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| All of this info is available here on forum.oes.org | | hi again my 6month old bear sheepie is doing better he is letting her cuddle now but she is so aggresive and bites alot now is that a puppy thing or is she going to be mean now will she grow out of this or is she playing i have lots of patience for them they are my babies!!!!!!!!they are the greatest dogs in the world im just scared she will be mean she wont let us pet her now she bites help!!!!!!! i just hope my baby girl sophie sheepie is as sweet as my baby bear sheepie | |
| We have our 2nd OES- 8 years old- great w/our family and kids (4 daughers 8-3)....but he has always exhibited a jumpy edge, and "nipped" sometimes in the past, more seemingly by mistake than by intentional agression...
He is extrememly stubborn and jumpy and not the best overall good dispositon/ perfect personality (vs. our first OES that loved people and never showed agression or reacted to moving objects (ie., our dog chases bikes, anyhthing on wheels)
Last night however, my daughter was trynig to pet his face and he jerked around and ended up biting my daughter- ON THE FACE and there was a deep gash in her cheek requiring stitches and a 6 hour stint at the ER.
I am torn - I don't think anyone would take him in since he is 8 and has this history, we are considering defanging him - but I need to figure out something to do today that will be the most humane thing and least upsetting for the dog and our family. We live in [town removed by request] California.
Any advice you can give would be greatly appreciated.
Laurie
[last name and email address deleted by request] | Chett,
My experience with my (used to be) 106 pound Sheepie is that children were afraid of him, but the vast majority of adults had no fear in approaching him. (I think that the majority of people who were afraid of him were afraid of dogs in general...)
I am no expert, but maybe it's the way that Chester approaches them!!
My Jake is (usually) almost disinterested in people liking him. It's a little bit strange, but he is so darn excited to go and see who is walking down the street, but once he's near them and has given them a good look over or a sniff over, he loses interest very quickly.
So when we greet new people, I usually hold him back by the collar (perhaps this shows the person that I AM in control), I reassure them by saying "He's VERY friendly, would you like to say hello? He might lick you to death." If the response is positive, then I encourage Jake to "go say hi", and he approaches them, gives'em a sniff (actually probably checking for food in hand, I'm sure) then looks around.
It's a very non-threatening scene for everyone.
I don't know about Chester, but Jake has no problem with people hugging him around the neck. I understand that a lot of dogs find this to be quite threatening, and may pull back, growl or even snap at the offending hugger. So before I understood that my dog wasn't going to bite anyone for this, I used to tell little children "Just pet him with one hand at a time", because I was afraid that many would go right up to him, hug him and come away mauled. It never happened. Most of the kids are too wary of his size to embrace him with a hug.
This has always been a large disappointment for my wife Joan and me, as we LOVE to have children enjoy our Jakester.
Nice to hear from you again, Chett. I hope you found my post to be interesting if not scientifically accurate or well informed! | Suzzie,
I have 2 rescued OES and 4 rescued parrots, 2 blue and gold macaws, 1 African Grey, 1 Red Lored Amazon.
The dogs and parrots relate quite harmoniously. I take the birds with me to a number of animal events, and there are certain breeds that have a high prey drive and are very determined to get "at" the birds. I have taken one of the macaws to the OES annual rescue picnic, and the dogs all ignored the parrot. That was 80 dogs.
That having been said, these are very large parrots that do not fly and can inflict serious bites if bothered (or even if they are just feeling cranky). Smaller birds that fly around tend to be more "interesting" to dogs. I would NEVER leave the dogs and birds out loose unsupervised. I have heard of at least one sheepie who grabbed up a small bird and was carrying it around in his mouth (NO, NO). I have trained both of my dogs and all of the parrots the command "Gentle", meaning don't wrestle, play hard, bite etc.
Again, I think your dream would work out as long as you supervise the critters activities. | It's so wonderful that you rescued the baby.
Dogs with allergies often scratch their ears and rub their faces on walls, beds, etc. They may also lick their legs or bite their feet. You might ask your vet about that possibility.
Also, it's surprising how many chronic skin, ear, seizure and other problems with OES can be caused by low thyroid. Search the web for +Jean Dodds +thyroid to find some articles. The thyroid panel is about $100. and the best screening lab is either the Univ. of Mich. or Dr. Dodds facility in Calif. called HemoPet. It's worth a try if it comes to a last resort.
Good luck and best wishes |  HI ALL, I WAS INTEREST IN BUYING AN OES DOG FOR A LONG TIME, I RESEARCHED AND EVERYTHING I READ WAS HOW LOVING AND SMART THEY ARE. WELL I DON'T KNOW WHAT IN THE WORLD I GOT, BUT I HAVE HAD AN OES FOR OVER TWO MONTHS NOW, WE GOT HIM WHEN HE WAS 8 WEEKS OLD. HE IS MEAN TO MY KIDS, HE BITES THEM, I MEAN DRAWS BLOOD, HE NEVER JUST LAYS AND WANTS TO BE PET, HE IS ALWAYS BITEING, HE STILL USES THE BATHROOM ON MY FLOORS, I GOT A CRATE FOR HIM WHEN WE GOT HIM, ALL HE DOES IS BARK IN IT ALL THE TIME. HE IS DRIVING ME CRAZY, I DON'T EVEN LIKE HIM AND I'M ABOUT TO GET RID OF HIM, I LIVE IN A VERY SMALL TOWN AND I HAVE TRIED TO FIND AN OBEIDENCE CLASS FOR HIM AND THERE ISN'T ANY AROUND. DOES ANYONE HAVE ANY SUGGESTIONS FOR ME? I WOULD REALLY APPRICIATE IT. THANKS FOR LISNENING. LORA | Fritzi's comments are right on target. I have a one-year old OES, GUS, and an 18 month-old nephew who have spent much time around each other. Gus is very friendly and is not bothered at all when my nephew tugs on his hair or playfully wrestles. But Gus's hearding insticts come through when the toddle tries to run to another room. To prevent him, Gus will encircle, knip and sometimes bark. Gus has a tendency to heard my nephew into walls as well. While this behavoir has been harmless in our case, a less athletic (wild) child could find it too rough or scary.
You may have hear the OES nickname "Nanny Dog" or the "Babysister", which I heard was given for their ability to keep a child in the same spot by hearding. Another explanation for this nickname is that and OES will allow a toddler to grab its hair for ballance as it learns to walk. This, too, has proven true my nephew's case.
One more thing, just like all puppies and OES puppy will play bite with very sharp puppy teeth which could be dangerous. | Lora,
When Gus was a teething puppy, his biting was terrible. Although he was being playfully, the bites hurt badly. My hands were bruised and covered in scratches. I received many suggestions to stop the behavoir. The one that worked the best was one I got off the internet (I can't remember the site): when the puppy bites you, hold his mouth shut firmly until he starts to wiggle or wimper. Your grip should not be hard enought to hurt him, but simply to make him uncomfortable and to make you the boss. Persistance and consistency is key. You cannot only do it when you've had enough, but every single time he bites. I've since enrolled our dog in obedience training and our trainer agrees with this method and does not allow her dogs to ever mouth her (licking is allowed). I think this is a smart idea. | I have had all types of dogs over the years, from German sheperds to labs to rotts, all of them have been rescued in one way or another, as far as the chewing goes you need to control what they chew and what they dont chew. Give him toys that is for him. As far as the biting goes, (now I know that some one is going to start shouting that the way I do it is cruel) When ever any of my dogs have bitten me I have bitten there ear, you may laugh but it works. At the moment we have a rottmix (buster 7 years), a husky/rottmix (tiger 18 months) and an OES (digby 14 months) when digby arrived 2 months ago he was for ever biting a chewing every thing in sight. Well within 3 weeks digby stopped biting and now gives kisses, when he is playing with our other dogs he knows that if he bites he will get bittin back. You have to draw a line when training dogs and stick to it if you let them get away with it once they will keep doing it and go further every time. When they are good they get rewarded when the are bad they are punished, I have NEVER used food as a punishment, (I mean by not giving them there food, which I have heard some people have done). If my dogs ever growled at me when they where eating when I first got them, I would hold there food bowl in my hand while they ate and stroked and talked with them. it would take a few times of doing this but in the end no more problem. I can take a bone away from my dogs with out them getting aggressive.
you have to get every one in your family to help train a dog, alot of the time you will find that you need to train the family members more than you will need to tran the dog.
good luck | I RECENTLY BROUGHT HOME A 5 WEEK OLD FEMALE AFGHAN HOUND, SHE HAS BEEN GROWLING AND BITTING ME EVER SINCE SHE DOESNT BITE ANYONE EXCEPT ME.
She just turned 8 weeks yesterday and I just cant touch her as soon as i do she bites and growls, What should I do?.
I tried socializing with other dogs but one bit her and know she is terryfied of anything that resembles a dog. |
MARIERIPLEY wrote:
I RECENTLY BROUGHT HOME A 5 WEEK OLD FEMALE AFGHAN HOUND, SHE HAS BEEN GROWLING AND BITTING ME EVER SINCE SHE DOESNT BITE ANYONE EXCEPT ME.
She just turned 8 weeks yesterday and I just cant touch her as soon as i do she bites and growls, What should I do?.
I tried socializing with other dogs but one bit her and now she is terryfied of anything that resembles a dog. |
| | I just got a Chihuahua puppy who is 8 weeks old. He likes to play bite and play tug of war with items but other times he gets very aggressive. He will snarl and snap at anything in sight which is usually ME! I try to calm him down by talking softly to him or petting him but this doesn't work at all. I am worried that my cute little Chihuahua which most people assume are harmless will become a vicious snappy little dog. I don't know what to do to stop him. If you have any advice for me I would greatly appreciate it! | Does anyone know what happened to Laurie's dog???? my mom's oes was kind of the same way - she too bit my niece on the face - (which was the 3rd time) but she was used to being in a quiet home - and cassie would startle her - the last time - during a thunderstorm while we were camping - and chelsea had just calmed down - cass went to hug her - startled her and stepped on her foot at the same time.
we never let anyone around merlin when he was eating - he seemed just fine with people - but in his last few years - he had killed several kittens - and always while there was food in the vicinity. It was just one quick bite- i think it was a warning bite thing - but the kittens were so little. | Hi Everybody!
My OES is 3 months old now and he had been a very good and well mannered dog until 3 days ago. Whenever we are going to feed him, we ask him to sit and then we give him food, we touch him while he is eating and we could take away his food even when he was still eating (he had been eating dry food only). The problem began 3 days ago when we gave him milk and he got diahrrea.... he stop eating at all and we took him with the vet yesterday. She gave him some cat food to test his appetite... when she tried to approached he growled at him and tried to bite her. When the vet gave him some more he didnīt want to eat. She said that maybe he wasnīt eating because he didnīt want the dry food, that we should combine canned+dry food for him to like it. We did it in the morning and he repeated the behavior. My husband tried to touch him after he ate and the dog bit him very hard!!!..... Any suggestions to stop that? I donīt want to be afraid of my own dog!!! | | Hi, i'm new to this, i'm writing in looking for help and suggestions from other OES owners. Rosie is 14 months old and is the most loving dog you could ever ask for. She is very well behaved and is just getting out of the tugging and pulling the children stage. Though our biggest prob is she has started snapping or you could call it trying to bite the face of people who come to our house ( strangers to rosie). A lot of children visit the house as i have 3 of my own all under 7 years old. She is very tempermental at the moment and i have lost alot of trust in her. There have been several attempts she has tried to snap at my youngest boy and it is a split second behaviour change. Is this common and has any one got any suggestions in how it is dealt with? | No problem.
I have trained dogs for a number of years now. I have used the pinch collar and choke chain up until now. However, these in my experience provided to rough of a correction (as in the pinch collar---what mother dog is able to get her entire mouth around her pups neck and bite down?) or a delayed correction entirely up to me to deliver.
Now I use what is called a Q-Collar. http://quansaqcollar.com/ This web site talks a lot about it. Basicly, you take a regular flat collar and slip a 3 or 4 inch "Q" on it. It is in the shape of a dog bone made out of some type of plastic and has small plastic prongs on the back. When using this type of training collar you have to also use a second flat collar. The correction comes when the two collars are pulled apart. To end the correction the dog must end or change the behavior.
So when I talk about two collars then there are also 2 leashes or lines. Typically when first beginning, one line is anchored to a stationary object (stake in the ground or maybe a 25 pound weight if that is enough for your pup not to pull  The correction comes when you pull on your leash because the two collars are now being pulled apart.
Once you have this set up, "easy" is the first and easiest command to teach. Use a simpel word like let's go or with me or come on....doesn't really matter and walk in a circle around your stationary object. Use a leash long enough to allow your dog not to be right up next to use. When the dog tries to get close give the command "easy" and pull on the leash giving a correction. If the dog is fighting you give the command "easy" until the dog stops fighting you.
I use the word "easy" now all the time. I have her drag a leash around the house and if she is excited when some one comes to the door, I simply step on the leash and give the command...if she attempts to jump she corrects her self as I have used my foot as the stationary object.
I would recomend checking out the web site. There is also a discussion forum on the web site. I have found this very helpful when questions come up. I would recomend posting your question on that discussion as well to get some more situation specific advice from people who have used this training style for a while now. | Hi,
Sounds like you have a tough situation on your hands and wish I could come up with the right answer. This is my suggestion, I would contact a dog trainer and see if they can make a home visit. The money you spend now will outweigh any future vet bills and heartbreak.
To my knowledge, although one dog emerges as the top dog..whether there is two or several, but for the dominant one to hurt the other(s) as you described is unusual in my opinion. In the wild it is extremely rare for animals to fight to the death or hurt one another severely as they only want to establish their dominance.Once done they will stop the attack and the submissive one will always adhere to the dominant one. (even in the wild in wolf packs if the leader is deemed to be too mean, the other wolves will oust him as leader)
Worrisome is if your dog shows this type of aggression with other dogs. In some areas dogs are put down if they even bite another person or animal just one time. I know when I first got "Shaggy" (she was a pound dog) she showed a lot of aggression towards little dogs, taking her to doggie obedience and learning some helpful hints really helped. You may have to emerge as the "leader" of the pack and teach your dominant dog that is not tolerated. Again the trainer in my school showed me how to do this and it worked wonders.
I wish you the best of luck and hopefully other members may come up with other ideas. | Hi StanleysMom,
Breeding your OES takes a lot of responsibility on your part. After all, the offspring are going into families that expect to receive a sound, healthy quality member into their family. At the very least you should check the parents of your boy and make sure they had good hips, shoulders and eyes by being provided the OFA cert and eye cert to prove it. Then, you should have your male's shoulders and hips OFA and his eyes checked before ever considering breeding him. Compare him to the OES standard listed on the OESCA web site. There isn't a perfect OES but does he have the basics to be a good OES stud and help improve the breed. Most large breeds have hip and/or shoulder problems. Also, so many poorly breed OES are out their already and many showing up in shelters or rescue. Are the teeth correct with the right bite? Is his eye color and coat color and texture correct for the breed?
If you find a bitch that will breed to your male, does she also have all of the criteria listed above? If you have experienced genetic problems from poor breeding, you understand the costs, emotional drama and heart brake families go through when these or other problems arise such as cancer, auto immune or Ataxia which is showing up in several OES lines.
Most quality breeders won't begin to consider a stud unless the dog has been shown in the AKC conformation ring and received a champion AKC cert to prove he is of good breeding quality.
Have you talked with the breeder you received your boy from? Can they provide you with a pedigree that shows quality breeding and a solid OFA and or health history, etc? Even with a solid history, hips and other problems can show up but a sound history at least improves your odds of having problems.
I'm hopeful that more experienced breeders than myself will contribute their thoughts to this. This is a topic that one can elaborate on for hours or even days.
Zach | Hi,
My family has a 4 year old female sheepdog that goes into attack mode ( head down, tail tip tucked in) and looks at our feet. Sometimes she licks them, growls at them or bites without warning. We took the dog to several classes when she was a puppy and she is well trained except for this problem. She has also developed arthritis and she growls when she gets tired and can't charge up the stairs.
I am so concerned with her behaviour because we had a 5-year-old male sheepdog growing up that we had to put to sleep because of biting. Late one night, the dog attacked my father when he was returning to his side of the bed. The dog attacked his face and arms when he tried to grab his colar and get him down off the bed. The following day, he attacked him again in the yard. Other than those two incidents, the dog was very gentle and loving with our family.
I have been told that some sheepdogs can be very unpredictable. I love my dog and don't want her biting to get worse. Is it possible to change this behaviour when they are an adult?
Thanks | Woogie is four years old. He gets along great with big dogs, but immediate bites little ones and is very nervous around small dogs. If a small dog attempts to sniff his face he thinks they are trying to bite him and he will snap at them.
We would like to get another puppy, but we're worried that he will bite it. We would like advice on how to handle this aggression. Thanks! |
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