Stujo
Submitted by jokerstime on February 14, 2015 - 11:46pmHello, and this is my first post after joining after 2 years of reading. We have a 2.5 year old Victorian Bulldog named Stewie and a 5 year old husky named Brian. Stewie is, or was a typical bulldog from what I gathered after reading many articles. Our problem is this. he absolutely looses his mind, hence the nickname Stujo,we noticed as a puppy his every once in a while freak outs but saw this as a semi normal reaction as a bulldog. 99% of the time he is a loveable, cuddly ball of slobber and affection. Finally house broken and trained to sit, get down, the usual's. But when he gets to horsing around or loud noise, Stujo visits. He attacked me once too the point I had to lock him in the garage, for a second he didn't know where he was ,froze and that pause gave me time to escape with a a bite behind the knee and wrist. Yesterday he grabbed my daughter with a nice 4 inch scrape and another smaller one on the other wrist. He was horsing around with Brian, went all Stujo and that was it. The same ting happens when he hears a car or motorcycle. Put the leash on him he spins and attempts to chew through it and its a 45 minute tug of war. My question is can this behavior be trained out of him, we have a 2 week old new baby in the house and I am scared too death once she gets to running around the house and screaming. not to mention he is a 70 pound brute male, we went toe to toe when he attacked me in front of a wedding party, wow, what a scene that was. He just gets so excited and bam.... STUJO. Brian the Husky can hold his own, they get along great, like I said almost all the time. If I try to control him with the leash on a walk, shees, another dog, kid, cat, no issue at all, but a noisy vehicle and its a spinning slobbering mess of wrinkles and hormones. I am ready for professional assistance to help Stewie with what ever is going on in that head, but I am just hoping he can be brought around to a semi normal animal. Any advice would be greatly appreciated, we certainly do not want to give him up, but I am worried this behavior has to end, 2 serious attacks in 2.5 years, that's scary to us. He moves when told too, gets down off the furniture, sits when told too, and he defiantly knows when he screwed up, with that puppy face. We never hit the dog, just pushed him away and dragged him outside, we cant take the harness off him, that's the only safety net we use. Like I said, any advice would be appreciated.
O.K., I'm not even sure where to start
First, wasn't sure what a Victorian Bulldog was, so I looked it up. All I found was several "breeders" claiming they breed the best and breed is so much "healthier" then the "English" Bulldog. Found no national/unified clubs, no national sanctioned shows etc. Which, if I were looking for a puppy of any "breed" would make me wonder about how much any of these breeders care about overall long term health and temperament. Things that are extremely important.
"Freaks outs" are not a semi normal reaction for any breed. No breed allows for an unstable temperament.
In my opinion, you cannot keep this dog. When there are adults only in a household, they can do as they please. Children involved becomes an entirely different story. Children cannot and should not have to participate in their own safety. Regardless of any training or behavior modification that may be implemented, I don't feel this dog will ever be safe around little ones.
I also don't recommend re-homing the dog. A dog this size can do a lot of damage. What stimulates this dog is unpredictable, you can't control exterior noises. If the stimulus was predictable, ie. other dogs etc., someone might be able to desensitize the dog to an acceptable level. But an owner has to be able to safely work with their own dog and truthfully, I don't know of anyone, regardless of their skills, that's willing to get attacked by their own dog.
Whatever you choose to do, know that dogs that have unstable temperaments/aggression issues rarely and I mean rarely are successfully re-homed. They get re-homed several times until they finally do something truly terrible.
I wish you luck.
Lynn King CPDT-KA
I'm so sorry, but I do agree with Lynn, and here's what I know..
I found myself in a similar situation with an absolutely adorable little female English Bulldog several years ago. I had rescued her as a 5 week old puppy, she had Spina Bifida. while I successfully controlled the Spina Bifida, I sadly realized that she also had Rage Syndrome and by the age of 10 months, she was out of control at different times, with no apparent trigger. It could be a noise, a sight, etc, and she would go into a fighting rage, not letting go until I forced her jaws open. I had a new baby granddaughter living in our home with her parents and my husband and I. When my grand daughter started to crawl, my bully girl started watching her more intently. She didn't go after her, but she would savagely attack my other little female bully girl that was a young adult, as well as my other dogs in the household. It all started with that freak out thing you mention, then the attack. They were uncontrollable, she wasn't in her right mind as the attack was happening, but afterwards was all snugly and calm and sweet. But what was going to happen when my grand baby went to play with her someday, I just couldn't imagine the damage that would be done to my little grand daughter. At the age of one, my little bully girl was euthanized humanely by my vet.
It was the hardest decision I have ever made. My bully girl was adorable, sweet, and funny. Such a great little dog. But when she got into a dither, or a frenzy, it was a monster in that little mind, and her attacks were ruthless. You simply must not allow this dog to ever, ever hurt a human, and especially not your beautiful baby. It might end with the death of your child, and I am not kidding. It is terribly hard to think what you have to do, but it is utterly imperative you do something immediately before someone really gets hurt, or a small child is killed. Seriously, this isn't something you will control.
I'm so sorry. Lynn King is an extremely good animal trainer/behaviorist, and she and I worked for months with my little dog to try to help her, but it wasn't going to change the Rage Syndrome inside of her. There is only one resolve for that, sadly.
Amy and Sophia
yeah
That is what I was thinking, as simple as it sounds something is broke, thanks for your advice but I kind of knew already...... mike
However...
There are some people who take dogs like these and try to rehabilitate them. Some of them do so because they love dogs. Others have bad intent. Look for someone who might take your dog, but be careful, for the sake of the dog.
I'm so sorry. When someone tells me that they really want a bulldog (or any type) I tell them that the most important thing is to find a breeder who is concerned with the health and temperment of the dogs they produce. There is a list here on Bulldogs World that might help, once your kids are a little older. Good luck.
Mike
Many years ago, my husband and I adopted a young male Bulldog. From day one, something didn't seem right. Couldn't pinpoint it but it was there. As the weeks and months went on, his actions and reactions began to concern me. Then one day he attacked me. I was getting the dinners ready for him and my other 2 Bulldogs, he circled me and leapt up in the air, straight at my face. I was able to block him with the dishes, he fell back and came at me again. From out of nowhere, my husband grabbed him and put him outdoors. No more then 2 minutes later, I looked out the door and he was sitting there looking up at me, just sweet and peaceful. From that day forward, I could not go near the food, food dishes without him pacing/staring/growling. It was crazy here. Much like your dog, there was no connecting to him when he got like that, as you describe, it was like Cujo.
Anyway, we consulted with the experts. But ultimately, his behaviors past and present were too unpredictable and dangerous, we chose to euthanize him. The guilt of euthanizing him damn near killed me. Something I have not and will never get over. It changed my life. I committed the next 6 years to finding out what went wrong. I studied dogs, dog training and behaviors. Volunteered at a shelter training/working with all kinds of dogs, volunteered to assist trainers of different styles, attended every seminar and workshop I could get into, read tons of books, taught my own classes etc. I wanted answers. My conclusion: Sometimes there are none. I've met other dogs with similar behaviors. Don't know if its genetic/disease/injury, who knows?
The saddest part was my other 2 dogs. Both were social, happy outgoing dogs. I hadn't noticed during the time we had Luke but they had begun to isolate themselves. They were not comfortable around him. Those 2 knew there was something wrong and did what they could to stay away from him. Broke my heart that I had brought in another dog that so disrupted their lives.
Best of luck
Lynn King CPDT-KA