Yorkie attack! Please help

[kjc]

He may not be dog friendly and be acting out of fear. First thing I do when I see this behavior is to do a controlled butt sniff. Hold Fegan and allow all your other dogs to sniff his butt, while you hold him and prevent him from biting. Then, while holding him still, allow him to sniff their butts, I know this sounds weird, but it is how dogs meet and greet each other. Sometimes doing this will break the tension and solve the problem all together.

If he only attacks when he's close to you, he may be protecting you. You may need to get more Alpha with him, let him know you are boss and have control of the situation. Watch him closely because you want to catch him right before he reacts. Sometimes they will freeze or tense up and/or stare the second before attacking. That is when you need to get his attention by doing 'Ah Ah', or anything that will cause him to refocus on you. Warning: If you do a touch to refocus, sometimes their reaction will be to bite, as he will be focused on the other dogs thinking to bite them, and you draw that energy to you instead of them. So vocal interuptions may be safest.

If he's next to you on the couch, refocus him and then place him gently on the floor. This is not a 'time-out', this is letting him know that his behavior will not be tolerated by you. When this behavior happens on a couch or a bed, this is the area they are defending. By putting them on the floor, you change what they are perceiving to be 'their' territory.

My male Yorkie has to sleep on the floor, in his bed, bc he cannot stop defending the bed. The others do fine, and I am working with him to change that, but for safety's sake, he sleeps on the floor. At times, he even defends the entire bedroom! (only if he wakes out of a sound sleep) Everyone has learned to keep their distance at night!

[kjc]

Sorry, I have to add too that as he is very new to your household, you all may have to adjust your behavior so as not to upset him and cause him to exhibit the behavior you are trying to curb. This can be confusing him a great deal.

As he was adopted, you don't know his history, and you do want him to feel comfortable, so no teasing. It can take months for a previously owned dog to learn to trust his new owners. You really need to allow him time to adjust.

It took my male eight months before he would lick my cheek. I had given up that it was ever going to happen. I cried when it did, it was so unexpected. Now I can't stop it! And don't want to!

[FagansMommie]

I forgot to add a few things:

1. He is approximately two years old
2. I have no history on his previous owner/family
3. The condition in which we received him was sort of below standard considering they had to completely shave him down, whiskers and all. Some groomer...
4. The neutered him about 2 days before we adopted him and did not tell us anything about it, I had to research his records on my own to find that out after seeing a cut (with no stitches on his ____)
5. He plays well with our dogs at times, it only seems he acts out in my presence.
6. He is very affectionate to everyone in our family even my 3 year old daughter.
7. He does not respond well to his name, (Fagan or Faygen), this is the name the shelter gave him because they did not know his original name.
8. He does know sit and fetch and lay down but shows resistance doing them. He is also somewhat leash trained.
9. I have only had him 6 days and I have had my other dogs a lot longer. Starting with Weenie for 1 year, Luke for 4 months, and Jimmy for 3 months.
10. I have no training skills, my other dogs did not require any training. They were all potty trained and leash trained completely before their adoptions. None of them fought or growled either, they just simply accepted each other 100%. They even all sleep piled up on top of each other. Except Fagan...he just wants to sleep right next to me and doesn't like to be bothered while sleeping...


I just want things to go smoothly but I am still afraid that one of them may get hurt, especially Fagan if he somehow manages to finally upset Luke (the catahoula boxer mix). Thankfully the other dogs are so well adjusted and well mannered I don't have any problems out of them when he attacks. Luke weighs roughly 140 lbs and could easily cause injury, but so far so good. I just want to fix it before we have to experience that kind of upset.

[YorkieMother]

You are going to need a set of eyes that can look at this from the out side. We all can toss out Ideas but you need someone to actually see and know what is going on and the body language used by all dogs.
Best thing to do is call in a trainer that understands rescues and aggression and lack of social skills.

JL

[FagansMommie]

Luke weighs in at about 40-50 lbs. not 140 it was a typo... appologies

[YorkieMother]

Originally Posted by FagansMommie

Luke weighs in at about 40-50 lbs. not 140 it was a typo... appologies

That is ok typos are allowed.
I have one that is 100 right now and one that is 40 and one that is ten and everyone is in time out for not being happy with each other.

JL

[FagansMommie]

I suppose I am not the only night owl that searches these forums. I have just been getting more and more involved in the adoption processes. I just saw some things on a youtube video that shocked and upset me. I was just discussing with my husband that we should look into adopting more when we get Fagan settled.

[Nikki-S]

My Bella Blue is 5 yrs old and has NEVER attacked another dog before until I took in a rescue, Alfred, a male that's about 9 yrs old. She hates him. She'll wake up from a nap see him and attack (he will be asleep no where near her)! Alfred started out as a foster dog, we foster many dogs before they go to their forever home, however he has so many health issues that he has to stay with us and we really love him (he's very sweet and very loving). So I do the Caesar method the fingers with the "cht" sound, and it works if I catch her right before the attack begins. It does not work once she's "red zoned" we have to just get her off him and we put her on her side and make her stay down until she is clam, we usually have to gently hold her down during this time. She still does it but now we can usually sense it before it happens and deal with it from there. It tough and upsetting sometimes but we just have to be on top of her when he is near her. Alfred is pretty good at giving her space and usually walks away from her. I hope this helps and good luck!

[kjc]

The neutering part is important... he may still have hormones floating around in his system for a bit (a few months) before you notice any change in his behavior. (hardheadedness, protecting...etc.)

Also, Yorkies are different... if they don't absolutely know that you are the pack leader, then they will seek to control situations that arise if you don't. Ex: Doorbell rings. Dogs run barking to the door. If you do nothing, dogs continue to bark at the door and may run out when the door is opened. Bad situation. When you do something, it would be to go to the door and claim the area in front of the door as yours, by making them quiet down and back away. This action tells them they can relax, you are in charge, you are handling the situation, and can open the door if you wish without worry.

I think I understand where you head is in regards to your dogs. I had a GSD, a Maltese, and had just got a 'new' 5 year old from the Humane Society. My dogs acted appropriately til this Yorkie came along.

I watched all the shows on TV about training, bought books and did research. I decided this Yorkie's behavior needed to stop, the protecting me by going after other pets, and in general running the show.

I didn't want to change him, just some of the things he did. I had never told him 'no' don't do that, I just accepted what he did as part of him. I finally realized (after two vet visits for fighting wounds) that I was going to have to put my foot down and get a handle on this cute little monster.

So begins training. Not easy, bc before I was used to just enjoying my dogs, and to keep a constant eye on him would literally be work, and I wasn't sure if I was up to the task or not.

Well, the first time I caught him ready to pounce and told him 'no', he got upset with me and wouldn't even look at me for hours... almost a day and a half. I had been warned this may happen, but not to give in. He got over it, and the first thing I noticed was a more relaxed attitude on his part. Basically, I regained the position of Alpha in his eyes, and he gave up feeling the need to control everything, which can be difficult for such a small dog to attempt to do. He's still not perfect, but he's getting there.

Yorkies, in general, need to be treated like little children. They need to have limits set for them, and they need rules. The fact that he resists or hesitates when doing simple commands tells me he doesn't quite see you as his Alpha. And you do need to get a handle on this situation before he gets himself in trouble.

Walking them together as a group will help to establish bonds between them, and you. Plus, it tires them out so they will be less interested in starting stuff.

Forget about where and what he came from. You can't change it, let it go. He's with you now, that is what he knows, and what he cares about. Don't feel sorry for him. Be 'in the moment' always.

Don't tolerate behavior that you do not want to see repeated.

I hope this all makes sense to you.... I think maybe a puppy class may even be helpful (basic training class) to help you learn how to train him and help him in responding to you.

[YorkieMother]

Originally Posted by Nikki-S

My Bella Blue is 5 yrs old and has NEVER attacked another dog before until I took in a rescue, Alfred, a male that's about 9 yrs old. She hates him. She'll wake up from a nap see him and attack (he will be asleep no where near her)! Alfred started out as a foster dog, we foster many dogs before they go to their forever home, however he has so many health issues that he has to stay with us and we really love him (he's very sweet and very loving). So I do the Caesar method the fingers with the "cht" sound, and it works if I catch her right before the attack begins. It does not work once she's "red zoned" we have to just get her off him and we put her on her side and make her stay down until she is clam, we usually have to gently hold her down during this time. She still does it but now we can usually sense it before it happens and deal with it from there. It tough and upsetting sometimes but we just have to be on top of her when he is near her. Alfred is pretty good at giving her space and usually walks away from her. I hope this helps and good luck!

Why not work it the other way around.
Start just simple rewarding her for even a quick glance at the dog that upsets her. a gentle pat or a food treat. That which you feed you get.

Why not then increase that to if you can look without reacting for a second can you give me two then up to three.

Once you take out your negative response and add in the positive you may just see lasting change.
You got her so defensive that she wants that dog gone and dead as it is making her loved humans her humans not his hurt her and make her do things she just can not.
If you had someone in your life you did not want to be around you ask them to leave or not be near them as much as you can or hit ignore. why do we expect our dogs to do that which we do not do our self.

JL

[YorkieMother]

Originally Posted by kjc

Yorkies, in general, need to be treated like little children. They need to have limits set for them, and they need rules. The fact that he resists or hesitates when doing simple commands tells me he doesn't quite see you as his Alpha. And you do need to get a handle on this situation before he gets himself in trouble.

Dogs do not generalize at all. So not only may he not actually know what is expected of him he may not have been trained enough to have them working effectively. Add in he has been fixed and rehomed and the stress on this poor little one is through the roof.

He needs to get the basics placed on him with love and respect and positive so he learns to trust and interact with his people.

He wants to understand his world and right now he is just very confused and upset and gentle guidance an support will help him get stable.

And someone actually trained to work with special needs dogs needs to come give him a hand to understand what is going on in his world.

JL

[Ringo1]

Another thing you can try is NILF or Nothing in Life is Free. It's a gentle way of reminding your dogs, every day, that you are in charge. They must sit before their food is put down; sit before they go out the door . . .

I can't remember all of it but you can google NILF.

We practice it every day. No food is given until everyone's butt in on the floor. No one is allowed to go near the front door when the bell rings . that's my space and they all know to stay away.

It might not solve all your problems, but it is a good, mannerly, way of reminding everyone that YOU are in charge.

[YorkieMother]

<> DIAMONDS in the RUFF - Follow the Leader <>

Here is a link to Nothing in life is free.

JL