TossBranAbi
Boxer Insane
So for the past week now, Brady is acting aggressive towards Dozer. Dozer is an in your face, go all out type of dog and he annoys me sometimes because of how he acts in that respect and every now and again Brady would warn Dozer when he was in his face but no big deal.
They will be fine and then all of a sudden Brady will "stalk" Dozer, watches his every mood and stands over top of him. Brady raises his hackles and lets out a low rumble. I always discourage it but when Brady starts, it takes a bit to get him to stop. There doesn't seem to be a constant trigger but I have noticed a lot of the times it seems like he is guarding us (humans and Abbie) from Dozer. They still play with each other like normal but then all of a sudden, he goes into stalker mode.
It seems to be a dominance issue between Brady and Dozer and I do use NILIF but Brady is still intent on stalking Dozer.
I would imagine the all of a sudden onset is due to stress as we had a major water leak and our house is under repair for the past 3 weeks. There have been various new people (insurance adjuster, restoration company, contractors) in and out of the house almost every day for the past 3 weeks and part of the house is blocked off. It is stressful for us so I can only imagine what the dogs and cats are going through.
My fear is that this behavior is going to become a habit for Brady. Unfortunately the house is going to be a work in progress for a little while yet. They have walls and ceilings ripped down, we actually ripped the last wall down ourselves tonight to have less stress on the animals. There are going to be contractors running in and out repairing everything. It will probably be a few weeks yet. I wish we could do everything ourselves to save money and to create less stress but with me in school, Stephen working, and so much to do it is impossible.
What can I do to stop this aggression? I do have to say that Dozer is "socially dumb" so he doesn't pick up on Brady's signals. Dozer thinks everything is a game, even when he is in trouble with us or the other dogs. He is the bounce off the walls, do everything (good and bad) with 150%, loopy dog. He isn't the brightest boxer.
Any suggestions?
They will be fine and then all of a sudden Brady will "stalk" Dozer, watches his every mood and stands over top of him. Brady raises his hackles and lets out a low rumble. I always discourage it but when Brady starts, it takes a bit to get him to stop. There doesn't seem to be a constant trigger but I have noticed a lot of the times it seems like he is guarding us (humans and Abbie) from Dozer. They still play with each other like normal but then all of a sudden, he goes into stalker mode.
It seems to be a dominance issue between Brady and Dozer and I do use NILIF but Brady is still intent on stalking Dozer.
I would imagine the all of a sudden onset is due to stress as we had a major water leak and our house is under repair for the past 3 weeks. There have been various new people (insurance adjuster, restoration company, contractors) in and out of the house almost every day for the past 3 weeks and part of the house is blocked off. It is stressful for us so I can only imagine what the dogs and cats are going through.
My fear is that this behavior is going to become a habit for Brady. Unfortunately the house is going to be a work in progress for a little while yet. They have walls and ceilings ripped down, we actually ripped the last wall down ourselves tonight to have less stress on the animals. There are going to be contractors running in and out repairing everything. It will probably be a few weeks yet. I wish we could do everything ourselves to save money and to create less stress but with me in school, Stephen working, and so much to do it is impossible.
What can I do to stop this aggression? I do have to say that Dozer is "socially dumb" so he doesn't pick up on Brady's signals. Dozer thinks everything is a game, even when he is in trouble with us or the other dogs. He is the bounce off the walls, do everything (good and bad) with 150%, loopy dog. He isn't the brightest boxer.
Any suggestions?
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