside down and she doesn't understand what's going on.  It's quite possible that she's not challenging you, she's just flipped out and scared.  I think I'd let her calm down for a couple days and then start over with her.  Take her for walks, let her hit the end of the pinch, but show no emotion over her bad behaviour, no matter what.  Also remember a tired dog is a good dog.  Take her out alone and wear her down with some two ball.

  
 

I don't want to escalate this into an all out war between the two of us, but she really needs to behave with me. Right now she's crated until it's time to go out again. I have to say, for all the snapping she's done, I do not flinch or back down, so I think if she had intended to bite me, she could have done so by now. I wasn't even taking it too seriously, until she started trying to knock me down, & then there was that little growl....! We raised her from our litter, she was the runt, we often had to keep the bigger pups from bullying her. So, she's always considered herself kind of 'special' I guess. And her head was always under my husband's hand, where ever he was. She would tip her head over & give him a kissy little lick every now & then. Today when he used the walker to go to her crate to talk to her, she turns her back to him! She won't even look at him! I don't know whether to LMAO, or .....???? Maybe I'll try to run the devil out of her this evening. Get her good & exhausted, & then see how she's acting. jackie harris