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Stroppy Terrier


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Our latest addition (now called Lexi) has settled in pretty well with the other dogs apart from the odd little thing. She still has a tendency to corner Tess and Cassie and stare at them ears and tail up in what is clearly a confrontational way, although this doesn't tend to come to anything. Other than that in the house she is fine with everyone now. But in the garden she is a right madam. Poor little begley will be down the far end having one of his mammoth wees and all of a sudden she will fly across the garden growling and chase the poor little chap into the house. She'll do the same with Fin sometimes too.

 

We're new to terriers really so I confess to being a bit baffled. Any thoughts on why she does this and how we can discourage it?

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Is she perhaps trying to play? :unsure:

 

My Toffee Terrier makes growl type noises and chases Jackos tail and bites it when he is playing ball :rolleyes: It is just how she plays. Or if Jacko goes down, waiting for me to throw the ball, she will jump on his neck and growl and bite him in play.

 

Terriers are a lot more noisy in play than collies :rolleyes:

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i think of it as being the same as small man syndrome. my jrt is tiny, there could easily be some chi in there shes so small but its always her that has a go at other dogs and if theers a shred if weakness then she will chase them off. she did it to a male dalmation today. she never does it to dogs her own size tho interestingly...

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Gemstone, you're right she is very noisy in play. I still haven't quite worked out if she means it or not (since she was supposed to be aggressive when she came to us). Dave plays with her and she sounds like she's going for him but she's not :laugh:

 

I think there is def some small dog syndrome there. Interestingly the one dog she never gives any trouble to is Loki who is undisputedly top dog round here. So I think she is just trying it on with the others. Hopefully that might mean she will stop once she feels more secure. She is definitely better than she was.

 

I think we will have to let Begs have some time out there with her kept indoors. He is very sensitive about his toileting bless him and it was over a year before he would poo in front of us :laugh: Last thing we need is him taking a step back.

 

You know what though people amaze me. I was talking about this to some people at work and their response was "Oh maybe you'd better not keep her after all" :huh: Why do people give up so easily? It never occurred to me to get rid, it's just about trying to change things so she doesn't feel the need to do this or, failing that, make sure she can't :wacko:

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I always said if you can train a terrier you can train any dog, they just dont seem to be gifted with any social skills ... my boy sees fun as grabbing my labs tail in his teeth and growling ferociously :rolleyes: ... but ... its obvious he looks up to her for guidance in the rest of his life :D

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If it was me, my first priority would be preventing it for the benefit of the other dogs. If you could introduce a house line so you can physically move her when she's doing her staring thing, perhaps have a pot of cheese in a corner, when she stares you can call her, and take her over to the cheese and give her a treat. After a few times you shouldn't have to use the long line. It would be good to practice it at other times, and make sure she gets enthusiastic reward and cheese for being nice, or being called away before she stares. You don't want her to start going and being argumentative to get some cheese! Perhaps try using your recall command there, and then you can practice the recall throughout the day so she doesn't make that link.

 

You can also practice the recall in the garden while your other dog is doing his business.

 

If she's playful, you can give her games for coming back when she's called, and if she bothers the other dogs you can restrain her on the house line so she doesn't get rewarded for it.

 

If the outside stuff is innappropriate play, then playing with her for NOT doing it and ignoring her when she does do it should work pretty quickly.

 

If that doesn't work, it's probably not a play thing, possibly a control/fear issue.

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the stairing up your other bitches doesn't sound good, they might not continue to accept it from her.

I didn't know you had a new dog, I think everyone could give better advise if we got to see a piccie :wink: :wub:

 

Nah they're soft buggers I'm not worried there. The only one I was worried about was Loki and she's just looks at her indulgently and wags her tail. She couldn't care less! And Grotbags knows she can't intimidate Loki so she doesn't bother trying :rolleyes:

 

 

If it was me, my first priority would be preventing it for the benefit of the other dogs. If you could introduce a house line so you can physically move her when she's doing her staring thing, perhaps have a pot of cheese in a corner, when she stares you can call her, and take her over to the cheese and give her a treat. After a few times you shouldn't have to use the long line. It would be good to practice it at other times, and make sure she gets enthusiastic reward and cheese for being nice, or being called away before she stares. You don't want her to start going and being argumentative to get some cheese! Perhaps try using your recall command there, and then you can practice the recall throughout the day so she doesn't make that link.

 

You can also practice the recall in the garden while your other dog is doing his business.

 

If she's playful, you can give her games for coming back when she's called, and if she bothers the other dogs you can restrain her on the house line so she doesn't get rewarded for it.

 

If the outside stuff is innappropriate play, then playing with her for NOT doing it and ignoring her when she does do it should work pretty quickly.

 

If that doesn't work, it's probably not a play thing, possibly a control/fear issue.

 

I'm pretty sure it's not play. At first I thought she was scared so she was going for attack first strategy but now I think she's just being a bully! We've stopped her going in the garden with the others now cos Finlay Cloud keeps having accidents indoors as well cos he's too scared to go wee outside :rolleyes:

 

I think I'll try the line though. She didn't respond to her old name she arrived with (Pepsi) which we have had to change as my Mum's dog is also Pepsi. But we've only changed it to Lexi which is pretty much identical in sound but she doesn't respond at all. The only thing she reacts to is "oy" :laugh: If we had a line for a while perhaps we could get her to learn to respond to her name!

 

 

I agree with Doggie mum, we need a piccie :biggrin: I assumed that you were talking about a foster and not a permanent addition or I would have demanded one straight away too :laugh: :laugh:

 

Foster/permanent addition - they're one and the same round here :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:

 

She did have a bit of an intro here but she really really hates having her picture taken so it's not a very good one. I just took her outside and tortured her just for you ( :D ) so here she is....

 

lexi8-7-06.jpg

 

lexi8-7-06-3.jpg

 

lexi8-7-06-2.jpg

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