Cheryl ~ Clearly, your situation is worse than mine, although my goal is hopefully to stop it before it escalates any further. I'm certainly glad I posted, however, as you have an idea (meds) to try, as a result. Glad to hear you are headed to the hospital for treatment. Bites are nothing to mess with, for sure.
As far as neutering, the reason I mentioned the neutering situation with my guys, is that I've read several places that a neutered dog is often attacked by an intact dog. Not sure why that is unless they are perceived as weaker, maybe? Since Ziggy was only neutered a couple of months ago, I wasn't sure if the fact that it was fairly recent was part of the problem - and hopefully won't continue, as the testosterone continues to decline. I understand it can take as much as 6 months before the hormone drops to the lowest point it will go. Of course, I've also heard that dogs neutered as adults sometimes show no decrease in this type of behavior at all. Ziggy is completely and utterly submissive to all of us. If my husband, who has a deep voice, speaks loudly in his direction, his little ears go back and he goes belly up. To see him with such a different and assertive posture, ears up, tail and legs stiff, when he approaches Wagner, is like seeing a different dog almost. Poor Wagner just wants to be left alone. He could care less who is top dog, but Ziggy keeps agitating... :( Doris, Mom to Quinn the Eskimo Angel , Wagner the Shaggy Professor, Baby Fox, our pom-eskie rescue fireball, and ... Drum Roll Please!!!!! Our NEW pom-eskie (and something with short legs) rescue boy.... Ziggy (Stardust)!!! -----Original Message----- From: Mona Hall <[email protected]> To: Eskiepeople <[email protected]> Sent: Fri, Nov 5, 2010 11:59 pm Subject: [eskiepeople:15331] Re: Question about possible rising aggression :( Long... sorry. The pet med that is Prozac type would be wonderful as I had to keep separate with my blind PRA Kodi and Lovely Lotus who wanted to kill him as she felt he was sickly and could not read his moves. She had to be tied in the front room and he knew he was off limits from her. She would just march from outside and go to her long line to be hooked. I also had a short lead she always wore to grab her if she was loose. I wish I would have tried the medicine mentioned here!!! As far as dog bites and working with dogs and even these tussles of Beau and his Furbrat Pom sister if usually in bed anyway I put my leg under the covers between them and grab a harness to pull away. It is the little Furbrat that wants to keep it up. Then it might be months and they are just cuddles together. Sometimes when she has to usher the deer from the drive-way and her head almost rolls off in bed he thinks she is being a tart at him so I use real calm words and tell them it is OK and shut the window blind from Missi and the wildlife. One thing in my life is I have NEVER had a festering bite wound. The life saver is right away rub soap and water in the wound and it might burn like heck and look messy but never get infected. This can also keep the County or City to not condemn your doggies. I knew a doctor that stated the dirtiest bites are human and the other nasties are from glass. On Nov 4, 5:48 am, [email protected] wrote: > Greetings all ~ > > I have a bit of a dilemma that seems to be escalating, and since I've never dealt with this kind of thing before, I'm not sure how to correctly handle it. > > We adopted Ziggy, a 3yr old eskie mix, about 6 weeks ago. He is a delightful critter, friendly, assertive, lively, a really happy guy ~ all good stuff. HOWEVER... it appears that he has decided to challenge my aging boy, Wagner, for top dog status, and I'm not sure this is going to end well... :( Also, as an FYI, he was neutered on August 31st, just in case that has any bearing on this situation. > > Wagner is 10 years old, a skinny guy by nature (only 45lbs) but very tall. We looks exactly like the "designer" golden/poodle mix. He's a very laid back guy and enjoys his peace and quiet. Over the past year, he has developed significant arthritis in his hips, and no doubt he has some pain. He's such a good guy (my heart dog) and we figure he's earned the right to pretty much do what he wants, within reason - and he has always been reasonable. He has never been aggressive, and when Angel Quinn was adopted about a year after Wagner, he let her take over pretty much without issue. Also, he was neutered at 14wks at the shelter, so he's never experienced the major influx of male hormones. > > Up to this point, there has been some posturing, etc., mostly on Ziggy's > part. Wagner has tried his best to just ignore him. When Ziggy would start his stuff, Wagner would just get up and walk away. That was fine. Unfortunately, just in the last few days, Ziggy WILL NOT leave Wagner alone, and Wagner has about had his fill of it. Ziggy is constantly trying to mount Wags, (he';s not very successful because he's little), yet he also play bows during the same episode. Ziggy has not flashed any teeth, but instead makes this whiney sound like he's trying to talk - actually kind of endearing. Wagner on the other hand is starting to offer up a gutteral growl when Zigs just does not quit. To be honest, I don't blame him. > > I crated Ziggy for the first couple of weeks to be safe, but he adapted so well and so quickly to our household I stopped routinely crating. I might add that it's a challenge to get him in it anyway, although we're going to have to re-institute it I believe. He has never had an accident in the house since he got here, which is amazing. He really is a wonderful little dog. > > My question ~ How best do I handle this? It seems clear to me that Ziggy is actually the alpha here, as he's a very "take charge" guy. To be honest, I don't think Wagner cares much one way or the other, but he wants to be left alone. Is it possible that Ziggy is just trying to engage Wagner in play? The interaction just seems very different from when Quinn came and sort of took over. There was minimal posturing, other than to inform Wagner that all food was hers, all toys were hers, and he could have them if she said so. It was very cut and dry and he never challenged her until she became ill. Then he took over from that point, but again, there was no overt posturing for position. It just happened. > > Of course, my primary concern is that I don't want anyone to get hurt. Ziggy is fast and agile, so I'm actually not as concerned about him as I am about Wagner. He's earned his peace and quiet, and I hate to see him stressed like this. I'm fearful that if there is a fight, Wagner will get the short end of the stick because it's getting more and more difficult for him to move very quickly. > > Any thoughts? > > Doris, Mom to Quinn the Eskimo Angel , Wagner the Shaggy Professor, Baby Fox, our pom-eskie rescue fireball, and ... Drum Roll Please!!!!! Our NEW pom-eskie (and something with short legs) rescue boy.... Ziggy (Stardust)!!! -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Eskiepeople" group. A list managed by American Eskimo Rescue and Sanctuary of Iowa http://www.eskiedog.org To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups-beta.google.com/group/eskiepeople?hl=en -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Eskiepeople" group. A list managed by American Eskimo Rescue and Sanctuary of Iowa http://www.eskiedog.org To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups-beta.google.com/group/eskiepeople?hl=en
