Please Help Me, Aggressive Jug Puppy

[x-amber-turtle-x]

Join our free community today.

Connect with other like-minded dog lovers!

Login or Register

My jug puppy alfie, hates other dogs, when I take him for a walk and he sees another dog he pulls and does this high pitch blood curdling squeal and growls and shows his teeth got so bad I have to put a muzzle everytime he goes for a walk. we have another dog in the house who is a cavalier king Charles spaniel, when alfie was first brought home he used to play fight with our other dog like jump in his face and chew his ears and they used to mouth each other with no aggression but as alfie got older he would switch for no reason what so ever and go for our other dog and bite and not let go even if we tell him to stop and shout he just wont let go we actual have to get between them and I have to put my hand in his mouth and pry his mouth open to get him off cause he lock his jaws on him the other dog does not fight he just crys and trys to get away but alfie will not let him go. so now alfie is put in a very large cage with his food and toys during the day and over night he only comes out when he has his 4 walks but still goes for dogs if we are out. he also will go for anyone who comes in my room where his cage is if they come near me luckily he is in the cage. he is also unsure of children some children he goes very shy but skatty with but some he will bark with. I am going through hell with him, we have got him a vibrating collar that triggers when he barks to see if that stops or distracts him for going for other dogs, it stopped him barking for no reason but if theres another dog he completely egnors it, tried various training methods, im starting to give up and I really don't want to because when he is on his own he is a well behaved dog and does listen to commands and is soft as anything. im just pulling my hair out can anyone give me advice or having the same experience with there dog? sorry if I havnt explained this very well but I tried my best

 

[Hula]

What age is he ?

Have you had him checked by a vet ?

If he is in his cage all day and all night apart from walks it's not much of a life

 

[banana]

Oh he is very very cute!

Welcome to Dog Forum!

I think you need to get him to a really good behaviour trainer, you can't go on as you are - he must be pretty stressed as I am sure you are x

 

[Sadie]

You don't say how old your boy is, but it sounds like he's a one person/one dog pet. Sorry if this sounds negative, but some dogs just adopt their owner to the total exclusion of everything/everyone else.

Our Jacques could easily be the same, but thankfully we insist he is fed/walked/stroked/played with by other family members, so that he doesn't become tooooooo attached to me!! (Even so, he is like my shadow which can be very burdensome!)

Could you consider rehoming him to someone with pug experience who lives alone? If you are in it for the long haul, then a behaviourist is the only answer - for you and your other doggie as much as Alfie.

Really feel for you..... :huggles:

Sadie x

 

[quintessence]

Is he a pure bred pug?, andhave you contacted his breeder for advice and support.

Jenny

 

[x-amber-turtle-x]

he is 1 in February, he is half pug half jack russel, but seems to be more jack than pug. may seem he is constantly in his cage but he goes for 4 2hour long walks every day and has a play while he is out, this cage is not a cage suited for him it is custom built so he can run in it and play with his toys and he has a bed area. I have gone to a vet they said get him done which I have done but no joy! still the same. I don't want to loose him and im not just going to get rid of him cause the goings got tuff I don't want to give up on him. he could be such a smashing dog coz he is soooo obedient just not when it comes to other dogs or people coming near me. I havnt gone to a special behaviour dog class due to being embaressed coz there will be other dogs and alfie will not stop or give in but it seems to me like that's the only option left. :/ thankyou for all your comments

 

[eingana]

I'm afraid to say that this is one of the new fangled 'designer crossbreeds' that I really think doesn't work very well. You MAY get a chilled and sweet little thing, but on the other hand you MAY get a dog with the very strong terrier instincts of the Jack Russell along with the pig headedness and resilience of spirit of the pug, which can make a problem a very intractable problem.

I've already known 2 JRT x pugs which were strikingly similar and have been rehomed as older puppies because they were incredibly high energy and just wouldn't stop chewing or jumping all over other animals and children, no matter how many training sessions were gone to, exercise taken and chew toys/ bitter apple used. In both instances the deal breaker was that the JRT x pug leapt all over other animals to the point that the other animals' nerves and health were suffering with the constant bites to ears, tail and neck and the lack of sleep that they were allowed by the puppy.

I'm afraid that I don't have an answer for you, if only because in the dogs I mention none of my usual tools worked. The strong willed pug part of the dogs' demeanour meant that if they didn't want to come back when you called, no amount of bribery or exciting game made them want to come back, and whilst the owners could stop them jumping all over the other animals while they were actively paying attention, that made no difference when they were out, and the other animals were needing lots of vet attention and to be separated just to get some sleep at night. The same applied to chewing- overnight or when the owners were out everything in their beds or within their reach got shredded repeatedly unless someone paid them attention.

I wish you luck, but I think you're going to need a behaviourist on this one.

 

[x-amber-turtle-x]

he has never destroyed anything in the house or anything its just other dogs and because the fact with other dogs you don't even get a warning sign like a growl he just pounces in seconds split personality switches so because of that if a kid goes near him I do panic when I took him to the vets a month ago 2 lil girls came right up to him and patted his head and cuddled him and he loved it, on the way out the vet there was a lil boy and he egnored him so alfie barked and went skatty, I just really don't know, this is the first ever cross bred dog I have had. thankyou so much all of you for the advice looks like we are going to be trying a behaviourist

 

[foxn10]

Hi Amber

I have a ten month old Jug named coincidentally, Alfie who is a complete nightmare at the moment. We saw a pet trainer and had him on a good regime with lots of reward and challenges attached. However, he became ill last week - so much so we thought he might die. He recovered very quickly but with it -- he has become a total nutbag. He barks and growls at everything that moves -- cars in particular. It is impossible to walk him except in areas where there are no cars whatsoever. I was prepared to put up with the lunges at squirrels -- but every dog that goes past he attempts to bite. He was a rescue dog so we don't know what he went through before, and we don't want to give up on him. We are contacting a pet behaviourist and going to see what can be done. We thought it was just us -- so hearing your story has funnily enough given me new hope. Thanks for sharing and stick with it - my Alfie is definitely worth it.

Nigel

 

[banana]

Hello Foxn - welcome to Dog Forum - thanks for joining!

We will have to get a Jug forum at this rate!! lol

 

[Strix]

he is 1 in February, he is half pug half jack russel, but seems to be more jack than pug. may seem he is constantly in his cage but he goes for 4 2hour long walks every day and has a play while he is out, this cage is not a cage suited for him it is custom built so he can run in it and play with his toys and he has a bed area. I have gone to a vet they said get him done which I have done but no joy! still the same. I don't want to loose him and im not just going to get rid of him cause the goings got tuff I don't want to give up on him. he could be such a smashing dog coz he is soooo obedient just not when it comes to other dogs or people coming near me. I havnt gone to a special behaviour dog class due to being embaressed coz there will be other dogs and alfie will not stop or give in but it seems to me like that's the only option left. :/ thankyou for all your comments

this is a VERY telling comment. A pug was never a breed intended to be a cute pet. In dog circles they're known as something of a dog person's dog, and you have to have a strong personality to master living with one - though that still comes with its challenges! You need to ditch ANY unconfident type of emotion you have around this dog. You're the one who feeds him.You're the one who says what goes - and I mean that in a no-nonsense Victoria Stilwell fashion, not the bullying Cesar Milan kind of way btw
JRT's are another challenging breed. Presumably these two breeds were only crossed to create a stupid named dog *shrugs* - they certainly weren't crossed to produce a nice pet! (I'm from a family of JRT owners btw, and think they're great dogs )

As previously advised... get a good behaviourist - but know that it's more about teaching you how to handle your dog effectively, so the dog responds better, more than it is about disciplining the dog

 

[x-amber-turtle-x]

Hi Amber

I have a ten month old Jug named coincidentally, Alfie who is a complete nightmare at the moment. We saw a pet trainer and had him on a good regime with lots of reward and challenges attached. However, he became ill last week - so much so we thought he might die. He recovered very quickly but with it -- he has become a total nutbag. He barks and growls at everything that moves -- cars in particular. It is impossible to walk him except in areas where there are no cars whatsoever. I was prepared to put up with the lunges at squirrels -- but every dog that goes past he attempts to bite. He was a rescue dog so we don't know what he went through before, and we don't want to give up on him. We are contacting a pet behaviourist and going to see what can be done. We thought it was just us -- so hearing your story has funnily enough given me new hope. Thanks for sharing and stick with it - my Alfie is definitely worth it.

Nigel

I am so happy I am not alone in this I thought I was the only one with a troublesome jug, yeah behaviourist is the way to goi wont give up either, thanks for your message!

he is 1 in February, he is half pug half jack russel, but seems to be more jack than pug. may seem he is constantly in his cage but he goes for 4 2hour long walks every day and has a play while he is out, this cage is not a cage suited for him it is custom built so he can run in it and play with his toys and he has a bed area. I have gone to a vet they said get him done which I have done but no joy! still the same. I don't want to loose him and im not just going to get rid of him cause the goings got tuff I don't want to give up on him. he could be such a smashing dog coz he is soooo obedient just not when it comes to other dogs or people coming near me. I havnt gone to a special behaviour dog class due to being embaressed coz there will be other dogs and alfie will not stop or give in but it seems to me like that's the only option left. :/ thankyou for all your comments

this is a VERY telling comment. A pug was never a breed intended to be a cute pet. In dog circles they're known as something of a dog person's dog, and you have to have a strong personality to master living with one - though that still comes with its challenges! You need to ditch ANY unconfident type of emotion you have around this dog. You're the one who feeds him.You're the one who says what goes - and I mean that in a no-nonsense Victoria Stilwell fashion, not the bullying Cesar Milan kind of way btw
JRT's are another challenging breed. Presumably these two breeds were only crossed to create a stupid named dog *shrugs* - they certainly weren't crossed to produce a nice pet! (I'm from a family of JRT owners btw, and think they're great dogs )

As previously advised... get a good behaviourist - but know that it's more about teaching you how to handle your dog effectively, so the dog responds better, more than it is about disciplining the dog

Thankyou for the advice helps a lot

 

[Andrea s]

Some great advice already given, i do believe some cross breeds should never be attempted simply because its a can of worms best left closed, but i also believe the right dog in the right hands can be a great dog, in some respects this behaviour should not have been allowed from day one, over zealous play fighting left uncorrected gives the dog impetus to continue as it gets them attention and makes them feel good as they get the upper hand, the barking at other dogs could be fear aggression not anger aggression, when a dog is on the lead or in a crate in its safe place and a dog/ adult /child aproaches it has no option to run away, you leave it with only a few other options, to freeze out of fear or to fight, if you remove the option of flee then it resorts to one of the others, saying that though it could also be picking up on your anxiety, if you send the dog the message that you are worried at a situation due to the dogs unpredicatble nature he will detect this and see it as a weekenss thus leaving him to decide the course of action.

We had a rescue dog live with us for 5 months as a foster dog, he was adorable, some sort of long legged JRT cross, an Irish stray who im almost 100% sure had been used for ratting, his prey drive was so strong he would lunge at birds, squirrels, other small dogs, he had food aggression and other issues, i thought i had bitten off more than i could chew with him, he could not be let off lead, even in our garden as he once jumped ito my neighbours garden , they have 3 staffies who are not well socialised and are dog agressive so the fear of him jumping over when they were out meant he even had to be on a lead in our own garden!!!

I worked very hard with him, he was a very intelligent dog, he over came his food aggression, he learnt numerous commands but he never got over his prey drive, he was adopted by a lovely lady who knew JRT and wanted the challenge, he is very settled in his new home, he still does not go off lead he cant for his own safety they have worked with a trainer and knew if worse came to the worse he would always have to remain on a long line, he is happy and with the right owner, had he of gone to anyone else he would have been returned to rescue within days which is what happened to him to start with, he was adopted and returned for food aggression , the adopters were not savvy enough to know how to deal with this issue and so he was returned , i gave him the chance of a foster home, and from then on it was only looking good for him. Im not saying you need to rehome him , you need to arm yourself with the skills of how to deal with him, he is only like he is becase he has been allowed to go unchecked.

A good trainer who is JRT/PUG savvy, who can arm you with the correct skills and then you can work on his issues.

Good luck.

 

[TTT]

he is 1 in February, he is half pug half jack russel, but seems to be more jack than pug. may seem he is constantly in his cage but he goes for 4 2hour long walks every day and has a play while he is out, this cage is not a cage suited for him it is custom built so he can run in it and play with his toys and he has a bed area. I have gone to a vet they said get him done which I have done but no joy! still the same. I don't want to loose him and im not just going to get rid of him cause the goings got tuff I don't want to give up on him. he could be such a smashing dog coz he is soooo obedient just not when it comes to other dogs or people coming near me. I havnt gone to a special behaviour dog class due to being embaressed coz there will be other dogs and alfie will not stop or give in but it seems to me like that's the only option left. :/ thankyou for all your comments

No harm to you but this should have been one of your first considerations......."socialising your dog". Get yourself along t a local dog training club.