Pink Fox: its Raining...IN MY HOUSE! :/

[Dawn419]

Looks great!!!

 

[pinkfox]

i should be posting a happy post about the dozer work, but insteadim here hoping for some kind of advice on a different kind of Dozer...

my big boy whent off his rocker tonight...and i dont know what to do.

since he was about 6 months old himand jasper have taken some attitude with eachother, i know 50% of the problem is jasper and his "tude", and its a ridiculous one because outside asper LOVES dozer, wants to run around and play an be an idiot with Dozer, barks insecantly to get Dozer to play chase and be goofy and the dive around and bounce at eachother.

but Dozer is a resouce guarder and in the past "issues" have arrissen when ozer finds something of value that jasper gets to close to.

up until last night though those "issues" have been mild and a swift yell form me put an end to the conflict imediatly with dozer backing down...
notice i said untill last night.

i dont know exactly what triggered it, but dozer was lay on the ottoman and something happend and he stated growling and giving the sideways glance at the parrot cage (jack jack was nowhere neer dozer so i know the bird didnt bite him ect...)
my usual responce in that situation is to remove dozer form the ituation, i call him over to me we goto another room and work on some sits and downs ect and then after baout 5minutes life resumes as normal and whatever gets in dozers mind to set off the growling is gone...

last night however just as dozer was getting off the ottoman jasper walke up and growled at him and hell broke loose...my usual yell at doer to back off didnt work, dozer had jasper off the groun by the neck and shook him and i had to give doer a kick on the butt to get him to let go.
thankfuly jasper was ok with nothing more than a nick ont he ear and a bruised ego.
dozer spent the night pouting in a corner, he knew hed done wrong, though i idnt say anything to him, yell at him or even acnoledge the situation afterwards.

me and jasper were both very lucky...jaspers head fits in dozers mouth, it wouldnt have taken much more pressure to from dozer to kill jasper.

today was business as usual...
and then just.....
well...i almost lost jasper again.

something hapend to set jasper into an "im going to walk around grumbling "episode...
hes been complainign for a good 1/2 hour about nothing in particular...
but then SOMETHING happend in dozers mind and as i turned to unplug my computer dozer set on jasper again, and once agin neck in dozers mouth (from above) lifting jasper off the ground trying to shake him.
it took alot more than a swift kick to the behind tonight, it took 2 kicks and 3 solid hits to the face to get him to let go...
once again, no skin was broken, but this time its more than a bruised ego, jasper has a good sized bruise on his neck anddozer JUST mised the stermun and any more pressure would have punctured the treachea.

Im at a total loss as to what the next step is...
origionally this was a resource guarding issue...i could manage the problem by simply not allowing doer acess to items he felt "high value" primariy clothing items and pens...
now it seems this is "triggerless" but its not...i know IM the resource hes trying to guard, thinking back on last night , when dozer started growling jack ack was trying to bite my fingers and i said "oww" when he caught me keen...tongiht the situation didnt excalate untill jasper was walking towards me growling (though he wasnt growling AT me...its just jaspers communication) i cant help but belive that dozer THINKS hes protecting me...
especially thinking back a couple of days when he was asleep next to me and dusty who he adores normally decidedto come snuggle an he grabbed her by the face and almost bit her cheek off. (she has since forgiven him and they can still be found snuggling together 1/2 the time.)
But what do i do.
i was on the verge of putting an ad on craigslist to find him a new home, but took a breath an decided i needed some outside opinions so i can make a real desicion not an emotional one.

i know resource guarders can be "managed" but from profesional opinion never "cured", training will NOT help with this issue...and because of the type of agression (hes not even remotly agressive to me or people (unless threat perseved after dark) its impossible to "re-direct" because jasper cant offer him seomthing better, i cant sit own and tel jasepr "well if you offer him a treat hell stop trying to eat you"
it leaves me with some options...
1: "manage" the situation, since the situation happens when im around this means essentially a crate and rotate type situation. contineu crating when im not home, but then when i am if cant HOLD jasper one of them would have to be crated/in a seperate room. (ie when im cleaning, doing dishes ect) honesty after the way the agresison has escalated this week, im ot sure id even let them out in the back yard together.

2: rehome Dozer, id have to be incredibly carefull about who he whent home to...but its the option that struck my brian in the emotional "holy ****" after tonights 3 second feels like 30 minute "issue"
hed have to go to a home with no other pets and no small children, hes shown no human agression, but with his size and exhuberance i just dont think i could risk it. hed have to go to someone experienced with large boisterous dogs with resource guarding issues (theres no saying if this is a human guarding issue he wouldnt become guardy against humans in a hulti adult home...as a single woman i cant say he wouldnt get agressive if i had a man over and he thougt the man was trying to hurt me, or even just became jelous...that situation has never arose. i cant see him being human agressive under normal circumstances but...) hed have to be a house dog too.
ad given his breed and size id always be worried hed be going to smeone looking to fight him or tie him out back as a guard dog ect...

3: is the last option and one i dont even want to consider unless EVERY other option has been explored and that would be euthanasia. in the wrong hands this dog could be flat out DANGEROUS, plain and simple. i wont have him living outside on a chain or in a kennel...and i seriously worry about rehoming him that if he ended up in ahnds that arnt as experienced as they need to be he may hurt someone one day...

Right now im leaving it open to other peoples thoughts and optinions...rate/rotate/manage is of course the most time consuming option but one id happily try IF it can be done safely...
but given the size difference i worry that a single slip up on my part could lead to disater.

he has had a reacent vet check, all norma from blood work to hearing (ive sen this "random" agression in dogs wiht hearing loss so i had them do a hearing and vision test, everything normal. he is neutered and this definatly seems to be MOSTLY same sex dog agression triggered by resource guarding tendencies.
horones goud still be playing a part at this stage form prior to neuter, but mastifs and bully breedsdo ten to be prne to same sex dog agression so this could be simply "who" he is.


id love some thougths, some opinions, honest ones.

Would i be being stupid to try and manage this issue identifying myself as the resouce and simply never allowing them to be in the same room together unless jasper is SECURLY in my arms/away form Dozer.
in this senario dozer will NEVER be allowed on the chair i normally sit on with me. hed be "banished" to the floor (because thats the seat jasper typically sleeps on behind me and given his reaction to dusty trying to be in my lap when he was sat on the chair with me that could certianly become a messy situation...
would it be selfish of me to try to manage this situation so i dont have to say goobye to my stuipid goofball of a dog, given that in the pst few days the level of agression has eifnatly escalated.

and in the situation that i couldnt manage it...would it be stupid and selfish of me to potntilaly put a human in danger by rehoming him...i feel in part like id simply be passing a problem to someone else...
once in a single dog home he may never ever display this agression again...but theres a small part of me that wonders if this could turn into human agression in a multi person household/if there wasnt another dog to lash out at. i live alone...i cant even begin to presume what hed be like in a mult human household...he OVES everyone hes ever met (again unless its after ark and he feels there ssomething "not right" but could this resource guarding escalate to the point hed jeously guard his favorite person against another human being? well thers no such thing as never and i just dont know if i could sleep taking that chance.

any insight, thoughts, experience ect woudl be great. ive sent out messages to a few of my very dog experienced (and some dog training frineds) and thus far have gotten similar responces that this cannot be "trained" out of him and could escalate...but have has mixed respnces with some aying manage, some saying rehome and some saying it would be safer to euthanize (not an option im willing to onsider right now.

jasper is pretty shaken up but seems to be otherwise ok...dozer like last night seems to know he did something upsetting but doesnt seem to understand what...i had jasper in my lap and Dozer was wagging playbowing and trying to lick him...
its like Dozer doesnt even recognize jasper as the same Dog he just tried to shake to death like a stuffed animal, as if when he gets into that frame of mind its not realy jasper thats the problem its just whatever is small and moves neer him at the time.
and by morning jasper will likely be barking and playbowing dozer and trying to get him to chase him round the back yard like a manic again...
well he wont, because they wont be alloed to be together in the back yard. the livestock will wait, ill let dozer out while i prep the babies bottles, put him back in while ruby and jasper go pee and i feed the babies, then let him back out and the little ones in while i do the rest of the morning chores. as long as hes here i CANNOT allow even a second for a situation like that to happe again because eventually dozer wil serioulsy hurt or kill jasper...


anywho.
On a different note.
Dozer guy is finnished. he id more than he needed to...98% of the roofing trash is burried under 8-12 inches of dirt. an about 85% of the brush long with it.
I now have 2 LARGE burn piles that are MOSTLY wood, howeve rthe remainding 2% of roofing trash that was left in the last bits of brush after he ran out of burrying space is mixed in with the brush piles.
he then cut in around both burn piles witht he dozer making a large dirt "fire block" around them so assuming i dont go soaking thepiles in lighter fluid or setting them off on a seriously winy day, they SHOULDNT try and spread.
the plan now is to wait a few weeks for the trees to finnish ropping thier leaves then set the piles (one at a time) a-light and let them burn down.
then when were ready to start working on the pond he'll have his track hoe on sight, and he'll burry anything left of the piles that doesnt burn down on the other side of the creek bed/what will eventually be the pond. he simply ran out of SAFE space to burry whats left...theres ranom spot of roofing shingles under about a foot o dirt over about 80% of the newly cleared land...though youd never know looking at it now...it just looks like a big open space...but under the surface lies all those shingles and nails and glass and metal...(which was simply too rusty to be worth anything as scrap...(unless i could find a place that bought pure rust dust LOL!))

he ended up clearing about 1.3 acres
ive got about an acre cleared already which leaves me 2 acres along the back propety line to start working on, and of that id say theres only mabe 3/4 an acre of actual brush, the rest is simply lots of pine trees, nothing worth any real money not enough and not big enough...but enough an likely small enough that my dad and a chainsaw could make me a pretty deacent stakc of logs for the fire pit eventually lol.

Willbost some sie by side shots in a little while.
he wanted to burry everything, but smply ran out of space to safley burry it in.

 

[pinkfox]

 

[Denim Deb]

Wow, what a difference!

As for the Dozer dog question, RU had a similar problem. She got a puppy that was at least part pit bull. And, she wouldn't rehome her for just those reasons. She was normally fine, but every so once in awhile, something would trigger her to go after one of the other dogs. At least, it was always outside, so we were able to break them up w/a hose or a bucket of water. The vet put her on some kind of mild medication. I don't recall now what it was, but if you want, I can find out. And, she had no more problems w/her. Unfortunately, she developed other health problems that they weren't able to cure, so she had to put her down, so I don't know how this would have worked as a long term solution-she wasn't that old. But, this might be something you could ask the vet about.

As much as I hate to even suggest it, if you can't find a way to control him, the best thing might be to put him down. Even if you were to rehome him, if something bad were to happen, you'd feel guilty. And, there's always the possibility that he may start to go after people.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Your place is looking great!

I know what a hard situation you're dealing with as far as Dozer goes. We had a dog that was a constant escapee. It wouldn't be so bad for him to escape the yard if he hadn't been so aggressive when he was loose. We live in a fairly rural area, but because our road is long and doesn't have much vehicle traffic - folks use it to walk or bicycle on. That was the problem. Our little dog was so 'protective' of our property that he would attack anyone on the street. He would never bite skin - only shoes. In fact, he chased a woman one time who had on sandals, and that's probably the only thing that saved her - he would NOT bite her skin. But, a few months later she came down the road with tennis shoes on and he bit her (shoe) on the heel.

He was a 15 lb dog who could escape from anything. Fences could not hold him - he'd climb them, jump them or tunnel under them. An electric fence would not hold him- he'd suffer the shock to get out. He could slip out of any collar or haness if we tried to chain him, anti-jump harnesses would be chewed through in a couple of hours. We even put a 5 lb weight on the end of a short chain around his neck so he couldn't jump. Long story short - the only freedom he could enjoy would be while in the house.

Then he started going through window screens if the window was open - or he'd shoot out the door if the latch didn't catch, then he learned to pop the latch. The final decision finally came when I followed him down the street after another escape. The kids that lived a couple of houses down from us saw him loose and were so terrified that they ran in their house screaming. That was the final straw. He was the most loving dog while in the house - he was my lap warmer every winter - but he was a liability. I couldn't take the chance that he would actually end up hurting someone. It was the hardest decision ever, but it had to be made. I felt like a failure as a dog owner...and it still hurts...but it was the right thing to do.

Good luck!

 

[the funny farm6]

sad to hear about your pup. as someone with a soft spot for pits, and rescues them offten (got one last night). you truly do have few choices. if you do decide to try rehoming, ask for references-vet, trainers, neighbors. also, you might be able to find a breed spacific rescue-they often take mixes (cant remember what breed you said he was right now) but they often have experience with these cases and can help with training, or rehoming. cant hurt to contact and seek advice.

on a good note...WOW! on the clearing, what a difference! looks great. makes me want to hire a dozer. lol

 

[pinkfox]

thanks guys...
Deb id be very interested in finding out what the meication is, thanks!

i think for rihgt now at least were going to try and make it work.
ill be keeping my sling out and will be "wearing" Jasper for light chores, he loves to be carried around so that wont e any issue LOL!
Dozer is officially not alowed on my chair, not going to kcik him off other furniture because hes not guarding the furniture....but he cant sit IN my chair with me plain and simple, ESPECIALLy if any of the other animals are up.
they will be physically seperated at any time wearing jasper or watching them is simply not posible...

itll mean more work for me making sure everyone can be properly managed but its not like im a uper busy person...

if i cant safely manage it though, he'll need to go, preferably to a breed rescue or rehome privatly (no worries im super picky already lol)
but ive not completly ruled out the last option :/

and to add to the stres rubies decided she no longer likes dry food...so now im gooking up a batch of brown rice, ground chicken, chicken gizards and hearts and chicken livers to make some "wet" food for her...she had a hypoglycemic attack the afternoon before last because shes not eating enough to keep her blood sugar up...
silly girl gets some odd notions in her mind sometimes.

i swear november is going to be a pain in the tuckus.

 

[pinkfox]

today is once again buisness as usual, jasper is currently sat on dozers head and all of 15 mins ago they were charging round the back yard like bestest buds...i seriously just dont get it...
hed them seperated so i could each my lunch in peache and they were standing nose to nose at the gate crying...this is ridiculous, one minute they want to eat eachother the next their lives are not complete without eachother.

GAH.

got an email from a trainer last night whos experienced with the breed and the kinds of issues were having an thinks she can help...im willing to try..within reason...

in other news, stocke up my pantry a little, still needs a few more cans here and there, to finnishe a "ful stock" (at least a much as my curret shelves will hold lol) and then itll just be a case of replacing what i use .
and now ive got to make a run into town as the neighbor needs to go and has offered to put gas in my car and whatever i want form the supermarket for dinner....and i cant turn that down...and when i come back im going to make the most of this beautiful day an eat my lunch out on the deck with Dozer...

 

[pinkfox]

GAHHHHH!

so a while back the neighbor lost water, so he asked to use my outside faucet to fill a cooler...
being an idiot i told him yes...because i mean come on, its a faucet how hard is it to use.
he managed to break it (he must have over turned it)
i had the hose hooked up to it so not realy that big a deal as i had no leakage, figured it would hold untill i could buy the pat to fix it.

well i got the part, removed the old screw and the screw hadnt just stripped but had completly SNAPPED off inside the center mecanism...
i couldnt fix it without 1: another trip to the store for a new part, and 2: turning off the water to the entire house while i tried, and llbe honest gas and the thought fo crawling under the house...not on the to do list. so i figured, hey the hose pipe is shoing no weak spots i should be fine untill dad can come visit and help me fix it...

everythign was fine...
whent out to town for the neighbor...got home and wondered, why can i hear rushing water...look back...why do i have a pretty fountain spewing all over the back of my house...
yup the hose pipe burst.

now remember the water is stuck in the ON position right now (because when you turn the handle it just spins, you have to puh in and hod it in to turn it off...
so i unscrewed the hose pipe...yup, got soaked form the esscaping spray as i removed the hose...fun...
then had to fashion some kind of brace...see when you Push on the handle towards the wall, whatever part that needs to make it work gets pushed back into place and it turns off....but short of sanidng there for the next 3 months...
so i grabbed some of the clips i got to put my fence up, water ouring everywhere and with 1 hand pressed it in and the other hand tried to hook these thigns in such a way as to keep enough pressure on it puling it towards the wall that it would stay OFF...took me a good 10 minutes to inally get itin a position where the emergency idea in my head worked the way i wanted it to and currently the faucet is off...
but im soggy, shoes and pants and hands/sleaves got soaked, ive got to go put the critters to bed in about 5 mins o havent changed yet, but as soon as i get back in, th pjs and slipper socks are going on...

aparently novmeber is going to be "one of those months"
and now im going to need to not only potentially by a new faucet, but a new hosepipe in the spring AND haul water again from in the house untill its sorted...DOH!

 

[SSDreamin]

Hmmm...seems, with that much of an issue from it, the neighbor should be called upon to fix his foolish mistake (well, not fix, but pay to have fixed)