ROUGH PLAY TURNS INTO AGRESSION WITH DOGS

Hello everyone.

I need some help with my dog Fiona, she is a bully mix, looks like a pittie with ears pricked. She is spotted white and completely DEAF. We rescued her a year ago. Fiona has been great around the house, has even learned to not chase our three cats. She was very scared at the beginning but now is fine and has even become a bit protective, barking at people that walk by the fence.
The problem we have is when we let her out to play with other dogs. Today she was playing a bit too rough, got very excited and started biting the other dog, a larger pit/rottie mix on the neck. The other dog whined. My husband and I got a bit scared and grabbed her, tried to pull her off, hit her very hard, but she wouldn't let go. The other dog was yelling like crazy. There was no blood, thank god she didn't break the skin on the dog's neck. But it was scary. It was four people trying to get her off. When she gets over excited there is NO stopping her. 0 It seems to me she doesn't feel it at all when we hit her, at some point my husband did hit her real hard with no effect. I feel awful about it, but we were desperate.
I have read that we probably reacted in the worst possible way. She probably just got more focused when she got hit. In a normal home situation, if I lift my hand she will shrink down or get under a chair, so she is usually very respectful, even scared. We don't use violence to correct her, mostly positive reinforcement. We have to use all visual signs since she is deaf.
What are my options? Should I muzzle her in a play situation or just not let her play with other dogs? Usually we let her play with her lead on, attached to her harness. That way we can pull her out of most situations. We give her a time out when the play is escalating. But even with all this I need to somehow stop her when the situationg gets out of control situation. It usually escalates to a dangerous level when the other dog is submissive or gets upside down. Any suggestions?
Thanks a million. Bicky

I'm trying to teach her the leave it command. It works only if she is not over excited and is still paying attention to me.

hia from me and sasha,you really needs Ian's advice on this one as his dog Flo is deaf too,for the mean while i would keep her on a long lead whilst out walking so if any other dogs around you can get her back to you quickly.

Hello! Where in the world are you? If she is in fact a Pit Bull or other mix of breeds the behaviour that she is presenting may well be breed specific, and not a behaviour that presents itself in Staffordshire Bull Terrier's. Either way, you need to get a professional involved if she's biting. Preferably somebody that uses positive training methods. If you can let us know where you are we could possibly advise on management if the behaviour, as obviously in America there are different "leash laws" compared to where a lot of us are - England! Did the shelter assess her behaviour before putting her up for adoption?

Also, can we ask you to please change your username - email addresses aren't permitted on the forum just remove the @yahoo.com part if possible.

Hi ya Bicky

The hardest thing with a Deaf dog is getting their attention in the first place. The first thing to do is get excellent recall. How i hear you ask, she's deaf !. We bought a vibrating collar, not a shock collar and every time it buzzed she would feel it and we would reward with a high value treat. Once the attention is achieved start using the long leash to test the recall. As long as you always reward with a high value treat then you should find that the Buzz collar works well.

Please don't ever consider a shock collar, they are completely inhumane and counter productive.

The hardest thing for us to deal with is other dogs coming up behind our Flo and promptly shoving thier nose where it's not wanted. Now this is fine for an initial hello but of course Flo gets startled as she can't hear them coming. This is normally ok but if they keep bothering her, she will snap at them to tell them off, never a fight, just a telling off.

If we see a potential issue up ahead and can't avoid it we use a distraction method. Flo loves her artificial stick and we have a good old game of tug o war as we pass any potential conflict. This method has worked 100% so far.

If you have any specific questions feel free to ask. In the meantime pop along here and say Hi so that all the other Forum members can say hello :-
https://staffy-bull-terrier.niceboard.com/f7-new-member-introductions

Hello all,
I called a behaviorist / trainer. He will evaluate Fiona this Thursday. On the phone he said that the situation was probably more than play, a dominance issue. I will report back once he has done his assessment. I want her to be trained positively, it seems more productive to me.

I'm in San Juan, Puerto Rico. I rescued Fiona from the streets, she only weighted only 28 pounds. She is 52 pounds now. Luckily, she was not sick except for skin issues, just underweight and traumatized.  I got her spayed and vaccinated. There was no shelter involved, so no behavior assessment. She is very attached to me and my husband, but her separation anxiety issues from the beginning have subsided.

I couldn't say if she is a staffy or pit or mix exactly. She sure looks like some pictures of bully types. She is more thick and muscular than regular dogs, but not overly so. Her mouth is not as wide as other bully types. She carries her tail exactly like the description on pit bulls and staffies, "shaped like a pump handle", never over curls it. She also has that muscular stance, you can see it from the back. Fiona appears not to feel a thing when she is distracted. She has that rough play with other dogs, likes to wrestle.  I've never heard her whine, its probably the deaf thing but she does bark and growls at people passing by.

Apart from mouthing people when saying hello, she is very well behaved. But she has terrible manners with other dogs. If we see a dog approaching she will sort of crawl, get in a hunting stance and lunge at them running. She won't approach another dog in a calm way no matter what I do. I always have her on leash, but sometimes will allow her to run with the leash attached at the beach, provided there aren't other dogs, or only the ones I can trust. I let her play in fenced areas.

I tried to attach a photo, hope it works.


Bicky  
By the way, I'm trying to change the username so it doesn't have the email, but needed to ask for support from the page managers. Hopefully will get it fixed soon.

This is Fiona.
What do you think, is she a bully mix or pitt or staffie? She is definitely cute!

Gorgeous pics Bicky

Certainly looks to have bull breed in her but hard to tell weather it's Staffy or not. I wonder if she is scared of other dogs hence her reaction to them.

I think she may be more pit bull than staffy just due to the height, she is absolutely gorgeous however! I love her think shes wonderful, wish pit bulls werent band in this country, its not the breed its the owner.

Hi Bicky,

In my experience a dipping of the head followed by attack is fear, it would also explain why she is ok with dogs she trusts. My guess would be in her early days on the streets she has got into a few fights that may have left some behavioural problems. You are doing the right thing having her assessed and I would consider muzzling her until she makes some progress with it. Too tall for a staff which lends it's self to the pit breed however pits tend to be a little more thick set than she is, could be a mix of breeds but the pit bull seems quite dominant.