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Aggression Q&As

November 1, 2023

Recommended My neighbor's dog attacked my puppy and I reported them to the township, was that the wrong thing to do?

In the 28 years of living in my home, my next door neighbor has had 4 dogs. Not any problems with the 1st one. The 2nd one they would walk and let poop on neighbors property without picking up. Then that neighbor had to post signs about picking up after your dog. His 3rd dog has bitten me, the floral delivery lady, the post man and attacked the others neighbors lab to the point of needing medical attention. His 4th dog came off their property and attacked my 5 month old puppy while I was walk...
100% (7 out of 7)
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October 26, 2023

Recommended My Husky growls and hard stares at my child. Do you have techniques to make her like my toddler?

Hi Cindy, i have a 7 1/2 year old spayed Siberian husky female. She is an obedient, well mannered dog, she has had reward based training with clear expectations since puppyhood, she also has a CGC title but i have one issue. She will hard eye my toddler even growling at times. My soltuion has been seperation, now the dog tolerates and actually enjoys interacting with children who know boundaries. My question is do you recommend counter conditioning or any techniques to help her learn to like ...
100% (6 out of 6)
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August 7, 2023

Recommended How do we tell what kind of aggression our 2 dogs are showing when we have guests over? Is it fear, frustration or prey drive?

Dear Cindy, we have 2 dogs (a 5-year old Beagle/GSD mix and a 4-year old Australian SD/Lab/Black retriever mix, both males) which have been exhibiting increasing aggressive behavior issues over the last 3 months. I am not sure how to identify what type of aggression it is (fear, frustration, or simple prey drive) and therefore what type of training/counter conditioning would be the most suitable one. Indeed, I suspected fear aggression. However, I learnt in one of Michael Ellis' videos that ...
100% (4 out of 4)
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August 2, 2023

Recommended Can a dog bite through a cloth muzzle enough to draw blood?

Hi, we have an 13 year old terrier who is diabetic and blind. Recently we visited a family member with her. Also living there is a sister who has 2 large rescue dogs, both with bite histories. Their owner trains them daily. They are mostly leashed when outside, except when she is out with them. When we arrived for the visit, both of these dogs were off leash but I didn't see their owner (she was around the corner at her car). The female dog was wearing a cloth muzzle. I walked to the hous...
100% (3 out of 3)
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July 9, 2023

Recommended My young Rottweiler attacked the vet and the animal hospital staff when I took him in to be neutered, is he going to turn on me one day?

My 80 year old aunt adopted a baby Rottweiler. When he got to be about five months she couldn’t handle him anymore (Da). I thought I was doing her a favor and I took him in but he had already developed bad habits and I think he is dominant. I’ve taken him to two trainers and finished basic obedience. Things are going pretty well. The other day I took him to the vet to get neutered and he attacked the vet and all the staff. I’m sure he was just scared and they were trying to tell them w...
86% (12 out of 14)
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July 7, 2023

Recommended My trained explosive detection and tracking dog shows no aggression in day to day life but when he has any type of painful experience he becomes HIGHLY aggressive only towards me. Can you help me?

I have a pretty well-trained Belgian Malinois. He does explosive detection and tracking very well. He is also very obedient. He has no aggression toward dogs, territory, toys, people, etc. But for some reason when my dog has any sort of pain whatsoever, he becomes highly aggressive only toward me. I have been reading and have been familiarized with a lot of your training methods at Leerburg since I left K-9 handler school. But even in your literature or the schools, I can’t find anything th...
100% (6 out of 6)
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July 3, 2023

Recommended My dog is fearful around strangers and becomes aggressive, what type of training program would work best for him?

Hi, my dog is fearful around strangers and will become aggressive when they get too close. What training program would work best for him? I'm stuck between two types 1. Board and Train (4 weeks at facility with field trips and at home follow up session) 2. Hybrid (9 week home self-study, coaching at a facility, Group Classes). My concern for option 1 is that he he may not listen to me or will revert back to his over protective habits because I wasn't the one training him while he was away. M...
100% (8 out of 8)
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June 6, 2023

Recommended My dog is guarding bones from me. How do I address this?

Cindy, I've made great strides with my dog, thanks to your advice. She displays only brief, calm interest or indifference towards the chicken coop and defers to the cats in the home if they growl, hiss, or run away - no chasing, fixating, etc. Thank you! A new issue has cropped up: yesterday she began to guard high value treats from me (bison or beef bones), growling if I approach, and even snapping to deter me. These treats are new, but 1 week ago I could approach or pet her when she wa...
88% (7 out of 8)
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May 31, 2022

Our Lab is struggling with reactivity on leash. Can you recommend a DVD for this topic? 

Hi, We need guidance. Our lab is struggling with leash reactivity (due to frustration), and we are trying to set him up for more successful approaches/greetings with other dogs/people. Off-leash he is much better but those off-leash environments are few and far between where we live. Please recommend a DVD or academy that addresses this topic. Thanks.
100% (6 out of 6)
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May 16, 2022

My dog and I walk with a group of people & dogs, all leashed. One of the dogs is extremely reactive and lunges at my dog. How should I handle that?

Hi, my male gsd & I walk with a group of 6-8 people & dogs, all leashed. We agree the dogs will not interact but will walk calmly in new environments. 1 of the dogs is extremely reactive and frequently lunges at my dog & vocalizes threateningly. I try to keep as much space as possible. How should I handle that? Thanks!
100% (4 out of 4)
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March 21, 2022

Our dog who has epilepsy has been very aggressive since his first seizure. Is his aggression from the seizure? What should we do?

Hi. Me and my mom and dad have a 3 year old miniature poodle. He has epilepsy and is on potassium Bromide. He has been VERY aggressive since his first and only seizure. When I take him outside, he literally attacks me! Last week my dad was bringing him back from a walk and he lunged at my dad and bit him and to get him off, my dad had to kick him! Is this apart of the epilepsy or just aggression?! What should we do?! People are scared to pet him when this happens!
100% (2 out of 2)
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March 21, 2022

My older dog and younger dog got into a fight. How do I reintroduce them again?

Good morning. I have a situation that I need help with please! I have 2 female dogs. The dominant one is Spanky (lab and Dalmatian mix) who is 12 years old. She has osteoarthritis in her hips and does have pain. She isn't aggressive at all to people but she has increasingly become grumpy and jealous with my other dog and the cats (just growls at the cats and they walk off). Sophie who is 4 years old (Great Pyranees & Australian Sheppard). She is a big baby and just loves everyone. She has alw...
100% (6 out of 6)
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March 21, 2022

Are my two female pups fighting because of hormones?

I have just found your webpage and have been reading a lot of the articles and I find it very interesting. My problem is, I got 2 female pups about 6 weeks apart. They are now 10 and 11 months old. Before I got the dogs, I asked my vet for advice about getting 2 dogs and what age would be best to get them. She told me to get them as pups and let them grow up together. They are both crossbreeds and I got them from a rescue center. They were both getting on great. When the first one had her...
86% (6 out of 7)
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August 31, 2020

We are dog sitting a young intact female pit bull and she is very playful. When the other dogs don’t want to play and snap at her she attacks them. Do you have any advice?

Hi Cindy, We’re watching a 1yr 4mo intact female pit bull. Shes very playful with other dogs, but when other dogs don’t want to play and snap at her, she attacks them. We purchased your aggressive dogs video, but we don’t see anything that pertains to this type of aggression. I’m trying to keep this brief, so if you would like more information about it, I’m happy to provide. Thank you again for all you do for the community!
100% (19 out of 19)
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May 1, 2020

How can I stop a German Shepherd from resource guarding?

Hello, I have recently rescued a German Shepherd. He is male and approximately 15 months old. I have had the dog for two months and we are bonding fine and he is responding well to marker training, however, he becomes aggressive when approached during feeding, and this morning he growled at me after being put in his crate. He had not finished his food, (unusual) and crated himself (he usually does this once he finishes his meal). When I went to pet him (while he was in his crate) and invite h...
100% (4 out of 4)
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November 4, 2019

I have a GSD who can be quite reactive when on-leash, I’m wondering whether a prong collar would help with this kind of behavior?

I have a GSD who can be quite reactive when on-leash and who tends to 'check out' on walks. I've used a number of Michael Ellis DVDs for training so far and off-leash, he has good engagement, recall, and is not particularly reactive around other dogs. It feels like I lose all engagement once he is on the leash. I am currently using a check chain, which is helping to a degree with his pulling but nothing I do (pop the leash, walk another direction, ask him to 'watch') helps when it comes to...
100% (10 out of 10)
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September 20, 2019

My client's young Frenchie is showing aggression. Do you have any advice?

Hi Cindy, I train dogs in the UK and have recently been helping a family with a 7 month old Frenchie. When I first went round it was because he was showing aggression over food and objects but not just his own. If anyone had food he could show signs of aggression toward them. The family was getting ready to move house so there were boxes around and he started to guard the boxes. He was a nice dog but he jumped up, pulled on lead, barked at dogs on lead as well. We stopped all of those t...
100% (9 out of 9)
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May 20, 2019

I have a GSD who can be quite reactive when on-leash and who tends to ‘check out’ on walks. I’m wondering whether a prong collar would help with this kind of behavior?

I have a GSD who can be quite reactive when on-leash and who tends to 'check out' on walks. I've used a number of Michael Ellis DVDs for training so far and off-leash he has good engagement, recall and is not particularly reactive around other dogs. It feels like I lose all engagement once he is on the leash. I am currently using a check chain, which is helping to a degree with his pulling but nothing I do (pop the leash, walk another direction, ask him to 'watch') helps when it comes to r...
100% (10 out of 10)
respondents found this answer helpful
January 8, 2018

Do you have any articles or books to suggest on dog-on-dog aggression to read for possible solutions?

Cindy, I have several beagles that I hunt with, and two red heelers for working with our cows. One of the red heelers, a female, cannot be around the beagles without trying to kill them. We have to keep them separated all the time. The dog is very loving and usually obeys but not when it comes to the beagles, she hates them. Do you have any articles or books to suggest on reading for possible solutions? If not, then I will have to rehome her, and she is good with working with the cattl...
100% (2 out of 2)
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December 19, 2016

What DVD would you recommend to help me learn how to deal with a dog that has crazy resource guarding habits?

What DVD would you recommend to help me learn how to deal with a dog that has crazy resource guarding habits? Everything I've read says it's one of the hardest behavior issues to correct and most dogs will never be corrected. (?!) I have two Australian Shepherds, an unaltered male and an altered female. The female is the one with the problem. They're always crated separately for feeding so that has never been an issue and thankfully, she doesn't guard people or show aggression towards people ...
61% (19 out of 31)
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