How are the dogs? The dogs are fine, though we are having some sort of a rough patch that we need to figure out how to solve. How wonderful if Cesar Millan was here.
Lately, the dogs are involved in some sort of altercations. Bruce, being the youngest and most charming of them all, would never start a fight. He is big and playful. He is a mean scary machine, but he's the least aggressive. He was even diagnosed as shy and fearful. Harvey in the meantime is collected, calm and very good with dogs. He never retaliates on bitching, but if it's a tackle, he's a force to be reckoned with. With his size and small-dog mentality, he still calls the shots in the group though not in an aggressive kind of way. Chivas is typical an indoor dog. He's snooty and bitchy, but totally harmless. Buddy, being the most senior of the group, never really cares much for plays and extreme interaction. He sports some senior temper tantrums once in a while.
The three dogs namely Chivas, Bruce and Harvey are cool with each other. They play around, fool around and sometimes play rough. Bruce pesters Harvey and they get into each others' nerves but it never ends in a fight. Always after a rough play, they chill around in some cool spot and get their naps together. Buddy is the quiet and observant one. Probably being the senior in the group, the rest of the dogs don't really pester him. In terms of playtime, he's not really involved as it's mostly Bruce and Harvey.
Then we witnessed how Buddy evolved. As soon as the other dogs were having fun, he bullies Bruce to submission. He growls and steps on Bruce. Even if Bruce already had a bigger physique at that time this behavior erupted, he would bow down and cower. Of course we got mad at Buddy. Out of nowhere we saw aggression, the sort of aggression we never saw from the rest of the dogs. It's really weird how he would only attack Bruce and never Harvey. Then we knew why, Harvey would fight and Buddy would amazingly shut up. Bruce would cower being the youngest, but we saw how Harvey pushed Buddy away effortlessly. Harvey would bark, growl and sometimes attack Buddy to leave.
When we saw it, we tried to observe more and understand where Buddy was coming from. Probably he's too old to appreciate play and noise. He's okay when nothing exciting is happening, but if Bruce and Harvey start to rumble, he would go on an attack mode and Harvey would be this front line soldier while Bruce look on not knowing what to do. It carried on for a month.
After a few weeks, it kind of stopped. We tried to give them space and things went back to normal. Until Harvey and Bruce were playing and Buddy attacked out of nowhere targeting only on Bruce. Harvey as always became this fighter dog and what's new in this equation was, with Harvey's cue, Bruce actually fought back! He barked his mean barked, growled and being a natural bullmastiff, pinned Buddy down with so much ease as Harvey tried to teach Buddy a lesson. It became a team effort against the senior. Buddy was helpless.
Bruce and Harvey didn't start the fight. Unconsciously they might have provoked Buddy to start it, but the challenging part was that Bruce already knew how to fight back. He didn't really tear Buddy to pieces though he could, but he did what his physique and breed was meant to do. Buddy may have been more than 7 years old and a capable guard dog and Bruce only 9 months old and basically a puppy. But Bruce is a large breed and a heavy-set dog. He can easily pin anyone down and that's what he's made of. God knows his weight and the strength of his paws and upper body. His strength mixed with fury make a bullmastiff a formidable protector.
Right now, we're giving them space. If they are all in the same grounds together, we make sure there's someone to observe and break the situation early. We also make sure for Buddy to realize that we won't tolerate that behavior. We make our presence known. So far, it's working but it's not fool proof. They've had cuts and bruises already. A week ago a fight broke out. Buddy ended up limping and Bruce had few cuts, which we took care of. I don't want this to be escalated any further.
They don't immediately shred each other to parts. When they see each other, they hang around and chill together. There are just some specific triggers that tick them off like when some dogs are having fun, one gets angry and they always seem to play the same roles. Bruce and Harvey never initiate, but they don't back down on a fight either. I do know that dogs fight sometimes, but I don't want to come home knowing they had nasty injuries for the day or something worse that I dare not think of. They have strengths that would be their best qualities and worst for other dogs. They started off okay, but something went wrong along the way.
I still believe my dogs are very well socialized. They are not aggressive and they are very loving creatures. I'm still proud of them, but these things are unavoidable and as humans we have to control it. We are still in the process of observing them, but thankfully no fights occurred in the past few days even if they were together. Can they learn a lesson on their own? I hope so or else I would need someone more professional to fix this.
Lately, the dogs are involved in some sort of altercations. Bruce, being the youngest and most charming of them all, would never start a fight. He is big and playful. He is a mean scary machine, but he's the least aggressive. He was even diagnosed as shy and fearful. Harvey in the meantime is collected, calm and very good with dogs. He never retaliates on bitching, but if it's a tackle, he's a force to be reckoned with. With his size and small-dog mentality, he still calls the shots in the group though not in an aggressive kind of way. Chivas is typical an indoor dog. He's snooty and bitchy, but totally harmless. Buddy, being the most senior of the group, never really cares much for plays and extreme interaction. He sports some senior temper tantrums once in a while.
The three dogs namely Chivas, Bruce and Harvey are cool with each other. They play around, fool around and sometimes play rough. Bruce pesters Harvey and they get into each others' nerves but it never ends in a fight. Always after a rough play, they chill around in some cool spot and get their naps together. Buddy is the quiet and observant one. Probably being the senior in the group, the rest of the dogs don't really pester him. In terms of playtime, he's not really involved as it's mostly Bruce and Harvey.
Then we witnessed how Buddy evolved. As soon as the other dogs were having fun, he bullies Bruce to submission. He growls and steps on Bruce. Even if Bruce already had a bigger physique at that time this behavior erupted, he would bow down and cower. Of course we got mad at Buddy. Out of nowhere we saw aggression, the sort of aggression we never saw from the rest of the dogs. It's really weird how he would only attack Bruce and never Harvey. Then we knew why, Harvey would fight and Buddy would amazingly shut up. Bruce would cower being the youngest, but we saw how Harvey pushed Buddy away effortlessly. Harvey would bark, growl and sometimes attack Buddy to leave.
When we saw it, we tried to observe more and understand where Buddy was coming from. Probably he's too old to appreciate play and noise. He's okay when nothing exciting is happening, but if Bruce and Harvey start to rumble, he would go on an attack mode and Harvey would be this front line soldier while Bruce look on not knowing what to do. It carried on for a month.
After a few weeks, it kind of stopped. We tried to give them space and things went back to normal. Until Harvey and Bruce were playing and Buddy attacked out of nowhere targeting only on Bruce. Harvey as always became this fighter dog and what's new in this equation was, with Harvey's cue, Bruce actually fought back! He barked his mean barked, growled and being a natural bullmastiff, pinned Buddy down with so much ease as Harvey tried to teach Buddy a lesson. It became a team effort against the senior. Buddy was helpless.
Bruce and Harvey didn't start the fight. Unconsciously they might have provoked Buddy to start it, but the challenging part was that Bruce already knew how to fight back. He didn't really tear Buddy to pieces though he could, but he did what his physique and breed was meant to do. Buddy may have been more than 7 years old and a capable guard dog and Bruce only 9 months old and basically a puppy. But Bruce is a large breed and a heavy-set dog. He can easily pin anyone down and that's what he's made of. God knows his weight and the strength of his paws and upper body. His strength mixed with fury make a bullmastiff a formidable protector.
Right now, we're giving them space. If they are all in the same grounds together, we make sure there's someone to observe and break the situation early. We also make sure for Buddy to realize that we won't tolerate that behavior. We make our presence known. So far, it's working but it's not fool proof. They've had cuts and bruises already. A week ago a fight broke out. Buddy ended up limping and Bruce had few cuts, which we took care of. I don't want this to be escalated any further.
They don't immediately shred each other to parts. When they see each other, they hang around and chill together. There are just some specific triggers that tick them off like when some dogs are having fun, one gets angry and they always seem to play the same roles. Bruce and Harvey never initiate, but they don't back down on a fight either. I do know that dogs fight sometimes, but I don't want to come home knowing they had nasty injuries for the day or something worse that I dare not think of. They have strengths that would be their best qualities and worst for other dogs. They started off okay, but something went wrong along the way.
I still believe my dogs are very well socialized. They are not aggressive and they are very loving creatures. I'm still proud of them, but these things are unavoidable and as humans we have to control it. We are still in the process of observing them, but thankfully no fights occurred in the past few days even if they were together. Can they learn a lesson on their own? I hope so or else I would need someone more professional to fix this.
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