I have an English bull terrier (18months) dog, we are at our wits end, don;t know what we have done wrong but he keeps having rage,s. Iv been to training, Have sought advise from dog behaviouist, just feel we have reached the end of the road, such a difficult thing to have to do.
Symptons, when he is eating halfway through his food he will come and find us and try to bite us snapping at our feet ankles. He also has thease rages where he just barks and snarls at us sometimes he won't let us in the kitchen or any given area for hours, yesterday I nipped to the paper/bottle bank whilst unloading he had a rage and would not let me back in the car for 3 hours!!!
The vet refuses to deal with him as I have tried to seek advise from her so she is aware of his history.
What do I do, is there anyone out there who has any ideas? I have asked the breeder for advise but they are as much use as a chocolate teapot.
so help thank you

How long has he been like this for ?
Is it possible he is in any kind of pain or unwell to act / turn like this?

Hi
He has been like it for months vet says nothing physically wrong with him.

Hi, This probably is totally different but my friends Bull Terrier Bitch was exactly the same as that. She tried everything with her to no avail. Until she had her spayed, now she's a totally different dog. So it must have been hormonal.
Trace.

Isnt' the Bull Terrier known to be prone to this recognised "rage" syndrome? Just rings a distant bell somewhere :(

I dont say this lightly, and dont really recomend this course of action for anyone to do, but here is what I would do.
I would have a go at the dog and risk getting bit to grab the dog over power it and get it into the submissive position on its back as I would not let any dog control the situation for hours on end. Especially a bull breed.
Please dont have a go at me for saying this. I would only do it as a last resort, and as I said above I dont really recomend this action. Unless you are confident you can carry it through.
Please try all other courses of action to solve the problem first.

Regards Mick

Hi, I haven't ever had a problem with either of my dogs being aggressive towards me but my male recently went through a period of showing excessive aggression towards other dogs. I wasn't sure what was setting him off so I muzzled him while we were out so I could watch his behaviour and deal with any aggression without anybody else's dog being in danger.

Could you muzzle your dog when you are in the house / car with him? The basket style muzzles allow the dogs to still open their mouths to pant and drink. They are hard and could bruise you if he tried to attack but it wouldn't be as bad as him sinking his teeth right into you. That way you won't be in the situation where he decides where you go in your own house and you won't have to fear being bitten. You can then deal with the situation. If one of my dogs was trying to stop me going into a room, it would be removed from that room and shoved out onto the patio to cool down.

It does take time but they do learn. My younger dog took months to learn that she wasn't to push the kitchen door open and come charging in when the food was getting prepared. I never shouted at her or hit her for it, I just used to push her into the bathroom to cool off while I finished preparing the food and fed the other dog. She used to go mad but there was nothing she could do about it and she eventually learned that barking at me and bursting the door open didn't get her anywhere. She had to wait until I was ready before getting anything to eat.

She now will not burst the door open and when I put her food down she won't try to eat it until I tell her she can have it.

Perhaps if you persevere, your boy will realise that throwing tantrums doesn't get him anywhere and will stop doing it. At the moment it sounds as if he is the one in control not you. Perhaps if he wears a muzzle when around you it'll give you the confidence to take control.

I have two bullmastiffs and so am well aware how strong willed bull breeds can be.

Good luck with your lad and remember that at 18 months he could still be going through that stroppy teenager phase.

He sounds like a bolshy teenager to me - i would muzzle him and have him on a lead in the house so that i could just move him away from any areas he was trying to stop me from entering - carry on as normal after moving him out of the way, don't let him think his behaviour has had any effect whatsoever. i would only take off the muzzle at mealtimes, and i would also start making him work for everything - sit before you give him his food, sit before letting him offlead, not allowing him on sofas, beds etc. Make him earn EVERYthing. Help him to understand that it's YOU who is the provider and leader, because it sounds like he's trying to take that position from you, or that he has already!
If you haven't already, i would have him neutered. If you don't want to have this done until you're certain it would help some, there's an injection the vet can give him that will have the same effect [if any] as it mimics the effect neutering would have. It's called Tardac or somthing similar, and it's effects aren't permanent.
Your vet also sounds like they're really useless!! Did she not even recommend a behaviourist or trainer to help you through this problem????

Annette

Yes quite obviously the dog is ruleing your lives to a point it is unedureable for much longer. The reason he has become like that is quite simple, you have been to what are known as positive training classes which do not know or teach you corrections, how does youe dog know this is not allowed? you have not shown him and no one has shown you.
The dog is dominant and thse dogs are not suitable for positive training classes, there is a high level of aggression in dogs subject to this kind of training, you are the fourth this week, one is a jck russel which the owner is terrified of, if you continue with any form of positive methods it will get worse, your only option is a trainer who fully understands corrections and can teach you, if you look at the post aggresive staff there is a 6 months old dog which the positive trainer told the owner to put to sleep instead of setting a correction course, the dog is destroying the house, has bitten a family member (simply showing the member that it was higher ranking in a natural cannine way) and is showing predatory aggression, all because no has said NO you don't, well thats the best advice I can give good luck.