Thanks, Karl. She’s better now he’s gone but still sore. It looks like she will scar in a couple of places and that pisses her off even more. Our other dog seems happier now he’s gone, too. He was starting to try and usurp her as alpha dog and, looking at it now through clearer glasses, I don’t think it would’ve been long before he succeeded. He was already a big dog and would likely have put on another 10kg over the next year.
In hindsight, I guess we we are lucky and we’ve probably dodged a bullet.
I’ve passed that on, thanks Dave.
Um, yes.
I hope they do. If anything, it’ll make their vetting of prospective owners even more stringent. The warden said this morning that Corsos belong in a one owner household.
Thanks, Tony. She was all for it until that moment of unexplained madness last night and I still can’t be,Keven he did it. Mrs P is of the view that he saw her and Gia as a threat to his relationship with me and that those two had to go.
She was a bit wary this morning that Gia might turn on her being the same (almost) breed (Gia’s a Corso crossed with an American bulldog). Gigi’s a sweet dog though and she soon removed any doubts, she’s been by her side most of the day.
Someone actually said to me today ‘imagine the outcome if it was six months down the line and he was fully grown’. Doesn’t bear thinking about really. Those dogs can kill with ease, they have a bite force of 700psi, which is 30psi more than an adult lion. Think about that for a second. Only the Turkish Kangal has a stronger bite. I hate myself for admitting this but you could be right.
He was almost definitely warning your missus off and nothing more. That sounds as if I'm trivialising it, but the reality is if he'd been in attack mode then he would've followed through on it and then she would've be in a right mess.....or worse.
Young male dogs/pups are always going to be vying for position within the pack, usually it's minor stuff, but with certain breeds or dogs from a difficult background it can progress into fighting. Even this early on, he would have been planning to work his way through the pack and by the sound of it Gia was laid back enough to not present much of a challenge for him. "Logically" the next one up the chain of command was your missus. Unfortunately his "warning shot" to her was excessive, but that may well be because he's never had a settled environment earlier in his life to learn the boundaries of acceptable behaviour that nearly all young pups learn....either from their humans, or the other, older dogs (if there are any).
Who knows how much work it would take to teach him what is acceptable and what's not, but it would require full time effort, for a fair amount of time and you'd both have to have been a bit forceful at times. I've had the odd moment with some of the rescue Newfs I had, but they're docile dogs with no aggressive instincts to speak of, so it was never hard work. Which is just as well with 12 - 14st male dogs..!
But even a rehomed Newf can be f*cked up by some other twat before being rescued. A mate in the Newf group I was in took on an adult male rescue Newf who came (via Newfoundland Rescue) from a f*ckwit who had tried to train the dog to be a full on guard dog..."because it was big". The dog was completely schizoid. If you approached him, he would snarl and try to nip you. If you persevered and got close enough to stroke him then he became like a normal Newf. If you walked away and then tried it again then he would "reset" and you'd have to do it again. The poor dog was perpetually in turmoil as to how to treat people who approached him. Yet he was great with my mates kids.
Sadly he terrified the postmen to the point that they wouldn't deliver, so my mate had to collect his post from the local office. Unfortunately a relief postman who hadn't been briefed about him, arrived at the front door..... only to be ambushed by the dog. The postie got bit quite badly (Newfs also have tremendous jaw strength) and the Post Office prosecuted. The dog was put down and my mate and his family were distraught.
All because of a twat of a dog "owner" who had no idea what he was doing.
