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Mr. Frawley,
I have been looking at your site, and rereading it for a couple of weeks now. First I want to tell you what a blessing it has already been. Because I was able to have free access to some of your training advise and seen a difference just from that, I would like to go forward and start ordering some of your videos. (will probably do this one at a time for now.)
A little about our family:
We are a family of three(husband, myself, and four year old daughter), with three dogs. We seldom have company, or take the dogs away from home.
*Curtis- a 10 yr old Shepard/heeler mix. Trained in basic obedience(unfortunately in the school of hard knocks. I was very naive then.). No problems with him, he is a wonderful dog, but perhaps a bit timid/reserved with people except our immediate family. He is top dog amongst the others.
*Mocha- One of two pit bull puppies I raised from about 10 days old. She is now just over 9 months old, and has been with us the entire time. As of the last 6 months she has been an indoor/outdoor dog. She is what I would consider to be a well adjusted dog(in fact probably the best one I have ever had.) I have not started formal obedience with her as I wanted a better method for her than my Shepard had. She does, sit, down and walk nicely on command. She knows the word "no", and can be trusted completely in the house. Training for her would just further an already wonderful relationship. She is confident, calm, but also playful. I would like to train her as a protection dog if possible as my husband is often away from home.
**Bambi- This is the second pit bull, (sister to Mocha). She went to her owner at about 6 weeks of age and was returned to us about 3 months ago. This pup almost died when I got her, the vets gave up on her.. and honestly.. since she's been back, there have been times I wanted to too. Training for this dog is going to be a must! She is now being trained house manners and slowly introduced into the family(much, but not exactly as you instruct on your web site. We are reforming our training to parallel yours.). She is very dog dominant with Mocha, but not drawing blood(in fact they play daily and do fine much of the time).. she bullies Mocha, but submits or avoids the Shepard. In the house and around people she is VERY submissive. We just recently got past the submissive urination(but still happens on occasion). She is an obsessive licker, will not play, and mainly squirms and runs around. After reading your article, I started bringing her in on a leash and making her do a "down" till she calms down. This is with much struggle...with just her and I in the house it is a much quicker and simpler process, with other people or dogs it's a nightmare.(even if they are not interacting with her) I am thinking this may be a confidence thing? She either follows me around or goes and lays in the crate. She is very jealous of anyone or any dog having anything to do with me(places herself between myself and others). She won't have much to do with other people in the family, but friendly when one of them engages her.
My question is this, which video would you suggest I purchase first? Basic obedience? or dominant dog? Or raising a working puppy?
My husband says he would like to see considerable improvement in Bambi soon or consider finding her a new home ( he believes she is unbalanced). Neither of us knows anyone personally that would take the time to work with her and keep her as an only dog. We also worry that she would eventually end up being fought because of her breed and aggressiveness with Mocha.
I want to thank you in advance, for your time, and what you are doing on your web site. to help others.
Sincerely,
Jessica
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You need my DVD on establishing pack structure and my Basic Dog Obedience DVD. If you do this work correctly you very well may never need my Dominant Dog DVD.
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Hello,
I'm desperately need your advice. We just adopted a 6 year old lab/rotti mix. after being with us for 3 days, he bit my 7 year old daughter. The circumstances are a bit foggy. She had a dog rhine in her bedroom, which she plays with with her stuffed animals. He went in and stole it from the room and took it down stairs. when my daughter tried to retrieve her bone, she was bitten. We are unsure of the circumstances, if he was playing trying to grab the bone back from her, or if this was a viscous attempt to regain what he believed was his. I have heard him growl a few times since he's been here, one time because I wanted him to spit something out that he picked up outside, and another when I tried to get him off the couch. Besides for those incidents, he seems to be a pretty good dog, but i realize the biting was a very serious issue ( it required 8 stitches) could this dog just be confused and unsure of his surroundings, or is there no excuse for this type of behavior, accidental or not? Please help me figure out what is best for my family and this dog. His previous owners were shocked to here of his behavior. Before coming to us he'd been with the same family for 6 years and they have an 18 month old baby, that I watched walk around him and no one seemed to be concerned at all.
Please help!!!
Kim
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Kim,
You are making serious mistake with how you are introducing this dog into your home. You either need to make some changes or return the dog before there are more serious bites - nd there will be without change.
You need to become a student of pack structure. I have written a free ebook on this which is a small part of a training dvd that we just released last week. The ebook can be found on our web site at http://leerburg.com/dogtrainingebooks.htm The DVD (which you really need) is Establishing Pack Structure with the Family Pet.
There is also a free ebook on preventing dog bites in children.
Bottom line is people need to first run a dog through a pack structure program followed by an obedience program - our dvd on Basic Dog Obedience deals with this.
While it may sound like I am truing to hawk DVDs in fact I cannot put 8 hours of information (which is on these two DVDs) into an email. Something like your facing is very serious. It requires more than an email to correct.
Ed
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Ed,
My family has recently added two yellow labs, ages 3 and 4, to our household. We have one black lab who is 9 yrs old (I mean human years). Early in his life, he grew up with a yellow lab who was one year older than him, and he knew that she was the leader. When our yellow lab died 2 years ago, we noticed that he was much happier as the only dog in the family. It was obvious that his quality of life had improved, since he was getting all the attention. When we were told that adding a younger dog would make our older dog feel young and energetic again, we decide to rescue two dogs. Should we have only gotten one? And is it a problem that the two new dogs have known each other for a little while before being introduced to our tenured dog? We love our old dog to death and we do not want him to feel betrayed. Please help us solve this dilemma.
Sincerely,
Aaron
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THis is the perfect example of someone who needs to establish pack structure. I wrote a free eBook on HOW TO INTRODUCE A NEW DOG INTO A HOME WITH OTHER DOGS, you will also benefit from that information.
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Hello Ed,
I haven't contacted you for a couple of years. I see the site and kennel have really developed. My question, I have a two year old female doberman, very civil, extreme prey, good with the kids, protective of the yard. We just acquired a 5 month old german shepard, both dogs are german breed and imported. The shepard when in the yard, sometimes snaps and growls at the pincher whenever we are giving attention to the GS and the pincher walks over. As stated in one of your post, I don't allow that. But that post mentioned older dogs, is it the same with the puppy vs. the two year old dog? I also understand that sometimes the older dog will not be the dominate one, I also read a post where it stated to sometimes let these little incidents happen, just not to the extreme of one getting hurt, this is part of the pack order. I trust "your" advice, please advice.
Thanks Again
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People who add additional dogs to their home need to have a clear understanding of pack structure Allowing dogs to settle the issue themselves is a huge mistake - often a dangerous mistake. The sad thing is it often means an unhappy life for the older dog that has been in your home for years.
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Dear Mr. Frawley,
I ran across your website will looking up a behavioral issue with my puppy. I was hoping you could give me some advice for training videos after I explain the problem I am having.
I adopted a female GSD mix (Cleo) from the local shelter less than 2 weeks ago. They estimated her at 3 months of age. She was spayed before I picked her up. Cleo is a major alligator and loves my pants best when I am in them. She is almost house-broken (1 accident in 5 days). She has done very well with my 2 yo nephew. When I brought her home, she growled when I tried to take a toy from her. I broke her of that really easily and now that is not a problem. However, she has started growling when we try to move her out of our way. When she did it today, I grabbed her by the scruff of the neck, stared at her, and said NO. I then put her in the backyard for 5 min. She is not happy out there by herself. When she came in, I did not acknowledge her and went about my business. She sat at my feet quietly until I had to leave. I have had dogs (mainly dachshunds) all my life and have seen pack behavior. But they always responded quickly to our verbal corrections. I do have two older dogs in the house. They are very settled and only get annoyed when she gets too playful. I am unsure of where I should begin in her training. Judging from your eBook, she has a lot of prey drive and Cleo is showing her ability to learn quickly. Should I get '8 weeks to 8 months' or move on to 'Basic Obedience'? Also, I realize that she is trying to establish the pack order. Should I consider the video for dominant dogs or will your basic training help establish our relationship? I know that you are a busy man and I would really appreciate your advice. She has a lot of potential and I really want her to be a good dog.
Thank your very much for your time,
Alana
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Alana,
You must become a student of pack structure. This is the foundation for working with every dog. This week I finished a DVD titled ESTABLISHING PACK STRUCTURE WITH THE FAMILY PET. Please read the description for this DVD – it will help get you started.
No dog is house trained in 2 weeks or even 2 months. We NEVER allow a dog to be off leash in the house for many many many months- not until its calm in the crate and clam and submissive on leash in the homes.
So here are the DVDs I recommend:
Establishing Pack Structure with the Family Pet
Basic Dog Obedience
The eBook I wrote on COMMON SENSE SOLUTIONS TO HOUSE TRAINING PROBEMS My web site has a large number of FREE eBooks that I have written. Go to the main directory for eBooks.
When you get a grip on these things you should finish it with Remote Collar Training for the Pet Owner.
It sounds like a nice dog – this biting your pants is prey drive. This is an excellent sign in a dog we use prey drive in training. Your job is to learn to harness and control it.
Read my eBooks (many are free) and listen to my podcasts – especially my philosophy on dog training – you may see something of yourself there.
Good luck.
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Hi Ed,
I know this probably does not rank up there with the important stuff, but our PWD Pete has counter cruised and stolen whatever food he can reach since he was big enough to do it. He's a sneaky little bastard so its hard to catch him. We've tried laying booby traps but he doesn't always fall for it and the lesson doesn't last.
A related problem is trying to get a food item away from Pete once he steals it. This brings out the aggression/possession in him and he often won't give it up or growls or gobbles it faster. We have aggression/dominance problems with Pete anyway. I have your DVD's on basic obedience, aggressive dogs and electronic collars. We've been pretty successful with most other forms of aggression but this one is hard to cure.
What do you think of the Innotek Instant pet barrier to nick him when he gets close to the counter? Do you sell this? Anything else you can recommend?
I always appreciate your frank and highly practical advice! You totally changed the way we look at our dogs.
Thanks and best regards,
Matt
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I think that if this dog lived in my house, he certainly wouldn't have the privilege of being loose at all. He would be in a crate or tethered to me at all times.
Pack structure and how to live with a dog in your home are the first issues to deal with whenever you add a new dog to your family or have problems with an existing dog. We are taking orders for a new DVD that extensively covers the way Ed and I live with dogs in our home. It is called Establishing Pack Structure with the Family Pet.
Once you have reestablished the pack order, I would only let him have access to counters when I was ready to correct him with the electric collar. Set yourself up for success, have the dominant dog collar on him and have the ecollar on him.
If you want to solve problems like these you need to be prepared and have your tools in place before you need them. If I had a dog like this, every day when we got up he would put his various training collars on without fail. It should be automatic, like putting on your wristwatch.
Breaking a behavior like this is much harder than manipulating the environment because this dog has gotten reinforced in the past for doing it.
I haven't ever used the Innotek product you mention, but it could be helpful. The bottom line in this problem is that your dog needs more respect for your authority.
If you are consistent and change some details about how you live with this dog I think you should be able to improve this situation.
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Hello,
Would you be able to recommend a place in Southeastern Wisconsin that would evaluate aggressiveness in a dog? My son was "nipped" in the gum by my girlfriend's dog that lives with us. I just want to take precaution. I don't want to have her get rid of the dog if I'm making to big of an issue out of it and it is an isolated event.
Thanks,
Jim
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Read the article I wrote on how to prevent dog bites in children. When dogs bite kids its never without warning and its ALWAYS THE ADULTS FAULT - 110% of the time.
If you want to make this work you can - but it involved handler/owner education. He is the information on how to do this:
Establishing Pack Structure with the Family Dog
Basic Dog Obedience
Dealing with Dominant and Aggressive Dogs
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Thank you.
I'm assuming you are saying it is always the adults fault 110% of the time in that they are responsible for either getting the assistance they need or getting rid of the dog.
In this case the dog nipped my son whey lying on the floor near it without provocation.
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Jim,
No I have not made myself clear.
In the eyes of the dog there is ALWAYS PROVOCATION – ALWAYS! You or your wife just missed it. This is not that uncommon – often people who have owned dogs their whole life don’t know how to read a dog or understand pack structure.
This is not to say that this was justified. Its saying you and your wife have misread this dog. It should not be loose when the baby is around It should be in a crate and it should have better pack structure and obedience. I have owned truly dangerous dogs most of my life – the only time one of my kids was badly bitten was when my then 16 year old son took my police dog out of his kennel (after being told not to ever do this) while I was in Europe at a police dog championship. The dog was dominant to everyone but me. He slipped on wet grass – went down and was attacked. A hard way to learn to listen to your Dad that maybe he knows a little more than you.
In your case – if you are willing to learn and change the way you live with this dog then things can be fixed. Getting rid of the dog does not have to happen unless you and your wife will not make the effort to learn and change the way you think about living with the dog. If you cant do that – and be consistent then re-home the dog but with this said this is then an owner problem and not a dog problem.
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Hi Good Afternoon,
My name is Justine, and I have a 4 year old German Shepard and a senior pit bull mix. They have always pretty much got along. The Germans Shepard dislikes any dog that she has ever seen, and has never even been able to be in contact with any other dog besides for our other dog. A couple of months ago she attached my senior dog while we were outside on our porch. It happened to abruptly but, blamed it on a toy she had had, and might of thought he tried to take. The German Shepard locked onto my senior head, and would not let go. Luckily, It was me, my husband and two of out male friends. We broke it up and put her away in her kennel, after I do have to admit, we yelled quite a bit at her.
Now, this incident happen about 4 months ago. Last night, my husband had left the house to go to a friends house across the street. I was in my bathroom, getting ready to go to sleep and my senior came in and I always tease him, and say "want to go in the shower" and he will playfully bark at me, and go to scatter off. Well, after he barked (non aggressively) my German Shepard came out of no where and started to attack him. I was all alone, and quickly grabbed her to release her off of him. It was very scary, and felt like an eternity to release her. I pulled but she would not let go of him (he is too old to fight back, and was yelping while she did this) I know I did the wrong thing, but I pried opened her mouth to release her bite, and succeeded in doing so. He ran out of the room, and I yelled very loud at her, and put her in her crate (that is right next to my bed). My senior dogs head, was quite bit up, and I was so upset after this had all happened. My husband said that she did that because she heard the other dog bark at me, and thought he may have been doing it aggressively.
My question is. After something like this happens, how or should I reprimand the other dog? If this happens again, and I am alone, How do I separate as fast as possible? My mother in law lived at our home, and owned our German Sheppard prior to me. I have had her for 2 years, and she has yet to be spayed. I have an appointment next month; will having her spayed help in any aggression she may have?
Thank you so much, and I look forward to hearing your opinion.
Here is a picture of my 2 dogs
 
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It appears that the GSD is dominant and aggressive. Your older dog needs you to protect him from future situations, and I guarantee unless you change the way you live with these 2 dogs it will happen again.
Here is an article about breaking up fights, just in case you need to intervene again.
I would be keeping the 2 of them separated, and implementing our groundwork program with the Shepherd. She needs to know that it is not HER place to deal with other dogs, especially the older pit. Please read this article about becoming an effective pack leader. You are the boss, not her.
The first sentence in this article says it all: "You can feed water and love your dog and he will like you but he very well may not respect you." 99% of all behavioral problems are a result of dogs not respecting their owners. This article was written for people like yourself, people who have great intentions but not enough knowledge of pack structure
Pack structure and how to live with a dog in your home are the first issues to deal with whenever you add a new dog to your family or have problems with an existing dog. We are taking orders for a new DVD that extensively covers the way Ed and I live with dogs in our home. It is called Establishing Pack Structure with the Family Pet.
I would also suggest our Basic Obedience DVD and Dealing with Dominant and Aggressive Dogs.
Spaying this dog may or may not make any difference at all in her aggression, in my experience; with adult dogs it doesn’t make much difference. It can make her easier to deal with because she won’t be having heat cycles and if you are not planning on breeding her I would recommend having it done.
We have directories of articles and extensive question and answer sections for you to read until you can get the DVDs. http://leerburg.com/dominantdogs.htm
I hope this helps.
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Hi there,
I’m Chrystal and I am so sorry to bother you but I have a huge question to ask you.
I have two English Bulldogs, one female and one male. The female is always fighting and trying to dominate the male. She has never shown any aggression of any kind towards us as a family, but as I said, she is always looking to fight the male. Both the dogs are very protective of the house and the family, and not willing to meet any new people. One of my aunts that came to visit us from New Zealand one night, put her foot out of the door of the car and was trying to take the key out of the ignition and my female dog bit her right on the foot. I never expected her to bight anyone and especially when my aunt has seen her before. Was it the smell of a new car? I don’t even attempt to let my dogs meet any new dogs because I know that there will be a fight and my dog, in particular will chomp the other dog. I walk them about 3 or 4 times a week and I do my best to train them. I desperately want to be a dog trainer when I leave school so I read almost every little bit of info on dogs and dog training. Where am I actually going wrong with these Bulldogs?
Please email soon,
Sincerely,
Chrystal
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You need to become a student of pack structure. Your dogs should not be allowed to have access to guests visiting your home, or to be allowed to fight with each other. As pack leader, you are the one who controls their lives, not the other way around.
Please read this article about becoming an effective pack leader.
The first sentence in this article says it all: "You can feed water and love your dog and he will like you but he very well may not respect you." 99% of all behavioral problems are a result of dogs not respecting their owners. This happens as a result of poor handling and/or poor training.
Pack structure and how to live with a dog in your home are the first issues to deal with whenever you add a new dog to your family or have problems with an existing dog. We are taking orders for a new DVD that extensively covers the way Ed and I live with dogs in our home.
Please click in this link for a description of what is covered in this DVD.
Once your dogs are responding well to the pack structure training, then it’s time to obedience train them.
We also have a lot of information on dogs that are aggressive and dominant; you can use the search function to find the answers to the rest of your questions.
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Dear Mr. Frawley,
I truly hope you can help us. We have a 6 1/2 month old female English Bulldog puppy named Gracie that is aggressive & food/toy possessive. She was the only puppy in her litter & was mostly hand raised by the breeder. Most of the time she is sweet, loving & playful. She loves people & other dogs & our cats too. She doesn't meet anyone she doesn't like. Because she will grow to a fairly big dog, she now weighs 37 pounds, I wanted to start obedience training at a fairly early age. At 4 months old, we had a trainer come to the house & work with us on some basic obedience training. We used a flat collar & 6 foot lead, teaching a basic walking on a leash, heel & come. For the most part she did ok, but when she decided she didn't want to walk any more, she would flop to the ground & bite at the leash. We would continue to walk, but pull on the leash (not hard) to let her know we wanted her to continue, and that we were in charge. This just seemed to make her hate her leash and collar. But we continued to work with her & she now does a fairly good heel & will come most of the time. We use treats as a reward. She did the normal teething thing, but when she would bite us, we told her NO & would walk away from her if she got too rambunctious. She is now 6 1/2 months old & we have her enrolled in basic obedience classes, heel, sit, stay, etc. This trainer uses no treats, just praise (at home we use praise & treats). The class is in the evening & runs about 1 1/2 hours. She enjoys socializing with the other dogs & loves the other pet owners also. Although she doesn't always want to do what we are working on & is stubborn. She is very tired when we return home. On the first night, when we got home, I decided to give her a bath, which she has had many times previously & when I went to wash her, she growled & snapped at me. I bathe her in our bath tub so I jumped out & told her NO, grabbing her by the scruff of her neck, holding her neck until she calmed down. When I went to dry her, she growled again & bit at the towel. Again I told her NO, & continued to put the towel on her telling her to "leave it" & that she was ok in a firm voice. She finally eased up & was ok with the towel. She is crated at night & when we are away, but when we are home, she is either in our kitchen, with a bed & water or with us, being part of the family. I had her water & food bowls in a corner of the kitchen, mostly so they weren't where we would trip over them, but also so she could have her space. I now realize that may have not been the correct thing to do. She will stop eating or drinking if we come near her, sometimes growling, but she had never snapped at us. Two weeks ago, she was laying at my feet chewing on a "rope" (one from the pet store with dental floss in it). I reached down & told her she was being a good girl & stroked her back. She stopped chewing, but didn't growl, then went back to her toy when I stopped petting her. A few minutes later, I reached down to pet her, but didn't say anything to her & she whipped her head around & snarled at me, catching my finger & cutting a one inch gash on the inside of my index finger knuckle. I told her NO in a strong voice & grabbed her by the scruff of the neck, holding her down until she relaxed, then I led her by her collar & put her in her crate. Where I made her stay. Telling her she was a bad dog & don't bite. I ended up needing 5 stitches to keep the wound closed. We have never hit her, only used strong voices & pushing her to lay on her side, holding her with our hand to make her submit. If it is possible for a dog to show remorse, when she was in her crate, she hung her head, & looked worried. As if she knew she did wrong. She also has an aversion to the refrigerator, She will put her body in front of the open door, looking in as we are getting out what we were looking for & when we go to close the door. We tell her "Out" sometimes she will turn & walk away, but other times she will attack the items on the door shelves. I have started telling her "Out" & then giving her a treat to get her to walk away. It is my attempt to make it a positive experience, rather than one that triggers bad behavior. After she nipped me, I began looking online at what to do to stop this behavior & came across a method in which we take away her food bowl & first by putting the food on the floor, & gradually feeding by hand, interspersed with treats. Thus teaching her that all food & her survival comes from me, my husband & my adult daughter. She now eats gently out of our hands. We had her spayed yesterday & will continue to work with her on the dominance issues. I need more guidance as to what we should do. In reading your website, my eyes have been opened again, ( thank you) I have found that we are inadvertently doing things to let her be the leader of our pack. I have moved her food bowls & removed a gate we had at the entry to our kitchen & have taken up all her toys & chew ropes. We have never played tug of war with her and we don't tease her. When she acts up & we grab the scruff of her neck her to get her submit, she is letting go sooner. Taking about 5-10 seconds, rather than longer. She has also charged me & hung on to my leg on a couple of occasions, growling at me. I tell her no, sweating bullets the whole time & she slowly releases. I was hoping that with some hard work, that we could bring her around to being a good dog ALL the time. But now I don't know. How do we establish us as pack leaders & change her present mind set? Thank you for your wonderful website.
Well, originally wrote the above dissertation before we picked her up from her surgery. I brought her home this morning, fed her, let her potty & she spent the day in her crate, as usual. Tonight we switched & WE ate before her, then I fed her, made her sit/stay while I gave her her food. Giving her small amounts at a time, letting her know I control when she gets food. she ate then I picked up her bowl, She was ok for a few minutes but then as I walked around our kitchen & dining room she nipped at my shoes & I told her NO. Then she sat & looked up at me, growled & snapped at me. So I grabbed her collar & attempted to have her lay on her side & submit. She fought me & growled again. She finally laid down but she continued growling. If I loosened my grip, she attempted to bit me. All during this, I am talking to her in a calm voice, telling her NO, to leave it. & to relax. I got her to relax a bit & was going to put her in her crate when she slipped out of her collar & charged me. I was able to grab a gate to keep her from being able to get at me. She continued to charge the gate. She finally gave up & walked away from me. There have been other incidents also, but these are the major ones. She has charged my daughter also, but not my husband. My daughter & I do most of her training. Please help us.
Thank you,
Joan
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I think the first thing that needs to be addressed is how you handle her on a day to day basis in your home. Pushing a dog down on it’s side for showing aggression may work for some people but I believe you are going to end up with even more severe injuries than you have already if you persist in doing this to your dog. She’s still mentally a pup, and once she is mature this could really escalate into someone being hurt with such a physically strong breed of dog.
Pack structure and how to live with a dog in your home are the first issues to deal with whenever you add a new dog to your family or have problems with an existing dog. We are taking orders for a new DVD that extensively covers the way Ed and I live with dogs in our home.
Obedience training is helpful, but it really doesn’t address the problem of pack structure. Right now your puppy is absolutely the leader.
Once the pack structure is going well and she has shown herself to be a follower in a calm manner, then I would begin obedience training again.
I think the DVDs that you need are Basic Obedience and DEALING WITH DOMINANT AND AGGRESSIVE DOGS and was a 5 year project. I would get all the DVDs now and begin studying them.
With a dog this young it’s not too late, but I would get started right away with her.
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Hi Ed-
I am hoping you can help me out. I purchased a German Shepherd puppy from a breeder in IL last March and your video, "Puppies 8 weeks to 8 months" was highly recommended to me. I purchased this video and followed most of the training tips you outlined, however, now our puppy is 1 yr old and she continues to have several problems.
The biggest issue is that the puppy has is that she was very shy when we got her, and she has not come out of this yet. We followed the socialization portion of your video to a tee. Introducing her to strangers, having them give her treats, taking her into new areas, parks, etc. She is still very skiddish and will not go near anyone but the family.
For example, when a friend of ours come over to visit and arrive at the door (hears doorbell), she will stand back and may even bark a few times, but hides in the background and watches. Our other dog Bailey will bark and go to the door to see who it is, while Gibson (puppy) hides. When we let our visitor in and assure the dogs that the person is okay (introduce, etc)...Gibson will never come close to the visitor and stay as far away from that person as possible, pushing herself up against a wall in a corner as far away from the visitor that she can get. She will not warm up to people even after they have been there for several hours--and even if we are all right there, and it isn't just random people that she just doesn't get a chance to know well. We have regular visits from my in-laws who visit us 1-2 times per week and stay for hours every time. They try to call her over, they try to give her treats, feed her, they try to pet her and play with her but she is so scared and timid that she won't do anything with them. She has never warmed up to them in 7 months now which I am surprised of.
I am the "Alpha" of the family, and she is a good dog for me when it is just me and her. I have spent a lot of time with her, she sits by my feet all day when I work from home, and listens well to me. I have taught her all the basic commands, how to fetch and retrieve just about anything, she goes for rides in the car with me quite a bit, and I would think all this time spent would help her feel really comfortable, especially when I am around. It doesn't work. I try everything to let her know it is okay---I hold her and coax her and try to get her comfortable around others and it doesn't work. Nothing seems to work. No matter what I do, I cannot break this puppy of being so scared around other people.
Another issue is she gets very aggressive and hostile around other dogs (except for our 11.5 yr old GS dog Bailey). She seems so scared around other dogs that she turns her fear into aggression and barks violently and snaps at other dogs, neighbors dogs, dogs walking by, etc. We have introduced her to neighbors dogs many times, but she still does the same thing ...either runs away or attacks them. We have let her "bark it out" with dogs, hoping she would eventually see the dog as no threat and warm up to the dog--this does not work. She is a little less intimidated by kids v/s adults, so she will occasionally let kids play fetch with her after a lot of coaxing, but she has also snapped at a few kids when they have tried to pet her, which is something we won't tolerate. We usually have to put her away when people come around, especially kids because we don't know if she will bite them.
Our puppy has also not ever gotten used to being in a crate. We tried this for months when she was a puppy..at first she would cry all night (which I understand is normal). This went on for a few weeks and I finally put the crate next to my bed. She was okay with that, but if we left the house for anytime between 15 minutes and a few hours--we would put her in the crate, she would cry and go to the bathroom all over the crate. She would avoid the crate at all cost, and when I pulled her by the collar into the crate she would go into a frenzy, go to the bathroom all over, and cry the whole time. This happened for months and we finally gave up on crate training despite what you say in your video.
Everyone asks if she was abused because of the way she acts. She has not been abused at all. When it is necessary, we discipline her by doing what is recommended in the video (NOT rubbing nose into accidents in the house-just take her outside, lots of positive reinforcement, etc). We have devoted a lot of time, effort, and money to this dog and just feel that she may never come around. We also feed her a premium diet, give her lots of attention and exercise. We just don't know what else to do and I am hoping you can help. I am ready to give up on this dog.
Thanks,
Joe
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It sounds like your pup has weak nerves, and has also manipulated you and your family into being followers. By coaxing her and telling her everything is OK when she shows fearful or undesirable behavior you have actually reinforced her instability. It’s not too late to change this but you are going to have to restructure her life and stick with it.
I would not be asking her to be “friends’ with strangers or people that come into your home but she does need to follow your rules and be respectful and neutral. It’s a misconception that dogs need to be friendly with everyone they meet. When a dog has weak nerves and is unconfident, pushing them into interacting with strangers is asking for a dog bite.
Pack structure and how to live with a dog in your home are the first issues to deal with whenever you add a new dog to your family or have problems with an existing dog. We are taking orders for a new DVD that extensively covers the way Ed and I live with dogs in our home.
She needs to be crate trained, and since you have allowed her to run this process it will now be harder on her than if you would have been patiently persistent when she was younger.
You may want to take a look at our ebook on Housetraining and our basic dog obedience video.
The root to solving your issues with this dog lie in first establishing pack structure. Without it, all the training in the world isn’t going to help her. She needs to know that you are in charge and only time and consistency can demonstrate that to her.
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I have purchased two of your dog training videos and am very impressed with your work. I am having a problem with my dog that I hope you could help me with.
I own a 14 month old male purebred Siberian Husky with champion bloodlines. He is neutered. 99.9% of the time he is the nicest dog you could ever hope for - loving, affectionate, playful, likes everyone he meets, never shows any aggression towards any person or any other dog and is very nice to my children age 8 and 6. But, and this is a BIG BUT, whenever he's eating or has a bone that he's chewing on his demeanor completely changes 180 degrees opposite. He virtually turns into a rapid wolf! He get's unbelievably aggressive and protective and threatens to rip your arm off if you go near him.
Normally we avoid this situation by only giving him a bone when he is locked in his crate or alone in the yard and we stay away from him while he has it. This past weekend he was in the yard with the bone for about an hour. Then we had to leave to go out for the evening so I needed to bring him inside and lock him in his crate. He still had a piece of the bone in his mouth and I couldn't let him have it alone while we were gone, so I needed to get it away from him. He went nuts and wouldn't give it up. I did have a leash on him and was able to secure him. I used a stick to pry the bone out of his mouth. However, just after getting the bone away from him I let my guard down and he spun around and bit me on the hand, drawing blood. I immediately gave him a couple of level 10 corrections and forced him to the ground and he relaxed and submitted. When I released him and began to take him to his crate he snapped at me and bit me again in the other hand.
My question for you is can this problem be trained out of him or is this an inborn trait that will never change? A local dog trainer/behaviorist told me I will never be able to change the dog on this issue. In fact this trainer owns a husky with the exact same problem and for 6 years has been unable to correct it. I'm torn over this because the dog is NOT a mean or aggressive dog under any other circumstance and never shows the slightest sign of being a danger to anyone. It seems way too severe to have the dog put down. I could give him up for adoption or something like that, but the next owner would inherit the same problem.
What is your advice? I really value your knowledge, wisdom and experience.
Thank you.
Tim
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You have a problem – obviously I guess.
This issue should have been dealt with when the dog was a young dog. You missed that time period – when he was too young to fight back. So now your job is more difficult. When dogs are young you can trade them for other objects. If they get possessive you can snatch them up and give them the “WHAT IF!!” You cant do that with adults.
Before I start here I need to point out that NO WHERE IN MY WORK HAVE I EVER TOLD SOMEONE TO PUT A DOG ON THE GROUND UNTIL IT IS CALM AND SUBMISSIVE. The reason for that is that it’s not safe for non-professionals to attempt this and you are living proof. I assume you got this idea from Cesar Milan’s show. He can do this – 99.999% of the dog public cannot do it. This is one of the problems I have with his show. He shows techniques that only he can do – and he does not show a program but rather problem solving.
With that said – if this were my dog I would run him through my pack structure program and work with a remote collar. I just finished a DVD on pack structure ( Establishing Pack Structure with the Family Pet ). While your dog is nice 99% of the time it does not look at you as a leader. You may think it does but if it did it would never have bit you.
I would also train this dog with a remote collar. I use a Dogtra 1700 on my dog. I would not use the collar in the dog crate. I would only use it outside. I would also never give this dog a bone outside again – not ever.
If the dog became protective of anything in the house I would back the training up and use the remote. If I felt concern for my safety I would set him up and back tie him so he could not get to me – always error on the side of safety and don’t pick a fight you could lose. My DVD titled DEALING WITH DOMINANT AND AGGRESSIVE DOGS covers these things.
Bottom line is you need to become an expert on dog aggression. It is the 1% of the time you need to train for and you don’t want something to happen with a child. Read my article on PREVENTING DOG BITES IN CHILDREN – they are also in free eBook form on my site. My web site has a large number of FREE eBooks that I have written. Go to the main directory for eBooks.
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I found your site today after an unfortunate "run in" with my dog (Hailey, 4 year old, female, 50lb Shepard, Husky mutt) and my parents dog (Toby, 2 year old, male, 22lb Schnauzer, pomeranian mix).
A long story made short, Hailey has come to work with me at my parents home since she was a pup. About 2 years ago my mom adopted 2 litter-mate male pups. She adopted one earlier than the other. The first, Geordie and then 2 months later Toby. Geordie is the more dominate of the brothers, with Toby being very subservient.
For some reason Hailey has exhibited dominance issues with Toby and not Geordie. She has "mounted" Toby for quite a while (which we have stopped each time we see it) and there have been encounters between her and Toby, but we've separated them and after (she) cools off, there are no further issues. Until something new sets her off.
Hailey was a pound puppy and has had food issues with other dogs since the day we brought her home. I regularly "test" her by taking away her food dish, and so far that has never been an issue with humans... just other dogs. Unsure how to deal with this, we've made it a point to never to feed her around other dogs.
Back to today's issue, for no humanly explainable issue, Hailey pounced on Toby pinning him to the floor and biting him on the chest leaving 2 puncture wounds. Toby has been seen by our vet and is resting comfortably now.
My main concern revolves around these seemingly random attacks... A point driven home further by the fact that I have a 1 year old son.
Hailey has shown little aggressiveness toward my son, and (so far) is normally very protective of him.
I've always tried to maintain "alfa" status at home. She does not sleep on our bed, she tends to eat after us, and we never leave her toys or bones around without picking them up. Recently she has begun showing her teeth when I take her rawhide bone away from her in the evening, but has never bitten or snapped at me when I take it.
In your experience, have you seen anything like this? I've heard, read and experienced the fact that Husky/shepherds have rather distinct personalities, but I'm not sure where personality / behavior / breed starts and stops.
Any insight would be greatly appreciated,
Pete
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Dogs send clear signals to humans and other dogs, but unfortunately sometimes we miss them. Other dogs miss them also, or ignore them and that is typically when we have dog fights.
This is a very common occurrence. These issues are not breed specific, all dogs display these behaviors.
I would do some reading on the website, there are many free articles and ebooks that pertain to aggression. http://www.leerburg.com/articles.htm#dom
The fact that your dog shows her teeth at you when you remove a bone, tells me that she does not respect you as the leader in all situations.
I have a couple of dvd recommendations for you, I believe that this DVD could really help you. It’s titled DEALING WITH DOMINANT AND AGGRESSIVE DOGS and was a 5 year project.
Pack structure and how to live with a dog in your home are the first issues to deal with whenever you add a new dog to your family or have problems with an existing dog. We are taking orders for a new DVD that extensively covers the way Ed and I live with dogs in our home. This DVD is called Establishing Pack Structure with the Family Pet.
You can go to the web page and read the outline of what’s included on these videos.
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I met a very interesting puppy and I hope you can share your view and answer two questions.
Some facts and background:
A friend bought a West German show-line puppy (found the breeder/kennel on line).
This female puppy came to my friend (at eight weeks of age) sick (had Giardia and Coccidia) and went to her new home on two antibiotics - that I was told of.
Needless to say, I heard from Judy (the owner) that the dog was very "easy" and low key the first two weeks she had her. After finishing her abx at new home I heard that Rosie (the puppy) started biting and nipping - obviously, feeling better. Judy tried to give her toys (to divert her attention) for weeks. No luck. Then Judy started to correct the behavior gently and Rosie went back at her with a vengeance. After getting bit and bit (with Rosie drawing blood) she gave the puppy a scruff shake. Rosie growled, lips curled and went back at Judy again, with a vengeance ......jumping up to bark at her and bit in the air at her face.
I heard (from Judy) after that incident she put her in her crate. Recently, I was told when she "bites" or "nips" Judy puts her in her crate (not something I agree with).
After hearing about Rosie time and time again, I finally met this puppy the other day. We had an arranged meeting at an elementary school where three of my own German line GSD's (East German) would meet Rosie in a controlled setting.
Rosie is now four months old.
As I was playing with my dogs, I heard Judy drive up - Rosie was going ballistic in the car. Peeved off barks....not excited barks or concerned barks or even I want to play barks.....she was just barking with a deep bark and scratching like mad at the crate.
Judy was scared to bring Rosie out so I got her on a leash (I've been working with dogs - mainly super, super tough dogs and my own DDR shepherds - for over 25 years).
After a half an hour or so, I touched Rosie's flank and she turned and bit me. I gently corrected her and she came back after me with some serious intent. She curled her lips back and growled and continued biting my hands. (I'll spare you the rest of the story of how many times she bit Judy that day, her daughter, a friend and myself and quite frankly, although unacceptable - I'd have to give the dog every benefit of the doubt and would have to say that it is most likely a learned behavior from never being properly corrected in the first place).
This is what the amazing and perplexing part is....in all of my years with dogs and puppies I have never seen a dog so oblivious to "pack behavior." Rosie had NO respect for any of my 3 GSD's - and they are all secure and matter of fact dogs - 8 year old intact male, 6 year old spayed female and 3 year old un-spayed female were all present that day.
Rosie was completely oblivious to every sign and signal that they were giving....from slight whisker movement to an all out display of "knock it off" - lip curled back showing gums with nose turned up in the air.
{To clarify and define oblivious behavior I mean Rosie showed no respect, no submission, no avoidance, no compliance, no "normal" dog/puppy behavior at any level. She was completely oblivious to every one of their blatant signs}
Rosie had no clue and if it weren't for my control with all of my own dogs, I am sure that Rosie would have gotten her butt kicked countless times that day for being HUGELY disrespectful. I would never allow that to happen and the experience was a positive one for Rosie and a FIRST for me.
After spending a good two hours with Rosie I asked Judy some questions. I asked Judy when she saw Rosie's mother, did she have breasts that looked like they had had milk in them. Sadly, I found out that Judy only saw the mother in a crate and never saw the mother outside of her crate, alone and/or interacting with her puppies. I also found out that the breeder bottle fed the puppies (no reason, i.e. mastitis, was given for bottle feeding).
I have bottle fed two litters myself and I know the importance of the mother and/or other elders socializing (nurturing, correcting, ending disputes etc.) and being with puppies. That time period cannot be duplicated and it is the most crucial time period in their early development.
In all of my years of working for and with dogs, I have never met a dog (let alone a four month old puppy) that has no dog sense whatsoever (not even an inkling of proper dog behavior) and I am 99.9% sure that this puppy, Rosie, was not raised with her mother nor with any other elder dogs.
I highly doubt that I will be able to work with this woman (because she does not want to do the work that it will take) and yet, I am certain that I could work with this dog.
So, more out of curiosity and a thirst for knowledge - I would like to ask you these questions:
--What, if anything, can one do to bring out a dog's instinctive genetic desire to be a pack animal?
--Can anything be done with a puppy that has no clue of the hierarchy of a pack because it was not taught dog sense, proper dog behavior and submission by it's mother (or other elder) in it's early formative weeks?
I ask you because I highly respect your opinion.
Thank you for any insight you can offer.
Respectfully,
Lauren
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Puppies can be taught social skills by allowing them to interact with stable, clear headed adults. We just released a new DVD that has a lot of footage of how dogs send signals to each other and how they react to rudeness, etc… While we certainly do not advocate letting puppies getting bullied or beat up, sometimes by protecting the pup from understanding the consequences of their actions and what the signals like curled lips or growls mean, you actually do the pup a disservice in the long run. You teach her that the warning signals don’t mean anything because you hold her back or the adults back. Does that make sense? Sometimes one good, fair and properly timed correction from another dog is all it takes. We have a 9 year old corgi that teaches every pup we have ever raised the meaning of personal space.
This is something that can only be accomplished by being absolutely sure of the adult dog and his or her ability to be controlled by voice if things get out of hand. We don’t recommend people do this themselves, but I have incorporated socially inept dogs into my group of dogs here with success. At 4 months old, this dog is still very impressionable. The easiest way to get all this sorted out is to walk the pup with adult dogs that are completely stable and indifferent to other dogs. Standing still and letting everyone come nose to nose is the wrong way to do this. Get out and walk them all, on leash.
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Dear Ed Frawley,
I want to thank you for writing the articles you have on dog behavior. If it weren't for your knowledge and experience I don't think that I would have been able to put my 3 year old Doberman down. It was a very emotional decision, but I now realize a very good one.
Now for the story:
My husband and I took in a 21/2 year old Doberman in may of this year. He showed no signs of aggression until one July evening when he bit my chin as I reached to take the trash bag off the kitchen floor before he could get to it. I ended up in the emergency room. No stitches, but some skin removed and a scar. I figured it was my fault. People warned me differently, but he was such a companion and lovable dog. There were other times that he, Ace, would growl if you were to enter his "space." So, we thought we needed to respect him. In October he bit a dog walker when she went to remove his leash. We became worried. The final straw came when on Saturday evening my husband went to undo his collar for the night. I was walking through the door when Ace lunged at my husband. I was terrified, as was my husband. We decided that Ace could not be trusted and that it was time to put him down.
You should know that we had him neutered in July and sent him to K-9 University in Douglas, MA for training. The trainer, Ken resorted to the electronic collar as the only way to teach Ace to follow orders and commands.
My assistant found your site and told me to read your articles. I thought, as I read, that you were describing my dog to a "T." I miss my friend, but I feel it was the right decision to make. Ninety-five percent of the time Ace was the best...It was that five percent that could have killed someone.
I thank you for your knowledge and for teaching me about dog behavior. You quite possibly saved a life.
Forever grateful,
Victoria
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Victoria,
It’s too bad this happened. The bottom line is that this was 100% AVOIDABLE. This dog had never had pack structure settled with you and your husband. With that said the vast majority of people don’t understand what pack structure even is much less know how to deal with it. They think of Cesar Milan and what he does on TV – when in fact that’s not a program, that’s just problem solving and 99% of the pet owners out there can't do what he does.
I just finished a DVD titled ESTABLISHING PACK STRUCUTRE WITH THE FAMILY DOG. Had you run this dog through this program I will guarantee you that the dog would have been a part of your family today.
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Hello Mr. Frawley,
I have read several of your articles and purchased your puppy training video and your basic dog training. They are all very good. Best I have ever watched. You are doing people a wonderful service.
My question is this. Do dogs that have weak nerves and fear aggression get worse as they get older? I have a 3 year old American bulldog. She was timid at a pup so I started educating myself on what I could do to make this work. I have trained her with both of the videos mentioned above and she did awesome. Even during the distraction phase, I used an e-collar, and things had been great for a little over a year. I know that she has weak nerves so I try to control everything she does. I have trained her to stay only in the lower level of the house and when she is outside she is with me and has her e-collar on. I took her to the vet in March and had her spayed. Her aggression is getting worse. She snapped at the neighbor girl inside our house. The little girl was playing with my daughter and ran by the door. I think it must have scared the dog and luckily I still had the e-collar on was able to give a correction. I am contemplating having her put down. Next time the dog had a piece of paper she was chewing up and as I took it away I pointed my finger at her and said NO, she snarled at me, I popped her upside the head and sent her to the kennel. So I thought, OK she is obviously not seeing me as a pack leader so I will start training from beginning again. She listens like always during training times. I just don’t understand it. Last night my father went to put her in the kennel and as he closed the door she lunged and snapped at him. I called my vet and he said to bring her in and see if there are any medical reasons why she would act like this. I don’t believe there is anything medically wrong, just the ghosts in her head. In your experience, does this type of temperament get worse as she ages because of poor breading? Am I correct in retraining her? Or am I just prolonging putting her to sleep?
Thank you for your time.
Sincerely,
Susan
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Susan,
You have done a lot of things correctly. With that said I can't be the one on putting a dog down. In my experience most dogs do not have to be put down as long as the pack structure is properly dealt with.
I recently finished a DVD titled ESTABLISHING PACK STRUCUTRE WITH THE FAMILY PET. In my opinion you should try this program (because it is a program). Read the description of the DVD. It will help you decide. The work ion this DVD is based on my years of dealing with very, very aggressive dogs – dangerous dogs. I basically explain how I did things and still do.
The thing about fear aggression is these dogs do the best when they have a structured life. They do best when they know and understand everything that is expected of them. They do best when they can anticipate your needs and expectations. They also need to understand that there are “pack leader rules” that are expected to be followed and when they are not there are dire consequences.
I wrote a free eBook on PREVENTING DOG BITES IN CHILDREN. My gut feel is you should follow that advice. My web site has a large number of FREE eBooks that I have written. Go to the main directory for eBooks. The bottom line is to keep the dog in the crate when there are children around.
I too doubt this is a medical issue, although blood work for a thyroid condition could be warranted. A bad thyroid can elevate aggression in a dog. Also neutering a female when she is older will sometimes escalate aggression (many people don’t understand this).
Don’t let the vet put her on pills – you can't dumb control out of a pill bottle – no matter what a vet says. Fact is I have met very, very few vets who are good dog trainers. They all think of themselves as experts when in fact they know enough to offer dangerous advice.
My DVD has a big section on the crate issue.
If you decide to try this, let me know in a few months how it worked out.
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Hello,
I am interested in finding out which video training you recommend for a pet we just rescued. We adopted a four year old male bulldog last week. He is showing definite signs of aggression toward my 4 year old female bulldog. He has snapped, nipped, growled, and bit at her. We wanted to take him in because he seemed to have lived a troubled life so far - but we're not sure of what our next steps should be - we don't want him to hurt our dog or our two cats.
I would appreciate your feedback.
Thanks,
Patricia
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Patricia,
Its nice what you have done. But if you are already putting this dog with your other dog you are making a mistake – which you already know and is why you found me.
When people get new dogs they have to establish pack structure first. I just did a DVD on this – ESTABLISHING PACK STRUCTURE WITH THE FAMILY PET.
I have a very abbreviated part of this program in the form of a free eBook on my web site. My web site has a large number of FREE eBooks that I have written. Go to the main directory for eBooks.
This needs to be done before obedience training – if you read the description of the DVD you will see why. Once leadership has been established (and that can take time – but this program can never be rushed) then you start obedience training. I have a DVD for this titled BASIC DOG OBEDIENCE.
In the list of eBooks this is a free eBook I wrote titled HOW TO INTRODUCE A NEW DOG INTO A HOME WITH OTHER DOGS – read this.
I am sure that you will be a long way down the path to a calm submissive dog with these two DVD’s. I will also say that I personally will never train a dog again without finishing the obedience work with a remote collar – for off leash work and to control any form of distractions or aggression. To do this you need to become a student of “low level stimulation” and my DVD titled REMOTE COLLAR TRAINING FOR THE PET OWNER covers this.
I personally use a Dogtra 1700 on my own dog. It comes in a 2 dog model.
So this dog can be dealt with if you are prepared to learn about pack structure and then put in the work. Good luck.
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Hi Ed:
I have a 20 month old german shepherd. I emailed you about a year ago when we bought a Dogtra electric collar from your site, which we've been very happy with. Anyways, last week he was laying on the floor and I told him to get up so we could take him outside to pee before we put him in the crate for the night. Kazan ignored my command so I went to reach down to lead him by the collar, which I've done several times before and without contest from Kazan, but this time he bit me. He didn't break my skin but he bit me hard enough that my hand still hurt the next day. I have never hit my dog to warrant a reaction like this where he would feel the need to defend himself and bite me. I will save you the time in telling me that this was my handling error because I agree.
Kazan does have a dominant personality and tries to challenge us regularly. He will try to resist obeying commands that he knows, nudges us to get attention, does not like to be handled in any way by the vet or us to do simple things like trim his nails. The collar has helped in terms of him not challenging commands like sit and down. We also try very hard to be consistent with his training by following basic rules such as not letting him on the furniture, making sure we walk through doorways before him first, etc... With that being said I'm sure there are things we are doing that contributes to his behavior. I was going to order your dvd on dominant dogs but I didn't know if I should also order the dvd on basic obedience too. Should the two dvd's go hand in hand together?
I admit that at first when he bit me I questioned getting rid of him but I do realize that as his owner I'm most likely doing things that are contributing to his behavior.
The only other thing I struggle with is that as I said above...we really like the electric collar but I'm having a really hard time lately using it to control his behavior when guests come over or when he hears the mailman. Yesterday the mailman came to the door and when Kazan heard him the hair on his back stood straight up and he continued to bark. Even though I brought him to the spot on the floor that he's supposed to stay down on he jumped up and started running around. I corrected him and he was not responding so I turned it up a couple notches and corrected him again and again told him down. He would not lay down. I notice that sometimes when he gets worked up like that...that he gets more upset when we use a higher correction yet if I use a low correction he doesn't seem to learn not to repeat the behavior in the future. Have you experienced this and what have you done to correct it?
I do value your opinion and know that you can be blunt with your answers so I hope I'm not annoying you. I'm am really trying to do what's right for my own safety as well as others.
Thank you.
Gina
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Gina,
Several things here.
First, I don’t think it was a handling error yesterday when the dog bit you. A dog should not bite their owner for this.
I do believe you need to rethink the way you have been living with this dog and how you approach these other problems (IE the mailman and visitors).
Your problem stems from a lack of pack structure. THIS DOG LACKS IT !!! If he had correct pack structure he would not bite you. So get my DVD on Establishing Pack Structure with the Family Pet – and get him started in this program. YOU NEED THIS WORK.
I also think you need the work in DEALING WITH DOMINANT AND AGGRESSIVE DOGS.
I just checked and you have the remote collar DVD. Please revisit this. If your obedience foundation is correct (and I am not sure that it is – I know you don’t have my Basic Dog Obedience DVD. You should know that when the dog knows what you want but ignores you – then its time to bump up the correction from his normal non-distraction level (every dog is different but lets say your dog is normally a level 4 correction) to a level 8 or 9 out of 10.
In remote collar language – if your normal level is 40 and he ignores you at the door then turn it to 100 to 120 – not 60. If you only bump it a little he will learn to fight through the stimulation.
With this said – if there is the slightest risk of him biting you – you need to teach him to wear a muzzle. Train it with marker training (DVD 302) Make the muzzle going on fun. Then when that’s done and he is used to having it on for an hour or two at a time – set him up. Have it on and have someone come to the door and act like the mailman – at first they don’t come in. When he ignores you – 120 correction.
If this were my dog he would be trained to go to his crate on command – not a rug. This dog needs a dog crate so you have control when people come or you are going to have an accident.
I am not trying to peddle DVD's here but you need better training. You can solve these problems and solve them safely with education and rethinking what your doing. Always error on the side of safety and as I say in the Dominant dog DVD “pick your fights and don’t pick a fight you could lose.” Your mistake was you picked a fight that you lost.
Also NEVER GET DOWN ON THE FLOOR WITH THIS DOG AGAIN.
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Ed. I got your new DVD and liked it and E have bought many of your other DVD's.
You touched on letting your dog play with other dogs but I have a question. Should I let my Ger.Shep. play with other dogs if they are not aggressive, he is not. I guess you can never can be sure, when dogs play very rough!
In my training classes he often wants to run and play with other dogs and Ii don't want to encourage this in class. Have you written a pod cast with more (extensive) info about this subject? This is a very important subject to me. I don't want to create a problem. Everyone thinks you are depriving your dog if you don't let them.
Roz of Memphis
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The people who feel like this lack experience. They anthropomorphize relationships with dogs, when in fact our dogs are pack animals. Your family is the dog's family pack.
In the wild do you think a dog would run over to a neighboring pack to play?
That would NEVER HAPPEN - the other pack would fight and probably kill it - unless it was physically stronger than the other pack leaders.
I do need to do more podcasts. Maybe this winter I will have time.
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Mr. Frawley,
I just found your website and am hoping that you can help us with a somewhat urgent situation. My husband (a vet), daughter and I have 3 dogs that are all crate trained and kept there at all times unless we are home with them. The oldest, Sally is a 12 year old mix, then there is Bugz a 4 year old Boston mix, and finally Polly the 18 month old bulldog mix. All are spayed females. Up until 2 weeks ago, all was mostly quiet with the dogs except maybe 2 challenges to Sally's dominance by Polly, which was not a surprise given the age and pack ramifications. We were careful to correct Polly properly for the aggression both times. Then 2 weeks ago week, while we were out of town, our pet-sitter/vet assistant came by one day to feed them and let them out (they know her well as she is in and out with work for my husband) and as Polly ran off to hunt squirrels by sniffing around the fence-line, the sitter bent over to pet Sally and Bugs at her feet and Polly ran in, jumped Sally and wouldn't let go of her ear. The sitter had to pry her mouth off the ear since she would not let go. Then, last week Polly went after Sally again while in my husband's study and got the other ear and it took both of us to get her to let go of it. At this point, we have tried to keep them separate for going out, and tried to prevent any dominance challenge situations and all was quiet. Then today, the sitter was here doing some work in the garage and my husband asked her to let the dogs out since the weather was so nice outside. She opened the crates and let them out and as soon as she turned around to close the door, another fight broke out leading to yet another ear bite and hold. This one took both she and my husband to separate and Sally has just returned from the vet with a partial ear amputation due to the damage.
I am sure by reading your site that we have done something wrong in the process, but we are both long time owners of multiple dog households and have quite a bit of veterinary experience and some dog aggression issues from cases we have seen. Polly is the perfect people dog and is very warm and loving and has never shown any aggression with any people or other dogs besides Sally though I know it is a possibility (they never go anywhere but here at the house or my mom's with us). The main question here is that my husband is considering putting her to sleep simply because of the viciousness of the attacks on Sally and the risk it adds if any person gets in the way. Can we fix this at this stage, and if so, how? We have thought of a muzzle when she is out and around Sally, or working shifts so that only one of them is out at a time, or getting her to someone in a rescue group that deals with dog-aggressive dogs or just wants a one dog home, knowing her history. My husband is still concerned for safety and liability issues. In addition, this is his dog and it is a very hard decision for both of us to make. We would love to spare her if possible. Any help would be very much appreciated. We are keeping them apart (Sally's drugged up and in a crate for a bit) and weighing the options.
Thanks,
Ashlyn
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This is 100% a pack/rank issue. Three dogs are a dog pack. Most times people can get by with it – but then there are times like this where there is no room for error. I hate to say this but there have been more signs of this coming but your family missed them.
If this dog 100% understood your leadership this would not have happened in front of you. It very well still would have happened with your house sitters and employees because they are not the dogs leaders – being human does not translate into being a pack leader.
The solution begins with the kind of pack structure program in my DVD Establishing Pack Structure With the Family Dog. I developed this program over the past 25 years of importing and buying dogs for police service work, personal protection and Schutzhund work. Many of these dogs were truly dangerous dogs handler aggressive dogs. I was never badly bit.
This program is only the first part of the solution. Dogs like this need to be under total control all the time. They need to understand this concept and more importantly they need to accept the situation. This is accomplished with dogs leashes (in the house) dog crates and no contact with other animals.
The dog also needs serious obedience training – by that I mean correct training that establishes you as a fair considerate leader. A leader who has rules that once explained and understood are respected and followed. If the rules are understood and then ignored they must be ruthlessly enforced with dogs like this. Read the free eBook I wrote on THE THEORY OF CORRECTIONS IN DOG TRAINING. Here is where the all positive dog trainer pee their pants.
This is best handled with a Remote Collar.
Muzzles don’t solve your problem. Muzzles cover up problems. They should be used to test training. They make the test safe. I have a training DVD titled MUZZLE FIGHTING FOR POLICE SERVICE DOGS. A dog can break ribs, knock out teeth or break a facial bone with a muzzle on. They are not your solution.
If your family is not prepared to get retrained and then change the way you live with your dog pack – you should find a single dog home for this dog. But the person who takes it needs to be experienced in how to handler dogs aggression. I have a dvd titled Dealing with Dominant and Dangerous Dogs.
Good luck – if you kill this dog it’s a mistake. It’s a failure of education and effort.
Kind Regards,
Ed
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Ed,
I have purchased several of your videos and 4 heating pads, all of which I appreciate. I am a breeder of Field line Labrador retrievers. Your site and products are listed on our recommendations we give to new pups owners.
I have spent quite a bit of time on your site but still have a question about a how to rehab an extremely shy dog. We have a female, Trixi, that was attacked as a pup by another female which was in season. After this attack, I found your site from which along with your videos has taught us so much. We have taken Trixi out weekly since September. She’s OK at parks or parking lots but petrified in pet stores or when a stranger comes to our house. She literally shakes, pupils dilate, she won’t accept food, etc. My brother who is a dog lover, just visited, laid on the floor for over a half hour rubbing and petting her before she stopped shaking and it took 45 min before she would take food. This gal has tremendous Field Champion and hunt titled lines and is sweet with us and our children. She’s very quick to learn at home and obedience is great at home although I cannot handle her without a prong collar when out and about. I hate the thought of getting rid of her or not breeding her. Is there help or hope for her?
Thank you,
Jane
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Dogs like this have an elevated pack drive. They crave and need to have strong leadership. Many people misunderstand their rolls are a pack leader and I am sorry to tell you but you fall into this category.
Pack animals often don’t readily accept new members. A wolf pack is a perfect example. Many times members will kill a single adult wolf that comes into their territory.
In your case your dog was traumatized. Your dog needs you to keep strangers and strange dogs away from you. She needs to believe that you will do this. Right now she does not believe this because you continually put her in a situation where you allow strangers to touch and interact. Read the article I wrote titled WHO PETS MY DOG - My web site has a large number of FREE eBooks that I have written. Go to the main directory for eBooks http://www.leerburg.com/dogtrainingebooks.htm
You need to step to the line and stop people and other animals from coming near this dog. You need to let him see you do this. Once she has confidence in the fact that EVERY TIME you will step to the line the dog will begin to relax.
I will guarantee you that if you came to our home and tried to pet Cindy’s 6 month old Mal pup she would warn you once and then show you the door the second time – and he is the toughest little shit I have ever seen.
People confuse “CONTACT” with socializing. Socializing means taking your dog out and letting him experience the world. It doesn’t mean taking him out and letting non-pack members pet him or taking him out to meet and greet other dogs. Dogs don’t need that – they need a strong family pack with rules and limitations.
Now – can some people get by with being shitty pack leaders – absolutely. The character of their dogs carries them through this. Your dog cannot.
Fact is when dogs like this gain confidence in YOU they respond very well to training – especially low level remote collar training. They always want to be in a safe place. They ALWAYS want to do the right thing. So when pack structure is established and understood – and the training is 100% clear and understood they respond.
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Hi Ed,
I have read most of the articles on your website and find them very interesting and informative. Perhaps you could shed some light on my situation.
I've always had just one dog at a time (an airdale and then a doberman) so I'm a little out of my league here. And this may be a stupid question (or not enough info) but here goes. I respect your opinion.
I got a female mix from the pound 4 years ago - a shepherd/boxer mix with maybe a little lab - now weighs about 65 lbs. She is and has been extremely obedient other than barking a lot when distracted (people come to the door, dogs walk by the yard, etc) and there's no way I can walk with her off-leash - but she's a real good dog. About 2 yrs ago I got my wife a purebred female yellow lab for valentines day. The dogs have gotten along well (I think) although the mix shows some jealousy sometimes. But they are constantly wrestling and I can't tell if they are borderline fighting or just playing. When I let them out in the yard, they run at each other like bucks and slam their chests into each other flying into the air, and then chase each other around the yard. My only clue is that the mix is growling and both have the hair standing up on their rears - but 5 minutes later they're lying around licking each other's ears, etc. (As a side note, both are fixed - and the lab is crated when we are out, but the mix has always had run-of-the-house - great watchdog - very LOUD when alerted.)
How do I tell if they're playing or if they're wanting to fight and just haven't yet? They don't get enough exercise (my bad) and live indoors (in their own room with big beds and their own tv on Animal Planet - lol) but even when I let them out in the yard they only go crazy for 5 minutes and then just lie there.... and when they wrestle in the house we tell them to go to their room and they go and wrestle there so they do get exercise - just not outside. (They're a lot rougher with each other out in the yard than in their room, but their room isn't that big.) Do you think I have a problem, and if so, any suggestions? The mix is usually the instigator....
I appreciate your feedback. Thank you, sir.
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It is a mistake to allow these dogs to settle things like this when you let them out. We stop this behavior because it’s one split second between this and a dog fight. No one can tell you when a fight will break out. It happens in an instant when it happens and your youngest is just coming of age (2 years) So I don’t think it’s a matter of “IF IT WILL HAPPEN” it is only a matter of time “UNTIL IT DOES HAPPEN.” The younger one will extend her strength and resistance a litter each time until she thinks “I CAN KICK HER ASS AND AM GOING TO DO IT NOW!!!!”
The worst dog fights are between bitches. I have been around many many dogs fights and the 2 or 3 that stick out in my mind were between females. So make sure to read the article or ebook I wrote on HOW TO BREAK UYP A DOG FIGHT WITHOUT GETTING HURT. My web site has a large number of FREE eBooks that I have written. Go to the main directory for eBooks http://www.leerburg.com/dogtrainingebooks.htm
Bottom line is the dogs sound like they lack pack structure – “coming” when called is her flipping the leader off. When your dog really understand and respects the pack leader they mind and establishing pack structure is only part of the solution.
If I had to recommend some training it would be the following:
Establish Pack Structure with the Family Dog - There is a 22 minute streaming video on this page.
Basic Dog obedience
Remote Collar Training for the Pet Owner - dogs that are as old as your dogs – who have gotten away with flipping you off for so long – need to learn that you can reach out and touch them when you want.
Good luck. I hope this helps.
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Cindy,
My questions isn't a serious problem. I have a beautiful 2 year old golden retriever. She has had both basic and advance training plus private. She is a very obedient dog, but she is afraid when it rains. I understand thunder, even though she is suppose to be a gun dog, that was my fault. We only had her four week when we had a whole house built upstairs for my daughter and her husband. All the noise scared her and so did so many men. Just this summer she had stared letting strange men pet her, she always wanted to before but if they reached for her she would get behind me.
She is also afraid when I have the sprinklers on and hides in my sewing room. Last year she played in it with my twin grandsons. She loves to go swimming and goes regularly so I don't under stand where this came from.
Thanks for any advise you can give me.
Juavue
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While obedience training is absolutely great it doesn’t always help dogs with weak nerves or confidence issues to deal with everyday things that make them worried. Dogs like this need very structured leadership in their daily lives.
I would suggest you read and implement our groundwork program, here is the free online article that covers it. We also have a DVD that picks up where the article leaves off, Pack Structure for the Family Pet.
Don’t try to soothe or reassure your dog when she’s worried about something, as that only gives the dog attention and praise for the opposite behavior that she should have. You need to be matter-of-fact and confident in your daily interactions with her.
I hope this helps.
Cindy
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I just came across your web site. WOW! I have been doing a lot of things the wrong way. This is what happens when you have 4 dogs fighting at once. Boxers and a Great Dane. This happened in May. I no longer have these dogs. I did place them in only dog homes and that they needed obedience training. I do keep in touch with the people that have my dogs. They tell me that the dogs are doing well. I know now that I failed at being a pack leader... I kept thinking what was going on and what was I doing wrong. Sometimes I would just walk into a room and all of them would just start fighting for no reason. I am glad that I came across your site. I am writing to you and sending these photo to you please try to get your message out to other people that think any and all dogs are just cute little things. These photos are of when I got home from the hospital. These are the after photos.
Many thanks and keep up the Great Work!!
John and Maria
 
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Thanks for sending those. This is a good example of what can happen when you don’t establish pack structure with multiple dogs.
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