Fear Aggression in Dogs

FEAR Aggression

In DOGS

An aggressive Mini Schnauzer

Good evening Ed.

I know you receive numerous emails about dogs and the issues and I am sure we are no different. I have done hours of research, hired two different dog trainers and have had no success in addressing our concerns with our rescue dog.

In a nut shell, we have a mini schnauzer that we got when she was 13 months. She came from an abusive owner and we are not sure what they did to her but she is afraid of men and is very protective of her right side. We have completed tests and xrays to ensure that there is nothing physical causing her sensitivity.

She is now 2.5 years and over the last six to eight months she has started snapping at us and grabbing our hands with her teeth if we pet her side and sometimes even if we pet her chest. She knows she is misbehaving as she immediately goes into a submissive posture (rolls on her back and cowers) and licks us. She does not always react this way – there seems to be no apparent trigger – sometimes she lets us touch her, and other times forget it.

No one has been able to advise how we should deal with this behaviour. We do not let other people pet her, we keep her away from most dogs and are very responsible owners. The trainers we have engaged have been, quite frankly, useless. I don’t want to spend another $1,000 and get nowhere and am wanting our pet to have a happy home and safe environment.

Any suggestions would be great. I am in Canada and we just don’t seem to have good resources available to deal with these challenges. Our pet is a beautiful dog and typically very loving. Help!!!!

Regards,

Sara

Ed's Answer on Aggressive on Mini Schnauzer

I start by recommending you read an article I recently wrote which explains my philosophy of dog training. I think you will get some ideas from this.

More often than not these kinds of dogs were not mistreated but rather have a genetic temperament problem which was the reason why the dog was given up.

With this said the dog has “LEARNED WHAT WORKS” with you and your husband.

I can tell you what we would do here. We would retrain this dog. It would begin by being put in our groundwork program . It would go through our obedience training program Obedience train is only a PART of the solution and by that I means less than 50% of the solution.

Then I would do the work explained in the DVD I just finished titled DEALING WITH DOMINAT AND AGGRESSIVE DOGS . The dog would be trained with a dominant dog collar In the DVD I show how to handle several small dogs like this. Dogs that have conned their owners – like yours has.

Fact is this is more of a owner problem than a dog problem. Sorry to have to say that but it’s a fact. Don’t feel bad this is very common.

So the problem is solvable is you want to put in the work.

Best Regards

Ed Frawley

Basic Dog Obedience

Vet Choked Aggressive Dog during exam:

Dear Ed:

I am asking your opinion. I have several of your training videos. I own a one year old male catahoula that is fearful.

I have taken great care to train and handle the dog properly and have gained its trust - he is a work in progress at 46 lbs. He will permit me to handle him. Sit, down, stay, walks well on a leash - no pulling.

My question is how much pressure and force does it take to pop a dogs eye and burst all its blood vessels in its eyeballs from a choke chain?

I took my dog to the vets and requested tranquilizers because he does not like strangers picking him up etc. The vet put a muzzle on him with my help, telling me a tranquilizer wasn't necessary. She took him out of the room and brought him back about five minutes later telling me he wasn't going to get out of the exam by acting up. I asked if she took his temperature and she said no. She wasn't able to. That night Banjo wouldn't eat his cookie biscuit (he always loves those) and at 5:00am I noticed he had no whites in his eyes and his eyeballs were bright red. He was not poisoned.

I took him to another vet who immediately said his eyes looked poppy and asked who restrained the dog?

I have owned many dogs in my life and never have seen one choked to the point for bursting its blood vessels. I consider this abuse of my Banjo. Could you tell me how much pressure it takes to cause this type of injury? Strangulation of cutting off his air - The second vet I took Banjo to did not want to discuss it with me. Probably some type of "vet code of silence."

Thanks,

Linda Callaway

Ed's Answer of Fear Aggression at Vet

Linda,

I cannot answer this simply because I don’t know. The doing was not “popped” with a choke collar it was hung with a choke collar.

I have seen handler aggressive dogs choked out – for the sake of safety of the handler. But I have not seen issues with eyes.

While I certainly don’t agree that a Vet should take someone’s dog and do this I do believe that there are times when an owner needs to do this for specific reasons. You can read a little about this on this web page on my dominant dog collars. In my opinion the Vet should have told you what needed to be done. If you did not agree then the Vet should have refused to treat the dog.

My STRONG advice is to get one of our jafco or wire basket muzzles. De-sensitize the dog to the muzzle at home so he accepts it. So he can walk with it or train with it. Then have it on the dog when you go to the vet.

The muzzle will cover this aggression, IT WILL NOT CONTROL THE AGGRESSION. That’s where you have to step to the line and deal with it.

In my opinion this dog needs to work with a dominant dog collar and you need to get the DVD I just finished titled DEALING WITH DOMINANAT AND AGGRESSIVE DOGS.

I recommend that you visit my web site and read a training article I recently wrote titled THE THEORY OF CORRECTIONS IN DOG TRAINING.

The reason I wrote this article was to help people understand how to motivate their dogs in training. Most people either use the wrong kind of correction or over correct dogs in training. I am not a fan of “force training” (although I most defiantly believe that every dog needs to go through a correction phase). By exploring corrections in training you will become a better dog trainer.

Regards

Dominant Dog Collar

I came across your site for the first time today. Wonderful advice. My problem is I have a young female Shepherd/collie mix, spayed. I got her from a rescue agency in my home town. She will be 2 years old next month and weighs nearly 70 lbs. She showed signs of aggression when she was very
young (3 to 4 months). I would make her sit and she would growl and snap at me. I stopped that very quickly.

She is a very intelligent and loving dog. She goes up to other dogs in the dog park and licks them and plays very well. However, recently someone moved into the neighborhood with 2 Westies. Being the loving girl she is, mine went up to them to initiate play. Both of the Westies went for her face growling and barking and snapping. After this happened a second time, my girl has now started wanting to attack them every time she sees them. The problem is, it is not only them, it is now most small white dogs. She seems to associate all small white dogs with being attacked by these Westies
She is fine, however, with small dogs she knows in the dog park.

I just don't feel that I can trust her. I have had a couple of trainers in and get a lot of confusing instructions. One says use the gentle leader all the time. But when I tried to do that, she would run away and not come near me. The other says no gentle leader, no crate. Some of the instructions he showed me work, but not all the time. She refuses to heel, comes most of the time. There is another person who comes to the park with cookies in his pocket. He always gives her cookies, even though I have asked him not to.

When he comes in, she sits in front of him and will not listen to me at all. I am nearly at the end of my rope. I know a lot of this is my fault because I was not consistent when she was a pup, she was so cute. Now I am paying for it. I kept figuring she would calm down and become more responsive around 2 years old. Is this the case? Or am I misleading myself? Any advice you can give me would be greatly appreciated.

Dealing with
Dominant & Aggressive Dogs

I appreciate all of the information on your website, and have learned quite a bit about the problems my dog has as a fear biter, but I need to make sure that I will take the information and use it correctly to help our particular situation.

I adopted Cassie from a shelter 5 yrs ago, they said she was 4 months and a cattle dog/akita mix. She's always been very shy. She cowers and hides her head when you reach towards her. When I first got her, she attacked a broom and a vacuum sweeper, but she never attacked another dog or person. She was around other dogs and lots of people with no problems. For the past year a half, she has been living with my parents while I was finishing graduate school. They have another dog, now 9 yrs, and she is a lab/dalmation mix named Maddie. Maddie is definitely the ALPHA dog in the house and I would classify her as aggressive from reading your articles: she growls when you try to take away food or toys, and she snarls, barks and practically jumps through a window when anyone rings the doorbell.

During the time Cassie was living with my parents, she nipped two people and bit two people (one of the biting incidents was yesterday, which is why I am writing now). The two people she bit and one she nipped are all from the same family, our neighbors across the street. The one other person she nipped is my uncle. She's had problems with no other person. The only correlation I can find is that all of these people own cats. Also, these things happened when each of these people came onto my parent’s property. I don't know what the true cause of her fear is, but around anyone else she is a timid, obedient dog (I had in-house obedience training). I have taken her away from my parent’s home and she is now living with me. I am looking for a solution so that I can trust her around ANY person and so that she knows to feel safe in any situation. From reading your Q&A section, I would imagine that putting her in a crate when anyone comes over might be a suggestion (she is crate-trained), but since these are such isolated cases, is there anyway to identify the cause and break her of that?

I have been e-mailing you about Bodi my 3 yro police dog. Now I have a question about our new female (we just picked her up from the airport which brought her here from Germany on March 19 ). She had her first visit with the vet today and she proved to be unruly. She liked everyone there and took treats prior to being put on the table. After she was on the table she yelped and acted like they were hurting her. I was afraid she might bite. We had to put a muzzle on her. She continued to try to get away. When she was finished and back on the floor she was fine again. I would like to correct this problem immediately. I ordered your obedience DVD and a prong collar which are to be delivered tomorrow (I can't wait). Are the fear issues addressed in the Basic obedience DVD or do I need to order another product. She is a beautiful dog and I am determined that she will not do this again (I will muzzle train her if necessary). She has not shown any aggression towards anyone that has come to our house and I know she was socialized in Germany.

I am having some behavioral issues with my dog and I was hoping I could get some input. I have a 1yr old female, medium-sized mixed breed dog. She was from a shelter situation, dumped off as an accidental litter. She was and always has been an amazing companion. Submissive, sweet, loving, etc. I socialized her and enrolled her in puppy obedience lessons. When she was about six months, we took a hiatus from formal training. She was a very shy pup to begin with but with her training lessons, she blossomed into a wonderfully social dog that I was extremely proud of. She had good bounce-back and solicited attention from every man, woman and child she met. She would melt in a stranger's arms. When she was about 7 or so months old, her socialization stopped because of some very bad family issues I was having at the time. I know it was my fault for not continuing her socialization. Well ... I have started taking my dog out for the past two or three months now. I was expecting some shyness but not what I got.

She is absolutely terrified. Terrified hardly describes it. She doesn't urinate or defecate but she is scared to DEATH. She will not and cannot loosen up in Petsmart so we stopped going there. She panted the whole time and ran from people trying to pet her. So we tuned it down a notch. I've tired so many methods ... people as hotdog machines (didn't work), making her look at things she's scared of (made it worse) and buying various books on the subject. I talk in a very high, excited voice and encourage her to look at things she is scared of. It works but only with things she's minimally nervous about (trash or something similar and small). Nothing has worked. She seems to be getting even worse. I've NEVER had an aggression problem ... no snapping, hair raising or the like. She is just scared of everything. She won't walk up to someone's porch, she won't veer off any of our usual walks without freaking out, she won't even enter our local (small, not busy) post office. Nothing. No go. Please HELP!

Dealing with the Dominant Dog

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I have an intact 8 month old male gsd. He is very shy but as time goes on, he does show improvement. He used to be afraid of everything, telephone poles, road cones ect. he used to hide under my desk all the time when people came over, he doesn’t do it as much anymore. He has started to hide behind me when people walk past him on our walks. He is ok if they pass on my right but if they pass him, he just wants to run away. I don’t know how much is my fault for not walking him in the main part of town around people during the cold months or if its just him wi weak nerves. Now that its warm out, we just started walking everyday again.

I read even strong nerved dogs from working lines if not socialized can behave this way, how true is this? I thought I got him from a good breeder, I asked many questions and even asked if she OF A'd her dogs. She had such a nicely worded excuse, I thought she was legit and possibly above people who did test their dogs. she sold me a sick pup and when I called wondering about the "health guarantee" she said it doesn’t cover parasites unless they are clinically ill. my pup had to be hospitalized 3 days after I bought him. And she made it a point to let me know she worked for a law firm. I guess letting me know I wouldn’t win if I wanted to take it to court. She also breeds like 5 other breeds.

I love my dog very much, I just wish he would behave normally around strangers. I don’t care if he don’t like them, that’s fine cuz hes MINE not theirs. but he don’t even trust them enough for them to walk by him. I want to be able to walk him down the street wlo people asking if he is a rescue and have been abused. I had someone ask me that today :( How can I handle this? Which video should I get to help me? I have thought about buying your video for basic obedience, but to be honest", he knows it all. Also he barks at little kids, toddlers mainly. which scares me! are your dogs naturally unafraid of everything? I’m very disappointed. I always read GSD's are fearless, protective & good family dogs. he isn't any of the above :(

We have a 10 month old Australian sheperd we got when she was 8 months old. She has been spayed and we have her in obedience school with a trainer I feel is very competent and knowledgeable. Our dog is very loving with my husband and myself but she is uncontrollable when my 23 yr old son comes over. She growls at most everyone except us. I have to keep her on a leash when anyone comes by or put her outside. I don't feel I can trust her with anyone without being on a leash. She was very fearful when we first brought her home but learned to love us very quickly. Then she started showing signs of aggression and biting. I don't even know if I can put her in a kennel when we go on a trip. She is learning quickly at the school and would be a great dog if we could just solve this problem. Tha trainer thinks we can but she is not at our house. Last week my son came to the class and she tried to lunge at him but nothing to the level she is at home. She even allowed him to walk her on the lead. She will play frizbee with him in the backyard but as soon as they come in she turns into a wild dog. Is there any hope of training her. We are getting pretty hopeless at this point but we are really attached to her. Can you offer advise? Thank you.

I am the owner of a 115 lbs Shepard Husky mix, ie big dog. I trained him myself from a pup. We had to move recently from a nice quiet country home to an apartment in the city, surrounded by more noise and by more people. His aggressive tendencies have never shown until we moved here. Before we moved to the city an elderly woman paid a twelve year old girl to walk her dog in front of my property just to see what Meka (my dog) would do. Meka was attached to a 20feet lead of chain to one of those yard cork screw things supposedly tested for 100lbs dogs, he was 80lbs at the time. The girl walked in front with the welsh corgy (pardon the spelling) and Meka took off full pace and ignored my commands to come or stay or heal. The cork screw thing snapped in half and meka shook it Hike a rag doll. The dog was not injured and after hitting meka on his muzzle he released the dog. I jerked him by his pinch collar and put him in his kennel, He didn’t like the kennel. He is approximately 5 yrs old and we keep a pinch collar around his neck. For the most part he is obedient, sits stays, does tricks, heals, responds to hand gestures as well as verbal commands.

Meka recently (uhm four months ago) attacked a pug that surprised him around the comer, There was no blood drawn other than my own from prying his jaws off the pug. The other owner contacted animal control. The animal control officer let us go with a warning and said it was normal K-9 behavior in the it’s like a pinto in a tractor trailers blind spot and it surprised my dog. When myself or my fiancé are walking him he lets no one approach. When someone is coming in our directions he begins to growl and lunge even to the point of choking himself on. I am forced to change direction. And when approaching other dogs in the apartment complex do my best to avoid them all together. I am certain he would tear these mop tops up if he was given the chance I have a retractable leash but I do not use it anymore because I cannot let him round coners before me anymore. As well, he is ONLY aggressive when it is me or my fiancé (the pack leaders) walking him or around. Maybe he feels he has to protect us. Maybe he feels a higher rank but how would this equate with when we aren’t around he is nowhere near as aggressive. As well, at the vet, he is aggressive towards the vet if I am in the room and requires a muzzle. If I leave the room he calms down and allows treatment and being approached by the vet or vets assistant. Then I get him when the vet is done. I am curious as to if the aggressive behavior section applies to my dog as well and should try one good number 20 jerk on the pinch collar when the behavior presents itself or if the behavior is specialized and should be ahndled differently.

Ground Work to Becoming a Pack Leader

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I have been frantically looking for answers for 2 years now for my beautiful Springer Spaniel. I am so fearful I will have to give her up because of her behavior issues. She is an AKC purebred and an absolutely beautiful animal. I have never worked so hard with any dog as I have with her, but I cannot stop her aggressive behavior. She has had several obedience classes: one when
she was 5 months old where she exhibited hyper activity but no aggression then. She also was very well supervised and controlled with crate training, positive reinforcement and then she just finished a very strict 3 month obedience group with a master trainer who said she should have an e-collar which I recently purchased for her. She has always been willful and rather dominant in her
personality, but it wasn’t until a few months ago that she started snapping, growling and trying to bite including snarling. This really alarmed me so I started seeking help right away. The breeder said I should give up the dog, but I couldn't bring myself to do that without getting her help. I paid a pretty price for her, too.

Anyway, she usually does this behavior when I try to touch her such as cleaning ears, brushing teeth or other grooming activities. I consulted with 2 - 3 vets about her, and they said she had no organic problems, that I needed more training and not the dog, that I should grab her by the muzzle and shout "NO" in her face and other forceful tactics. I really cannot grab a potentially biting dog in the face, so when she does that I step back and just say NO instead. Now she sometimes lunges at me with those behaviors, and I just simply move out of the way. As soon as she gets what she wants which is (No hands on grooming from me) she calms down and seems fine. She then tries to make amends and gives me her paw to shake. I am really getting worried that this behavior was not curbed by her recent training, although she never did that around him. I called the people that groomed her right after this behavior became a problem, and asked if she did that with them, and they said "no", she was always a good dog with them. So, I just spend more time with her with more practice using the strict training methods I had just been taught with her. Well, last time I took her to the groomer about 2 weeks ago, they said they were unable to brush her teeth because she tried to bite them, and I was just sick, as I guess she is getting worse. I am wondering what to do next, as I have read book after book, and tried every training method there is not to mention she needs her ears cleaned and I am now afraid to try it anymore. Is there any hope for a future with this dog in my home? I have another old senior small dog that is afraid of her and now has started snapping at her as well. I have invested so much time, energy and money that I don't want to give up on her, and am afraid to sell or give her to anyone else knowing she has these issues. What do you suggest. She has never really bitten, just threatened with her aggressive behaviors. But, she seems like such a sweetheart the rest of the time. What do you suggest? The vets and trainers said they didn't think she was that bad, so is it just me, and can she be helped?
Worried, and uncertain on what should be done next.

Hi, I found your web site interesting and informative. You described my female Mastiff to a "T". She used to get along with other dogs when she was younger until she was attacked by another female Mastiff more than 2X her size. She loves other puppies, but I just brought home another female Mastiff and she is aggressive towards her. The new Mastiff cowers down to her. The older Mastiff nipped her on the nose and it scared the new Mastiff a lot. I am going to try your suggestion of putting the new Mastiff in a crate at night for several weeks and letting my female get used to her that way. Then I will have someone help me take them to the park one at a time and see how they interact. You are the first person that gave great advice like that. Most advices I got were letting them sort out the pecking order, but I am afraid my female might fight to the death. I had thought about spaying her, but I read that won't help either.

Our 10 month old dog has slowly been showing what we realize is aggression. Protecting food and possession, leaning on us etc. I talked to a trainer who suggested leash in the house and limited interaction to bring her down in the pack. She is getting very quiet and now whimpers, puts her tail between her leg ..... as if we beat her if I even pick up her leash. Not all the time. She eats and drinks and when off leash she is fine. What do you think? My kids are critical of what I am doing. My husband who got nipped by her (when he pet her) says she must go if she is not in control and supports my actions. I have two other dogs who are acting better since she is getting under control. Much less running and play and or real fighting. Guess I just want to know if I am off target. Trying to use your advice.

Hi I really need help. I have a 2 year old cockapoo pup (male) who has been trained for obedience and is very smart but from 1 year he was put on clomacalm for his fearful behavior. Instead of getting better he has become more aggressive toward strangers and when passing them in the street, he lunges and snaps. He does this with anyone entering my home and all training is out the window. NO ONE can extend their hand out for a petting for he will jump back and bark in such a frenzy. He is extremely possessive of me. I have him out walking, riding in my car, yet he still is a nervous wreck. I cannot afford another trainer so I'm asking you if you can suggest anything that may help. Also, someone stated that it may be necessary to put him to sleep? He is just a pup and loves me to death, how can this be possible to do? please help me. thank you.

I purchased a pup at 12 weeks old. I know I missed a critical stage from 8 weeks to 12.
She has good prey drive which I want. I want to put a sch title on her some day. When she is approached by people to be patted. She tends to shy backwards. Is all lost for a good sch or protection what can I do so she will not be shy. I know if she is not socialized she could become a fear bitter. I know a good protection dog should be a socialized dog. She is a tito wildmarkens progeny.

Ed Frawley's Philosophy on Dog Training

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I need your help and advice desperately. I don't like coming home anymore because of my 5 month old dog. I am married and have one daughter who is 7 years old. My dog Goldie has gotten so bad at attacking me that her eye turn black, her hair stands straight up on her back (like in a mohauk), she growls and then lunges at me. I try my hardest to stop her and when I let go of her or try to get her to put her in another room, she attacks me harder. At 5 months old I am getting worried about my daughter. I have read a lot of stuff on your web site however I was hoping that you would point me in the right direction on were to start ASAP, the most important things to start working on now before it really gets out of control. Any help that you could give would mean the world to me.

Please help. I have a 20 month old gsd. I am having problems in two areas. First I am trying to get her people friendly she is great when out until someone acknowledges her, when ignored she is great but when you talk to her or try to pet her she becomes very timid and shrinks away what can I do to get her more confidence and not hide behind me. Second is my neighbors have a dog that they put out to eliminate itself or is just out when they are out the dog does not bark or even corne near my fence, my dog however barks like crazy and tries to bite the neighbors when they corne near the fence and they have two small kids. I do not have this reaction with anyone but them, other friends who have dogs corne around and she just smells them and keeps right on going i have two small kids and sometimes baby-sit and she is no problem with them. What do i do? The one time the dogs were out they got into a fight (no blood or and i think she was not out to harm the dog since she does go to my mothers and plays with her bassett.) What do i do?

I discovered your site tonight and have been quite impressed. I have found much needed information and applaud you for your position as dog advocate.

I read all your articles on aggression, but would like to ask your opinion and advice on the best way to handle my particular situation. I recently adopted a Sharpie mix from the local pound. My vet estimates her age to be about 2 or 3. I know little of her history except that she was raised with her brother who had also been relinquished to the pound. At home she is a very mellow and placid dog and gets along well with the family and our 3 year old Bassador. When people come to our home she is accepting and friendly and has not shown any signs of aggression towards them or towards our other dog. When people pass while she is walking on her leash she shows no aggression but does seem to be fearful and will back away if they come near her.

I recently took her to the dog park for the first time and it was a disaster. Immediately upon entering the gate she lunged at another dog and the two had to be pulled apart. Needless to say, we left right away. I asked my vet the next day for some guidance and he recommended that I continue to take her to the dog park in order to socialize her but suggested she wear a muzzle until she became more accustomed to being around other dogs. Yesterday, with a muzzle on, we returned to the dog park. She immediately began to growl at the other dogs and eventually got into a fight with a Pit Bull. She somehow got out of the muzzle and once again the two dogs had to be pulled apart. It was a very upsetting occurrence for both me and the owner of the other dog.

Obviously it is not wise to take this dog to the dog park, but I am fearful of the same thing happening if a dog passes while she is walking on her leash. My wife and teenage daughters sometimes walk this dog and would have a difficult time managing such an episode. It has been suggested that as a Sharpie (originally a fighting breed and rumored to be somewhat aggressive by nature) she is simply being protective of "her people" but I am concerned that there is a bigger issue at hand. I plan to purchase some pepper spray and continue with training but would welcome any advice you can give. I appreciate your taking the time to read and respond to my message and thank you again for your good work and informative website.

We recently adopted a border collie x Akita from our local SPCA. I live in Burnaby British Columbia. my dog has aggression issues towards dominant dogs because of a vicious attack to his throat from a pitt bull. We have put a muzzle on him so he will not bite, but are worried he will not be able to defend himself if another dog comes at us again. There are at least 3 pit bulls and about 1/2 a dozen aggressive dogs in the area we live in whom are rarely on a leash. I am wondering if your product may help me, or maybe could direct me to someone in Canada who could help.

Theory of Corrections

in Dog Training

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My dog is a four month old pit-bull. He seems like he is afraid of people and other dogs, and nobody wants their dog to be scared of people or dogs. I want him to be more comfortable around both but not to comfortable around people because at the same time I want him to protect the yard when I'm not at home. He already barks and growls at people but he also will run away from them. Is there anyway I can stop him from running and get him at least a little more assertive?

I'm just mailing to say it's good to see a site that has a good down to earth approach to dogs and handling them. I'll tell you why. Over the years I’ve had and trained 3 dogs. Not that many but all of them were trained the same way. As a puppy I worked with them doing lots of training. Not anything advance as they were family pets. Basic sit, stay, heel, on lead and off, down and come here. I expected my dogs to do what I told them and when I told them. As a young pup I didn't correct more I would just put them back where we started and go to it again until it was right and then left it for the next day. Once I knew they knew what was expected for a said command I would correct them verbally or with a rolled newspaper. Then we would go out and practice in a dog walking area. I won't go blow by blow with training but suffice to say my dogs were always commented on how well behaved they were and I have to admit I was very proud.

My latest dog is the first pedigree gsd. and I decided I would like to go onto agility with her. I took her to a dog class (something I’ve never done before) I don't go now. At around 4mnths amber started to fear bark, I say this as the body language was very insecure tail down head down etc, so I asked the trainer at the class for advice as barking is not something I’ve come across before. She would bark at everything and everyone. however the barking at people stopped but became barking focused on all other dogs, also if on lead she would lunge if off lead charge the other dog whilst barking in its face, this is with tail up and I suspect now habit at the age of 6mnths. Amber has been well socialized from 8wks and has not had a bad experience with another dog. I’ve seen a behavourilist and was following his advice to the letter but no improvement what so ever. I decided I give up on the non physical, or tree hugger approach as I see u refer to it. I’ve gone back to a choke chain and rolled up newspaper. Yesterday I saw a lady who had seen me with amber the day before and she asked if I had doped my dog as she was so much better behaved and NOT barking or lunging at every dog with intense ferocity!! So I shall be training the same as I always have which is using understanding of our family is our pack and my dogs work for my affection as their reward. I appreciate this is not a letter that is completely explaining of all ins and outs and hope u r able to get the gist. I just wanted to say thanks that someone is not afraid to run a site that is down to earth and practical for reference for people like myself that train at home:)

Hi. I have had my chihauhau Omar for six years. He was abused by a man before I got him and he because extremely attached to just me. He really literally hates everyone else but me and my dad. He will bark uncontrollably and even bite other people who come into the home. Just last week, he bit my boyfriend for no apparent reason. I was just wondering if there was anything that I can do to correct this problem. Thanks!

Perhaps you can help me figure out what to do. I have two small dogs, a toy fox terrier and a chichua (sp?) mix. I bought the toy fox terrier from a breeder and he is a wonderful dog. The mix, I got from the SPCA, and he appears to be fear aggressive. My boyfriend has a Doberman/husky mix, which he also got from the SPCA. About a month ago, we decided to introduce the dogs (mine and his) to each other, knowing their behavior (mine being slightly aggressive) we had a behavioralist out to help us with the "introduction." He gave us some wonderful ideas on using collars and obedience training for both of them separately. When he left, my boyfriend took his dog out back (I was out front, out of sight) to use the "potty." He had her on a leash, but she got away, my dog (the mix) began growling and barking. His dog grabbed him by the neck and caused some major damage.

After many stitches, I am fearful to have my dog in public around other dogs. The behavioralist said that he provokes other dogs, as his dog didn't go near my toy fox terrier. He said that fear aggressive dogs give off a nasty vibe. My boyfriend and I would love to get a house, but don't know what to do with the dogs. I am concerned about putting my dogs in that situation again and I am concerned that his dog would behave this way with children. His dog has had a history of snapping at people and growling, so has my dog. I am at a loss of what to do. Can you offer any help?

I have just purchased an Australian Shepherd puppy (16 weeks old). After spending the last few days reading damn near every article on your website, I feel that I have a fairly good idea of what is going on, but I am still a bit confused by my puppies behavior. First, he walks fine on the leash, and allows me to walk ahead of him and responds well to corrections when he does meander arye. In fact, when off the leash outside, he will not leave my side not even to chase his favorite toys. He is fairly good about ignoring other dogs, but once in a while, will bark or growl at other dogs. I can't seem to tell which dogs set him off, but it doesn't seem to be size or sex dependent nor does the barking of the other dog always affect him. He doesn't shrink away, nor does he lunge for them, but for the most part just stays and barks at them. Usually, I can get him to stop after a moment, but sometimes I have to all but drag him out of site of the other dog. My other problem is with people. As with the dog, some people will attract his attention, and others he is fine to ignore, however this is where I am getting really confused. I introduced him to a friend while we were out (not at home) and my puppy barked, growled a bit, and in general did not want anything to do with my friend. Later that day, the same friend came over to my house and after a minute of barking at my friend from his crate, the puppy had no problem ignoring him. The puppy was a bit stand-offish at first, but eventually was able to sit, lay down and even roll onto his back at the feet of my friend, as long as he did not try to make any attempt to pet the dog. I then tried taking your advice, and had my friend give the dog some puppy food, which the dog ate both off the floor in front of my friend, even took the food out of his hand without a problem. The dog remained relaxed until my friend got up to walk around, at which point the dog began barking and even slightly lunging at him. We then tried having my friend walk the dog, which went well (he was able to walk in front of the dog and practice the dominate behavior that we have been exercising with the dog) but as soon as we got in front of our door, the dog again started barking and lunged when my friends hand got too close to the dog. The dog has no problem letting us take his food, toys or water and doesn't seem to have any other problems letting me be his "pack leader", but I would like to correct his behavior around those people he has a problem with.

How to Fit a Prong Collar

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I have a 5 month old German Shepherd Puppy and I purchased him at eight weeks of age. He is alright for walking but sometimes when he meets new people on the street, he barks and the odd time he growls, but he does not bite people. He is good with people in our family, and also new people that come into our house. It's just the people we meet on the street he has a problem with. I would like solve this problem and was wondering if you have any training suggestions to help me out.

My name is Matt. I have a 2-year-old dog who has a biting problem. Any time that someone comes into our driveway that she doesn't know or doesn't see often, the hair on her back goes up and she trys to bite at them. Just the other day she bit my neighbor and we are not sure why because it appeared that he did nothing to make the dog bite him. Now I'm sure that the reason for my dog's behavior is because of me and I would like to know if you might have any pointers for me to help my dog.

I have a 2 year old American Eskimo x sheltie mix. He was given to me through a friend who stated that "his friend" could no longer take care of the dog. Shortly after receiving "Gandalf', I went through cancer. He apparently never had any form of dog obedience training before I became his owner. Recently, I have had people over to my home repairing and doing construction. Gandalf is now showing some real problems. I have noticed that he doesn't like anyone in a uniform - though he is better with a female than a male, and he doesn't like males at all.

Yesterday, I was putting something away, he was sitting on his chair next to me. One of the workmen came up to him to pet him. It wasn't until Gandalf snarled that I was even aware that this workman was there. Naturally I turned rapidly. And made sure as to what had happened. Fortunately, the man had not been bitten. When I went to Gandalf, he was shaking, and had urinated on the chair. I have noticed that he has tried to nip other men before. I spoke to a local trainer and she informed me that it appears that he might be a "Fear Biter". Help! l love him to much to give up on him. I am looking at getting him a muzzle. But I definitely want to get him into obedience. Any suggestions will be appreciated.

My 11/2 year old dog has recently shown signs of aggression. She is spayed, golden retriever mix. We have never had any problems with her but recently when out in public she gets very aggressive when people pet her.

Recently, my wife and I wanted to adopt an adult dog, and we both fell in love with a 4 yr
old Akita on the internet. We went to see the dog. There it was about 80 pounds or more a brown dog look like akita shepherd mix. On her cage, it said it was chow shepherd mix. As soon as she saw us, she started barking, and made all other dogs barking in other cages. (We were at the adoption center.) I started eye contacting with the dog, she was looking in to my eyes for couple of seconds and barking, then I felt her fear she could not look at me and started walking back and forth in the cage(15*15feet) then she tried look at me again (she kept barking) I focused on her eyes, she challenged me with her eyes, here she turned back and kept barking non stop. I went away from the cage and pet other dogs that are in the cage. She kept looking at me. I went back to her, she started barking like she was showing off other dogs around other cages. I made an eye contact with her again, she started walking to the right and barking, the I stepped to the right. She got scared and walked to the left, then I stepped to left, then she freaked out and walk the other way. It was weird, I wasn't walking toward her, I was following the line where she was going from 6 feet away from her. Then I turned my back at her. She charged at me, then I turned around and she backed up and kept barking.(She was in the cage, so she knew she was not going be able to get me by charging at me) It made me think that she was challenging me. I had an anatolian shepherd back home. It was a tough dog to train. They are very independent. It reminded me his behaviors. Anyway, I talked to the lady that works at center. As soon as she saw her, she laid on the ground and started smiling. She told me that this dog had fear aggression, but she likes playing balls,
and she even dug a hole to next cage to play with one of the dogs. They found them playing together. She told me that this dog was shy as well, and we got to get to know her. What would you think on this behavior? Is it normal for a first encounter? I want to get your DVD’s and get her and train her? I need some recommendations.

Prong Collars

Can you help? We adopted our Shepherd/Ridgeback mix in early August of 2004. It was estimated that he was 9 weeks old. He had a sweet and quiet disposition, but was very shy around dogs and some visitors.

I have had him in obedience class since October. He is very obedient and smart. He has never given me a problem in any area but one- I cannot clip his nails. He must be sedated and muzzled. I can stroke his paws. can clean his paws after a walk, but I cannot cut his nails.

I can retrieve anything he has stolen without a problem. He has never growled or snapped at me, except when I try to cut his nails. So I take him to the vet.

Here's the problem. I have a wonderful almost 9 month old puppy who obeys every command. He stays, sits, does long downs, heels, doesn't chew the house, stays in his crate all night happily. I could sing his praises forever. His problem is aggression. It seems to fall under fear, but I am not sure. I have tried several approaches, and have had fleeting success only.

His name is Winston and we love him very much. He has growled at my 10 and 7 year olds when they try to get something of theirs that he has stolen. I have instructed them to lure him out of his crate with a treat and trade him for it. It seems to work. Winston used to growl at them when he was eating. We conquered that, too. He doesn't even notice them now.

So what's the problem? He has snapped at almost every guest we have had in the past month. He has not bitten, but he has snapped at their hands when they pass him. He is not in a crate or lying down- meaning he is not in his "area" asking to be left alone. He just snaps at them and then runs away with his ears down. He always seems to understand he is wrong- but that doesn't make me feel better.

Now he snapped at my daughter's face when she tried to hug him in his bed. We have explained that she should never approach the dog like this, but she snuck in to him when we were not home ( she was with the babysitter) Winston scratched her cheek, though did not puncture.

We are beside ourselves. We are trying everything to get our boy to calm down and not be afraid of guests. We have always had people in and out of the house, but now we are scared. I keep Winston on a leash and prong collar with guests, and only let him around them for short periods. Then I put him in the crate.

He rarely smiles. He does not wag his tail when people approach, unless it is one of the family. We love him, but we don't know if we should continue to try to train this out of him or if we're fools and should remove him from our home. Please help. I am desperate. He is such a wonderful dog in most ways.

I have an Australian Cattle Dog. She is an almost a perfect dog for me except for aggression toward other dogs. She is a spade female. I am a diabetic and she gets me the phone or juice if I ask. She also taught herself to get me the T.V. controls when I had left it somewhere. She knows the name of these items.

I have the pronged collar but it doesn't seem to be working for me. Yes, her problems are my fault. My husband died and I got the dog before I was ready to actually deal with the responsibility. One of my problems is that if I fall down, I can't get up without help and she has knocked me down during more then one of our outings when another dog was present. She was not socialized enough as a pup. She will be five years old in May. To walk her if no other dogs are present is a pleasure. People, people on roller blades, or bikes don't get any notice. She is good with children.
No, she doesn't sleep with me although she wanted to, but yes she would like to be the leader of the pack At home she does mind me very well. There really aren't any good trainers here in my small town. I have looked. Is there hope for me to be able to walk her without the problem.

I read an article that states Czech and DDR dogs tend to be more suspicious of strangers, civil, and slow to mature. I'm wondering if this explains what I have seen with my puppy. He is % DDR and % Czech.

When we first got him at 7 1/2 weeks old he was very friendly when greeting strangers. We have continued to socialize him with no negative experiences to date. At about 11 weeks old he started backing away from people. He is now 15 weeks old and has started barking at most people we meet including neighbors and people walking by our house. When he acts this way, I ask people to give him a treat. He always goes freely to them for the treat even jumping on them if they don't give it to him fast enough, but once the food is done he wants nothing more to do with them and will start to bark again. This only happens when we are outdoors. If we take him to a crowded flee market, he just goes about our walk and ignores everyone unless they have a treat for him.
All other areas seem to be stable (ie. loud noises, wet floors, etc.). He also has very high drives and is always biting at my hands, legs or anything that moves. Am I looking at a dog with weak nerves, a sharp dog or is this a normal faze that Czech/DDR puppies go through? Thanks in advance for your time.

hello, I was just wondering if you could give me some advice. I have a 4 month old gsd and a 12 week old gsd. We love them very much but I think we should do something with them. Our 4 month old sisco is aggressive but in a good way he protects the house and truck and is very alert. He knows when to bark and when not to. He does not care for people much but he tolerates them. Meaning if he sees someone outside he'll stand and hold his position until he figures out what they are doing then goes on about his business. Is that a good thing? Our 12 week old girl mistress we would also like to do something with but I’m not sure what. Maybe you could suggest something? She is very muscular, alert she often knows when someone coming even thought I don’t. I was think of maybe doing tracking with her. She has to sniff every thing. If I take my boy out before her, when she goes out she sniffs around and acts like she was following his scent. Both of her parents are working Sch III. That’s why I don’t think it would be fair to her to be just a dog. They were both meant to do something other than lay on the floor. Could you suggest any thing or any easy reading books or videos on where to start. Thank you for your time.

Muzzles

I need some serious advice. I have a 3 year-old pit/shepard mix that my ex and I adopted when she was about 5 months old. At first she seemed perfect in all situations. We took her to the dog park regularly and exposed her to many people and situations. Since about the time she turned one, she has slowly begun to exhibit what seems to be fear aggression and dog aggression (she is alpha with other dogs). She started to get into fights at the dog park so we had to stop bringing her, and she seemingly randomly didn't like certain people that came into out home. She would get anxious and nip at there heels or bite their hand, never very hard. It was almost like a warning. She would become very anxious when more than a few people came over and if anyone became too boisterous she would just up and bark and try to nip their hand. This problem has remained. She has never bitten very hard or seriously bitten another dog. She is very leash aggressive which makes walking her in a city very difficult. On occasion she will nip at a passerby. Recently she has become even more dog aggressive and the other day lunged after a child and tried to bite it. It almost seemed like a neNOUS reaction. Had noticed slight warning signs of this when my friend had brought her child to my home a while ago, she followed the child and tried to tackle him without biting him. I am distraught. Jada, my dog, is the "perfect child" with me, people she knows, most women(not all), and dogs she knows. I never feel threatened by her and know instantly by her body language when she doesn't like someone or something, but it seems completely random. I have spoken with trainers and tried various tactics to help jada, but it doesn't seem to get better, it seems to get worse. Jada is everything to me, I love her to bits, but feel like she dictates my life. I am single and active and have many people in my home and used to take her everywhere with me. Now I feel like she and I are prisoners in our own home. Living in a city means that we cannot avoid people and dogs. Every walk is a source of stress. I am so worried that she is going to hurt someone. She has not yet, but I don't want to wait to do something until she does. I do not know what to do. I cannot bear the thought of finding a home for her or putting her to sleep. I love this dog, but I don't know where to turn. She is such a lover with me and most people she knows. But the unpredictability of her scares me. I want to do the right thing for her and for me. On one hand I believe in 100% commitment to pet, and on the other I feel at wits end and like she is a threat. What should I do?
please help.

I am married with no children at this time. I have a 6 year old male/neutered miniature Dachshund name "Monster" I thought the name was cute at first because he was so little and tried to be so tough. Monster barks constantly and will bark, growl, snap, etc at anyone who comes near me. This often includes my husband and mother. He barks at any noise he hears outside, and will not stop. I will toss things like bottle caps at him to get his attention, but he just looks at me like I have a lot of nerve for interrupting him and goes back to barking. He jumps up on everyone and I do not really trust him with small children.

I am about to go back to my parents house for a few months while my husband is in basic training, and they have told me that they do not want the dog there. He caused a lot of stress last time I stayed with them. I have heard that there are medications that can help with this. He is aggressive toward other dogs, but only while on a leash and/or when I am around. He is also aggressive toward other people, again only when I am around. I believe he thinks he is protecting me but I do not know how to make him understand that I do not need protection. Can you recommend anyone in the Portland, OR area who can see him and help us with this problem? I do not want to put him down unless I have tried everything else and it is determined that he has a mental problem that can not be helped with training and/or medication. Any help or advice you can give me would be appreciated.

I have a four month old cub chihuahua, who is very dominant. When going to get shots, he snaps at the vet. When trying to put his collar on he will have a violent temper tantrum. I have a spray bottle of water to spritz him, it works okay. The vet showed me to pull the skin on the back of his neck and hold him down to let him know who is dominant.I live in fresno, ca I don't think those collars are legal. help me, please!!!

Hi I have a 10 month old german shepherd male( neurtered) puppy that when he sees another dog he likes to bark jump and lunge at the other dog. I walk him on a prong collar but he seems to still insist on being aggressive toward other dogs. What do you suggest I do? He is okay once he interacts with the other dog but until they meet he goes crazy. Thanks.

I recently purchased your basic obedience tape and have found it very helpful. My question is that, We just bought a 2 yr. old Rotti male and he is so timid he won't come out of the corner. We have been able to approach him and pet him. We've been putting a leash on him and bringing him in the house (pulling and tugging him) then we lay in the floor and pet and rub him. If we get up, it scares him and he cowers back into the corner. He does come out of the kennel and run around when we are outside but if we go in the pen, like to take food to him, he runs back into the corner and shakes terribly. He doesn't appear to have a food drive. He won't even eat a piece of hot dog from us. We hold it up to his nose and he won't take it. If we lay it on the ground and go away, then he will eat it. We haven't been able to get him out of corner enough to know if he has a prey drive at all. Overall, he is very shy, timid, and seems scared. However, I has shown NO signs of aggressiveness towards people. Please help!!!

Remote Collar Training for the Pet Owner

Along with my 8 month old Rottweiler doing the things I had told you about. He seems to be a bit prissy too. If I grab his collar to tie him up he’ll attack me or try to run away from me. If I try to rough house him a little and I start playing rough with him, he tenses up or hides. I

f I raise my hand his ears go back and he takes a few steps back and watches me and if I move toward him he will run. I'm not enjoying him much at all. I can't wrestle with him because he'll act like I'm killing him and either fight real hard or run. He won't chase a ball. He's always tired it seems. He does have prey drive because he will chase something he likes like a rabbit or this squeak toy I have. He just seems like he is such a pansy and it is driving me up the wall. I have a female Bullmastiff and when she was half his age I was wrestling with her twice as hard and she wouldn't stop coming after me. My Bullmastiff has more drive than any dog I have ever seen (and I'm not saying that because she is my dog) but she won't even go onto a bite sleeve unless it is on my arm. She has broken through choker collars to get to her toys, she is SUPER drivey. getting back to my rott. What the hell is his problem. If you pinch him he whines and than hides, I just don't know what to do. he was doing ok on a puppy sleeve until the trainer pinched him and than he shut down for 2 weeks. Please help! I am going crazy here over this!

I have a question about our female GS; she is about 2 1/2 to 3 yrs. old. My question is about a behavior that doesn't seem like anything to really worry about, but I just want to be sure. I guess this would be an aggression question. My dog does not seem to want anything to do with anyone other than my wife and myself, which is okay with me.

She is very affectionate and playful with us. She has been with us a little over a year, and when our son and his wife come over, even after all this time she will only occasionally let them pet her, and then only briefly. She doesn't get aggressive or anything, she just moves away when anyone tries to pet her. If someone comes to the door she runs at the door and barks very aggressively. We have a mail slot in the door and once when the mailman slid the mail through she started biting the mail and yanked it through the slot. So now if she is in the house when the mailman comes, I just tell her 'No', and she stops before she gets to the door; but she still barks. If someone has come to visit, when she runs at the door barking I call her and then tell her it's alright, which probably means nothing to her. Then I tell her to kennel, and she goes into her crate. If the person is staying awhile, after the person is there for about five or ten minutes I let her out of her crate and she is fine. She doesn't bark at them anymore, but she will lay and watch them for awhile and then finally go off to the bedroom and sleep.

When I am out in public with her, say at the park, she does not approach strangers and if anyone holds their hand out and tries to coax her to them so they can pet her, she runs over to me. The difference comes when she is on a leash or under a command. If I have her sitting in heel position while I am talking to someone and they try (invariably) to pet her, she quietly half-bares her teeth.
One man that I see frequently at the park, and have told not to try and pet her, doesn't quite get it. He keeps trying and one day instead of baring her teeth, my dog actually lunged toward him and did that kind of bark/growl thing dogs do. She lunged about a foot, and then sat back down by me. It seemed to me it was more of a 'back off' action, than a serious attempt to bite. Like she was thinking what does she have to do to get this guy to stop trying to pet her? Well, that worked.

So, is this anything I need to worry about? It seems to me she is just being protective of the house and our family with her actions at home, and only bares her teeth at people when she is in a situation where she feels she can't move away, i.e. under a command or on the leash. By the way, the fact that she minds so well is your fault. I trained her using your Basic Obedience video.
Thanks in advance for your input.

I have had my german shepard for about 7 mos now. He was six months old when we got him. He is pretty skiddish about strangers. We have worked with him a lot but he seems like he is getting better. When visitor’s come into the house he'll run up to them barking and growling and jump up on them and not bite. A while back he got loose from my wife and a 13 year old girl was jogging, he ran up on her and nipped her leg breaking the skin. He's excellent with our Grandkids and after he gets to know anyone he's okay. What am I doing wrong. I do have your video. He acts like he would chase bikes or cars if he would get loose. We are walking him about 3 miles a day plus he's excellent on a leash. Also he appears to to be a high energy dog. He'll chase a ball about 10 times the lays at the other end of the field. When I go to get the ball he runs from me and this would continue. But I'll walk away and act disinterested and he'll come to me.

How to Break Up a Dog Fight

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I was informed by one of my customers that her employee had a 10 month old male unnuetered Lab she was getting rid of. She kept him in a small cage for over 10 hours a day, and only let him out to pee briefly. Her children antagonized the dog. She had received this dog from a woman she used to work with, when he was only 6 months old (caged by this woman long hours also).

I had paid a visit to my customer's employee when I found out she wanted to get rid of her now 10 month old unneutered male Lab. When I went on her employee's property (that same late afternoon, on my way back from work, stopping at the pet store briefly to get some milk bones for him), I saw she had a mixed female dog as well, she was keeping that one. This Lab played rough with her female she said.

He was a very large Lab for 10 months, large paws, a large bred Labrador. I've grown up with Large Labs, and know how to handle them. I have no fear of any dog. I went on her property no problem and gave him milk bones. He took them quickly, as if he hadn't eaten in days, and I said EASY!, and gave it to him, he took it a bit gentler. This Lab got along fine with the smaller female mix dog. He wasn't rough with her. I could see the anxiety and fear in this dog. I knew these people did something to him.

I stayed on her property for over 3 hours, investigating, asking her a lot of questions. I had found out that her husband beat the lab because he ripped out the tomatoes plants and he ripped the lining of the pool. As an animal lover, I was beside myself, and wanted him off the property ASAP. When I left it was pouring raining and dark outside. I rented a home with my fiancée, my other black lab who was then a little over 2 and very well socialized, and my fiancée’s mixed dog, a black shepard/sheepdog/collie mix who was then 4 years old.

I told this woman I had to ask my landlord in the morning that I could bring another dog into our home, tell my fiancée (he'd let me bring another dog in no problem, I knew that), and schedule an appointment with our vet to have him checked. (I even give my dog’s bottled water, they are fully vaccinated, impeccably clean)

I called the next afternoon after getting an "okay" from my Landlord and a vet appointment, but her daughter answered and said her mother is at work and the Lab was GONE, then "click" she hung up the phone. Frantic I called my customer and asked to speak to her employee. Her employee said her husband had quite enough and they decided to take him for a ride that night. Now I am more than frantic, a ride I said, WHERE??? She said, oh we gave him to kids in front of a video store out in east (bad neighborhood).

My gut tells me something else is going on here. I had a feeling she dumped him in the pine barrens. Something was wrong. I called all the shelters asking if a large black male unnuetered Lab was found. Next day I drove to the shelters, and out east looking in the pine barrens. I kept this up for 5 days (not sleeping), until a shelter said they just picked up TWO black Labs, both males. I ran down and low and behold, this Lab was there, blood on top of his head, slices all over his face, ears bitten, shaking and terrified. He was dodging busy traffic on the main road out east and picked up by animal control.

To make a long story short, after telling the shelter supervisor what had happened, that I had seen this dog on the property just a week before, they decided that I could adopt him. This Lab now had 105 degree fever, severe diarrhea. I had to have my vet call the shelter to have him emergency released (without neuter and shots). Ran down to the shelter, put him in emergency vet care (4 weeks, then he was finally well enough to be neutered). Kept him there another few days to heal from his neuter. His facial wounds seemed as if those kids used him as "bait" in a dog fighting ring. The vet said he was terrified often other dogs in there. He had been exposed to Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever tick.

Then introduced him to my other Lab on neutral ground, and this Lab lunged, snarled and pulled at my Lab. My Lab didn't say a peep. Then tried it again, and my little Lab, lunged back. A behavior I had never seen in him before. Bringing this Lab into our house (our other two dogs had to be kept away from him), he went directly upstairs. For one month I kept them all separate. When this lab heard our dogs "bark", he would pee all over, tail between his legs. I wanted him to heal 100 percent from his neuter and I knew it would take some time for his testosterone level to drop.
I then had my other two dogs outside, and this new Lab watched them through the kitchen window. He sat on the kitchen chair and just watched them, not a peep.

I then called a professional trainer, highly recommended from a Local Lab Rescue Group. He worked with us on all three, but then mainly focusing on the two Labs, as they were now both lunging at each other, and my fiancée’s dog just started to ignore him. We used prong collars, had them meet 3 times a day, leaving on a good note, and keeping them separate. This went on for MANY months.

We then had all three in the living room, each one tied on a leash so they could sit and see each other, if one started to growl, etc, would be corrected. The new Lab sat and peed all over, terrified.
With the trainer, walking them outside, Me on one side of the cul de sac with my Lab, Mylo, trainer on the other side with the new Lab, Zeek, walking past each other casually, correcting each Lab if they lunged and snarled. Zeek seemed to lunge if Mylo "barked". That seemed to set him off into a "junk yard dog like frenzy". Then the neighbor let her chocolate female Lab out "off leash" and she ran up to Zeek, and he lunged and snarled at her, he then put his tail between his legs, terrified. Mylo just sat and watched this. Mylo had no problem with this chocolate female.

The next day as I was going to take Zeek out, he sat on the couch and looked out the window. I walked over to see what he was looking at, and it was the chocolate female from yesterday, being "leash walked" by her owner. A few minutes later they were both out of sight. I went to take Zeek out the front door and he wouldn't budge. He looked back and forth in fear (as if to look for the chocolate female), and peed all over. I stood there, 30 minutes, then gave him a yank and said "LET'S GO". He continued to walk down the stairs, then we both sat on the front watching people and cars go by. We didn't see the chocolate female again.

Then I took Mylo out on leash, and I saw the chocolate and his owner come back. Mylo who would lick this female, instead started to bark wildly at her (as if to say, look you ass, you scared the shit out of my friend who is already terrified, don't do that again!). My fiancée brought Zeek to his store, and Zeek was walked by my fiancée’s employees. He loved the attention, even though being abused by his owners, he hasn't lost faith in humans. If you raised your hand up (not as a "sit" command, but all the way up, he'd cower).

Came time to "drop leashes" in the house in a few days. I asked my trainer, what happened if they "attacked" each other. It seems as if Mylo's barking sets Zeek into a panic. He said buy pepper spray. I went to the pet store and found something better, citronella collars. I put them on each of the dogs. Seems that it didn't work well on the mix (he was too long haired), worked well on Mylo's barking, but Zeek was so large every time he barked, all of the citronella collars went off

When it came time to drop leashes, everything worked out well. Mylo and Zeek were like two bookends, now the mix was a bit afraid of Zeek, but tolerated him. Since then, me and my fiancée have moved, both in separate homes. I now have a large fenced in backyard. Mylo and Zeek get along fine. When I took Zeek to the vet to get checked, and came back to my new home, a LOOSE maltese (the size of my foot) was sitting at my front door. Zeek panicked and shook in fear, because this dog was LOOSE. He sat on the sidewalk and was terrified. I shooed the Maltese away, then he was out of sight. Looked at Zeek and said "Mylo" is in the house, let's go. He got up and slowly walked to the front door, still looking back and forth, tail between his legs. (Once Zeek was safely in the house, I went to look for the Loose Maltese).

That afternoon, my neighbors behind me had a large trampoline (all netted around). We could see these kids hopping up and down yelling over our 6 foot fence. Zeek was terrified, and peed all over the back porch, tail between his legs. Then he over animatedly started hopping up and down barking. I said "LEAVE IT" (I use "leave it" for an object, and a situation). I proceeded to walk him around the backyard distracting him, walking back and forth. This went on for the next 5 days, where he was afraid to go in the backyard. He sat on the porch and peed. I grabbed his leash, with a firm tug said "LET'S GO!". Finally he got over his fear.

He does "ice skate" after he makes. He swishes his feet in the grass, dirt. Mylo doesn't do that.
Little girl next door (she has downs) sings to my dogs. They absolutely love her. So after hearing the whole story, Zeek is afraid of unknown dogs off leash, he'll put his tail between his legs, he still bucks and pulls when being walked in the evening when he sees headlights. I say "baby steps", and he has come this far. My next step is to bring him to my friend’s home (without Mylo whom he seeks courage from). She has two very well socialized trained female black Labs. My next step would be group classes. I am not a fan of dog parks as I don't know the other people's dog’s behaviors, and irresponsible people will let their aggressive dog "off leash". I think many loose dogs would cause him a heart attack. So my real concern is Zeeks' fear of loose/unknown dogs. I would not say he is "dog aggressive", I would say he has been attacked/abused by dogs, and unfamiliar dogs he is terrified of. Am I taking the right steps?? Zeek is now 2 years old. (I got him at 10 months old). He has come quite a long way since then. Thank You.

Hello, My problem is getting so much worse that I am wondering what to do with my dog. A lady
that raises dogs says I should have him put down. I'm not wanting to do that so am asking you for your opinion. My vet suggests an e-collar. I have a 13 month old shih tzu male. He is as sweet as can be and as mean as can be at times. He is a biter and he goes nuts even in his cage if anyone gets close to our house. I have several Grandkids that I do not want to have to constantly protect from him. I bought your video basic obedience and a prong collar. Now Nicky can sit, down, come and stay but he still bites. Help!! The prong collar is not working very well because he has so much hair that I m not sure he can even feel it. And it is very hard to get it on him because he just won't let me do it unless my husband and I both hold him down. I would greatly appreciate any advice.
Thank you.

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On 30 June 2004 we rescued our dog Rover from the animal shelter. He was 13 months at the time. According to the shelter, the previous owner put the dog away because his daughter was supposedly allergic to the dog.

Rover seemed to be afraid of many things: the newspaper, loud voices (I have a 12yo and 14yo that fight verbally and physically on occasion), etc. He would cower in a corner. After a couple of weeks he seemed better. He accepted my sons and myself as dominant over him. We can take his food away, take whatever he has in his mouth out, groom him, he accepts commands from us all, we can stand over him (Rover between our legs), put our hands over his eyes, etc. We have three cats who have accepted him. Rover is afraid of our oldest cat though. Staying well clear of her, though nothing ever happened between them. Rover loves to play with other dogs, never displaying any signs of biting or aggression (no barking, growling or snarling).

From the start he has shown not to like men or friends of my sons who already have deep voices (14+yo). I have the impression he's been physically abused by his previous owner. Although he has gotten used to some, like my neighbors and regular visitors of my house. So we have always been careful around men, giving the dog time to get used to them.

In October while walking the dog, we met a neighbor we usually have no contact with. This man has a dog of his own. Rover was very enthusiastic and the men petted him. When he turned round to enter his garden, without any warning (no rigid body, flattened ears, growling etc,) Rover bit him in the leg. No blood was drawn, but the man had a pretty mean bruise. Rover was already signed up for obedience training which started a week after the incident. A dog behaviorist gave the training. Things turned bad during the obedience training. Rover seemed to suddenly get aggressive to other dogs and people, both male and female. When the trainer wanted to show me how to correct Rover's behavior (she thought my voice was not loud enough and not low enough), he turned round and bit her twice drawing blood, not bad enough though to warrant doctor's care!! Things then went progressively from bad to worse. A few weeks after his first series of obedience training Rover calmed down again to his normal self. Then I made the poor decision that we needed more training (he wouldn't come back to me when he saw a bird, rabbit or whatever, he would just take off and even run into busy streets. Guess his hunting instinct was stronger then my leadership). Right after the first lesson he turned aggressive to other dogs and people again and hasn't calmed down since. He tries to bite anybody walking past us or cycling past us. He even started growling and snarling (rigid body and all) two very regular male visitors. After two obedience lessons, I stopped going there. I did call the dog behaviorist a couple of times but she never returned my phone calls.

I don't know what made him so aggressive to others in the obedience lessons and I don't know what to do now. I feel pretty uncomfortable walking Rover and try to avoid people and other dogs which makes my walks pretty lonely. I put her out in the garden now when we have visitors. And when we go out for a walk when I know it's so busy in the street I can't avoid people for the first 5 minutes I put a gentle leader on him, which he hates but gives me a lot of control. I don't allow him of the leash anymore which makes me sad cause he loves to run around and play. I also have the impression that he is more aggressive to other dogs because he has to stay on the leash, but I don't want to take any chances with him biting someone again. I don't trust him and my kids alone anymore. I live in a neighborhood with many small children and a lot of my friends/relatives have children too.

It's come to the point where I am thinking about returning him to the shelter. But not before trying everything else possible that will stop the biting? Thanks for any advice you can give.

I have been doing some research on the internet and came across your website, which I have found to be very informative. From what I have read, I believe my dog to be a fear biter. I have had my dog since the day he was born. He was born in Colorado, I was living out there at the time. I met the man who had my dog's mother and this was the first dog he ever owned. She is a mix, he believes to be part Alaskan Malamute, part Timber Wolf. He bred her with another hybrid Malamute/Wolf. I am not sure if you are familiar with wolf dogs, they are another aspect of dog completely. I believe most of my dog’s aggression is due to improper breeding. My dog, Rocky got sick when he was a pup, so I removed him from the litter and kept him at my house for 2 weeks till he was better.This is when I decided he was going to be my dog. He was amazingly well behaved, out of all the males, there were 7 pups all together, 3 males, 4 females.

He was the most docile and submissive, I think this had a lot to do with the fact that he got sick and his mother was bullying him around to toughen him up. I was the main caretaker for the dogs, while the owner was working, I took them all out to the park, fed them, played with them, slept with them, potty trained them, trained them not to bite one another or any people. But the best part was when I had Rocky one on one, I could pay more attention to him, he was a quick learner, he stayed by my side on walks, never pulled the leash, quickly got potty trained and learned to scratch the door when he had to go outside to the bathroom, I believed him to be smarter than the average dog. He learned so quick at such a young age. I socialized him with my friend’s dogs and he was very exuberant and playful. The only negative aspect I could see in him was he often growled at my female roommates, he took a serious liking to the male gender, when he was in my room, he would hide under the bed and growl at any girl who came into my room. I didn't know why. I moved from Colorado back to New Jersey and Rocky came with me. He continued his growling to most females that came close to him, he wouldn't bite or nip, just growl.

Rocky is now 3 years old. I believe his aggression to be based upon fear, I don't know why it is directed toward females. He doesn't growl at every female, maybe about 70% and sometimes males. I can't tell if he senses the persons fear or what it stems from. He tried to bite our cleaning lady when she was vacuuming and I think that had to do with the fact that he hates the vacuum. so I kept him outside from that point on whenever the woman came to clean. Someone one day let him in the house and he did bite the woman on her butt, not breaking the skin, but left her bruised. She said he didn't even bark or growl, he "stalked" her from behind. She was very understanding and didn't press charges.

But since then there was another instance that occurred. My sister’s friend has come to the house a couple times and he showed a serious unliking to her, when she came to the front door he jumped on the door viciously growling and showing his teeth. So we would keep him outside when she came over. Well this past New Years Eve, he was outside with my boyfriends dog playing, it was about 8 pm at night. My sisters friend came to the house because we were having some people over, she always comes to the front door, well she decided to use the back gate and instead of coming in the back directly to the back door which is about 10 feet from the gated fence. She heard voices in the kitchen and decided to peak into the window to see who was in the kitchen, she walked past the back door to the kitchen bay window and peered in and that is when my dog came and attacked her. I use the word attack because he didn't bite her and retreat like he did with the cleaning woman, he continued to bite her thighs and legs and she was screaming at the top of her lungs and she ran to opposite back door which no one uses and that door was locked and I ran down and opened the door for her. She said he ran away when she began banging on the door. But he bit her several times in the legs, puncturing through her jeans into her skin. I can not describe the emotions I was feeling. I can't help but think this is my fault, I know it is, there were several warning signs and I basically ignored them. I know something needs to be done. Putting my dog down is not an option. I don't even want getting rid of him to be an option, but I need your advice. He is my best friend and I would do anything for him. There are plenty of wolf dog rescue ranches and places specifically for wolf dogs such as mine, but I don't want to give up. I will do anything as far as training is concerned, I need your help. Do you think he is untrainable? Please help.

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I have a quick question for you and would appreciate any advice!! My husband and I are avid Chow owners, we recently found out that the owner of our youngest chow’s brother died and the dog was taken to the local SPCA. We immediately were interested in adopting him, but also know that he is a dog that needs some behavioral help. He was never really socialized and is very dominant. I have been going to the SPCA twice daily with treats. He has greatly improved on recognizing me and somewhat accepting. But, when I give him the treats, if I lay them on the floor or drop them by my feet he will eat them. He will even sniff the had they were in. But, if I hold it out for him to take not forcing it at him, just holding, he greats very aggressive (growls, barks, bares teeth, one time even went on hind legs). I nor the manger can figure out why that would set him off. Why would he get so aggressive when we are trying to give him food? If we say Sit to him while holding the food the aggression is intensified. As I said any advice would be greatly appreciated. Time is running out for this young boy. Thank you.

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