Recently I had a spate of aggression and hyperactivity cases - not only involving dogs but also cats and a parrot too. It’s funny how specific behaviour seems to go in runs. Maybe I should check the calendar which might just hold the answer. After all, the moon does influence the tides, and the tides influence sea life, there is no question about that, but scientists have also discovered oysters for example, even if taken many miles away from their ocean homes, reacted to specific phases of the moon.

Hector the Bull Terrier

Fascinating stuff which may even benefit our pets, so read on, but for now, back to Hector the Canine Terminator.  The boy was built like a Schurmann tank and had the Tshirt for past aggression offences, and although he was only just a year old, I could tell by his eyes he was not about to lie down and roll over.

Furthermore, he had announced his arrival and his rank by anointing my leg with pheromones which I considered quite brave, as I am an undisputed Alpha to most dogs who meet or know me, yet I had to admire this dogs chutzpa as I watched him terrorizing his ineffectual Dad and his nervy little Mom - both parents were the epitome of a perfect mismatch for a full blooded and hyperactive Bull Terrier dog.

Aggression problems

Anyhow, as we got down to Dogzilla’s past history, I had to admit being impressed with the long list of his misdemeanors - in fact, even Hannibal Lector would have been proud of his rap-sheet.
It turned out he’d nipped several times and ‘only’ drawn blood ‘once or twice’ but the most overt sign of aggression had come when he had sunk his pearly-whites into his Dad’s arm during a session of Tug of War … and the operative word here is War which should have been a hint to Dad the ‘enemy’, who for his troubles had finished up a casualty of his own making.

How to cure Hector’s aggression and hyperactivity

In fact Hector wasn’t really a bad dog. He had just had a very bad upbringing, beginning with a lack of early education for both himself and his folks. The poor fellow had fallen into a twilight zone of adrenalin addiction and hyperactivity, always on a high, hot headed and out of control which is not a good thing for a pet Bull Terrier whose fighting spirit should be kept in his genes.

The motorcar tyre hanging in the tree for him to ’strengthen his jaw muscles’ was cut down; his marathon jogging sessions were discouraged; episodes to expend his “excess energy”  were stopped; war games which encourage aggression ceased and all past high energy, extreme sports were taken off his agenda for the duration of his convalescence.

New boundaries were set, his diet was adjusted to suit his needs, and Hector settled down to become a cool headed, model Bull Terrier whose proud folks are in the process of winning back their old friends.