somerville dog: a weblog

We rescues a 9 month Australian Terrier Female 2 months ago. She went right into heat and was spayed right after. She is a love and has to be on your lap as much as possible, and plays with our other dogs well (although she uses her teeth a lot and I am afraid she will hurt the little ones)) but sometimes she snaps if we get close to each other or pay the other dogs attention. I am afraid she will make contact. Especially snappy if she is sitting with you and someone else gives you a hug. We know she was caged way too much and kicked by a 3 year old. How can we break her of this?

Thank you for posting a comment to the somerville dog weblog!

You should join the Yahoo discussion group, agbeh (Agressive Behaviors in Dogs) and post your question to the nearly 400 experienced dog trainers who participate in the discussion about agressive behaviors in dogs there.

In the Somerville area you might contact the Anna Harris Smith Center for Human-Animal Learning at the Animal Rescue League of Boston, Canine University or the New England Dog Traing Club.

Best wishes to your family.

I have a 4 year old Bordeaux that has up until recently been a wonderful gentle giant of a dog. She has started attacking my 12 year old dog for no reason. i don't know what to do and this can not continue. My 12 year old ended up at the emergency clinic with over 100 stiches and I have been basdly injured breaking up the fights. Any suggestions would be very welcome.

To an amateur, it sounds like your four-year old is trying to usurp your twelve-year-old's higher-status position in the household "pack." For more information about sibling rivalry in dogs and how to handle it, try a web-search on "dogs" and "sibling rivalry." I don't have access to my library at the moment, but I believe that "sibling rivalry" is covered by Jean Donaldson in her book, Fight: A practical guide to the treatment of dog-dog aggression (available from Dogwise.com).

You should share your experience with the experienced dog trainers who participate in the "Aggressive Behaviors in Dogs" (agbeh) discussion group. I'm sure that they will be able to help you to understand your dogs' behavior and prevent future aggression.

Hello, thanks for your very kind recommendations of our group, Aggressive Behaviors in Dogs (Agbeh, for short). It's located at Yahoo Groups. We now have more than 3000 members, approx. 500+ of whom are dog trainers.