Dog aggression

[DakotaRidge]

I have a blue dog with bad food aggression - and she's possessive about game. Is that genetic or learned? She's a good hound and I'd like to breed her, but if that's usually passed on to pups I won't do it.

[Beebout-it]

Lots of variables involved there, we may need more information! Does the dog live in its own space? Or in a communal kennel? The aggression over game is easily solved tie her up and don't let her near a dead critter with the other dogs. If it were me and the behavior continued after a few heavy handed disciplinary corrections from me the dog would never be bred because it wouldn't be around long enough. But if its an exceptional dog maybe. Have u had it from a pup ?

[DakotaRidge]

My dogs have separate kennels but they run around to all the kennels when I'm around and let them out. She snaps at any dog that gets near her food dish. I got her at 8 weeks old. I may get rid of her, but she's super aggressive on game, so if there's something I can do I'd like to try it. Not sure if I did something wrong with her.

[Rowdy Fitz]

I’m a big proponent of showing the dogs that I’m the pack leader. When she does that I would jump on her, hold her down and yell NO! while roughing her up just enough so that she understands who the leader is and her actions are unacceptable. In my opinion you have let her get away with an unacceptable action by letting it go this long. Now it will take more than one time and if she doesn’t understand by about the 5th or 6th time then it may be time to cull her. Passing that problem on to another person isn’t the right thing to do.

[lawdawgharris]

This seems to be a problem that is getting more and more common. It’s always been an issue that had to be dealt with though. You’re a step up on a lot of people in the realization that it could be genetic, and individual issue, or a combination of both. lol his is one of the times that knowing the dogs behind the dog with the issue helps a ton. If it’s an issue that several relatives have no matter who owns them then it’s an easy answer and an easy fix to me, you cull the dog. If the relatives aren’t prone to this type of behavior then it’s likely an individual issue that you have to address and sternly and swiftly. As said and I’m sure you know, you have to be the alpha. That’s goes from pet owner to working dogs. I rarely have game possession issues just because we normally catch several in a hunt so the dogs roll over or relay as soon as the hog being bayed is under control. They aren’t standing around over the game with the opportunity to argue about who it belongs to. It is an issue with catch dogs sometimes though. They can get so amped up and we don’t allow them to relay. So we tie them back well away from the caught hog, especially if it’s a live tied hog. If a dog even bristles up he gets redirected, whatever that entails. If we have an extra person then we get them to stay there and talk to them and take their attention off of the hog. When it’s all said and done then we lead the fog up to the hog. As soon as they start getting excited we start talking to them and making them get themselves collected and telling them caught ho


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[lawdawgharris]

Caught hog until it gets to the point that I can make them sit beside it without wanting to grab it. If they don’t have the capability or mental capacity to grasp it then they aren’t the dog for me. The food aggression can be fixed too. Neither issue is an overnight fix. If it’s genetic then it can be managed but will always be an issue.


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[Beebout-it]

Agreed with all being said! At the end of the day if the dog pleases you and you don't subject anyone else's dogs to her and shes good enough for u to tolerate it then your the one that buys the feed!

[DakotaRidge]

Thanks for the replies. I've been very firm with her but she hasn't changed at all. It makes me think she's hardwired that way. There's already enough variables when running dogs that fighting over food/game gets annoying really quick.

[macedonia mule man]

I never considered food aggression good or bad. I have noticed an aggressive dog is usually better than a non aggressive dog. I haven’t seen as many aggressive dogs in the running breeds ( fox-rabbit) as I have in pot licquor and cur ( coon, squirrel) mostly tree dogs. The best tree dogs I’ve had, I had to hunt them alone. Both were coon dogs. One a red tick I got from a friend in NM that his sire and dam came out of a bear pack. The other a liquor bred treeing walker. Didn’t know about the walkers parents but the red tick didn’t have the fight in his Bach ground as he did. He came out of the dog box looking for a male to fight. No problem with females. The walker only got rough when another dog tried to push him off his spot. When he hits tree, he went around it like a vacuum cleaner and where the coon went up is where he set down and the fight was on if another dog( male or female) tried to invade that space. Both dogs were coon dogs. I hunted them by myself and by there selves and enjoyed those dogs more than any I ever owned. I bred the red tick to a red tic/ walker female. I raised and trained her and there was never any kind of aggression in her. One of the pups would bite the handler if he didn’t want to leave the tree. That’s one aggression that can’t be let go. I think aggression of some hind runs in all dogs like it does in people. I wouldn’t be afraid to breed aggressive dogs.

[Lil Q]

Listen to this pot cast is a good one you might have a way to fix the aggression or a decision on what to do with your hound, this guy is a professional trainer no to say that the people that answer that post aren’t, any ways give it a try.

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/h ... 0550053315

[1whitedog]

Thanks for the heads up on the podcast, it was a good listen. Genetics are the foundation on which the house is built. Many foundations can be salvaged and molded by the right handler. The better foundation you start with the less of a builder it takes to get a higher quality house. When a top builder starts with an excellent foundation the end product can be tops. Some foundation are so crooked that the best you can hope for is a crooked house. I'm not sure why anyone wouldn't start out with the best foundation they could when you look at the time, money and effort you put into a dog before it is 2 years old. You MIGHT end up with something salvageable if you work real hard and catch a brake here and there but why start with that foundation? I have seen zero correlation in an aggressive dog and being a top game catcher. I know no one that I would consider to have top hounds that have aggressive hounds or would tolerate 1. When I was young I traveled the bear bay circuit with gentleman that most all carried a breed of dogs that have an earned reputation for being aggressive. If aggressiveness made good dogs these would have been All Americans. In the woods they were not good, to be kind.
At the end of the day the only person the dog has to make happy is the owner. But I will say there have been people run out of hunting areas before because they have mean dogs. It is 1 of the best ways I know of to loose hunting partners, friends etc. Once a dog gets that reputation it will saddle the blame for the fight regardless if warranted. Sorry for the rant, hopefully whatever foundation you start with, you end up with a hound that pleases you. Just some observations of mine over the years but options are like ......... Everyone has one. Good luck

[lawdawgharris]

1whitedog that was a good post. I agree with you too. One concern I’ve always had is the potential of losing a dog on a hunt. There are lots of ways and reasons how bit just say this particular dogs collar quits. She finally after a day or two wonders up to someone’s house. Naturally she’s going to be a little stressed and hungry. They have a dog or two and there’s feed out for them. Or they have chickens and she kills one because she’s hungry. My luck would be that Feefee the 10 year old poodle gets wrecked by my savage hunting dog over food or game possession. Then you have a whole bucket full of new problems from hostility to vet bills, possibly law suits, expensive prize chickens, and another individual that was neutral but now thinks bad of dog hunters and has become a soldier for the opposing team. I’m not interested in having that worry every time I turn out. I’ve seen and hunted with people that would load their dogs and by the time we got to where we were going to hunt, my dogs were the only ones that were of use because theirs were to chewed up or tired from fighting all the way there. Again, not interested. I also saw a GOOD dog get crippled by a me too dog that was game possessive. He came running past and the sorry dog tied into him and the fight was on. He grabbed the good dog on the leg and the injury was permanent. It just isn’t worth the fix to me. I would always worry about it happening again even if I “fixed” it. Would probably happen one of the first few times I put a really nice young dog on the ground.


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[macedonia mule man]

You fellows are describing things that I’ve never seen or heard of in 60 years of dog hunting.

[Rowdy Fitz]

I have seen fighting more with hog dogs than hounds. Hog dogs are inherently more aggressive though imo. I have friends who have had fights at bear trees. One of my dogs that I bought is game aggressive. She came from a bear hunter. After I got onto her she hasn’t done it since. I haven’t heard of any lion hunters having any issues.