Jack saying goodbye to his bits

zaksmum

spacey2012 wrote: »

He is protecting you, one thing about springers you learn when you have had a few, is they have absolutely no hesitation in dying for you if it means you are not the target.
A unknown dog charging in is a threat to you, he see's you as the ultimate possession, his buddy and best friend and he is not going to sacrifice you .
Thats just his breed.
They rarely ever attack, they will play, they will sniff, but any signs of aggression from a rouge dog and they are powerful dogs and they won't have it.
And why should they.

Jack's not a springer but yes, he is very protective of me.

If a druggie comes over to me, using the "what's the dog's name?" opening line then goes on to ask me for money, Jack places himself between me and the druggie and head butts the druggie's outstretched hand away from me.

So I have to tell the druggie that Jack is a bit funny with men he doesn't know and ask him to please move away from the dog.:(

merlin1

Sorry if I have missed this but how old is Jack?

In my loooong expriences with male dogs of varying breeds from jrt's to rotties, neutering done later when the agression or humping or other unwanted behaviour has begun already is too late. it's already a learned behavior to them, and whipping out the testosterone makes not one jot of difference - training training and more training is the way to go.

zaksmum

merlin1 wrote: »

Sorry if I have missed this but how old is Jack?

In my loooong expriences with male dogs of varying breeds from jrt's to rotties, neutering done later when the agression or humping or other unwanted behaviour has begun already is too late. it's already a learned behavior to them, and whipping out the testosterone makes not one jot of difference - training training and more training is the way to go.

He's five.

Another dog we had in the family had to be neutered at the age of 7. He was a Yorkie and fancied himself as a hard man. he'd race over to the meanest looking Rottie or Alsatian and go on the attack - he was awful.

Got neutered and the difference was amazing. he'd just amble over to other dogs, have a sniff then trot away.

I'm hoping that the absence of testosterone in Jack's system will remove or diminish the urge to fight back when he's threatened.

merlin1

zaksmum wrote: »

He's five.

Another dog we had in the family had to be neutered at the age of 7. He was a Yorkie and fancied himself as a hard man. he'd race over to the meanest looking Rottie or Alsatian and go on the attack - he was awful.

Got neutered and the difference was amazing. he'd just amble over to other dogs, have a sniff then trot away.

I'm hoping that the absence of testosterone in Jack's system will remove or diminish the urge to fight back when he's threatened.

ok thanks, all I will say is do not expect the same result from him. at all. Your Jack is 5, to me this is still in adolescent stage of many breeds . A yorky at 7... well...

If it doenst work, (What breed is he?) have you a plan b? many owners put surgery as the answer to their their dog's issues and when they find out it doesn't work have to scramble pdq for an alternative. get something in place now and at the very least you are prepared. nothing worse than a shock when you're out and about for the first time after surgery - in fact I would advise to prepare anyway. even the most minimal change in a dogs behaviour can take some time to show after surgery while everything settles down.

zaksmum

merlin1 wrote: »

ok thanks, all I will say is do not expect the same result from him. at all. Your Jack is 5, to me this is still in adolescent stage of many breeds . A yorky at 7... well...

If it doenst work, (What breed is he?) have you a plan b? many owners put surgery as the answer to their their dog's issues and when they find out it doesn't work have to scramble pdq for an alternative. get something in place now and at the very least you are prepared. nothing worse than a shock when you're out and about for the first time after surgery - in fact I would advise to prepare anyway. even the most minimal change in a dogs behaviour can take some time to show after surgery while everything settles down.

Jack is a first cross from a black labrador mother and a blue whippet father who was used mainly for rabbit culling on the farm they lived on. Jack does have a very strong prey instinct - mainly for rabbits.

As for Plan B...I will need to look again at his training.

He is so well trained though in every other aspect. He's even a bit timid in some ways, gets very frightened easily.

It's just that one problem, if another dog goes for him, he won't tolerate it at all.

merlin1

zaksmum wrote: »

Jack is a first cross from a black labrador mother and a blue whippet father who was used mainly for rabbit culling on the farm they lived on. Jack does have a very strong prey instinct - mainly for rabbits.

As for Plan B...I will need to look again at his training.

He is so well trained though in every other aspect. He's even a bit timid in some ways, gets very frightened easily.

It's just that one problem, if another dog goes for him, he won't tolerate it at all.

He sounds lovely, an unusual cross too! you have got your work cut out I'll give you that much, not only do you have a lab cross, you have a working (farm) lab cross. and crossed with a dog natural chase instinct (whippet) so the prey drive is absolutely understandable. does he 'leave' when you tell him, or does the red mist descend and he goes tone deaf? the timidness could come from the whippet too, but I would hazard a guess and say the braveness comes from the lab. they have to be bold and if he comes from shooting lines you have the 'best' of both worlds.

when you say if another dog goes for him, in what way? growling at him or just bounding up? And have you had him from a pup?

Just editing to add I read that back and its sounds a bit like a lecture/grilling! it really isn't meant that way, my thoughts on the adolescence thing will tally too, labs... do they ever grow up? ha! You have got a working breed though. I had to step up with my second rotty, working lines, bought as a pup, whereas the first was a show line dog, but mistreated and from a rescue. they were poles apart. x

zaksmum

merlin1 wrote: »

He sounds lovely, an unusual cross too! you have got your work cut out I'll give you that much, not only do you have a lab cross, you have a working (farm) lab cross. and crossed with a dog natural chase instinct (whippet) so the prey drive is absolutely understandable. does he 'leave' when you tell him, or does the red mist descend and he goes tone deaf? the timidness could come from the whippet too, but I would hazard a guess and say the braveness comes from the lab. they have to be bold and if he comes from shooting lines you have the 'best' of both worlds.

when you say if another dog goes for him, in what way? growling at him or just bounding up? And have you had him from a pup?

Just editing to add I read that back and its sounds a bit like a lecture/grilling! it really isn't meant that way, my thoughts on the adolescence thing will tally too, labs... do they ever grow up? ha! You have got a working breed though. I had to step up with my second rotty, working lines, bought as a pup, whereas the first was a show line dog, but mistreated and from a rescue. they were poles apart. x

Thanks merlin. He was advertised in a Gundog magazine as one of 11 pups, an intentional breeding I was told. The owner had a working farm and was also the local vet. The pups were advertised as having "soft mouths" which the owner told me meant they would retrieve without damaging they prey, just gently hold it in their mouths and take it back to their owner.

I got him at 12 weeks but he'd been totally untrained at that point, just running wild around the farm with his siblings.

When I tell him to leave, he obeys me but sometimes has done a bit of damage in those few seconds.

When another dog goes for him, it has raced up to him snarling then tried to get on his back - all in a split second.

The minute it tries to get on his back he goes crazy and would kill it if I didn't yell at him to leave.

But then the other dog will come back and have another go at getting on his back and there's literally fur flying.

Another trigger is if another dog attacks my elderly female dog Lucy who's 11. Again he goes crazy and hurls himself between the dog and Lucy. Also he's very protective of me.

He really is a lovely dog and thank you for understanding this. It's nice not to get slagged off because I don't want to muzzle him.

Person_one

I suppose you're referring to me calling you irresponsible for not muzzling your aggressive dog that you know will bite and do damage in certain situations?

I stand by that I'm afraid, it is irresponsible. He should be wearing a muzzle, and you shouldn't be expecting him to be magically changed by this operation. You could probably learn a lot from the brand new inexperienced dog owner who is taking her situation very seriously and doing all the right things on the thread where you posted this:

zaksmum wrote: »

And then you could bet your life the minute I get out there with my dog, someone with their dog off lead will appear and that dog will come streaking across the field to my dog, jump all over him and then all hell will break loose with my dog trying to murder it and me hanging onto the lead with all my strength!

This has actually happened to me several times - once at 6am on a wet June morning!

meritaten

Labrador Whippet cross? a Labett? or a Whipador?

joking aside zaksmum - why are you so against neutering? or muzzles (from another thread). you are a reasonable person so I find this attitude strange from you?

meritaten

I have to say that 'crossing' a breed doesn't always result in what the breeder thinks it will. a lab is usually a good family dog which is also a good 'gun dog', a whippet however, is bred to chase down prey, and in olden days they were expected to kill it. I do not see what the breeder expected to get? a dog that was fast, could chase down prey , kill it and fetch it back? and you say it was a Vet and a working farmer who bred it? was he insane?????????
they are normally family dogs too. but sometimes crossing a breed can result in the worst aspects of both breeds coming to the fore.
I think neutering is probable a good start - it may even be the answer - many male dogs are much improved for having their bits removed.
I do hope this works for you zaksmum. You have enough probs without a dog who is aggressive.