Question on Dog Fights:

Mr. Frawley,

I just read your suggestions on how to break up a dog fight and found it very informative. My problem is that I would like to know what to do when a big dog (German Shepherd) attacks a small dog (Yorkie Terrier)?

My husband was out with our son and our Yorkie, Hoss, when a large German Shepherd jumped over a 7ft wall and attacked our dog. The German Shepherd had just clamped its mouth down on our dogs back and was getting ready to "shake" him, when my husband pried open the German Shepherds jaws and released our dog. The German Shepherd then turned and attacked my husband. We know the German Shepherd and his owners and my husband was yelling the dogs name and telling him to stop, he finally kicked the dog hard twice in the face before another neighbor came out and attempted to pull the German Shepherd off of my husband, the dog then turned on the neighbor until one of the owners children came up and yelled the dogs name. The dog stopped and was then lead away by the collar. The owners have had problems with this dog before but say they can't find anyone who will take him and can't afford to put him to sleep.

What should my husband have done differently to prevent any blood shed? How can we protect our dog in the future?

Any advise would be helpful.

Thank You,
Cindy

ANSWER:

Call the police.
Call your attorney.
Take photos of his injuries.
Then go shoot this dog.

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Question on Dog Fights:

Hello,

My mutt and my Rott got into a fight over top of my husband (he was lying on the floor). My Rott attacked my husband's arm and did a lot of damage, so much that he had to stay in the hospital for almost a week. My Question on Dog Fights is that my Rott never has shown any sign of aggression, never. She is 6 and I was wondering if she will attack again on her own. I plan on getting rid of the other dog. I have always trusted my Rott around my children, but now I have to make the choice of putting both of the dogs down. I can't imagine what would have happened if it were one of my children who were attacked. Thanks.

Answer:

I cannot answer this without seeing the dog. You need to see a professional and have them evaluate the dog. Not a BEHAVIORIST CLICKER TRAINER – someone who knows dominance issues in dogs.

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Question on Dog Fights:

Hi,

I'm glad I found your site. I have 3 Collies and 2 Huskies. Gotta keep'em apart because otherwise they'll bite themselves to death. 3 of them got into a fight, but since I was home alone, I had no option but to let them tire out. As I went out to get help, the 4th one came rushing downstairs and attacked and bit me out of the blue and then joined the fight. Any clues as to why he reacted this way? It's not the first he's bitten me unexpectedly.

Thanks for your help,
Gustav

PS: Wish I'd read your cool article on dogfights earlier.

ANSWER:

When you own a dog pack and you allow them to run together you are not different than any other member of the pack. Obviously this dog considers itself a higher rank than you in the pack.

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Question on Dog Fights:

We have had a serious incident where one of our dogs has gotten into a fight and killed the older dog.

We had a 14 year old female mixed breed (Bichon) that at one time was the dominant dog. We also have had a Lab for 7 years. We just (4 months ago) brought a new rescued puppy into our house(Lab/Chow mix). The two older dogs have gotten in small fights before and the Lab has been more dominant over her lately. Yesterday, we had an incident when all three dogs were looking out of our front windows and another dog came onto our yard, a fight broke out between the Lab and the older dog and the Lab killed the older dog. The Lab had the older one by the neck and must have broken it. The Lab has never been aggressive to any human. She usually is extremely friendly. She has never shown anything near this behavior. We don’t know what to do with the Lab. Will the puppy be safe if we bring the Lab back into our home? Has the pack order problem(which I didn’t realize we had until I read some of your website) been solved?

Thank you for any help,
Scott

ANSWER:

This is pretty sad.

There is no Question on Dog Fights that this was your fault – that goes without saying. At least you are looking on the Internet for some answers – I will give you that. It’s too bad it took the death of your old dog for you to decide that its time to learn about dogs. If it makes you mad – well ask yourself what your 14 year old dog felt like just before it died.

Bringing a new dog into a home with 2 dogs is a key element in elevating pack drive in the existing dogs. You found this out the hard way, or I should say your old dog found this out the hard way.

I have written an article on “How to bring a new dog into a home with existing dogs”- if you want to go read it you will see the beginning of your mistakes. You can find this on the article page on my web site.

My advice is to get two dog crates and use them. Then train these dogs, I would bet you my business that you own untrained dogs – an untrained dog is one that will not mind under distraction.

If you want to learn how to live with a dog – go read the article I wrote on The Ground Work to Becoming a Pack Leader.

If you want to learn about pack and rank drive – go read the article I wrote titled Dealing with the Dominant Dog.

So the answer to your Question on Dog Fights is another Question on Dog Fights. Can you change the way you live with your dogs and are you capable of properly training a dog?

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Question on Dog Fights:

Ed,

I read your article on dog on dog aggression and I must say I agree with you 100%.

I have owned and bred Kerry Blue terriers for the past 20 years.

I find dogs I raise myself have very little dog aggression but when they do they are usually on leash and seam to be trying to protect me. I usually just use the leave it command and they fall back into heel position. I am VERY protective of my dogs because of the once bitten twice shy affect. Plus the fact the although my dogs won't start a fight they will most certainly finish it (and my dog will be blamed, he is a Kerry after all)

My concern is obedience trials. I am always worried that another dog will go after one of my dogs and we will end up with a life long problem. I always enter B so the dogs are a little better trained.

I have currently 6 Kerries and 2 pups I am keeping.

My daughter is raising one and I the other. The pups are in the house until they are at least 6 months old. Separate crates, separate rooms and separate trainers. I do allow them to play in the house or dog yard a few times a day supervised by one or both of us. This method seems to be working.

We have a Kennel and the older dogs are kept separate most of the time and I only allow 2 dogs at a time in the play yard.

I have 2 dogs, a dog and a bitch I got as older dogs with dog aggression problems as adults. They are 6-7 years old. The female has good obedience training and is manageable in most situations. We have managed to get her CD and Championship and are working her in Agility. I am very nervous about entering her in Open due to the out of sight and I am scared if a smaller dog broke and went up to her she would kill it. The male was raised in a kennel with no socializing and although he is a Champion, was involved in numerous dog fights his owners could not control. He does get along well with a couple of my more submissive females. Is there anything I can do to make this dog realize other dogs (Breeds) are not snack?

I would like to do obedience with him but he will not focus. If I use aggressive methods he shuts down and cringes (I think he was beaten as well) and he is not interested in food. I have tried motivational training and find he is OK if there are no distractions. Is there hope for this guy? He is good with people and kids but he really just seems to not care whether they are there or not. He is a little shy and always crouches when he meets strangers (like a submissive dog meeting an alpha) but with dogs he gives no warning and just attacks.

(Mastiff, Dachshund and pug) that I know of. None were killed but all needed stitches.

Thanks for your input.
Barb

ANSWER:

Male on male or female on female aggressions is the most common – most dogs that are aggressive to either sex are doing it on a fear based situation. These are usually dogs who have been attacked before and they take the approach that a good offense is better than a good defense.

The way to control this is either completely keep these dogs away from other dogs, or try to work through it.

If you want to try and work through it then you need to take the dog through a serious obedience program (normally local obedience classes are not going to work because the trainers don’t understand the principles of aggression and correction well enough). ALL OF THESE DOGS need to be worked with a prong collar and or an electric collar.

The very bottom line on the training is that IN THE END the dog must respect the resulting correction he gets if he is aggressive more than he wants to fight. In other words the correction needs to be at a level that the dog remembers. Many handlers cannot do this. They cannot correct at an effective level so they can't solve the problem.

In most sever cases dogs need to be worked with an electric collar. They need to be corrected for just looking at another dog not fighting with another dog. This work is beyond the scope of an email.

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Electronic Collars

 

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Question on Dog Fights:

Dear Mr. Frawley,

I hope that you can explain to me what is happening in my house with my dogs. Until three years ago I had four dogs - two Bichons and two Lhasas. The Bichons were two females who were six and seven years old respectively when the Lhasas were brought into the household at 10 weeks old. The Lhasas are male and female litter mates. All four were neutered/spayed. The 6 year old Bichon had a problem at first with the Lhasas but after about two months she warmed up to them and we lived happily for many years. Three and a half years ago that Bichon died at 10 years old. The other Bichon was 11 at the time. The three remaining dogs continued to live happily. The remaining Bichon is almost 15 now and deaf and almost blind. She gets around well enough though with the exception of some arthritis which stiffens her up until she gets going. She eats well and does not mess in the house. In the past year or so I have seen a slow but progressive change in her personality. She seems to be slowly regressing "mentally." The vet says she is healthy enough and as long as she is happy and comfortable, I plan on enjoying her companionship until the end. However, over the last 8 months or so, the Lhasas have become randomly aggressive towards her. Out of nowhere and for no reason one or both of them will attack her, knocking her down, making her scream and cry. I pull them away but they try very hard to continue the attack. I have immediately "gotten in their face" right afterwards by pulling the collar and pulling them close while I look in their face and admonish with "NO!" They immediately calm the aggression and everything normalizes until the next time. Unfortunately, there is always a "next time." When I'm away from the house, I no longer leave them all together anymore, leaving the Lhasas with each other, away from the Bichon. I don't get what's going on. Food has never been an issue, they are fed in three different corners of the kitchen, they eat their meals and the dishes come up. Why do the Lhasas attack a poor old almost defenseless dog that they have lived with all their lives? They are otherwise very sweet, gentle dogs. They have fought with each other on occasion but it is usually over a toy that is then removed from them both and the problem is thus solved. I know the solution is to keep them from the Bichon as I'm doing, but, I really don't understand why this has evolved. Can you explain?

Thank you,
Joyce

ANSWER:

Read the article I wrote on DEALING WITH THE DOMINANT DOG.

The problem is you don’t understand pack drive in domestic dogs.

For the sake of the old dog, I hope you make changes in how you live with these dogs. If they were mine the younger ones would live in dog crates when the older one was loose – put yourself in the old dogs position – if you were 85 years old – how would you like to be in a position where you ALWAYS had to fear having the crap kicked out of you by some young toughs you were forced to live with? It’s a terrible way to spend your final days.

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QUESTION ON DOG FIGHTS:

I was hoping maybe you could help me with a few questions regarding our two family dogs. We have a six year old female Beagle, and a Three and a half year old mixed breed female who is about 85lbs. These two dogs have lived together for all of the larger dog's life and never had any kind of fight or altercation, until yesterday. For no apparent reason the mixed breed attacked the Beagle leaving four large puncture wounds on both sides of her neck. The Beagle was treated at the emergency vet and released. She was heavily sedated and slept until this morning. After only a few hours of her waking up she was attacked again (viscously). My husband and I finally pryed the larger dog's mouth off of her and rushed her to the vet again. This time she has to stay for a few days because the damage was much worse. My husband and I were both bitten during this attack and I am afraid to bring the beagle home with the other dog here. My questions are:

1) What would make her turn on her all of a sudden? (they are great friends)

2) Would having them both spayed possibly prevent this from happening again?

3)Should I worry that this will happen again and find a new home for one of the dogs?

Thank You,

Jennifer

ANSWER:

I don’t know why this happened. There is a trigger of some kind but I don’t know what it is. More than likely it's dominance.

I will guarantee you – 100% - it will happen again if you allow these dogs to be together. It's not even a question. It will happen.

Find a home for one of these dogs or get two dog crates and keep them separated for life.

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QUESTION on Dog Aggression:

Dear Ed,

I cannot thank you enough for all your advise on how to train and establish a relationship with our puppy. Your DVDs were extremely useful and fully implemented, Merlin is a happy 8 month old GSD puppy with a cheerful disposition, never ending exuberance and love towards my 8 year old daughter. Thanks to your extremely useful website tips, he does not nip at her and from very early age, even though he did mouth us sometimes, never our little girl. Couldn't have done it without you!!

There is one minor problem, however, when we are out walking him, he goes mad barking whenever he sees another dog. If the other dog is friendly and does eventually get nearer (if it dares!) Merlin stops barking and has a good sniff and tail wagging. But mostly people just yell at us, how we should train the dog better etc. and I end up dragging him away. He does not bite or gets in any way aggressive towards me and eventually I managed to pull him away (he is always on a lead so never gets near other dogs), but he
is either frightened or does not know how to behave towards other dogs. The fur also sticks up on his back whilst he is barking, does this means aggression? Is the Electric Collar the answer, I would prefer not to use one as he does not seem to need one otherwise he never barks!

Please help.

I have attached little boys photo he is from the German Quantum Arminius bloodline (daddy) but as he is longhaired is considered 'unworthy' in England. We adore him!!!

Kind regards,
Edit

ANSWER on Dog Aggression:

All of these signs of unwarranted aggression require a stiff correction. The UK does not allow prong collar so all you can do is use a dominant dog collar. Read my description on how to use it.

Here is the way I approach these issue.

1 - This is a lack of respect issue with you. You need to become a better pack leader - this does not mean be mean it means you need to take charge. The dog is afraid of these dogs he is not a tough dog - I see it in his eyes. He needs to learn that you will not let other dogs near him and you will protect him.

2- When he barks - you say NO - obviously he will continue barking. Then you give a level 3 correction - in the beginning he will continue barking. After one NO and one level 3 correction you jump right up to a level 8 correction - you are being fair here - you warned him, you popped him then you gave him a correction that meant something to him.

3- Do this every time - maybe even a level 9 correction on the second time. Bottom line is the dog needs to remember who the leader is. The leader starts fights. The leader says when not to fight. The dog instinctually knows this - you just need to enforce it.

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QUESTION on Dog Fights:

Dear Ed,

I don't know what to do. I have a male Cavalier King Charles spaniel who is 3 years old and neutered. He is the friendliest, most unaggressive dog one could ever meet and he has never had a problem with another dog until now.

We have made friends with another couple who have a 3 year old female cocker spaniel who is also neutered. Whether we go round to their house or if they come to ours, the cocker attacks our dog out of the blue. It gets very nasty and clumps of our dog's hair flies all over the place.

My husband has tried to separate them and finds it nearly impossible because of the force that the cocker uses on our dog. Our dog doesn't fight back at all and we are frightened for his health and sanity.

The thing they both have in common is their appetite for food, and we thought that perhaps this might be the reason the cocker is aggressive - she feels her access to food is threatened by our dog. But, Alfalfa (our dog), has never pursued any food in her presence and is totally unthreatening.

This couple has another dog, a Shitzu, who is female and un-neutered. She is very docile and has no part in these fights. But our dog is now petrified of the cocker (she is the same size as Alfalfa) and he hides in the corner. He is not normally so diminutive, and is usually a lively, happy dog with many friends. So, it's very strange to see him behaving in
this way, when he doesn't appear to us to have provoked the cocker in any
way.

It is becoming embarrassing with our friends, since they insist on us bringing him round to theirs. They even want to take care of him when we go away for a week next month. The idea of this fills us with dread, since we don't think Alfalfa would survive it.

Is there any way we can try to solve this problem? I also thought of paying the cocker a lot of attention and ignoring my poor dog who is being victimized, just so that she wouldn't attack him. Perhaps there is something we can do to remedy the situation?

Thanks,
Claire.

ANSWER:

You are dramatically failing your poor dog. Your dog expects you to act as a pack leader. As such it is your responsibility to protect your family pack. You are not doing this and don't think this is wasted on your dog. It now looks at the world as if it has no one because you and your husband dropped the ball on one of the most important responsibilities to your dog.

Your friends are idiots. Flat idiots. This has nothing to do with food. It has everything to do with dominant temperament. If you allow your poor dog to go near this dog again it will be a travesty. I don't mean when you go away - take the dog to a boarding kennel. I am talking about even allowing this dog near your dog.

You need an education on dog behavior and training. Here is some reading material:

I recommend that you go to my web site and read the article I wrote on my philosophy of dog training. I think you will get some good ideas there.

Read the article I wrote titled DEALING WITH THE DOMINAT DOG. Also the Q&A sections and the Q&A on Overly Aggressive dogs.

If you choose to go in the same direction I suggest that you read the article I wrote titled how to break up a dog fight without getting hurt.

Bottom line is these other owners should be kicking their dog's ass for this. EVERY incident of unwarranted aggression (towards dogs or humans) requires quick firm and hard corrections. To ignore this, to make excuses for this behavior is un-responsible.

You never should have gone back to that house after the first fight. Do not think for one minute that these traumatic incidents will not have a life long effect on your dog. Most of the time something like this results in a dog that is dog aggressive forever. Dogs take the attitude that a good offense is the best defense.

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QUESTION on Dog Fights:

Hi, I searched your site and couldn't find an article that pertained to my problem so I thought I'd just e-mail you.

I have a 4 y/o border collie/gsd mix and a 9 year old chow mix (both rescued at 9 mo). I made the mistake of introducing Wicca (BC) to Tuesday (chow, who was 6 at the time) the old fashioned way (muzzle the both of them and let them go at it). But what is done is done. Now, they have lived pretty happily together for 4 years, but they do have a lot of dominance issues. Tuesday is pretty much dominant over Wicca, though Wicca is continuously trying to outdo Tuesday, which naturally leads to fights. These fights tend to be quite devastating for Wicca, who is much smaller than Tuesday.

I know this could be fixed by going through the pack establishment in crate training for both of them from scratch, but how would I go about doing that with both dogs? Would i crate Wicca (who starts most of the fights) and let Tuesday have free roam, vice verse, or crate them both? And when do I know when it is OK for them to be let out together again?

Tuesday has NEVER shown any dominance towards us. Only to other dogs. So is she in need of being told who's boss by us by crating, or just stepping in whenever she is aggressive towards other dogs? Wicca is starting an obedience class Saturday, I hope that will help keep her in check. I have a very firm hand with the dogs and am not afraid of any new training method.

I am very interested in adding a male Border to the household for agility, but with the state our current dogs are in I don't think that's a good idea.

Thanks so much,
Sarah, Wicca and Tuesday

Answer:

This is a serious case – at least serious if you consider the fact one of these dogs could die in these fights. You would not believe that number of emails I get like this which result in the death of a dog.

What you have done is 100% wrong. Hands down wrong.

Get three dog crates and use them. These dogs should NEVER be together unsupervised. If they lived in my home THEY WOULD NEVER BE TOGETHER AGAIN (and we have 4 house dogs and 4 dog crates in the basement furnace room where the dogs stay at night ) There is nothing wrong with this. The dogs will be more comfortable.

If you cant or wont do this – then find new homes for a couple of these dogs.

I sell a ton of muzzles – a muzzle is not the solution.

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QUESTION on Dog Fights:

Hi, could you help me I have a german shepherd 3 years old and a labrador 17 months old both bitches .they have started fighting but I am concerned that it is getting out of hand .they just start fighting for no reason. Sometimes they just stare at each other and then it kicks off. And then they will not stop till you pull them apart. The german seems to be the one that starts more than the lab can you help as I love them both.

ANSWER:

The worst dog fights are among bitches. This will continue because the younger one is just entering maturity. Your only solution is to keep them separated with dog crates or dog kennels or find a home for one of these.

Just so you know – most of the time females fight with females and males fight with males, but females are the worst.

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Muzzles

 

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QUESTION on Dog Fights:

Hello

We have a problem between our 11 yr old chow and our 3 yr old pit-bull, both female, and the pit-bull just had pups 8-9 weeks ago. The puppies are completely separated from the chow. The two adult dogs will stare each other down especially in the house. They have had a few fights before the puppies and after. During their fights the chow usually submits making your technique for breaking the dogs up easier, and is very effective. After a day of separation when reintroduced with supervision the pit-bull will lick the chows face. Any ideas what this is about? The day after their last dogfight when asking the chow into the bathroom (close quarters) while giving her praise and pets she growled at her owner.?.?.

We know the dogs must be separated but find this hard to do constantly. It has gotten to be that the chow seems almost frightened in close quarters therefore a crate is not an option for her. Our pit-bull is crate trained but cannot stay in a crate all day. (The pit-bull also has basic and advanced training and is CGC certified. The chow is trained and obedient.)

The chow in this past year has become untrusting to most anyone except her owners (mom and dad). Growling even biting one family roommate (cousin) after he put his hands on her chest and back simultaneously. We now no longer allow anyone (before only select few) to touch her. Our chow may not be able to stand more fights although she is in a healthy condition.

So with knowing our situation is there anything as good dog owners that we could do to put an END to the human and animal aggressiveness being shown here other than complete separation.

We have gone through your site and find it informative.

Thanks- Rick and Juli

P.S. We do own muzzles for both dogs.

ANSWER:

The solution is two dog crates. There are no silver bullets here that are going to fix this problem. The fact that the older dog does not like the crate is the dog's problem not yours. If this were my home these dogs would NEVER COME IN CONTACT – not ever. Muzzles are not the solution – dog crates are the solution.

I would ONLY feed the dog in the crate – and the crate would be the only place the old dog got water. Taking water away from a dog is a BIG BIG deal – the person who gives it water is going to be a very good friend and if she only gets it in the crate she will come to like it.

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QUESTION on Dog Fights:

I'm hoping you can help me, I have a 18month old Staffy x Bull Mastiff who I adopted from an animal hospital when she was 12months old. Initially showed signs of fear aggression towards other dogs, most all dogs. I figured this was due to her street life and shelter life. The shelter does not adopt dogs that are aggressive. Working with a trainer and continuing to we have been quite successful in removing this from her behavior however i have noticed that 3 breeds set her off. I have been trained to look for various signs etc and the trainers are quite good however I want a second opinion. She is aggressive towards German Shepherds, Huskys and Border Collies. We thought maybe shape or hair length but she socializes well with Goldens, staffys, kelpies, you name it but those 3 dogs set her off. I am confused as to why, I am taking steps to correct this behavior. She is fabulous with people and generally a big softie but around those breeds is a different dog. Strangely she will play with a GS x Kelpie all day and be submissive at times but never aggressive. I feel that something in her first 12months of life has obviously caused this. I write to you because the other night she was in a park when a GS entered the park, both dogs off lead, other dogs around and made a V-line for the GS.Ran at least 100m to get to the dog. Didn't attack initially, circled around then jumped. Naturally i ran over but not in time, they had been at it for about 3-5seconds before i puller her off the other dog. Both were fine this time (i also read your article on how to separate fighting dogs) and I guess I'm lucky to not have any marks on me. I am totally confused as to why this has occurred and what i can do. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. We have been attending classes for about 3months with great results and will continue to attend for a 12month period, longer if necessary. I am dedicated to the process and the animal.
Thank you.
If you do get an opportunity to reply, can it be via email or please direct me to useful articles.

ANSWER:

I recommend that you go to my web site and read the article I wrote on my philosophy of dog training. I think you will get some good ideas there.

Read the article I wrote on dog parks. You can find these if you go to the list of training articles and scroll down.

That's the first step.

We don't allow our dogs around other dogs. Not any other dogs unless we know them and we know they are 100% neutral.

If we have a dog aggressive dog we train with an e-collar. My new DVD is Electric Collar Training for Pet Owners. (it's 2 1/2 hours long and done for pet owners - dog aggression is part of it) I use a Dogtra 1700 NCP.

Hundreds of thousands of people go to obedience classes every year and the vast majority of dominant dogs come out of class just as dominant as when they went in - that's because pack issues were never taught or trained.

You may get additional information out of the article I wrote on Dealing with Dominant Dogs.

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QUESTION on Dog Fights:

I have 2 dogs. I've had my Rot for about 6 years and I've had my Akita/Lab mix for about 1 year. About 2 months ago my Akita/lab mix started fighting my Rot for food and water. They are both females (the Rot is fixed, the Akita/lab mix is not). It started over the food, then we made a pen for the Akita/lab mix for feeding time. Now it is over the water. Is there any way I can get them where they are not aggressive?

ANSWER:

This is an owner problem not a dog problem. You don’t understand pack behavior. If you care to learn you can start by reading my web site. There is a ton of information there.

Find a home for one of these dogs – this problem is beyond your experience.

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QUESTION on Aggressive Dog:

Hello, I own a 12 yr. old poodle weighing about 13lbs. He is arthritic and is diabetic needing insulin twice daily. My neighbors dog is part terrier and very aggressive, has bit me once already. Last night I took my dog out and he was doing his thing when the neighbors opened their door and their dog came out and attacked mine. We did nothing out of the ordinary for their dog to attack mine. Both dogs are male, both neutered. Mine is very protective of me but only to the point of standing beside me never attacking or growling at anyone or other animals. How can I protect him from the neighbors dog? The human owners of the other dog don't seem to care, what can I do? Today my dog can hardly walk. Help!

Thank you,
Pat

ANSWER:

This is a no brainer.

1- Tell the neighbors if this happens again you will call the police.

2- You should call the police today and tell them what happened and that you want them to write an incident on this – then it's on file.

3- Tell your neighbors that you are going to file a law suit against them if it happens again. Tell them you have an attorney (any attorney will take this on a % deal because insurance companies settle them all – the neighbors will then lose their insurance.)

4- Carry a stout walking stick every time you go outside. If that dog comes over top your property – don’t wait for it to do something. Chase it off and if you can get close to it – hit it HARD !!! I guarantee you will only have to hit this dog one time and it will not come back.

5- You are the pack leader (at least you are suppose to be) you should have protected your dog.

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QUESTION on Dog Fights:

I stumbled upon your website while trying to learn more about dog on dog aggression. I have found it very informative and helpful. However, I am still at a loss as to what to do with my specific situation. I have one male 10 month old, one female 14 months old, and one female 18 months old. We have just had to move to a new house due to hurricane Katrina, which I am sure adds stress to the dogs. It is my two females that I am having problems with. The 18 month old is a chow mix who went through an obedience class when she was about 3 months old. It has been a while and I am sure she needs a refresher course. The 14 month old is a pit bull who I believe is trying to show dominance. Prior to this, the chow has been the leader of the pack. Now, the pit bull is trying to challenge that. The problem is that my nine year old daughter has already been bit while trying to break up a fight. Tonight when they started fighting, they really got a hold of each other. Surprisingly, it has been the pit bull that gets hurt the most, with tonight being the worst yet. This whole situation has really only escalated in about the past week. With everyone being closed for the Thanksgiving holiday, I am just trying to keep them separated until Monday when I can hopefully get some answers. They are both so much a part of our family that I am willing to try anything before giving one of them away. I know that training and behavior modification are obviously what needs to come first. I just don't really know where to start or who to turn to. Do I bring them both together, or separately? Will they ever be able to live peacefully together again now that it has gotten to this point? One other concern that I have is I am having a baby in May. I am scared for the safety of the baby and my other two children.

If you could point me in the right direction, it would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Jessica

ANSWER:

This is more of a lack of education problem than a dog problem. Your problems are a result of the way you chose to live with your dog.

Your own a dog pack and you don’t understand pack structure and pack rules.

Here is some reading material:

I recommend that you go to my web site and read the article I wrote on My Philosophy of Dog Training. I think you will get some good ideas there.

I have a saying that I like to tell people. It goes like this ” Everyone has an opinion on how to train a dog – just ask you barber, your mailman and your neighbor”

The problem is very few people have the experience to back up their opinions. This results in a lot of bad information being passed out on how to deal with behavioral problems.

Pet owners like yourself need to figure out who has the experience to warrant listening to. Dog training for me is not a hobby. It’s a way of life. I have been training dogs for over 40 years. I have bred over 350 litters of working bloodline German Shepherds, I was a police K9 handler on a drug task force for 10 years and I have produced over 100 videos on dog training. Many of them directed towards professional dog trainers.

My web site is over 5,000 pages. It has over 300 training article and the web board has over 90,000 posts with 7500 or more members. I don’t have time to answer a lot of personal emails but with this said I will almost guarantee you that your problems have been answered someplace on my web site. It’s the largest dog training web site on the Internet.

Read the article I wrote titled Dealing with a Dominant Dog.

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.

Bottom line is you need to change the way you live with your dogs. Get three dog crates and use them. TRAINING them – here is the DVD to teach you the correct way (Basic Dog Obedience) Use prong collars or electric collars in your training . I can tell you if these were my dogs I would run them through my obedience program and my groundwork program

You may want to read the article I wrote titled The Ground Work to Becoming a Pack Leader . This is the protocol we use in our home when we raise a puppy for ourselves. It is also the part of the protocol we use to solving behavioral problems such as dominance and/or house breaking problems.

I would also be using remote trainers - this DVD teaches you how to do this correctly. (Electric Collar Training For Pet Owners)

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QUESTION ON DOG FIGHTS:

Hi Ed,

I wandered onto your site today and found it to be very interesting. I am originally from Eau Claire, WI and was surprised that I had never heard of your facility. Anyhow - I have a question I was hoping you could provide insight to. I have three female dogs. They are all spayed, and all very lovable. Lately we have been having some "scufffles" between our Sher-pei and Pitt mix. They are usually the best of friends, but sometimes tend to fight over rawhides and toys. Today I had a terrible fight in my living room, and I'm ashamed to say I had no idea what to do. After the fight, my Shar-pei has several lacerations, and my Pitt mix is virtually untouched. What can I do to ensure that this never happens again? I can't point my finger on what the trigger is sometimes and it usually happens out of the blue. After the fights, the Pitt mix is loving and licking the other dog trying to clean her wounds. It's almost as if when she's fighting, she's another dog completely. Thankfully, my third dog, our lab mix tends to stay back and never really interferes in such altercations. I would hate to assume that this is typical "Pitt-bull" behavior, but I'm worried. Do you think it would be worthwhile to enroll her in some kind of obedience class - or some kind of class to control her behavior?

I appreciate your time, and anxiously await your thoughts.

Thank you,
Jeannine

ANSWER:

I don’t train dogs for people and I don’t run training classes - so there is no reason you would have heard of me. During the 10 years of the 1990’s I worked as a K9 handler for West Central Drug.

With that said – your problem is a owner problem and not a dog problem.

You don’t understand rank and pack drive. THREE DOGS is s dog pack. Your dog fights are 100% a pack issue.

Bottom line is you either change the way you live with these dogs and educate yourself or you find a new home for one of the dogs or dig a hole in the back yard to bury one of them in – because you are going to need a grave is you don’t make some changes

If you want to fix this – you are going to have to learn pack behavior.

I recommend that you read the article I wrote titled Dealing with the Dominant Dog.

You may want to read the article I wrote titled The Ground Work to Becoming a Pack Leader. This is the protocol we use in our home when we raise a puppy for ourselves. It is also the part of the protocol we use to solving behavioral problems such as dominance and/or house breaking problems.

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.

I have a saying that I like to tell people. It goes like this ” Everyone has an opinion on how to train a dog – just ask you barber, your mailman and your neighbor”

The problem is very few people have the experience to back up their opinions. This results in a lot of bad information being passed out on how to deal with behavioral problems.

Pet owners like yourself need to figure out who has the experience to warrant listening to. Dog training for me is not a hobby. It’s a way of life. I have been training dogs for over 40 years. I have bred over 350 litters of working bloodline German Shepherds, I was a police K9 handler on a drug task force for 10 years and I have produced over 100 videos on dog training. Many of them directed towards professional dog trainers.

My web site is over 5,000 pages. It has over 300 training article and the web board has over 90,000 posts with 7500 or more members. I don’t have time to answer a lot of personal emails but with this said I will almost guarantee you that your problems have been answered someplace on my web site. It’s the largest dog training web site on the Internet.

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QUESTION:

Hi Mr Frawley,

I have spent the last hour reading all your q&A on dog fights, And it seems like all your answers come down to keeping the dogs apart for good, or muzzled when together. I have two chows male and female and 95% of the time they are inseparable and love each others company. then out of the blue the female will start a fight for no reason. She is getting fixed in less then a week but form what i read on your website that wont help.

I can't imagine them having to be separated all the time. So any advise you can provide as well as which video or book you have that may help. They don't fight daily or monthly for that matter, it is however enough to concern us. And for the mean time, what would be the best way to break it up without hurting them. If we pull one always ends up cut from the pulling.

I appreciate any advise you can give.

Thank you
Isabel

ANSWER:

Isabel,

Keep reading. The Q&A on Dominant Dogs is a good place to start.

You have a lot to learn.

More than likely your vet is more interested in the spay fee than telling you that neutering an adult female more often than no MAKES THINGS WORSE not better.

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QUESTION:

I read through the questions on dog fights and found quite a few answers but I do have a little twist to my scenario. My dogs are 6 year old female, husky/healer, litter mates (boy do I wish I had found you 6 years ago!).

Needless to say, we have of course had difficulties establishing our dominance and pack order, it is something we work on constantly. Usually, "Mai" is more dominant but every fall "Blixa" decides to test her and we end up with a bloody battle. Somehow, it's been 2 1/2 years since the last fight and we though we had the problem licked until today. A neighborhood dog's ball ended up in our yard and a fight ensued. I was here to break it up and the dogs are sequestered. Our difficulty is that unless it is immediately following a fight, they have severe separation anxiety from each other - Mai has had medical issues with her stomach that our vet thought may be partially attributed to anxiety - so I'm not sure that kenneling at home is an option for us. Also, seeing as the fights are so rare, is there another option we should look at? Lastly, we have tried a choke collar for walks and the Husky pull drive was so strong they were near to causing injury to themselves, I'm concerned they will continue to pull right through the prong collar - your advice? Oh yeah, we currently use a gentle leader which helps some, but has not fixed the pulling either.

Sincerely,
Allison

ANSWER:

Your dogs have you very well trained. This is a common thing with pet owners.

Your vet is wrong. Find a new vet.

Use a prong collar or a remote collar on walks and obedience train these dogs - they are not trained.

We would never put these dogs together if they lived here. They would go in a crate with a Tri-tronics no-bark collar on and learn to be crate trained. I can't tell you how many people I have advised to use these collars on dogs that owners said had separation anxiety. They work. I get emails 4 to 6 weeks later saying the problem is solved.

So this really comes down to you making a decision to solve this problem - which is an owner problem not a dog problem.

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QUESTION on Dog Fights:

I have three GSD. I have 2 females and 1 male. The females are old one is 10 and one is 8. I got a male he's 1 years old and ever since he became a year old he's been starting a fight with my 8 year old GSD its an everyday situation. It always starts with him. He would just jump on her out of the blue she could be lying down taking a nap or in the middle of scratching herself once my male GSD jumps on her my 10 year old GSD gets in on the fight. One is biting on her legs in the back and one is biting her face all to pieces. Then the Male GSD would run off and its the females fighting. my females never fought before and they're both fixed. Like I said this is an everyday situation I don't think my 8 year old GSD can take this kind of beating everyday. She'll limp on one leg, and one of her ears don't stand up anymore because my male chewed it to pieces. I've read in one of your paragraphs that its unusual for a male and female to fight so why does my male start a fight everyday with my female? She's very submissive to him so I don't know what the problem is. Oh and this doesn't happen when I'm always around I could be at work and when I get home my neighbor would call and say there was another dog fight. All my GSD are all trained from the inside of my home to the outside. I could bring my male in my home and he'll play with my cats that he grew up with he can get along with my cats but not along with my female dog? Every time he looks at her its with an evil look I just understand why he hates her so much she's never done anything to him. Well hopefully you can help. Thank you for your time.

Stephanie

ANSWER:

This is 100% an owner created problem. I too feel sorry for your female.

1- Your dogs do not have a pack structure with a strong pack leader – that is suppose to be your job and you have failed at it. When dogs have a strong pack leader they don’t fight in the presence of the leader because they know the leader will not allow it. This is the last thing that would happen in my home because my dogs know the result of my corrections would be devastating to them .

2- Read the article I wrote titled THE THEORY OF CORRECTIONS IN DOG TRAINING. It's also on a free podcast on my web site.

3- Your dogs ARE NOT OBEDIENCE TRAINED – you don’t even have to tell me -- I know they are not. Get my Basic Dog Obedience DVD.

4- You also need 3 dog crates. These dogs need to be separated. Read the article I wrote on HOW TO INTRODUCE A NEW DOG INTO A HOME WITH OTHER DOGS.

5- Read the free eBook I wrote on HOW TO ESTABLISH PACK STRUCTURE WITH ADULT DOGS.

6- I believe that the DVD I recently finished could really help you. It’s titled DEALING WITH DOMINANT AND AGGRESSIVE DOGS and it was a 5 year project.

This DVD is 3 ½ hours long. You can go to the web page and read the outline of what’s included on the video. My DVDs are not meant to be watched one time. The fact is anyone who needs this information needs to watch it many times because every time they watch it they will pick up new ideas.

For the sake of your dogs I hope you take the steps to educate yourself on the issues I talk about above. If you don’t then the best thing you can do is re-home your dogs.

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QUESTION:

My problem is my aggressive mastiff mix.  She is dog aggressive because her first owner trained her to fight other dogs.

She is stout, with short nose, broad muzzle, strong body.  She weighs about 90 pounds and I am short 5’3” and 115lbs.  Her body type is more like a small bull mastiff.

I am interested in the following:

1. Stopping her aggressive dog behavior.
2. purchasing the following with your recommendation:
   1. Collar:  prong or dominant collar?  Which will give me the best control over a powerful dog with a big neck.
   2. Muzzle:  Safest for extended use
   3. Video: Controlling her aggression- preferably stopping it.

Thank you,
Nora

ANSWER:

Possibly some words of encouragement – dogs don’t live in the past like human do. Dogs live in the present and react to what faces them here and now.

In your case the old owner allowed dog fighting and you are going to NOT ALLOW dog fighting. This means you can deal with this if you want to put forth the effort.

I would use one of the wire basket muzzles we sell. They are accepted better by dogs. We have a chart on our web site to size it (if you make a mistake a=in the size and send it right back we will exchange it if its not used and all you are out if is the shipping for the new size – but our chart is pretty good)

Frankly when people talk about a LARGE dog then I am inclined to recommend that they learn to use a remote collar. I did a DVD on this “Remote Collar Training for the Pet Owner" I use a Dogtra 1700 on my personal dog.

With that said you still need to understand this aggression issue and the cures for it. SO you the Dominant and Aggressive Dog dvd will teach you this and you will have to have your dog on come kind of a collar – I defer to the dominant dog collar and a stout leather leash (even when you train with remotes the beginning of the training is always done on leash).

When the dog is trained I will walk my dog on leash and still have it wear the remote collar for control while on leash. This system is the great equalizer for small people and big dogs.

You should also consider readying the free e-book on my web site on establishing pack structure with adult dogs. My web site has a large number of FREE E-Books that I have written.

Good luck – I hope this helped.

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QUESTION:

Dear Sir:
I have a female German Shepard about 2 years old, who has been spayed.  She has always been a lovable dog and still is, but in the last 2 weeks she has become aggressive toward my 9 year lab, who is also a female and has been spayed.  She never offers to fight with this dog when they are eating, in fact, if the lab goes over to the shepard's pile of food she will move to the other pile of food.  The shepard has acts like she is trying to dominate the lab.  She will go up to her and put her foot on the lab's back, and her ears go up, and then she wants to jump on the lab, and she has drawn blood with her attack on the dog.  The lab is such a humble dog and goes down in a ball and doesn't try to defend herself.  I have a chow that I took in a year ago, and the shepard does not do this to the chow, he is a male.  The shepard plays with the chow, but doesn't fight with this dog.  I have noticed that when the shepard jumps on the lab, the chow sometimes joins in with the attack on the lab, but the rest of the time, the lab and the chow get along fine.  I talked to the vet and he thinks it is the shepard wanted to be top dog since she has matured, but I don't want her hurting my lab, she is such a sweet  dog, and whenever the shepard attacks her, later she will start licking the shepard's fur.  These two dogs will lick each other in the mouth and be friendly, then all of a  sudden the shepard wants to be aggressive.  I try to show all the dogs affection when I show one affection.  I will try to get the lab to walk next door with me and the other dogs, and the shepard will stand and stare at the lab, and the lab will go back home.  Can you give me any ideas as to what is going on, and what I should do.  I do no want to get rid of any of the dogs, but I don't want my lab hurt.

Thanks,
Linda

ANSWER:

The GSD is going through maturity. With that new pack behavior develops. You own a dog pack and don’t seem to understand the ramifications of what’s going on.

You need to get the DVD titled Dealing with the Dominant Dog. I believe you will find the answers you need in that DVD or in the article and Q&A section of my web site. There are simple solutions to these problems. The question is if you are willing to do the work necessary to make the changes that will fix the problems.

You should also read the article I wrote about how to break up a dog fight without getting bit. If you don’t get three dog crates or three dog kennels and keep these dogs separated you are going to need this information.

These dogs are going to kill the lab if you do not make changes. Each fight empowers the other two dogs. They fights will escalate.

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Question:

Hello, I have been browsing your website and am very impressed by it. I was not able to find the answer to my question and called your establishment. I was directed back to your website and if need be email you. My 10 year black lab is a very protective, loving and friendly dog. She has killed her share of skunks and chased many cats but has never had a dog fight. She has growled and let it be known she does not like female dogs. Today on a walk down our country road a neighbor’s dog came out and the two sniffed each other. The dog then pounced and attacked my dog. My dog’s instinct kicked in and we had a full blown dog fight on our hands. My screams brought our neighbor running and he was able to separate the dogs. His dog jumped from his grasp and attacked again. Finally the two were separated and he dragged his into the house as I hugged and held mine until each of us were calm. Each has minimal punctures and cuts. I know my dog is a protector and have always felt she would do anything to keep us safe. I am now worried that she may be traumatized by this event and may be the first to attack now. I feel a little unsure of her actions after witnessing such an ordeal; it scared me. Can you help me in what she is feeling, how she is going to be from now on and how will she be around other dogs? She has always been one to keep unwanted small animals off our property such as squirrels, cats and skunks. She has killed skunks at our cottage during a campfire and has chased away other small animals that come near us. She does not like other dogs near her food or water dish. We have a cat and the two of them live quite nicely together, as he is an indoor cat. I hope I have given you enough information and that you can be of some assistance to me. Thank you in advance and I hope to hear from you soon.

Alicia

Answer:

In the future your dog will probably be aggressive when it sees other dogs because YOU failed her.  You are supposed to be a pack leader and as such your dog expects you to protect her. You did not do that.

Your email tells me that you know nothing about pack structure and canine leadership. The message you sent your dog was that she is on her own and her pack leader is not going to be there to help protect her when attacked.

I could write a chapter in a book on this but don’t have time. If you care to learn you can read what I have written on my web site.

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Question:

Hello Mr. Frawley:

I've spent most of this morning reading your site (which has been BY FAR more helpful than anything else I've found, Thank you) regarding why my 2 dogs:  Pit bulls, a male (10-11 yrs old) and female (7-8 yrs old), neutered and spayed respectively, had a drag-out brawl this past weekend in the backyard, where they have coexisted peacefully for 7 years whenever my husband and I go out of town. Otherwise they are house dogs, the younger female is crated durning the day while we're at work and the older male has had the run of the house for 7-8 years now. The older male (a very calm, gentlemanly soul) is at the vet as I write this and the female seems very withdrawn, sore, and quiet so while he may be the one at the vet, but I'm not sure he lost the fight, since she's normally very energetic and lively. The problem is that I need to know what to do now.

Note: when we returned home late last evening, the dogs were in their respective holes (they have each dug a considerable hole in the yard over the years where they like to sleep when they're outside), but last night they would not come when called, we had to go get them, and the wounds were at least a 1/2 day old (a friend had just checked in on them the night before, as usual) -- so we figure the brawl happened early and they settled whatever it was between them.

The stories and advice I've found so far all concern recent additions, changes in environment, and /or dogs that haven't been around each other for more than a year or 2 at best, or aren't more than a year old, puppies, etc. These 2 have been house/yard/car/ sleeping buddies for 7-8 years. What do I do now?

The only change is that the older male had a torn tendon in his knee 3 months ago which has required him to be in a splint/harness (we opted against major surgery on such an old dog). But she's gotten extra attention since then because she tore a dew claw off when we went hiking a few weeks ago -- so I think I can rule out attention jealousy, but I just don't know.

Please help.

Shelly Z.

Answer:

Since you weren’t present for the fight, it’s hard to say what happened but my guess would be that the younger dog may have caused the older dog some pain or vice versa.  If they both have injuries (the knee and the torn dewclaw).  I know I am pretty quick to snap when I am not feeling well and someone bugs me or bumps an area I have injured.

The other possibility is that the pack order is shifting now as the dogs age and they are fighting to re-establish rank.

Dogs have a very developed set of social rules and they are constantly changing.

If these were my dogs they would not be left alone together unattended anymore no matter how well they got along in the past.  In a pack situation when one dog senses weakness in another pack member this can cause aggression where there would normally not be problems.  

I hope this helps.

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Question:

Hello my name is Alicia and I raise boxers, And I have a question for you. I have a female boxer that is aggressive towards my other boxers and does not want to go anywhere near them and if they come toward her she will fight them. What can I do to help her? or to help her join the pack.

Thanks,
Alicia

Answer:

Pack structure and how to live with a dog in your home are the first issues to deal with whenever you add a new dog to your family or have problems with an existing dog.  We are taking orders for a new DVD that extensively covers the way Ed and I live with dogs in our home. It is called Establishing Pack Structure with the Family Pet.

We also have a directory of information specifically for people with multiple dogs. http://www.leerburg.com/multidogdirectory.htm  this directory will guide you to articles and videos that can help you. 

In the meantime, keep the female separate from your other dogs.  Until you have control of every member of your pack, you should not be allowing them any contact with each other. Realize that while working with all your dogs may help, some dogs are never comfortable around other dogs or specific dogs.   Only with time and pack structure training with ALL of them will you know how well she will be incorporated into the pack.

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Question:

I'm about to delve into some problem solving with a client's S&R dog.  This particular dog has a great deal of talent and truly excels at his work.  One problem though.  He is aggressive to other dogs on the search.  Do any of your materials address this issue?  He is 3 yrs old and intact.

Susan

Answer:

I see that you have both the Dominant Dog and Ecollar DVD.  I would think the ecollar would be the best and clearest way to deal with this.  It’s also possible that this dog may never be trustworthy around other dogs. 

The dog can be great at his job, but if he isn’t controllable around other search dogs and is already 3 years old he has probably had plenty of reinforcement for his aggression. It may be that he just isn’t the best candidate for the job, no matter what his skill level is in the work.  The social aspect of SAR is just as important as the talent the dog has.

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Question:

Hello,

I need your expert advice in regard to one of my dogs (who is a 4 yr old male rottweiler) a few months ago  my mother was walking him in an open area in the north of England, He left her side to investigate a german shepard who was been walked by some guy, the investigation became a little hostile and soon turned into a fight. The owner of the German Shepard kicked out at my rottweiler in response my dog bit his leg.

Later we found out that the dog walker was an off duty police officer walking his police dog. Now there is a large chance that the courts will place a destruction order on my dog. They claim the officer says my dog is vicious and out of control and his word is final as he is a proffessional dog handler. After reading your articles I discovered that he must be poorley trained as a dog handler as you state one should never grab or kick a fighting dog. And if you do so you could be (unknowingly to the dog) attacked by the dog as he is in fight mode.

At the moment in England, there is a classical witch hunt going on towards rotties. I am therefore wondering if the officers actions were indeed unproffesional, and the fact my dog bit his leg was the officers fault, as the dog was unaware of what he was doing. your expert opinion could help me greatly.

Kindest regards,
Simon

Answer:

You either miss-read or miss-understood what I wrote.

If your dog attacked my dog I would kick the living shit out of your dog. I would want my dog to see that I was in the fight with him – as a pack leader. My dog would expect nothing less.

Bottom line is you screwed up. You did not train your mother to walk you dog. It is not trained to mind her so it should not be off leash.  Sorry to say it but this never should have happened and the blame sits on your shoulders – definitely not the K9 handler. Maybe next time you will do better.

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Question:

I write you because my dog attacks other dogs without warning. I've had 2 different trainers revue her and find nothing wrong with her, one trainer specialized in aggressive dogs. My dog doesn't attack all the time, it's extremely random. She gives no warning signs except for some posturing, there is no growling or anything. In fact she is quite silent. Never barks. A huge problem is I'm not strong enough to really pull on the pinch collar enough to do anything useful when she gets into fight mode. Now recently, we had a new play date at my apartment and she attacked the dog (14mo. puppy) before they even entered the threshold. I ended up at the ER with a bite from the other dog. There was no room to break them up properly.

I can't live with a dog that is unpredictable, yet I don't want to get rid of her. I've spent hours training her and she is responsive with commands (except when attacking-of course) and I keep an alpha household. Heck, she even models for magazines and has an agent. I originally wanted her for therapy work, but have since changed that thought since she has problems with other dogs. There are three cats in this household one who attacks her and she doesn't attack back. I know it's got to be something I'm doing wrong around other dogs, but at this time I can't pinpoint it. She is friendly with people of all ages and even plays with 2 year olds, supervised of course!

What is it with certain random dogs?

She is a purebred rescue puppy, I got her at 12 weeks. She is a sight hound.

Help? Any ideas?

C.

Answer:

There is no such thing as a dog that attacks without warning.  It’s typical that the humans don’t understand or recognize the signals the dog is sending, but your dog is sending warnings.  These signals can be very subtle and are often silent. Barking and growling are easy to recognize, but once you understand what you are seeing dogs become very easy to read.  You say your dog postures, in the canine world that’s like screaming at another dog.  it’s a VERY serious warning.

I recommend this book about Canine Body Language.

Your dog is telling you and the other dogs that she isn’t interested in playing with other dogs.  Play dates for dogs are a human idea of fun, and unless the dogs already know and like each other is a horrible idea.   We feel the same way about dog parks. Our dogs are friendly to dogs in our family pack but we don’t expect them to play with strange dogs.  It really goes against the nature of many dogs.  Our dogs expect us to protect them from strange dogs, not put them in a position where they feel so worried they need to behave aggressively in order to maintain their personal space.

I suggest these videos  DEALING WITH DOMINANT AND AGGRESSIVE DOGS and was a 5 year project.  This DVD shows you how to safely handle your dog when she is showing aggression. 

You can go to the web page and read the outline of what’s included on the video. My DVD's are not meant to be watched one time. The fact is anyone who needs this information needs to watch it many many times because every time they watch it they will pick up new ideas.

Pack structure and how to live with a dog in your home are the first issues to deal with whenever you add a new dog to your family or have problems with an existing dog.  We are taking orders for a new DVD that extensively covers the way Ed and I live with dogs in our home.

Please click in this link for a description of what is covered in this DVD on Pack Structure.  There is excellent footage in this dvd of dogs showing signals to each other and how they handle rudeness in other dogs.

Here is a link on dog fights problems, with a lot of information for you to read. 

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Question:

Hi Ed,

I found your site online and I wish I found it earlier. After reading some of your site I realize I didn't know the importance about properly training dogs from the start and it clearly wasn't a smart thing to do when I stuck my hand in the middle of my fighting dogs - but it already happened and I want to try and figure out what to do now. 

Basically I tried to break my dogs up during a fight that took place indoors, and I was in the middle of them from the get go so I guess it wasn't 100% my stupidity, maybe just 99%. My submissive dog was on the couch next to me and my dominant dog was on the floor on the other side of me. (I know, bad bad bad....) I ended up losing the top part of my left ring finger, and it was excruciating... There are also bite wounds on my right arm on the inside. I think she realized she was biting me at that point and let go, since she could have easily ripped that part of my arm off.

I have a male and a female. Both are mutts from the pound that I got when they were both puppies, and the female has clearly become dominant. There are things my wife and I do that led to her disposition that I can describe in detail if you need more info but what I want to know is if I should put her down due to this?

I personally don't feel 100% safe with her anymore but I also love her immensely and know she didn't intend on attacking me, she was attacking my other dog who is totally submissive. I just stuck my hand in the way... Her name is Sadie and she is about 75lbs. My male dog is named Bentley and about 70lbs. I plan on having children and there is no way I will feel comfortable with her around any kids or any other dogs at this point. Do I put her down or try to give her to someone that has no kids or other animals or what do I do?

Considering she bit off a large part of my finger I don't see how any shelter will take her and I certainly can't lie to anyone about why I want to give her up...so it just seems like there is no hope for her and I feel horrible for this and totally responsible as well.. She is unbelievably powerful and protective, so maybe someone would want her has a guard dog???

Any advice is greatly appreciated...

Shawn

Answer:

Boy I am sure this was really painful. I have owned tough dangerous dogs for 35 years and never been bit much less had this damage.

Your right – this was 100% your fault. This happened because of the way you chose to live with these dogs. You did not establish pack structure nor did you train this dog.

Its also not a difficult thing to fix if you choose to do so.

The fix starts with getting two dog crates and then educating yourself on pack structure.

Ger the DVD’s I did titled ESTABLISHING PACK STRUCUTRE WITH THE FAMILY PET.

Basic dog Obedience

Remote Collar training for the Pet Owner

Read the descriptions of these DVD’s. Read the free eBooks on my web site. There is one on how to break up a dog fight without getting hurt.

Bottom line is if you control the environment of these dogs, do a better job of establishing leaderships and then train these dogs there is no reason to find a new home for the dogs. I seriously doubt these are dangerous dogs. I compare it to someone who owns a gun shooting themselves in the hand because they never learned how to use the gun – was it the guns fault? I think not.

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Question:

I've got a 3 yr old female German Shepherd from European bloodlines. I've been reading your website and looking at your articles. I'm trying to find out how to get my dog to release something when it's in her mouth. For example, when we play with her favorite ball she get so excited that the play session turns out to be more like tug or war than fetch. This morning she grabbed a piece of food off the counter (she only does this when my wife is around) and I tried to retrieve it but she wouldn't let go. Can you recommend and article or some information to help me deal with this situation?

Thanks,Frank

Answer:

The easiest thing is to teach your dog to trade for another item, and set it up in training so when this happens at other times you are not getting involved in a battle.  This is the first step. 

With issues like this I always recommend that people train their dog with a remote collar. Of course before I recommend the remote, I suggest your dog have a good foundation in basic obedience commands.  This will accelerate the dog’s learning.

Here is a bit of info on one of the chapters in the Electric collar video

Training the Leave-it or OUT with the electric collar. There are two things that can get dogs into serious trouble. Not coming when called and not leaving something alone when told to. In this section I chose a strong dominant adult male dog that has had been protection trained. This dog could be a dangerous dog if it were not handled properly. He was protective of his toys and prey items. I show how to handle this kind of dog safely and effectively by using a remote collar. By the end of the first training session he was consistently releasing the toys when told to do so and doing it in a manner that did not produce a conflict with the handler.

When people hear ELECTRIC COLLAR they always quiver and shake because there has been such bad publicity on these training collars.

The fact is today’s collars are 1000 times better than those I bought 25 years ago.

We produced a training DVD in the fall of 2005 titled ELECTRIC COLLAR TRAINING FOR THE PET OWNER. In this DVD, Ed teaches people how to handle the foundation training and then how to use the collar.

Many trainers, especially hunting dog trainers and even some professional dog trainers use “escape training” when they train with remote collars. This is where they stimulate the dog, give it a command and then teach the dog how to turn the stimulation OFF by doing what’s told. I don’t agree with “escape training.” I don’t think its fair to the dog. He is being stimulated before he is even asked to do something. In my opinion this is ass end backward.

Rather I believe in using the collar to reinforce a voice correction. In other words, I always tell my dog “NO” before I correct him. I give him the opportunity to change his behavior. My goal is to always teach my dog to follow my voice command. 

If you read the article titled THE THEORY OF CORRECTIONS IN DOG TRAINING, you will understand how to approach corrections. In the article, Ed simply applies that philosophy to remote collar training.

The article explains how to determine the level of correction to use on each dog. This varies according to the temperament and drive of the dog along with the level of distraction it’s currently facing at that moment in time.

This DVD shows how to determine what level of stimulation to use on your dog. That’s important.

In this DVD we never used a level higher than a medium and most of the time it was on the low settings for every dog we trained.

We use a Dogtra 1900 on our personal dogs. This is about a $300.00 (plus shipping collar)

There are other good collars for less money. I recommend staying with DOGTRA  and TRI-TRONICS.  Other companies sell cheaper collars but in the remote collar business you get what you pay for.

I hope this helps.

Another Question:

Cindy,

Hi, I've got one last question if you don't mind. I want to get my Czech GSD a playmate, however, I failed in socializing her to other dogs. What is the best method to socializing her to other dogs? 

Frank 

Answer:

Some dogs never become social with other dogs, no matter what we do.  It’s more of a human idea that dogs need a playmate of their own kind, and while many dogs enjoy having a buddy there are many that could care less about this and others that are downright upset and aggressive about having other dogs in their home.  

First of all I would re-evaluate why you think your dog needs someone besides you to play with.

If you are dead set on getting another dog  I would read this article http://leerburg.com/introducingdogs.htm  Realize that when you are adding another dog to the mix, there is always the chance that the relationship between the 2 dogs may not work out and you may end up keeping them separate for life.

Also, I would recommend a male dog if you do get another one.

It may work out just fine, but I wanted you to be aware that judging by the emails Ed and I get every day (dozens and dozens of them) that many of these multiple dog households have huge problems if they don’t go into this with any knowledge of how dogs think about their territory and family pack.

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Question:

My name is Justin and I've been a longtime customer of Leerburg.com.  I'm hoping that my dedication to the site and your products will tempt you to give me a little personalized assistance with my Rottweiler.

I have a pure breed German 5yr old neutered male Rottweiler with dog aggression issues. I have purchased and studied Basic Dog Obedience, Dealing with Dom/Aggr Dogs and E Collar Training as well as most of the training equipment you recommend and have put them to great use.  I handle him on leash with a prong and Tri Tronics collar at all times.  He has responded very well to obedience training with markers and I'm able to control him in all situations except one.  I have not been able to curb his dog aggression issues.  He has improved immensely but he is still very aggressive to certain dogs in certain situations.  I'm to the point now where I feel that I need to give him hard corrections and/or stimulation if he looks at another dog.  First, let me tell you what I've done and how he's responded:

When I began working with him he was so dog aggressive that even seeing another dog across the street would cause him to growl, bark, lunge, etc.  I used a properly fitted prong collar and followed the methods you recommend in Dealing with Dom/Aggr Dogs DVD and he responded appropriately.  I then began gradually upping the distraction level and eventually took him to a dog park (outside the fence along the perimeter) and started correcting him at the first sign of aggression. I agree with your philosophy on dog parks....I wouldn't bring him into one even if he wasn't Dom/Aggr.  He responded well with the fence separating him and the other dog and he eventually got to the point where he can be nose to nose with another dog through the fence with no signs of aggression.  I did this dog park work over a couple weeks with maybe four visits before he showed zero signs of aggression.  I then started working him near the entrance/exit of the dog park, thinking this would be a good exercise to condition him without the fence divider. He responded well to certain dogs but then he would become very aggressive to others.  All dogs are required to be on leash in the parking lot so I think it's a great place to challenge him.  He has no handler aggression issues and I can restrain him when he gets aggressive so it is relatively safe for me, him and the other dogs and owners. I would allow him to look at another dog as it was walking by and I was never able to correct him or even say no before he began barking/lunging.  He is able to go from calm to extremely aggressive in a split second.  He would seem calm and well mannered to several dogs in a row and then he would get stupid with one or two after that. Part of it is my lack of experience but I do think he is a bit unique in the sense that he appears calm and curious then snaps into aggression without warning.  I've setup scenarios where I can pass by one dog on a sidewalk (the dogs are three feet apart) and he is fine and the same scenario a minute later with a different dog and he goes nuts. 

I exercise him regularly. We walk about a mile or two per day and I take him hiking with me as often as possible and he carries a dog pack with about 15lbs in it.  I've taken him on 5 mile hikes with the pack on and he still manages to work up enough energy to become aggressive to other dogs that we encounter on the trail.

I've just recently began working with the E Collar after the conditioning period and several re-viewings of your DVD on E Collar training.  I've never had to use it once in obedience training so far because he always listens to my commands.  He's great at the recall, down, sit, stay, long stay, etc.  The main purpose of the E Collar and the E Collar DVD purchase was to have a tool to control his dog aggression.  When a situation arises I am always late with my correction.  He's already barking/lunging by the time I stem him.  I've been stemming him on 3 (out of 5) and he immediately stops and turns to me but the "damage" is already done.

I need some pointers and some support from you so I can solve this issue.  Common sense tells me that I should stem him on 5 (the strongest stem level) when he first looks at another dog but I have been hesitant to do this because he is so friendly to most dogs we encounter and because I am concerned that I will somehow damage his good behavior with other dogs.  He is a 130lb Rottweiler and when he gets aggressive it scares the crap out of the other dog owner and I can't allow this to keep happening.  I live in a high rise building in a congested area of Houston and I can't have him barking and being aggressive to ANY other dog because of obvious reasons.  It took major convincing of the Community Board to even allow me to have him live here with me.  This building is full of toy breeds that bark like crazy at him and are totally out of control and I need him to be silent when he encounters this on a daily basis. 

I know what to do to make him go into complete avoidance with all dogs but I just need to know if I should do it.  It just sounds so depressing to me to have to hit him on the highest level when he looks at another dog.  But if that's what I need to do then I'll do it.  Something must be done or it's only a matter of time until someone in this building complains and I won't be able to keep him here.

I can't move because of financial reasons or I would.  It's either make him stop or I have to find another home for him and there is no way I can do that.

Any and all info would be GREATLY APPRECIATED.

If all else fails I guess I can switch to clicker training and a Halti to solve his dog aggression issues...haha   JUST KIDDING

Thanks in advance,
Justin

Answer:

Hi Justin

I admit I chuckled at the halti/clicker comment.

I will tell you what I would do if this were my dog.  Because he is aggressive to some dogs, in my opinion, he has lost the privilege to interact with any dogs.   I don’t think you need to put your dog into avoidance with a high level correction though.  I don’t want ANY of my dogs (none are dog aggressive) to be interacting with other dogs, I want them to be aloof and neutral. If I had a dog aggressive dog, I would still want my dog to be aloof and neutral.  I don’t see any good reasons for my dog to be interacting with dogs from outside my family pack.

As far as using the collar, I’ll use the example of my Malinois who has been taught that our outside cats are a big NO.  I only use the highest level stim I need to use, in order to get the dog to respond.  Sometimes that means NO correction with the collar at all.  My Mal has off the chart prey drive and aggression, and because I am consistent and I give her a verbal before she is even on “alert” many times I do not even need to tap the button.  If she were to continue to look at the cat I would tap the button on a low level and work up if I needed to.  I don’t believe in cranking it up to the highest level right away because I am trying to teach the dog to follow my voice, not teach the dog that he is going to get pain every time she sees a cat.  You can always go up, but once you are at the top then what? Does that make sense?

I would teach a dog like yours a “look at me” type command, to give eye contact to you.  I would use LOOK or WATCH ME and reward.  I would do this at home with no distractions at first and maybe even teach him to catch food you drop from your mouth (small pieces of hot dog work well for this).  Once he understands this, then you have an alternate behavior to do with him when you see a dog coming up.  You see the dog, tell him LOOK and then tell him GOOD.   If he chooses to not comply, he gets a correction for not looking.  This is much different to a dog psychologically than being given a correction for seeing another dog.  If you think about it, getting corrected for seeing other dogs can many times build more tension and aggression towards dogs in general.  Give him something else to do instead and make it worth his while.   It creates a much more balanced and trusting relationship between the 2 of you, and takes a lot of conflict out of the whole situation.  Of course, he may need a high level correction at times but this gives you a way to communicate with him fairly and so that he actually can get a reward out of the situation instead of only corrections.

You need to work on your timing, don’t wait to give him a command.   You see a dog in the distance, get his attention even if he hasn’t noticed it yet.  Don’t let him zero in on another dog. If you can be quicker I think your training will progress much faster.  You need to be hyper aware of your surroundings, and not just looking at your dog.  Anticipate your dog’s actions ahead of time and things will fall into place.

I hope this helps.

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Question:

We have a problem with our 15-week old female GSD - or should I say, she has a problem with our neighbors pit bulls. Our little girl is a solid, stable, dream of a dog. She has displayed very sound temperament and good nerves from day one. However, I worry about negative effects from our neighbors pit bulls. We share our back fence with them, and at any given time, at lease one of their FOUR pit bulls is in the yard. We have never liked these dogs, as we were told horror stories about their escape-and-attack escapades when we moved in; and they are left to bark outside all hours of the day and night. As a dog lover, it breaks my heart to see the conditions they live in, but all our efforts to involve the police and/or animal control have failed. They had one dog removed and destroyed after an attack, but because the remaining four have not bitten anyone (YET), the authorities are unwilling to help.

My concern for my dog is this:

From day one our little female either ignored the pit bulls barking, or simply watched with mild interest. She never approaches the fence, but neither does she display fear. She just looks on, and then continues about her business. A few days ago, however, she had a scare with the pit bulls. One of the pit bulls was barking at her, which caught her attention. Her attention was focused on the barking pit bull, and she didn't see the second pit bull sitting outside her line of sight, until it stood up and began snarling. She turned and took a step backward to look at this second dog, and as she did so, backed up into a bush. The bush startled her, and she tucked tail, yelped once, and ran back towards the porch and my husband, the alpha dog. I charged the fence, yelling, and gave the fence a couple of kicks for good measure. Then I approached my dog, who had laid down next to my husband. She didn't seem particularly fearful or upset at the time- she's a pretty hard little pup- but since then she has been cautious about that area of the yard. I can encourage her into that area, but she'll stay only as long as I make her, and won't do so on her own accord.

I'm not concerned so much about her being traumatized by this one very minor event, but more that these vicious pit bulls (who really need to be destroyed, it'd be doing the dogs a kindness) may eventually create some incident that will screw my dog up. Is there any way to deter these pit bulls from approaching the fence so aggressively, and if not, what measures can I take to protect the dog from any negative effects from these growling, snarling monsters on the other side of the fence.

Your website has been fantastic, by the way. We (my husband and I) were so thrilled to find such a wealth of information that FINALLY confirms our beliefs and approach to dog training.

Thanks,
Tim and Alyssa

Answer:

If this was my yard, I would be video taping and calling the police or animal control until they did something. I would become a real pest.

Since the pit bulls do not belong to you, the only immediate solution I can see is to put up a solid fence between the yards. You can’t control the neighbors or their dogs, so blocking their visual access it probably the best solution.

Cindy

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Question:

I have reviewed your web site and hope you could share your insight and opinion about our ability to positively resolve this situation.

I have a 12 month Brittany who was one of 2 puppies (both male) in a litter I bred. Parents and grandparents had good temperaments. We compete in field trials which require 2 dogs to be turned loose together and search for birds in 30 minutes to 1 hr braces. I have 6 dogs who are all house pets; 1 female (the puppy's mother), a 13 year old neutered male, and 4 intact males ranging from 8 to 3 years. All co-exist without any aggression. My sister's female beagle also often visits without incident.

As a 8-9 week old puppy, when confronted with another small Brittany puppy
(male) about the same age, my puppy's reaction was to growl and exhibit signs of dominance. After a correction, they both played appropriately remaining leashed the entire time. At about 4 months he also growled, hair raised, and lunged at sightly younger female puppy walked close while he was on the end of a stakeout at a field trial. Again, I made a correction, which I now realize was not severe enough apparently.

He competed in about 5 trials last spring, being loose with another strange dog without incident, although at the last trial he exhibited aggressive signs (hair raising) until receiving a verbal correction. He has been trained with his now male sibling (owned by someone else) and other strange older dogs occasionally and has clearly been the dominate dog with his sibling. He approaches the dog who rolls on his back and will stand over him. Again he has received a verbal correction which ended the behavior.
He does not exhibit any dominance signs with his family dogs. He always gets his treats last in the group and is fed in a crate. He has been shown in conformation ring with incident.

Last weekend a simulated trial session, he was braced with his sibling. Upon release, he immediately attacked the other dog who was submissive to his attack. The incident was broken up when I ran towards him saying no. (Yes, I have read your article about saying no, no, no but I was not expecting such behavior and was totally surprised.) Believing that the situation was resolved, the dogs were released again and again, my dog attacked the other dog. At this point my husband had to physically grab him to resolve the situation. He was very loudly corrected and shaken (apparently not severe enough). In what now was obviously a incredibly stupid decision, we released the other dog and let him get out into the next field before letting ours go. He had on an electric collar for other training purposes. Once he could see the other dog again, even though he was not very close he immediate sought out the dog. My husband used the shock collar while yelling no but it did not prevent yet another attack.

None of the attacks drew blood but clearly, there is a problem. There is no way we can risk this happening again for all involved and unless we feel this can be successfully corrected, we will need to place the dog in a situation where he will not encounter strange dogs in a uncontrolled manner.
In order to compete he must accept being loose with strange dogs who may even bump into him. Your "leave it" command ultimately will also not always be in option since he may encounter the other dog out of the handler's presence.

My question is twofold; does your experience tell you this can be corrected for a trial situation and, secondly, would you recommend a muzzle, leashed, leave it training as the first step given where we are at now?

Any insights you could provide would be greatly appreciated.
Kathy

Answer:

This may be a tough one to solve. If it were a matter of teaching him to avoid all other dogs, this could be done but if you want to compete in trials where he's ranging loose with other dogs that may incur the aggression I have to say it's a dangerous thing to try. As a person that has years of experience with aggressive dogs, I have to say it's a challenge I would hesitate to take on.

I think the only way to deal with it is to make sure he understands 100% that his world is going to become very uncomfortable if he even looks at another dog. Since I am not familiar with how a field trial works, I don't even know if this is realistic of feasible.

I would suggest restructuring this dog's life regardless of which way your training takes you. He needs strict rules and boundaries. I have included our groundwork article, I would start this with him right away.

I would retrain this dog using our dominant dog dvd and I would double check the ecollar you are using and make sure it's operating properly and making contact. We recommend Dogtra or Tr Tronics collars, the cheaper brands just aren't reliable enough in our experience. I would also use a muzzle.

My feeling is that a field trial career may not be in the cards for this dog, because whenever you are handling a dominant and aggressive dog it's a balancing act and staying one step ahead of the situation. Prevention and management are the key, and I am afraid that neither prevention or management can take place when the dog is a distance away, off leash.

No matter what direction your training takes the dog aggression must be extinguished. At only a year old, he's not even a fully mature dog and it will only get worse if it's not dealt with properly.

Cindy

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Question:

Dear Ed,

I am going to pray you read this and answer me. I have 2 dogs that have begun fighting and we are at the end of our rope. We know we need professional help, we know that we have made the mistakes that have lead up to this. I have 4 children ages 2, 5, 9, and 12 they all love our dogs, as my husband and I do as well. We have a 4 and ½ year old terrier chow mix and a 3 and1/2 year old pit boxer mix. They lived peacefully together until Jan 16, 07. That was their first fight. They were both down stairs eating, as they had done 100’s of times, and for some reason the fight began. It lasted what seems like a lifetime, fur and teeth and growling, and blood everywhere. I tried desperately to break them up, I was home alone with them and my 18 mth old and 3 year old. I screamed, I hit, I dumped water then stupidly, I bear hugged my bull and pulled her off. I KNOW HUGE, HUGE, HUGE MISTAKE. Thank god I wasn’t bitten. I will be honest that after that I became terrified, not of the dogs, but of the “FIGHT.” The noise, the ferocity terrifies me. All was then quiet until literally 1 year to the date, Jan 16th, 08 they fought again over the attention of a child friend (he is 15) that I was babysitting. Two weeks later another fight erupted over a bowl of mac n cheese on the table. That leads us to this past Monday night. My 12 yr old daughter and I gave the dogs a bath, separately, first was the bull. We put her inside then tended to our terrier mix, we clipped her and then bathed her and brushed her. We then let them both down into the back yard as usual. We have an electric invisible fence which both dogs mind Very well.  Right away I sensed something amiss. My terrier was walking around and my bull was acting strange. Head down, tail down kind of slinking. They both did the smell thing, head perky kinda jumpy. I didn’t like what I saw so I called my bull to me, she did come right up to me. My daughter seemed to think all was good. I then went into the yard with the animals and daughter. The black dog was on the other side of the yard poopin, my bull was sitting in front of my daughter, my black terrier walked over to them they touched noses and as my terrier went to turn my bull attacked, it was horrific. She was relentless. I screamed, I panicked, my husband came running and the only thing we had was the hose so my husband aimed and squirted. It stopped my bull long enough for my terrier to escape to the deck. The very odd thing about this is that FOR THE OTHER FIGHTS MY TERRIER WAS THE STARTER OF THE FIGHT, THIS TIME IT WAS THE BULL AND I CAN NOT FIGURE OUT WHY? They both ended up in the hospital, both needed stitches and we are left confused, frustrated, scared, annoyed and heartbroken. We believe that to take on the responsibility of owning animals you see all of it through. We know we need help, this is out of our range as to what to do. We own a camper and take our dogs camping all over the country with us, after Mon I’m terrified. If that broke out in our camper the result would be devastating. We want to keep both dogs, but realize we need to fix this pronto, start from the beginning. BUT HOW, Where?. Is this fixable? I have been reaching out for help to no avail. CAN YOU PLEASE HELP US. TELL ME WHAT WE NEED TO DO. PLEASE.

I pray you read this and can guide us, we love them both and want to do right by them and by the family.

Thank-you,
Jennifer

Answer:

I can tell you that this problem is an owner problem not a dog problem. All these things happen because you allow it to happen. Your have missed every single signal these dogs have sent – FOR YEARS !!!! These things didn’t just happen now or on June 6th 2007. These dogs have been sending warning signals forever and you have not educated yourself in pack structure to see or read what was going on.

There is NO EASY FIX To this solution. It involved handler education and changing the way you live with these dogs. Unless your prepared to do this you may as well wait for one of these dogs to kill the other or re-home one dog.

I don’t have time to go through every one of your mistakes. It would take hours.

Here are the DVD's that will fix this – in this order.:

Dealing with Dominant and Aggressive Dogs
Establishing Pack Structure with the Family Dog
Remote Collar Training for the Pet Owner
Basic Dog Obedience

Ed

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Question:

Hello Mr. Frawley:

I appreciate the time and effort you put into helping dog owners.  You and your website are the first resource I go to when I have a dog question.  Now that I have "buttered you up" I'll ask my question.

Background: I own two dogs (5 year old male GSD, 6 year old male black lab).  Neither dog is neutered.  They have lived together peacefully in the same 10'x20' kennel for the last 4 years with daily exercise (approx. 30 minutes) in our yard.

Problem: In the past two months the more dominant GSD has been barking at and most recently attacking the lab at feed time. 

Further information: It is always the GSD attacking the lab and it only occurs at feed time.  The feed time routine begins by having the GSD sit, I set the food before him while he remains sitting and then I give him the command to begin eating.  Then I repeat the same routine with the lab.  The dog dishes are located 8 feet apart with doghouses between them.  By the time I exit the kennel the GSD will begin showing aggression towards the lab while the lab remains at his food dish.  I have successfully (and safely) broken up two fights using the techniques discussed on your website.  We feed the dogs once a day and do not remove their dishes.  As I have learned from your site this "free feeding" is not a good practice.

What can I do to differently to correct this issue? I greatly appreciate your insight on the matter.

Thanks a bunch,
Ben

Answer:

Your dog is doing this because it lacks pack structure and I am sorry to say it doesn’t completely respect your leadership and rules. If it did it would not do this.

Run this dog through my pack structure program - Establishing Pack Structure with the Family Dog.

Then part way through the program add marker training - and remote collar training Remote Collar Training for the Pet Owner.

In the short term you need two dog crates and you need to feed in the crates. It’s time to micro-control this dogs environment. Life as he knows it needs to change.

Kind Regards,
Ed Frawley

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Question:

Thank you so much for all the time you have put into getting this information together! It has been a relief for me to read it and know that there are many other dogs & owners out there dealing with this issue.

Here's my story and question.
I have a 2 year old American Staffordshire, Gus.
Gus grew up in a house with 2 other dogs and 3 cats until he was six months old. Then I got married and moved out of that house into the mountains which is very secluded. There was no animals for Gus to be around just lots of land for him to roam on. One day we ventured down the road to my aunts property where she has a barn full of horses and some barn cats. Gus never had a problem with any animals before this time. He was sitting there minding his own business when the cat came up to him (and two from behind) and all at once attacked him. Gus didn't know what to do as this was a huge shock to him. I chased the cats away immediately and Gus wasn't really hurt, just shook up. About a month later he was sitting by the fence where we keep the horses and a new horse we had just put on the property wasn't dog savvy and came up to the fence and kicked Gus in the head. Again Gus was fine (those dogs are rocks) but shook up.

A few months later one of the horses broke out of her fence and came all the way down to our yard where I was out pulling weeds and Gus was lying beside me. She came right up to us and I was petting her and out of nowhere Gus lunged at her and bite her....she took off running and he was right on her heels. By the time I caught up and was able to tackle him he had torn her up pretty good. A month later we went to our family's house and he attacked their puppy and killed her. A few weeks later he got a second small dog... mangled it pretty good but didn't kill it.

My husband and I were devastated, we didn't know what was happening and we started panicking thinking we had to put our dog down. My aunt (who owned both of the attacked dogs) is a dog lover and encouraged us to seek help from a behaviorist before going to that extreme.

So we did and this expensive behaviorist told me all the stuff that I just read on your page about, dog rankings, how he saw us as his protectors and we had let him down in that department. I understood now where my dog came from and how it was all my fault for his behavior now. We went through the domination exercise and saw a huge chang in our dogs behavior. We had scheduled for a second session with this lady to come out and work with us on the horse problem now that we had the rankings established. Unfortunately the day before she came out through complete stupidity on my part, our dog was let out and another horse had broken out of the fence and was in our yard. Gus attacked that horse too.

Our landlord said no more (which I totally understand) either we have to move or find the dog a new home. I'm not willing to give my dog to another person because I believe someone else should not have to deal with the problem that I created. So we're moving and now I'm scared that being in town around so many other animals... (cats and dogs) that there will be another attack. He is only aggressive to cats and toy size dogs. He has never in any way shown aggressionto a person or child. In fact he lets my 2yr old nephew ride on his back. Except for this one problem he is a trophy dog, perfect obedience, perfect manners, perfect temperament.... By far the smartest and most magnificent animal I have ever met.

I'm just so scared if he gets out of his yard one day and attacks some cats or another dog... I really can't deal with that fear anymore. Up to this point I have been lucky and all the attacks were on families pets who were not wanting to press charges or do anything drastic. I may not be so lucky next time & quite frankly I don't want there to be a next time. What can I do?!? Would a socialization class help? Can anything be done about this problem?

I'm tired of worrying, and tired of stressing. I admit that this problem is all my fault and I'm willing to do whatever is in my power to fix it.
I just don't know what to do...Please help me!

~Corrie

Answer:

You have taken the biggest step by realizing that our dogs need us for leadership.

I would recommend our groundwork program.

I don’t know what a socialization class entails, but if I had a dog that had killed or attacked another dog I would be training him to ignore all living things. For many people socialization means letting dogs and animals interact, and I would not do that with your dog. I would teach him to ignore other dogs.

Here are the DVDs I would suggest.

Basic Dog Obedience
Pack Structure for the Family Pet
Dominant and Aggressive Dogs
Electric Collar Training for the Pet Owner

We also have a DVD on how to train dogs to get along with horses, but if you are moving to an area with no horses and you don’t have any plans to have Gus around them you would not need that one.

I hope this helps.

Cindy

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Question:

We have a 10 month old female german shepherd. She has never been allowed to meet or socialize with other dogs, but that seems to have been a mistake. Any time another dog walks by or is within site, she barks and tries to bolt toward the other dog. She continually pulls at the leash or collar until the other dog is well away from her. Even when she was on a prong collar, she would pull at other dogs (although not quite as hard.)

Is there a safe way, other than having the direct supervision of a trainer, to introduce her to other dogs? If she DID get the opportunity to meet other dogs, would it calm her down?

(We do have several of your videos, and we're going back through them again looking for answers as well.)

Thank you for your assistance.

Teresa

Answer:

Why do you feel she needs to meet other dogs? I think many people mistakenly think their dog ‘needs’ to meet and interact with strange dogs.

We want our dogs to be neutral to strange dogs and people, neither aggressive nor overly interested in them. We do this by being a firm pack leader, and protecting our dogs from outsiders from our family pack. Once they realize they are not going to be put in a position that makes them uncomfortable they tend to relax around new situations.

You may want to consider going to a remote collar in the near future.
When dogs pull into a collar, they have an opposition reflex which makes them pull even harder. By using the electric collar we can interrupt this pattern by using low level stimulation with a slack leash. It works very well. Here’s the link to the video we released a short time ago. http://leerburg.com/318.htm

You can also use the SEARCH function in the upper left corner of our website, type in ‘socialization’ and you will get some additional info.

I hope this helps!

Cindy

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Question:

I have been reading the question and answer section as long as I can tolerate sitting here. I am sorry to bother you, I recently had back surgery and cant sit here any longer.

I have 2 dogs, 5 year old mushball of a Boxer and a young 1 year old American Bulldogg. I keep my dogs sleeping in a crate at night. During the day they are out on our 2 acres to run freely. They are contained with the Invisible Fence system. They are very people friendly. Problem is keeping a neighbor dog out of our yard....and the attacks are getting worse and more severe....so far there have been 3 instances. I am afraid that my American Bulldogg could kill this dog if it keeps coming around. The visiting dog is a Pit /Shar Pei cross, I have witnessed her enter the yard, tail up high over her back head help very high, she approaches very abruptly, within seconds.... FIGHT. Very scary my children have been within feet of these dog fights and they do not understand to get the heck away. I am at a loss as to who is responsible here? I am also very saddened
by the fact that my AB has now drawn blood.

Thank you,
Dawn
Wisconsin

Answer:

The bottom line here is that while your neighbors should keep their dog in their own yard, you are responsible for keeping your dogs and kids safe. I would have a secure fenced in kennel or bring my dogs inside when I couldn't be outside supervising.

I would be talking to the neighbors as well, and would call the police or animal control to report them if they don't do anything about this.

Neighbor problems are tough, but I wouldn't leave my dogs out unattended until this problem is resolved.

Cindy

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Question:

1) I have an Australian Shepherd – rescue dog – really was abused.  Previous owner’s’ grandparents took the dog when he was not home and took it to a shelter because of how poorly he was treated.  When I got him, he was 1 year old.  10lbs under-weight, worms, matted and had been tied to a tree by himself in a yard … took a good six months before we could have him around any men with facial hair at all (previous owner was a large man with a beard).

He is also an in-bred blue merle.  Fortunately, his only medical side-effect is that he is 95% blind.  It used to only be about 50%, but over the years (he is 8 ½ now) he has gotten progressively worse – not that you can tell by watching him.

The issue with him is separation anxiety. 

And that he is brilliant.  Plastic kennels – a no go he eats them.  Wire, he disassembles or breaks (all of his canine teeth are broken off).  Loose in the house, he is destructive … not furniture or the such, but any food type thing he can get his mouth on, including fish food and guinea pig food, candles that smell good (garbage can – he can open the pantry door to get to it).  Laundry room, a no-go – he has figured out how to turn the door knob.  Garage – same thing … if we lock the door (that he now knows how to open) he will tear the moldings off the door.

The yard – he opens the gate – have to put special lock on the gate and then he cuts his nose trying – and he knows how to open the slider to get in the house. 

The bark collar was a nightmare that resulted in a large vet bill.  He tried to take it off … best guess by the vet, he got his foot in the collar and embedded the prongs in his neck and then yelped all day.  It had to be removed from his neck in a very painful process.

As his eyes have gotten worse, his behavior has gotten worse. 

I don’t know what to do with him next.  He really is too smart for everyone’s good.  He sees each new attempt on my part (in my over-dramatic mind!) as a new challenge to his brain. 

He gets a LOT of exercise, to the point of exhaustion and still this behavior ensues…

I have read through the boards and did not see much of anything other than the option of leaving him in the kennel 24/7 & I am worried he will seriously hurt himself.  Have you have any experiences with instances such as above where this has worked?

2) 1 ½ year old Rottie – dog aggression.  He was fine with other dogs (we have 4) until our neighbors dog un-altered GS attacked him about 6 months ago.  WE were walking down the street … dog came running up the black and jumped on him.  Life has not been pretty since

Pinch Collar does not work.  Even took him to a clinic to make sure we had it fitted properly.  Dominance collar … again, he will get himself to the point of passing out and will not stop. 

I have recently purchased a halti (much like a be-nice halter I once used on a rescue horse I had to work on) and it stops the outbursts once they start, but does not stop the outburst.

He is still a puppy – and he is a large dog +/- 130lbs – all muscle and quite scary looking to anyone who might pass (except he LOVES people … I don’t want him to have to live with his stigma of being  dog aggressive and would love to break it.  (note, he is fine if dogs come over and are in his yard and introduced properly)

Will enough of his hurting himself with the halti break him of his reaction?  How do I get him back to ignoring other dogs?

Thank you in advance for your time & I hope to hear from you.

Val

Answer:

Dog 1)

Like many dog owners, you are living in the past with this dog.  The problems he had in his previous life was 7 ½ years ago, and in order for him to truly move on you need to quit feeling bad for what happened to him in the past.  Dogs live in the moment, and we need to be aware of the fact that feeling sorry for them transmits weakness and instability to them.  Dogs can’t be emotionally balanced in an environment where the past is still such a big part of the day to day life.  You even say in your email that you have an over dramatic mind.  Dogs mirror us in many ways, so start paying attention to your emotional state and you may see some correlations between you and your dog’s behavior.

What kind of exercise does he get?  How much mental exercise? I always recommend working an anxious dog’s mind as well as his body.  Marker training can be done by any dog, of any age.  Read the article titled Training With Markers.  

I also don’t see any other choice than to kennel him when you are gone, no matter what.  Every time a dog like this gets out of a crate or a room or performs a self rewarding behavior (like getting in the garbage) it becomes more and more difficult to keep them confined.

Here is article Ed wrote on dogs that break out of crates.

You may need to purchase a solid crate that your dog can’t chew out of.

Dog 2)

I would recommend the dvd Dealing with Dominant & Aggressive Dogs  and I would recommend the Electric Collar DVD with the difference being when dealing with aggression you don’t wait until the dog is actively showing aggression. You correct the dog on a very high level for even looking at another dog. I don’t think there is any other way for you to deal with this problem with such a large dog.

I would recommend a muzzle for him also.

There is a large amount of information on the website concerning dog aggression, if you spend some time using the search function (located in the upper left hand corner of the website) you will find many useful articles and posts that address all the problems you are having.

I hope this helps.

Cindy

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Question:

I have searched the web site for specifics regarding our dilema and could not find any similar. Please read and give me direction...

 We have a 3 year old boxer (female, fixed) and a 2 year old bulldog (female, not fixed) both have aggressive personalities and it use to be that everytime the bulldog goes into heat the two fight.  Lately they are out of control and fighting constantly and our bulldog is not going into heat for 3 months, so we can't  blame hormones. Our boxer attacks the bulldog if she even gets to close, and each fight is getting worse, it seems like the boxer is out to kill and does more damage with each attack.  We are going to breed our bulldog, and do not plan to fix for a few years.  

They are fighting so much for dominant roll that when they are outside together, one will urinate and the other will go over and urinate on top and then first one will come over and have bowl movement on top of it.  I am scared to have two together if husband is not home.  When they fight we put them in their kennels for discipline.  We have trained them both in the sit stay command when we get their food out etc.  They are obeidient in may ways, but lack obedience when other people/animals are around.  Both have terrible aggression towards other animals as well. 

Please tell me, do you feel they fight because both are females, and having one fixed and one not fixed casues problems, plus both appear to be aggressive breeds.  Is this a lost cause? Do we need to find a new home for our boxer?  We have them seperated right now, but that seems to make the aggression even worse, each wants to know what the other is getting that they are not.  Should we muzzle both and allow them to be together?  Please give me direction. 

Sincerely,
Teri
Grand Island, NE

Answer:

We have an entire section of the website on dog fights.  I'll warn you that some of the photos are graphic but we want people to realize how dangerous this is.

I don't believe getting one or even both of these dogs will do anything to curb the aggression.  Female fights are the worst.

We have another section with dvd recommendations for training these dogs and giving them the structure and discipline they need.

You may want to use muzzles, but only while you are training them.  Muzzles don't solve the problem; they merely keep you and the other dog from being bitten.  The aggression needs to be addressed or it will continue to escalate.  

You need to have a crate or kennel for both dogs and start our Groundwork program.

I will list the dvds we recommend.  The fact that your dogs only listen when they want to tells me they have very few rules and structure.

Pack Structure for the Family Pet is the dvd that picks up where the article leaves off.

I believe that this DVD could really help you. It's titled DEALING WITH DOMINANT AND AGGRESSIVE DOGS and was a 5 year project.

Basic Obedience

Electric Collar Training for the Pet Owner

I hope this helps.

Cindy

Another Question:

Thank you for emailing back so quickly...  I have read thru dog fights and plan on ordering a couple videos, but what I need advice on is wether a strong willed boxer and bull dog is a bad combination and this is a lost cause... can two strong willed types live in harmony if we are strong leaders?

Thanks again,
Teri 

Another Answer:

It depends on your definition of harmony.  If you think you can spend a few weeks training and then it's done then the answer is no. 

Dogs need structure and management every day, all day, and some dogs are more labor intensive.  You may never be able to have them loose together without supervision.  It will depend on how good you are at training, how well the dogs respond to training and how consistent you are.  Dogs usually take to this idea quite readily, it's usually the people that have a problem changing their routine.  I will say that from your email description of these 2 dogs, no matter how well they do in training if they lived with me I would NEVER let them interact with each other unless I was present AND I could keep my attention on them. I wouldn't want them interacting when I couldn't be there to assert myself and I would not want them doing things I was not aware of.  That really can slow down your training progress.

Think of this as a permanent lifestyle change, for everyone in your household.  The way you have been living with your dogs isn't working so the only way to resolve it is to change it, every day from now on.

You can always rehome one of the dogs, but due to the fact that they both have terrible animal aggression I would recommend the same training even if you only keep one.  Placing an animal aggressive dog in a new home is a huge legal liability.  I have gotten emails from customers who have rehomed their aggressive dog and it's hurt someone or another animal and they have been sued.  Just something to think about.

Cindy

Thanks:

Thank you... You have been very helpful and we really appreciate your honesty. 

Teri

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Question:

Hi Ed and Cindy:

I am writing you for any information and advice you can give me regarding one of our dogs. We have 3 dogs; (Polo), a 6 year old male American white shepherd, (Bella), a 5 month old female lab/shepherd mix, and (Riley), a 4-1/2 year old female australian shepherd/cattledog mix.

We got the puppy at 9 weeks old in June, and previous to that we had a 16 year old female black lab/shepherd mix. They are all spayed/neutered except the puppy which will be spayed on October 31st. Our problem is Riley the aussie/cattledog. She recently attacked our neighbor's black lab, and did some serious damage. Riley was in our yard on a 15 foot cable, when the dog came into the yard. Riley apparently attacked the dog. My husband heard the commotion, came out, and was able to pull Riley off the other dog, who is also a female. The other dog had bite marks on her head, ears, stomach, and at one point Riley had her by the throat. Polo and Bella were also on cables, with only Bella, the puppy, being close to Riley. We got Riley when she was about 1-1/2 years old from my co-workers son. They said they couldn't keep her since they had Riley's brother, and their house and yard was not big enough. She had been trained by an in-home trainer. The only problem we had with her was at first she was aggressive to our cats. She now will just chase the cats, and tries to play with them. She never bothered our older black lab, and gets along and plays with the white shepherd. She has a habit of biting the back of his legs when they play. She plays with the puppy, always under close supervision. She does get pretty rough with the her. The only other incident of biting was when she bit our neighbor's 5 year old daughter in the back of the legs about 1-1/2 years ago. She did break the skin. The girl was running, and we attributed it to her herding instincts. Riley is never allowed to run freely in our yard anymore. She shares a 14' x 4' dog run with Polo. We do have 4+ acres, so my husband used to run the dogs in the marsh, but lately they have not gotten enough exercise. When we first got Riley I used an electronic training collar, and now use a choke and prong collar when taking her on walks. The dogs are crate trained.

Polo and Riley are both dominant personalities while the puppy is submissive. Riley is not aggressive to people. She has excellent behavior at the vet's office and in public. She does bark at other dogs on walks, but never before has attacked. We think she is territorial in our yard. She's intelligent and a wonderful family pet with us. We realize that we have not exercised her enough and obviously made mistakes in her training or the lack of keeping up with it. Comments have been made that we need to "put her down". I made an appointment with an animal behaviorist in Madison this Sunday, November 2nd. I am rethinking taking her to the appointment. The behaviorist does not recommend electronic collars, choke or prong. She also made the comment that going for the stomach is a "kill maneuver." I saw on your website that you do not recommend animal behaviorists. We do not want to kill Riley, unless we have no other options. I plan on purchasing your DVD "Dealing with Dominant and Aggressive Dogs." We think we need professional training help, besides using your DVD's and going back to an electronic collar. Is there any recommendations you can make regarding trainers in our area? Also, do you think Riley can be salvaged without having to end her life? Any advice you can give will be greatly appreciated. I have already gotten much information from your website. We need to make a decision which direction to proceed very soon and are desperate for any help you can give us.

Thanks so much for your help.

Sharon

Answer:

I believe that this DVD could really help you DEALING WITH DOMINANT AND AGGRESSIVE DOGS and was a 5 year project. I would advise thinking about the structure or lack of structure that your dogs live with. This is always the root of all behavioral problems.
People put up with a lot from their dogs, but usually don’t realize that things like chasing, barking and not listening to their owner many times escalate into aggression as the dog is allowed to do as he wishes.

I’d work with ALL your dogs, because in multiple dog households it’s never just one dog that has issues. The other dogs may not be biting but they are part of the whole issue in one way or another.

I’d get crates for all the dogs and start with our Groundwork program.

Pack Structure for the Family Pet is the DVD that picks up where the article leaves off.

Since you have an electric collar, I’m going to also suggest our Electric Collar Training DVD. If you didn’t use our techniques for using it in the past, I think you may benefit from working with your dogs in the manner that we show on the video.

As for behaviorists, I know there are some good ones out there but if the one in Madison that you have an appointment with doesn’t use any training tools like training collars I’d save my time and money and keep looking. I personally would not go to a person who isn’t open minded enough to realize that you can’t use a gentle leader or halti and click & treat a dog through aggression issues. For the record, I train all my dogs with Markers and I think it’s the best (you can read about it on the web site) but if I need to use the other tools I will. Dog training (like so many things in life) is all about balance.

I can’t think of anyone I would recommend around your area to help you, sorry about that.

Cindy

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Question:

Hello,

I am emailing with pics of a bite from my 7 month old GSD female.  She was going after my yorkie and I had her leash thankfully but she turned and bit me instead.  Of course I was glad it was me and not my yorkie.  She has been after them lately, what can I do?  I have been establishing the pack structure.  Its not perfect yet but its a whole lot better than when I first got her.  Only had her a couple of months.  I keep her in her crate when she is not on my leash by my side.  She is fine one minute and it just happens.  Should I muzzle her when she is out?  I dont want to have to get rid of her but me and my yorkies cant be attacked every couple of days.  I love her very much and would do anything to keep her.  Please help.  Thank you.

Answer:

Managing a multi dog household can be much more challenging than a single dog.  I would be following our Groundwork program and the video Pack Structure for the Family Pet.

Owners of dogs like yours underestimate the genetic power of  "PACK DRIVE."  Pack structure is not something new and it is not optional, and if you don’t provide the structure and leadership a dog NEEDS then he or she will behave as canines have for thousands of years and will structure your family and household their own way.  Your dog is not behaving badly out of spite or stubbornness; your dog is simply being a dog, a dog that needs some guidance and rules.

If you want to fix a problem like this you can but it takes some work.  In order to get the most out of the training, it’s important to work with all dogs in the household, not just the individual you think is the problem.  If the Yorkie is not under control, then you are going to have a hard time making any progress.

Here is a DVD that I would recommend titled Dealing with Dominant and Aggressive Dogs.

If you go to the link on this DVD you can read about what it covers. You will also see a detailed outline of what’s in the video.

I would definitely recommend a muzzle while you work through these issues. They can be fixed but it will take a lot of work and making sure if you can’t pay 100% attention to the dogs then they should be crated to prevent any altercations.

I would direct you to the search function in the upper left corner of the website for any additional questions you may have.. If you type in your key words it will guide you to articles, Q & A’s and posts on our forum. 

I hope this helps.

Cindy

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Question:

I came across your website while researching information on dog on dog aggression, and hope you can help me! My husband and I have female two dogs -- a 9-1/2 year old mutt and an almost 5-year old lab mix. The lab mix (Koda) was raised in the house with the older dog (Sadie), and both dogs were spayed as puppies. Sadie has always been very submissive, while we realized very early on that Koda has a very dominant personality. While training Koda as a puppy we've taken steps to ensure that we're the alphas in the pack, including crate training her (she still sleeps in her crate in a room by herself) and making her sit and stay before giving her food. She has never shown any aggression towards us, or any other people, but occassionally when she was younger would attack Sadie over food, toys, etc. To stop this we've tried to ensure that there's never anything they can fight over -- the food is stored in the garage, the dogs are fed separately (using gates to keep them in separate rooms and out of sight of each other), and they have multiples of toys so that each one can have their own. Also, when they are in the house with us and there are toys available, we keep Koda leashed to the furniture as recommended by a previous trainer, so that she cannot try to take the toys away from Sadie or bully Sadie over them. There have been instances where Koda becomes jealous if Sadie gets more attention, so we make sure to show Koda more attention any time they are both together.

Generally the two have gotten along, although there have been occassional fights over the years because of the above mentioned things, they were never bad and it was easy to stop them. However, Koda has become increasingly aggressive towards Sadie over the last several months, and has attacked her for no apparent reason very seriously, although we've so far been fortunate to not have any permanent damage to either dog. She has also become very menacing to Sadie in her body language, to the point where Sadie will sometimes not even be in the same room with Koda and acts afraid to go outside with her at the same time. The most recent fight was particularly bad -- my husband was barely able to pray Koda's jaws apart to get Sadie's throat out of her mouth! (Luckily, she's never attempted to turn on us during a fight, although we usually don't try to pull them apart at the biting ends!)

I am currently 7 months pregnant and worried that her aggressive behavior will continue towards my child, even though she's never shown any aggression towards humans... Also, I cannot help but wonder if the fights are happening over some sense of protection (or jealousy) of me, since they always occur when I'm in the room and Sadie is between me and Koda (even if I'm not actually paying attention to Sadie at the time), and the behavior started this summer around the time I became pregnant.
I've tried researching aggressive dog behavior and pregnant owners, but haven't had any luck so far. My husband and I love both of these dogs dearly and we don't want to have to get rid of Koda because of her aggression, but this behavior just cannot continue once there's a baby added to the mix!

Have you ever dealt with instances of owner's pregnancy causing behavior problems in dogs? And do you have any training suggestions that could help us get Koda's behavior under control before the baby is born? Any help you can give would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks,
Rachael

Answer:

My educated guess is that your dog is reacting to YOUR change in behavior and emotions, not necessarily to your pregnancy. I know first hand that moods, emotional state and behavior changes during pregnancy, whether we (as the pregnant woman) realize it or not. Dogs perceive this as weakness and will act out in various ways, depending on the dog’s core temperament.

Both your dogs need beefed up pack structure. I’d start with our Groundwork program.
Pack Structure for the Family Pet

I would also recommend you spend some time reading about dogs & kids, we have an extensive section on our website about this.

I would direct you to the search function in the upper left corner of the website for any additional questions you may have.. If you type in your key words it will guide you to articles, Q & A’s and posts on our forum.

I hope this helps.

Cindy

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Question:

Ed

How are things in Menomonie?

I’ve got some dog issue questions I need to run by you.

First off, yeah, I’m a dumbass, I should not have 4 dogs together, 2 beagles, lab and a gsd…. But, the damage is done, and I need to figure out how to fix it. We’ve had the gsd for probably 4 yrs, she came from a humane society in Redwing, nice looking dog, healthy, good temperament, never been aggressive except towards cats and a skunk that got in the Kennel (really dumb for the skunk, huge mess…). We’ve managed the prey drive aggression toward the cats by always leashing the dog when she is out of the kennel, never been an issue. Since we got her we have always had 4 dogs, pretty much a complete change of dogs from at due to old age, illness etc but she’s never had issue with other dogs. The lab on the other hand can be a bit aggressive, but seems to
be dominant and it never goes more than a bark or two.


The 2 beagles are basically inside dogs but go out together with the lab and the gsd when needing to go out or when we are gone, we have a heated porch (dogs have the run of it) attached to a big fenced in yard. 3 weeks ago we came home in the evening to find our younger beagle (we’ve had the dog over a year with no issues) beat up with a bite mark on the back, we assumed it was the gsd since by looking at the size of the bite pattern, we got the dog healed up, reintroduced them with supervision, no issues. Last night I got home, the beagle got the shit kicked out of it, bites all over, damned near killed her. The gsd had some slobber on her, other than that not a mark.

So, any hope for these two? Or should I just work on finding homes for the lab and the gsd? I hate to sound like an asshole but I really honestly don’t have the time required to work with them as needed and I’m not sure Yonna is up to it.

Brian

Answer:

Brian,

Nice to hear from you and now that YOU GOT the “dumbass” comment out of the way I will answer your problem. :-)

There is nothing wrong with having 4 dogs. I have 4 house dogs. But you need to do a better job of managing their time together. When this comes down to it this is a common sense problem. People who have this many dogs need to either have a set of dog kennels or inside dog crates (4 of them not 2 or 3) .

Now that these dogs have fought like this they can never be left together unattended again – or you will come home to a dead dog. When people have dog packs (and you have a dog pack) and a fight starts – its not uncommon for all 3 to turn on the weakest one in a fight. When that happens owners come home to a dead dog. Don’t for one minute thing this cannot happen. I have a list of emails from people who had exactly this happen and they were so shocked that their “little babies” turned into cold blooded killer.

I call that the hard way to learn that pack structure is a real thing.

The issue of this GSD and its prey drive is solved with a remote collar.
The goal is to extinguish the behavior. That's accomplished with the dog getting the highest level of stimulation for even looking at the source of aggression. You don’t wait for the dog to light up – you stimulate the dog for LOOKING. When this is done properly and enough times (you can set her up) she will turn her head away when she sees a cat.

As time passes you will be able to lower the level of stimulation to a fraction of what you started with. The dog will always know that there is more power there if they don’t comply.

With that said – a little common sense here – you have a cat killer so you never take the dog outside without the remote collar on. Not ever!
This is the same concept of when I was a K9 handler. I never went on a call without a remote collar on. I very seldom had to use it but it was there in case I needed it. Kind of like why a cop carries a gun. How often does he shoot someone, but it’s there for emergencies.

Kind Regards,
Ed Frawley

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Question:

Dear Cindy,

I have a two year old, intact male Labrador Retriever (Tucker) who is displaying dominant and aggressive behavior toward other male dogs. Not all male dogs but most. This behavior first showed signs with mounting at 10/11months, he finally stopped because of the training/correction or his hormone's leveling-out I am not sure. It then manifested to the current behavior; he becomes hyper vigilante when he sees another dog, if he obeys the "leave it and Look" command and an introduction is welcomed by the other owner, we approach (on leash) slowly to see how both initially receive one another. When Tucker is within 2-3 feet he rushes & assumes a challenging pose (tail and head erect) he usually does not look directly at the dog but will look from the side or at an angle. If it is a female he will wag his tail, I then allow closer interaction, smelling etc. and he becomes playful even if the female is not receptive or even aggressive. If it is a male, it will usually escalate to guttural growls (Tuck does not bear teeth) either by the other dog or Tuck; If it is Tuck growling, I then correct with a tug on the leash, "leave it " , take a step back "right here-sit" command(s) which usually defuses the situation but does not stop the tension he feels. There were three incidents of dog fights over the past year, no broken skin, mostly no contact but aggressive scuffles non the less. We have stopped going to dog parks and hiking in off leash areas because I was unable to control his behavior off leash during these incidents and it is obviously dangerous. He is obedient and friendly with people (children, babies, young, old and strangers-only time he really barks is when there is a knock at the door). He earned his Good Canine Citizenship (13months-just before the aggression arose) and had highest marks in his obedience class graduation test. I would like to continue with training but confused what is appropriate for him at this point.
Unfortunately, I cannot go into another class when he has this problem with other dogs. We are considering neutering him but with all of the medical research and studies I have read there is no guarantee that it will change this behavior (even though I am sure it will help with the way other dogs react to him) and despite what most commercial websites and veterinarians preach, I do not think that altering animals is good for their health in the long run. It has been a very difficult decision for us.

I was interested in the DVD on dominance and aggression, do you think this is a good place to start? I know it is very difficult for you to evaluate just from my email but where does this behavior come from?

Insecurity, time of life & hormones? What did I do wrong? Any insight, advice or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Sorry for the long email!!

Thank you for your time.

Sincerely,
Patricia

FYI Our Schedule:

7:30 - 10 min potty walk
8:00 - Breakfast
8:30 - 1hr walk (45min walk, 15 min puppy play/soccer, 10 min training brush up-long distance comes, healing off leash etc.)
12:00 lunch
12:30 10 min walk
4:00 Dinner
4:30 1 hr walk
9:00 10 min potty walk

eats raw-organic/ bones two xs a week

Answer:

With dogs like this, not allowing them to get to the point where they are actually displaying aggression is the key. (i.e. growling and posturing) Once the dog is showing this, you have already given up your leadership of the situation. You need to take back the control position from Tucker.

I’d start with our Groundwork program and the video that picks up where the article leaves off - Pack Structure for the Family Pet.

After you have started the groundwork and have a good understanding of being a leader to your dog then I would recommend DEALING WITH DOMINANT AND AGGRESSIVE DOGS.

I agree with you on the neutering, unless hormones are causing the aggression it probably won’t make much difference.

Your situation outlines what we have observed over and over again. A lot of dominant and aggressive dogs go through structured obedience training classes and perform well, but remain dominant and aggressive.
Obedience training is only part of the solution to having a dog that looks to you for leadership.

I hope this helps.

Cindy

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Question:

I have an 11months Border Collie and was introduced to your site by my dog's breeder.

I've watched your DVD "Basic Obedience" and found it to be extremely useful and have practised the three phases approach to dog training as you've recommended. Though my dog has been through Obedience classes, but they all lack the "correction phase." Therefore the results have always been inconsistent. With correction built into the training program, I have seen a vast improvement in his consistency to respond to commands.

That said, I still have a couple of problems I can't really solve with him and hope you might be able to help me on them.

1) I've started him on the prong collar about a week ago and begun correction on it. I did a particular hard correction on him once because he was going all jumpy and refusing to listen. After that incident, when I put on the prong collar, he will look as if I've just taken his life away. He totally become unmotivated and shows a stance of fear. He would do the commands but looked very fearful. Have I over-corrected him with the collar? He is definitely a weak nerved dog. If I have over corrected, how do I solve the problem now to make him mind me and not just the collar?

2) He goes nuts over motorcycles. We stay in an urbanized area with lots of motorcycles, and everytime one goes past us during walks, he will lunge for it and bark like crazy. It's dangerous. How is the best way to correct his? I have recently bought a remote trainer from your website, Dogtra1900. Do I need to do an avoidance correction on this? ie. set to the highest level?

3) He has started to display signs of dog aggression and has been picking fights at the local agility club randomly. He doesn't growl or do anything. Just stare and run off fighting. He is totally unrecall-able when in drive. That was when I decided enough is enough and started him on the prong collar because I wanted a 100% recallable dog under ANY circumstance. However, I'm facing problem 1) listed above. Do I still carry on with doing the automatic corrections now that he is so afraid of the collar?

Please advise. Hoping you can shed some insight into the above problems.

Thanks so much for your time.

Best regards,
Claudia

Answer:

Border Collies tend to be dogs that have a LOT of drive but are very sensitive. This can be a bit of an issue when trying to correct problems like you are having.

I have a couple of suggestions. First off, if you haven't used marker training with him in the past I would recommend it highly.

The Power of Training Dogs with Markers DVD

Once he understands the marker, I would use that to make getting the prong on a pleasant thing. You won't actually be using the prong for anything during these sessions, merely making a pleasant association.

I would use the electric collar for all the problems you have been having, not just he motorcycles. Instead of using it to create total avoidance (you have a sensitive dog) I would use it to reinforce a voice command like DOWN or LOOK or whatever you choose. Do you have our video, Electric collar Training for the Pet Owner? If not, I recommend it.

I also think you need to back up your training and work on the relationship and obedience you have with the dog AWAY from such high level distractions. Once he's working perfectly for you without a lot of distractions, gradually build up to being near other dogs, then other dogs doing agility. For many dogs, watching other dogs doing agility is almost too much, and if you try to rush through the foundation steps you may never have a reliable off leash relationship.

We have a lot of material to read on the website also, check out our free dog training eBooks.

I hope this helps.

Cindy

Another Question:

Hi Cindy,

Thanks for your email and your advice. It's greatly appreciated. You are right. Tristan is an especially sensitive pup that's why I'm feeling quite at wits end what to do with him.

He has been clicker trained since he was 4months old, but I've just switched to marker training (after watching your basic Obedience DVD). It makes a lot of sense to me to harness the power of my voice than just a clicker. That said, I'm not saying that there is anything is wrong with the clicker. Just a personal choice. :)

The problem with his training before was that there was only the training phase, no correction or distraction phase. That's why the results I got from him was always very inconsistent. He's much better now when the correction phase is incorporated.

As for the marking the use of the prong collar, it is tough because he has already been corrected on it, so he knows the powers of it (so to speak). He knows there is a potential of being corrected when that collar is on vs just a flat collar. I'm now desensitiving him to the remote trainer I bought from your web site. I hope that goes well.

Yesterday I took him to the agility club on leash to just watch the action and hopefully correct him when he see the other dog that he hates a lot. I didn't plan to let him participate but his trainer asked him to do a run. The other dogs were in the crate. True enough, he jumped once and ran off banging on that particular dog in the crate to fight. And when he couldn't, he looked around the field for others to fight.

I have a question if you will indulge me. Do dogs make enemy of a PARTICULAR dog?!?! During our walks or even at a place with lots of dogs - all on leash) he has NEVER showed such aggression to any dog before. It's just this other Border Collie (who has fought him before). When they meet, they look like they are ready to kill..

I want to set up a situation to correct him on this, but the owner is not very cooperative. I really need this problem to be resolved because they participate in the same agility trials. There will be NO WAY to let my dog compete because I'm very sure now that if I ever let him off leash to run the course and if he even catch a glimpse of the other dog, he will leave the course and run off in the middle of the competition to start a fight.

If you have any suggestion to correct this behavior, I will greatly appreciate it.

I know you suggested to bring him to the field only when he is more obedient. He is 90% recallabe and is quite obedient normally. That's why I brought him to the field to just watch. Another point is, once I put the prong on him, He will avoid the other dog totally. It was when he was off the leash to run the course (His trainer does not believe in a long lead) that he went off to fight.

So I'm finding it very hard to correct him to show him that it's unacceptable to fight AT ALL. doesn't matter who.

Really appreciate your insight in this. Thanks!

Warmest regards,
Claudia

Another Answer:

There are dogs that do make enemies of a specific dog. With that said, I don’t allow my dogs to show aggression regardless. It’s a matter of me being in charge and controlling my dog at all times.

I really think that at 11 months old, your dog is not ready to be tested off leash especially since he’s showing aggression to other dogs. I don’t think I’d be in such a big hurry to put him in a position to make mistakes until he’s been working for you close to 100% with no incidence of aggression or disobedience.

I would NEVER bring a dog aggressive or easily stimulated dog to a field with other dogs working “just to watch.” When my dogs are with me they are expected to be mentally connected with me, not looking at other dogs and getting excited. I use other dogs working to proof my training, my dogs are not allowed free time to fixate on other dogs doing agility or any other type of activity. I have very high drive Malinois, and I do agility and other sports there are highly stimulating and because of the foundation I have put in place they focus on me even more intently when there are activities going on. They’ve learned that I am the most interesting person or thing around.

Cindy

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Question:

Hi,

I have a 3 ½ year old labradoodle. I only got her at 4 months and I know she wasn't socialized to people or other animals before then. I immediately got her into training and we were working on becoming a therapy dog team. When she was 17 months old she was attacked by a 3 year old Great Dane. It ran up from behind us sunk its teeth into her hind quarter. When I freed her, the dog then grabbed onto her tail and began to pull her away from me. I did get her free but she was bitten very severely to her hind quarter, since then she growls and barks at about 80% of the dogs that come within 6-8 inches of her. The only dogs she seems to do well with is dogs that aren't interested in dogs.

You know they give the cursory sniff and go about their business. Any dog that approaches her too quickly or wants to get too private too fast she growls and barks. She has no tolerance for Great Danes, if she sees one she begins to growl. I have tried desensitizing her but since there are no sacrificial puppies it's not like I can set up situations in which she responds positively to pups and gets rewarded.

What if she lunges and actually bites. I am concerned. Furthermore, I want her to still become a therapy dog but she would need to successfully do a meet and greet with other therapy dogs and at this point she couldn't handle it. Can you offer any insight?

Thanks
DC in Baltimore

Answer:

This is an unfortunate side affect of being attacked by another dog. Many dogs are dog aggressive for life after being attacked. Some dogs are more severely traumatized than others, and never seem to get over it. I own a 10 year old Corgi who was attacked as a pup and she is the only dog we own that really dislikes being in close proximity to any other dog. This is not a dog that would do well playing with a group of dogs or even being sniffed by other dogs. She's afraid and all we can do is protect her and let her know that this will not happen again.

The most important thing you can do is be a good leader and let your dog know that you won't let other dogs get in her space and make her feel worried. She needs to feel protected.

I suppose it's possible that a dog like this can become a therapy dog but I would not be focused on that goal with a dog that behaves like this. It's not really fair to her. I would focus on working with your dog in a way that makes her feel safe and if she then makes progress you can go forward with other goals. When I work with my animals I try to remember this saying "don't put your goals in front of your principles" My principles are to be fair to my dogs & horses and to listen to what they are telling me with their behavior. If at any time I lose sight of that and start to put them out of their comfort zone because of my own goals I give myself a reality check and re-evaluate. Your dog probably has no desire to be a therapy dog, I would imagine that this is your goal, not hers.

If this was my dog I would totally start over with her. I’d start with our Groundwork program and the video that picks up where the article leaves off - Pack Structure for the Family Pet.

Dogs that have had fearful experiences love to have very predictable structure & routine and this is a way to show her that you are in charge of her and the space around her.

You may also want to spend some time searching the website; there is a lot of information about dog aggression after being attacked. Ed compares it to a woman who has been raped, who is then nervous and fearful of being around strangers. It's a completely normal and understandable way to behave when the world as you know if changes so dramatically without reason.

I would direct you to the search function in the upper left corner of the website for any additional questions you may have. If you type in your key words it will guide you to articles, Q & A’s and posts on our forum.

I hope this helps you see things from her point of view.

Cindy

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Question:

I have two Heidleberg Shepherds from Heidleberg farms in Houston Texas, both 3 year old bitches. They have both been through off leash obedience training by trainers in Houston. We recently moved to Montana and the neighbor has goats and sheep (5). The owner came home to see his goat missing an ear and my dogs covered with blood and they had the goat cornered. He called my dogs who responded immediately but then wanted to go back to the goat. As a compromise I paid for the goats vet bill and shipped my dogs back to the trainer for remedial training. The trainer advised that the dogs would not attack his goat as long as someone present, but left alone the goat was lunch.

We have the dogs back and when watched they are great but if they are left alone, they go for the goats.

Do you recommend the wire basket muzzle? If so which size? The dogs measure 4 1/2 and 11 1/2 inch.

If you have any other suggestions on my goat eaters, it would be appreciated.

Leta

Answer:

Your trainer is right; someone should be supervising the dogs in order to safeguard the goats.

A muzzle won't do anything to change your dog's behavior, they can still severely injure a goat with a muzzle on. I've seen a dog actually break a grown man's leg while muzzled, and a goat is much smaller than a man. I'd love to sell you some muzzles, but they won't solve your problems.

I think you need to set up a secure kennel or fence to keep your dogs in, and work with them on learning that goats are a thing to be avoided.

I think you are lucky that your neighbor didn't kill your dogs, it's illegal for dogs to harass livestock in many states and the livestock owners are justified in shooting dogs that do so.

I'd recommend a refresher course in obedience with you (as opposed to sending them off somewhere) Pack Structure for the Family Pet, Basic Dog Obedience & Electric collar Training for the Pet Owner.

We have a section on our website about dogs who are aggressive to animals, you may want to spend some time reading there - http://leerburg.com/qadogfight.htm#killed

If you have any other questions, let me know.

Cindy

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Question:

Hi,

I just spent the last two afternoons watching your videos that arrived on Tuesday:  “Dealing with Dominant & Aggressive Dogs” and “Establishing Pack Structure with the Family Pet.” They are excellent! I have been doing everything wrong. I ordered these videos after my two German Shepherd bitches were in another fight this past Saturday.

To give you some background, I have kept them totally separate for the past six months since their last fight. I was terrified Saturday when my grandson came over and let both of my German Shepherd bitches out into the yard at the same time. Almost immediately they were in a fight. I managed to drag the younger one into the house by pulling up her back legs while my son held on to the other one. He did get bitten, but not too badly.

When I examined both of them later, they both had saliva-soaked- hair all around their necks and throats. I couldn’t find any bites. The way they were fighting, I thought one would get killed. Now today, in your video on Establishing Pack Structure, you showed a male German Shepherd and a female Malinois. If I remember correctly, he was the bi-color and she was three years old. You let them run together and at one point, they were rolling on the ground and grabbing throats. She was establishing her #1 rank position. You made the comment that if she wanted to bite him, she would have. This looked very similar to what my two girls looked like when they were rolling and thrashing each other on the ground. Could it be possible, that this, too, was a “rank” fight and not the killing fight that I thought it was since neither of them had bite marks on their throats and necks although they were soaked with saliva.?

My son and husband think it is too dangerous to keep both of them because accidents like this do happen even though I am so careful to keep them separated. They both are house dogs but I do have runs and crates to juggle them into.

These two females are half sisters. One is nine (spayed after the previous fight);  the other one is three years old.

After spending 7 ½ hours watching these videos, I know I am NOT the pack leader. The younger female knows obedience very well in class but if she is out in the yard and wants to stay out, she grabs her ball and runs away from me. It is impossible to catch her. I have stopped taking her to obedience classes at the club because she has gotten dog aggressive and I’m afraid she will go after another dog during the sits and downs. I’ve also stopped walking them for the same reason.

I also have a champion male stud dog. He usually runs in the yard with the three-year old. She is not spayed as she will be the one I breed next.  Do you think having an intact male is part of the reason for the girls’ behavior?

In your opinion, is there any hope that these two can get along without the constant anxiety and fear I experience every day?

I have been breeding German Shepherds for over 20 years and at one time had six of them in the house and never had any fights.

Thank you in advance for any help and direction you can give me. I have been unsuccessful in finding a good behaviorist to work with me and these dogs.

Patricia

Answer:

If you are willing to do the work to establish leadership things can improve but there are some dogs that can never get along without constant supervision. I would follow the protocol outlined in our groundwork article and DVDs you received.  

Fights typically escalate if you don’t do something to prevent them, and unfortunately bitch fights tend to be the worst.

I’ll also add that if you are feeling anxiety and fear, the dogs will pick up on the energy you have and will be MORE likely to fight.

Cindy

Follow Up:

Hi Cindy,

Thank you for answering my email. Since I wrote last week, I have been seriously working with these dogs every day, every chance I get beginning with taking them out of their crates with a leash and out of their runs with a leash. The 9-year old has always been too excitable when entering the house. I never thought I could correct it. After watching the DVD and listening to Ed say he won’t put up with “stupid behavior,” I no longer allow her to come charging in the house and spin herself in circles like a fool. In just a few days with her being on the leash, she has learned to sit quietly to come out of her run, sit before she enters the doorway and only entering it after me; then, she has to sit in the entry way until she is totally quiet. I can’t believe the difference in her.

As for the 3-year old running away from me in the yard….no more! She has the electric collar on each and every time she goes out.

I know this will take time and consistency but I can see such a change in their behavior already that I am now optimistic. I’m following the instructions one by one and will continue to review and implement them.

Your last line was interesting about the dogs picking up the energy that I display. When my grandson opened the door, I freaked out and started screaming. No wonder they immediately got in a fight. I’m trying very hard to remain calm and assertive without the fear.

I don’t think I’ll ever be able to let them run together, but I hope I get them to the point where they can tolerate each other without creating tension.

Thank you again,
Patricia

Response:

Patricia, it sounds like you are on the right track! Good work. Keep me posted on your progress.

Cindy

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Question:

Hello,

I have been training an adolescent rescued Belgian Malinois, with four other people, to be a service dog. He (Cade) has, however, recently shown extreme dog aggression that has created a road block for Cade and threatened his future as a pet. So, he has sent three large dogs to the vet with punctures or open wounds. He's attacked over toys (twice on-leash and twice off), and once trying to "protect" someone from another dog, a nonthreatening dog. We've consulted a behavorist, he's great when he's working, he just can't play. We have tried to set him up with a mizzle and ecollar, but he checks out when he jumps the other dogs. His eyes dart to the side and he launches, but he gives no warnings (hair up, teeth, growling, etc.). I really would like your input because of how much promise this Cade shows as a working dog, although he will never be what we wanted as a service dog since he's too challenging for that situation. He needs to be broken of this behaivor before we can rehome him, we will do anything. He won't attack a dog once he's been ecollared for bullying so I hope he can get past this. Please let me know if you think of anything we can try.

M M

Answer:

So I'll ask this question--why do you think Cade needs to play with other dogs? Dogs don't need to play with other dogs, especially dogs from outside their family pack. It really isn't a normal behavior for many dogs. For dogs that show me loud and clear that they aren't interested in being friend with other dogs, my goal is for them to be neutral. I don't want them to be friendly with other dogs nor do I want them to be aggressive, merely neutral.

Although you aren't taking him to dog parks, I suggest you read this article on dog parks.

From your description, he sounds worried about the dogs so by putting him repeatedly in situations where he feels he has no choice, he becomes aggressive. Many dogs do the opposite and shut down. This is where the handler needs to be very observant and learn to read their dog. I don't allow ANY dogs from outside my family approach my dogs, ever. Even if it's a dog I know is friendly and even if I know my dog would probably enjoy meeting him, I protect my "pack of two." It's good leadership and goes a long way to making my dog more relaxed and confident, he knows I'm not going to allow any situations that may make him feel the need to be aggressive.

By using the muzzle and ecollar for this, you've actually made the problem worse. He's now dealing with the use his mouth taken away and he's being corrected. For what? For being worried about other dogs. Guess what this does? Makes him MORE worried and now he doesn't give all the warning signals, because he's learned it doesn't matter. It's a learned helplessness of sorts.

You don't mention how old this dog is, but I'd start with our Groundwork program and the video that picks up where the article leaves off - Pack Structure for the Family Pet.

I'd start completely over with him, and teach him that he will be protected. I would not put him in any situations that make him feel the need to show aggression. If you do need to correct him, I would follow the guidelines in this DVD, and not use the ecollar for this right now - Dealing with Dominant & Aggressive Dogs.

I would direct you to the search function in the upper left corner of the website for any additional questions you may have. If you type in your key words it will guide you to articles, Q & A's and posts on our forum.

I hope this helps.

Cindy

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Question:

Dear Cindy,

I am just about at my wits end. I have three German Shepherds, Mom, Dad and son. Dad is 7 years old and my gentle giant. He weight 125 lbs. and is very laid back. However he is alpha. Son is 18 months old, 100 lbs. and thinks he is the new stud on the block. They all got along really well until Max (son) was a year old then he started to test Boaz (dad). I have to keep them separated as there have already been four serious fights. I have tried just about everything I can think of and do not want to have Max neutered and cannot have Boaz neutered, for health reasons.

They are all AKC with good hips and I have raised shepherds for years and this is a first for me.

Any suggestions???

Thank you for listening.

Susan

Answer:

Neutering wouldn’t fix this problem, no matter what a vet tells you. Dominance is not fixed by castration; it’s fixed by offering these dogs the leadership they need. This is completely normal dog pack behavior BUT when dogs act like this they lack leadership from their owners. In other words their owners don’t understand how important pack drive is in how they raise their dogs.

Owners of dogs like yours underestimate the genetic power of  "PACK DRIVE." Pack structure is not something new and it is not optional, and if you don’t provide the structure and leadership a dog NEEDS then they will behave as canines have for thousands of years and will structure your family and household their own way; your dogs simply need guidance and rules.

If you want to fix a problem like this you can but it takes some work.  You will need to work with all the dogs, I’d start with our Groundwork program and the video that picks up where the article leaves off - Pack Structure for the Family Pet DVD.

Here is a DVD that I would recommend titled Dealing with Dominant and Aggressive Dogs.

If you go to the link on this DVD you can read about what it covers. You will also see a detailed outline of what’s in the video.

If you do some reading on our website, you’ll see this same issue discussed hundreds of times. It’s totally predictable when dogs are allowed to work things out for themselves.  The young dog starts maturing and tries to move up in the pack rank.

I think if you read some of the questions and answers here, you’ll recognize your situation in the emails from others.

Cindy

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Question:

Hi,

Our un-neutered 2-year old female GSD is extremely aggressive toward other dogs.  Thankfully she is not aggressive towards humans at all. It has gotten to the point that we can’t allow the kids to walk her for fear of dragging them to attach another neighborhood dog, and yesterday she yanked the leash out of my wife’s hand and attacked a dog.

In my best estimation… the aggression stems from an abortive attempt to do Schutzhund training with her. Our training director… a German with 30 years of Schutzhund training experience…would have the dogs run free on the field together for 20 minutes or so prior to training. Ellie started this training when she was 10 or 11 months old and of course the other dogs would show a lot of dominance toward her (growling, chasing her back to her crate). This was my mistake… I never should have allowed these dogs to do this to her… and the other owners didn’t make many moves to correct their dogs either.

I was unable to keep up with the demands that Schutzhund training put on the family schedule, and no longer train with the group. However…her aggressiveness toward other dogs is now firmly engrained. Of course I never allow her off leash when other dogs are around, but will allow her to run off leash with a Leerburg muzzle when I walk her in the wee small hours of the morning.

Can you please suggest a training regimen that I can get started with? Remember, she has never shown an ounce of aggression toward humans, only other dogs. I don’t need all the answers in one email, just something to get me started on this project. I owe this to the dog and to my family.

Thanks very much.

Answer:

Hi,

I’d start by reading some of the information on the website about dog/animal aggression.  It’s unfortunate that the trainer you used to go to put the dogs in the position he did.  It’s beyond foolish and as you have found out, has lasting repercussions.  I’ve never heard of such a thing in all my years of being involved in dog training.  Being from Germany and having 30 years experience doesn’t mean this guy knows anything about how to bring along a dog which is a shame because it’s already done the damage to your dog.  I’d like to give this guy a piece of my mind, what he does is ridiculous and DANGEROUS.

Anyway, your dog needs to understand that YOU will not tolerate any aggression towards other dogs.  YOU are the boss, and you say if and when she needs to be aggressive. I believe that this DVD could really help you. It’s titled DEALING WITH DOMINANT AND AGGRESSIVE DOGS and was a 5 year project.

Even though she’s not showing aggression to humans, you may want to consider our groundwork program for her at first.  It’s a great way to change a dog’s mindset and get them in a follower frame of mind.  

I’m sure sorry that this had to happen to you and your dog.  I think with work you will be able to manage her as long as you are alert for the signs that she’s becoming tense.  The key to this is interrupting and stopping her when the thought first starts to pop into her head.  If you wait until she’s already lunging, it’s too late to be effective.

I hope this helps.

Cindy

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Question:

I'm a little chagrined asking for free advice but I can't seem to find this situation discussed anywhere.

Is there such a thing as a mid-life testosterone rush in dogs? My dog's behavior has changed in a matter of days.

Johann, my 4-yr-old male neutered German shepherd has always been docile and playful toward all dogs--and philosophical with the ones who lash out at him. But he suddenly became aggressive toward intact males last week--twice at the dog park and once on a walk. It took me a bit to see the pattern. A couple of days later, he lifted his leg and began to mark for the very first time in his life! Then today, unprovoked, he went after a neutered male.

What is going on???

I am using the usual methods of correction, and I am staying away from the dog park for the time being.

This change has been so sudden. I can think of no incident that might have precipitated this. He's the same otherwise, hasn't been attacked by another dog, no health problems, no diet changes, no upset on the home front, still respects me as the alpha, still sweet as can be with people and most dogs.

It HAS to be a case of hormones kicking in, even though he is neutered and definitely an adult. His adrenalin is so high during these incidents that he doesn't even hear me or react to my intervention. If this is biological, I can't imagine a way I can correct this.

Help me find my sweet Johann again!
Thanks so much!
Ellen

Answer:

I believe this is more a matter of dominance than hormones. If your dog is neutered then there is no way it can be a testosterone rush. (unless your dog had a retained testicle that wasn't removed).

I would stay out of dog parks altogether, I don't believe they are a very good idea.
I suggest you read this article on Dog Parks.

How often do you have this dog vaccinated? Showing sudden aggression, changes of personality like this are often linked to the rabies vaccine. You can google this for more information. Most of the dogs in this country are way over vaccinated and many health issues are linked to the vaccines. Whenever there is a sudden change in behavior like this I believe it warrants a check up with a COMPETENT veterinarian who is trained in alternative therapies. A traditional allopathic vet that pumps animals full of vaccines is not going to even acknowledge that this is a possibility. They don't want to endanger their "bread & butter" in many cases.

We have a list of vets that has been compiled by our customers and you can see it here. We are providing this list as a service; please do your own research into any health care provider you choose for your dogs.

I'd also take the time and evaluate how you are living with your dog and the level of leadership you are offering your dog at all times. My dogs would never be allowed to be in a position to fight with another dog because I'm the leader at all times.

You might like to review our Groundwork program.

I would direct you to the search function in the upper left corner of the website for any additional questions you may have. If you type in your key words it will guide you to articles, Q & A's and posts on our forum.

If you are new to our website, you may be interested in taking a look at our weekly newsletter.

Cindy

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Question:

Good Evening,

We are raising two females at my home. One is a pit bull and the other is a mix which we were told had pit in her but we don't see it. We have two small children, 11 and 7 years old. We are currently having a problem with what we think is dominance but we aren't sure. We had our mix pit (named Daisy) first and have had her since she was a pup. She is now 1 1/2 years and we got our 4 yr old pit less than a year ago. They have been in three fights since we got Lexi (the 4 year old pit).  We are a bit lost because we don't know who to turn to that specializes in pit bulls and raising two females at one time. Daisy (the 1/12 yr old) is always trying to play with her (or it looks like it at least) and is grabbing her scruff and trying to wrestle with her. Lexi and her appear to play fine usually. The first two fights were because of toys and we have removed all toys but we aren't sure if that was the right thing to do rather than teach them the right way to have toys together. This last fight was because they were getting riled up from neighborhood kids and they started fighting for a reason that we don't know because we weren't there to see what actually happened. 

What we aren't sure of is because of them both being females, does it make sense to try to fix this problem or should we be thinking of rehoming one of our dogs? We do no know of any professionals other than the SPCA and we have a call into her as well. We feel this is a dominance problem but we can't be sure because we don't know of anyone who can come to the house to observe what is happening. We are afraid for our children's safety and their friends and want to correct the problem if it is fixable.

Can you offer any assistance with this problem?

Best Regards,
Sam

Answer:

If you are willing to separate the dogs and put in the work to train them separately it can work although sometimes dogs can’t ever be trusted together without supervision. If you can’t put it in the one on one time with each dog, and don’t have the ability to separate them then it would be best to rehome one of them.

Fighting between 2 dogs of the same sex, in the same house is a common issue. The problems you are seeing are the result of the way you live with your dogs.  When dogs act like this they lack leadership from their owners. In other words their owners don’t understand how important pack drive is in how they raise their dogs.

Owners of dogs like yours underestimate the genetic power of "PACK DRIVE." Pack structure is not something new and it is not optional, and if you don’t provide the structure and leadership your dogs NEEDS then they will behave as canines have for thousands of years and will structure your family and household their own way. Your dogs are not behaving badly out of spite or stubbornness; your dogs are simply being dogs, and they need  some guidance and rules.

If you want to fix a problem like this you can but it takes some work. I’d start with our Groundwork program and the video that picks up where the article leaves off - Pack Structure for the Family Pet.

Here is a DVD that I would recommend titled Dealing with Dominant and Aggressive Dogs. If you go to the link on this DVD you can read about what it covers. You will also see a detailed outline of what’s in the video.

I’d also recommend that you have muzzles for each dog to wear during the training process.

I would direct you to the search function in the upper left corner of the website for any additional questions you may have. If you type in your key words it will guide you to articles, Q & A’s and posts on our forum. You also may be interested in our free ebooks on training.

I hope this helps.

Cindy

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Question:

Hello,

I've been searching your site on dog dominance, but can't seem to find quite what I'm looking for.

I recently adopted a third standard poodle (male), and after just one month, he and my two females are getting along really well. I  have had no growling, no "arguments," no dominance issues between the new guy, and the other two. My two females have always gotten along so very well, which is why we got a third, and so far, the new boy is fitting in so nicely!  I've been reading your articles on pack structure, and they help!

Here's the weird thing though: My three year old female,has started climbing on my seven year old female (they are both spayed)... she keeps licking her eyes, her ears...and sometimes I catch her her "hovering" ramrod straight around her. The older dog puts up with it, but I'm starting to notice that she's acting alittle skittish around the younger one now. They used to play ALL the time, now the older one's not really interested.  

What on EARTH could change this behavior in my younger girl? I've had to do some pretty tough corrections to make her leave Tasha alone--and yet nothing the new dog does bugs her!! Could Maya be reacting in some strange way to the new dog, through the older one? This makes no sense.

I appreciate any help, I'm a fan,

Thanks,
Cathy

Answer:

This is absolutely because of the third dog. It makes perfect sense if you understand dog psychology. Adding a third dog completely changes the dynamics. What you are seeing are posturing and the warning signs of a fight brewing.

Introducing Dogs is the article I would read and I would tighten up the structure and control on all the dogs now.  Don’t wait until you have a fight.

Think about how 2 kids play nicely until a 3rd kid is added to the mix. It changes how everyone relates to each other. We have horses too, and they are the same. 2 horses do fine, add a 3rd and watch everything change. Your 3 year old dog is claiming the dominant spot over the 7 year old, which she may never have felt compelled to do when it was just the two of them. 

I’d be doing our groundwork with ALL the dogs, not just the new one and not just the 3 year old.

Here’s the Groundwork program and the video that picks up where the article leaves off -  Pack Structure for the Family Pet. 

I would never let these dogs all together unsupervised and I would make sure I had leashes on them so I could control whatever situation may occur.

We have tons of information on pack structure and dominance on the website. I would direct you to the search function in the upper left corner of the website for any additional questions you may have. If you type in your key words it will guide you to articles, Q & A’s and posts on our forum. 

Cindy

6 Hours After Cindy's Initial Advice:

Cindy,

Thanks for your quick response... unfortunately, for me, I waited too long to write to you.  My girls got into a HUGE fight tonight, lots of blood,  someone's ear was cut. I could hardly separate them. My newest dog, the male was in his crate, so wasn't involved.

My girls have NEVER done this, so you can understand how devastated, upset and scared I am. I ordered your DVD, and for tonight, sent my oldest dog to my friends house, because I"m so nervous about what to do next.

Could you help me until your DVD comes? Do I let the girls around each other? I was trying to correct Maya when she was posturing around tasha, I'd give her a good tug on her collar, told her NO firmly---but she'd keep doing it until I forcibly moved her. The fight happened after I put them in my bedroom, which I've done for three years, and it was behind closed doors so I don't know how it started.

My corrections obviously weren't enough. What do I do now? They did see one another before I sent tasha out... and HA! wagged their tails at one another. I thought I understood dogs, but I'm officially clueless now.

I really don't want to have to get rid of our new dog in order to restore peace. He was a rescue, and we are his fifth home, and he's been no trouble at all.  

Do you have a moment to send some advice my way?

Thanks,
Upset beyond belief,
Cathy

Answer:

I’m sorry to hear about the fight but certainly not surprised. The best advice I can give is to follow the groundwork article I sent you in my original email, do this with ALL dogs.  You’ll need 3 crates and a new mindset. I’d also recommend dominant dog collars, at least for the females. Your dogs should not be allowed together without supervision any more, maybe not ever (whether you keep the male or not). Taking 2 dogs who were displaying the kind of posturing they were and then putting them together behind closed doors was a big mistake as you found out.

Corrections once the dogs are already posturing don’t usually do much. Your dogs require much more leadership from you, all day, every day.

Owners of dogs like yours underestimate the genetic power of "PACK DRIVE." Pack structure is not something new and it is not optional, and if you don’t provide the structure and leadership a dog NEEDS then he or she will behave as canines have for thousands of years and will structure your family and household their own way.

I’m not sure which DVD you ordered? I really still recommend Pack Structure for the Family Pet but since you’ve now had a full blown fight you’re going to need Dealing with Dominant & Aggressive Dogs. It shows you how to correct the dogs properly when they start to show the signals (which can be very subtle).

I’d spend a lot of time reading on our website, your problem is a common one and there is so much information there that you can be studying while you start your dogs over. There is also an article on how to break up a dog fight. Use the search box on the upper left corner.

Cindy

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Question:

I have two male Yorkshire Terriers that are 10 years old. They both were brought into the house at the same time (Christmas) when they were 3 and six months. 

They have fought since they were six months. They are cousins (their fathers were brothers).

It is definately a dominance thing but lately they are having many fights (3 in the last two weeks). When they fight they cannot be separated and it is very scary.  Sometimes injury occurs.

We are in the Philadelphia area and about 5 years ago we had taken them to the University of Pennsylvania Veterinary Clinic to have a $500.00 sessions with a behavioral dog phychologist to no avail.

They were both neutered at 6 months but that did not seem to help. One is roughly 10 lbs and they other is 13 pounds. Of course, the 13 pounder has the advantage but that does not stop the smaller one who is the most aggressive.

I know I should get rid of one but they are like members of the family. When they fight if it is summer we throw them in the pool and in the winter when the pool is closed we throw them in the koi pond to break them up.

I know we have done about everything wrong that we could of but we have tried so many things over the years but nothing seems to work. Sometimes they go for 6 - 9 months without a fight but then other times we are walking around on egg shells with them.

I really don't know what DVD we should purchase because they are not socialized and never have been with other dogs because we know they don't get along with each other and are afraid to let them in the company of other dogs.

Please help us deal with this problem - do you think they would benefit from medication to calm them or isn't that necessary?

Thank you for your time,
Peggy

Answer:

Your dogs have been fighting for NINE years? These dogs don’t need medication, they need leadership and structure. The problems you are seeing are the result of the way you live with your dogs. When dogs act like this they lack leadership from their owners. In other words their owners don’t understand how important pack drive is in how they raise their dogs.

Owners of dogs like yours underestimate the genetic power of  "PACK DRIVE." Pack structure is not something new and it is not optional, and if you don’t provide the structure and leadership a dog NEEDS then he or she will behave as canines have for thousands of years and will structure your family and household their own way. The fact that they have been doing as they please for the last nine years will make this a little more challenging for YOU, but it can be done.

If you want to fix a problem like this you can but it takes some work. I’d start with our Groundwork program and the video that picks up where the article leaves off - Pack Structure for the Family Pet.

Here is a DVD that I would recommend titled Dealing with Dominant and Aggressive Dogs. If you go to the link on this DVD you can read about what it covers. You will also see a detailed outline of what’s in the video.

I would direct you to the search function in the upper left corner of the website for any additional questions you may have. If you type in your key words it will guide you to articles, Q & A’s and posts on our forum. 

Cindy

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Question:

Hi there.

We have four dogs in our household.  A Male Neutered Standard Poodle (2 1/2 years old); a Female In Tact English Bull Dog (will be two in July); and two 13 month old Black Russian Terriers.  A recently neutered (8 weeks ago) male and an in tact female.  The Black Russians are littermates.

We are having problems with our 13 month old Male Black Russian (100lbs) named Ralph.  He is a bully and aggressive with the Poodle and the Bull Dog.  He doesn't mess with his sister (the other Black Russian).  He has attacked and jumped on the poodle and the bull dog on several occasions.  Between attacks (which have been very minor and has only once nicked the bull dogs nose), he is a bully and circles around the dogs, etc.  I have tried everything and feel like I have come to the right place finally.  This all started after thanksgiving which was when he was 7 months old.

He has been to basic puppy obedience and is currently attending a weekly Schutzhund class.  My goal with the Schutzhund class is obedience only, not tracking or bite work (for obvious reasons).

The other issues I have with Ralph he lunges and barks at other dogs, cars, bicycles or anything that moves quickly when on leash.  He has never shown any type of aggression to family members.  At least not yet.  He did nip someone that came into our house without knocking.

What DVDs and training materials would you suggest that I begin with.  I have your DVD on Dominant and Aggressive Dogs that I am starting and Establishing Pack Structure. 

Also, could I use a muzzle in the house under supervision to protect the other dogs while training is underway?

Thanks for your help.

Michelle

Answer:

I’d start with our Groundwork program and the video that picks up where the article leaves off - Pack Structure for the Family Pet DVD.

Pack structure first, then DEALING WITH DOMINANT AND AGGRESSIVE DOGS DVD.

I’d recommend a dominant dog collar and a muzzle for now. We absolutely recommend muzzles while working through these issues, for everyone’s safety. Once you get things ironed out, you may want to consider going to an electric collar for off leash control work.  That will be a ways down the road though, but something to think about.

Electric collar Training for the Pet Owner DVD

I hope this helps.

Cindy

Another Question:

Which muzzle would you suggest, the cage type?

Michelle

Answer:

Either the wire cage type or the Jafco.  My own dogs prefer the wire muzzle, better ventilation.

Cindy

Another Question:

Thank you so much.  I am going to get started right away. Do you think these behaviors are fixable at the age in Ralph's life as long as I follow you guys to the tee and put forth the effort or do you think they are just manageable?

Michelle

Answer:

Having multiple dogs is all about management. My dogs are “’managed” from day 1 but I have no doubt that if I ever slacked off on the structure I would have problems like so many people do. A dog pack (3 or more dogs) is a constantly changing entity, not something you fix and then it’s done.  Dogs are projects, and multiple dogs are more challenging. 

My dogs can be managed by a look from me or a verbal warning, because they’ve been managed from the beginning. With consistent training and awareness from all the people who live with your dogs it can be this way as well but I tell people that you can never really consider your training “done.” Leadership for dogs, especially strong working bloodline dogs, is a lifestyle and an attitude more than an activity you perform once in a while.

Cindy

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Question:

Hello,

We have, currently, 5 pit bulls in our household: 3 male and 2 female. 1 of the females is fixed, the other is the mother to the 3 males. All are pure bred. We've always had a little aggression with the males (the are just 6 months now, the last three out of a litter of 8) but n0othing major until recently. When preparing two of the puppies for their walks, Cocoa, the largest of the males, charged from the back porch and attacked his brother violently. We had a hard time even prying him off. They both calmed down, and the walk was uneventful. After the walk, they were both getting a drink and Boo (the second largest of the boys) was across the room from Cocoa, back turned as he was returning to his kennel. Cocoa charged across the room and attacked him again. It took 3 adults to break up the fight, and resulted in a trip to the emergency vet for boo due to a heavily bleeding gash on his leg, bite marks on the leg, foot and neck. Cocoa received a cut on his ear in the fight. Neither attack was provoked, nor was there any forewarning that the attacks were going to happen. While breaking up the fight, Boo settled immediatly when they were seperated, Cocoa took a nip at me but didn't cause any real damage. Currently the dogs are seperated, but Cocoa will growl and snarl when he sees the other dogs..not all the time though, sometimes he wags his tail and is the freindly, loving Cocoa we've always known. It's as if he has some hair trigger and suddenly lunges and tries to attack the other dogs (male or female) without warning, and then will be fine again seeing the same dog not 5 minutes later.

On the visit to the emergency vets, we explained what had happened, and that we have a petite 7 year neice also living in the house. The vet recommended we consider having Cocoa put down, or we place him in a household with no other pets or children and are well aware that we can held liable for any damage he causes, since we are aware of the hair triggered temper. My sister is even concerned with placing him with anyone smaller in stature or lightweight, since the puppies are already 50lbs+ @ 6 months of age.

The vet was very kind, and tried to be comforting. I need some honest advice, though, and to know if this dog should be put down or if there's some of rememdy that we're not aware off. We do not want any other dogs, or any person hurt.

Thank you,
Fred

Answer:

You’ve got a dog pack on your hands, and you need to get a handle on managing them or things will only get worse.

If you spend some time reading this section, you’ll see that your problems are very common. I’ve received 6 or 7 emails just today from dog owners with very similar problems. If you don’t teach the dogs your rules, they can’t possibly behave how you want them to.

I’d start with our Groundwork program for every single dog in your house and the video that picks up where the article leaves off.  Pack Structure for the Family Pet. 

I believe that this DVD could really help you. It’s titled DEALING WITH DOMINANT AND AGGRESSIVE DOGS and was a 5 year project.

The problems you are seeing are the result of the way you live with your dogs.  When dogs act like this they lack leadership from their owners. In other words their owners don’t understand how important pack drive is in how they raise their dogs.

Owners of dogs like yours underestimate the genetic power of  "PACK DRIVE." Pack structure is not something new and it is not optional, and if you don’t provide the structure and leadership a dog NEEDS then he or she will behave as canines have for thousands of years and will structure your family and household their own way.  Your dog is not behaving badly out of spite or stubbornness; your dog is simply being a dog, a dog that needs some guidance and rules.

I personally can’t handle a group of 5 dogs that are allowed to behave as they wish, so I doubt the average pet owner can do so.  It may be a good idea to rehome one or more of the dogs but that still doesn’t mean you don’t need to work with all of them.  Merely separating them and not offering any leadership will do nothing to remedy this situation.

I would direct you to the search function in the upper left corner of the website for any additional questions you may have. If you type in your key words it will guide you to articles, Q & A’s and posts on our forum. 

Cindy

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