April 12, 2011
Our 3 yr. Old male Bassett Hound is very aggressive to strangers. We have been told that removing the front 14 canine teeth is the way to correct this problem. What do you think about this?
Full Question:
I have read your web site carefully but I am still at a loss. My 3 yr. old male basset has been with us since he was 11-12 weeks old. His mother died giving birth and he and his litter mates were bottle fed. He was neutered at about 5 months. He is a wonderful, affectionate dog most of the time, but under certain circumstances he will attack. Usually the attack occurs when he is with me, is relaxing, and someone comes into the room. This could be any member of our family... he will growl, chase and bite, he has drawn blood, ripped clothes, etc. (He has also attacked when when my son removed a toy from his mouth). We have had a professional trainer and a dog psychiatrist work with him. Basically, as long as no one enters a room when he is comfortably relaxing with me, he is fine. After an attack the dog calms down and seems to be very embarrassed. It is as if he is in an altered state. The problem with our household for this dog is that we have grandchildren and quests who could easily open a door at the "wrong" time. We have been unable to give him away and have been told to put him down or to remove his canine teeth (14 front teeth). Is this ladder option something that you can discuss? My husband and I are really having a hard time with the idea of killing the dog, but I'm not sure if removing his teeth would be even more cruel. 
Ed's Answer:
I agree that taking any dogs teeth out because it has a behavioral problem is not a solution. In fact, it is drop dead stupid. My advice would be to ignore any and all future advice from the person that told you this because he/she is IDIOT!
You need to make a decision here and that is if you want to save this dog or is the risk too high. That's the first decision. If you choose to try and make it work you need to make some changes and work at what needs to be done.
The first thing you need is a dog crate. The dog needs to be crated whenever strangers come to the house. If the dog is aggressive to people who actually live in the house then you need to be the only one who handles the dog.
This dog is not obedience trained. This is obvious from your email. If it were trained you would only need to call him back when he shows aggression and he would stop and come back. Since you cannot do this - then he is not trained.
You need to get a prong collar and train the dog. If you would like to learn more about the principles of obedience training a dog, read the description for my Basic Dog Obedience video. You will probably find that you have not had the full picture on the steps of training a dog must go through before it can be considered fully trained. You can also read why I am not a fan of taking an untrained dog to obedience classes.
This is a serious issue and training is the first part of the solution. The problem with a lot of people who are not in the dog business is that they do not know how to train a dog. They may think they do but in fact they do not. In addition, many people do not have the temperament to administer the kind of corrections that are necessary to make a dog like this mind. Once he understands a command he needs to learn that he will be corrected if he does not mind. These corrections need to be strong enough that the dog respects them. If his aggression carries through the correction - then the correction was not hard enough. You will know the correction was hard enough when the dog minds you when you call him back, (before he reaches the point where he will bite someone), and he does come back because he is more concerned about the results of not minding than he is concerned about biting the person he is going after.
Many people do not have a temperament that allows them to correct a dog to this level. These people should put the dog to sleep or find another home for him. With a dog like you have it is almost impossible to find a new home for the dog. Obedience training combined with confinement when strangers are around should stop the problem.
Good luck.
You need to make a decision here and that is if you want to save this dog or is the risk too high. That's the first decision. If you choose to try and make it work you need to make some changes and work at what needs to be done.
The first thing you need is a dog crate. The dog needs to be crated whenever strangers come to the house. If the dog is aggressive to people who actually live in the house then you need to be the only one who handles the dog.
This dog is not obedience trained. This is obvious from your email. If it were trained you would only need to call him back when he shows aggression and he would stop and come back. Since you cannot do this - then he is not trained.
You need to get a prong collar and train the dog. If you would like to learn more about the principles of obedience training a dog, read the description for my Basic Dog Obedience video. You will probably find that you have not had the full picture on the steps of training a dog must go through before it can be considered fully trained. You can also read why I am not a fan of taking an untrained dog to obedience classes.
This is a serious issue and training is the first part of the solution. The problem with a lot of people who are not in the dog business is that they do not know how to train a dog. They may think they do but in fact they do not. In addition, many people do not have the temperament to administer the kind of corrections that are necessary to make a dog like this mind. Once he understands a command he needs to learn that he will be corrected if he does not mind. These corrections need to be strong enough that the dog respects them. If his aggression carries through the correction - then the correction was not hard enough. You will know the correction was hard enough when the dog minds you when you call him back, (before he reaches the point where he will bite someone), and he does come back because he is more concerned about the results of not minding than he is concerned about biting the person he is going after.
Many people do not have a temperament that allows them to correct a dog to this level. These people should put the dog to sleep or find another home for him. With a dog like you have it is almost impossible to find a new home for the dog. Obedience training combined with confinement when strangers are around should stop the problem.
Good luck.
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