Recognizing Signs of Dominance

Recognizing

Signs of Dominance

dominant dog

Classic dominant behavior amoung dogs - the male is "T"ing OFF on the female

I have an 8 month old lab chow mix, he seems to be a very friendly dog but sometimes shows signs that he may be aggressive. Heres the thing, sometimes when hes in front of the door and won't move, i will grab him by the collar to move him and he will turn his head as if maybe he might bite. Well this morning he was in my sons room, I kept telling him to come on and he wouldnt so I reached for his collar and he turned his head and showed his teeth, so I pulled a bit more on his collar and yelled at him and he actually bit my thumb. Is it my fault he did this or should I be very worried and not wait for him to actually hurt someone before I give him up. I am so upset, we've had him for 6 to 7 months, hes got a cage, is walked, and very well loved. What should I do?

I have a 5 year old male dachshund named Dexter. My daughter acquired him when he was 6 month old. He was supposed to be my daughter's dog only, but when she moved out of the house a year later, I would not let her take him with her. He had become my constant companion. I have to admit that I have never had a house dog and knew nothing about raising or training one. Dexter is very protective over me, my daughter, and my granddaughter. He is more partial to me. However, he has bitten us all on occasion when it comes to tampering with his food or startling him while he was sleeping. Now my fiance comes into the picture. I think Dexter feels that he is being replaced. Although he has shown affection toward my fiance, he has bitten him on a number of occasions. I am at my wits end because I might have to give him away, and who is going to want a dog that bites. This will totally break my heart because he really is a sweet dog. He was there for me for 3 years when I had no one else and I do not want to turn my back on him. Everyone says he is just a dog, but he is my FRIEND, my buddy. When I needed it the most he was there to offer me unconditional love, companionship, loyalty, and friendship. What can I do when he is already so old?!?!?! Is it too late?

In december 2002, I adopted a neutered male GSD. He had been thrown out of a driving car on a busy highway, beaten and starved. He had no idea what a rawhide bone was or even what to do with a toy. Needless to say he has some issues and his training has been challenging at times. His major problem was that he wanted to chase cars. We have a large yard but we are not allowed to fence it in. He doesn't chase cars anymore when I'm outside with him, but if I let him out by himself for a few minutes by himself (always on a long line so he can go everywhere but can't reach the road) he does chase after them barking and growling. He has always behaved perfectly when I'm with him and he is off the line, until last wednesday. We had been outside all day, had gone for several walks and he was quite, contend, and relaxed. Cars went by our road all day, so did people walking and probably at least 20 motorcicles, he couldn't have cared less. Untill one motorcicle went by. He gave chase completely ignoring my commands and tried to launch himself at the motorcicle and actually bite the driver. Luckily he didn't succeed and the driver who turned out to be our neighbor was mad but didn't call the police. I am shocked at what happened and I can't allow this kind of behavior. What makes it even harder is that I can't pinpoint what set him off in the first place. Despite his past this dog loves everybody and everything around him which makes his behavior that day even more puzzling to me. If you have any suggestions please let me know. I love this dog to pieces and don't want him to spend the rest of his life on a line, never to be able to run and play with us in our own yard. Thank you.

I have an 8-month-old miniature poodle boy. He is normally sweet tempered, relatively quiet, and extremely friendly to both people and other dogs. The problem I have is that he does not like to have his body touched. With treat, I now can take his collar on and off with a relative ease, however, he still does not like his body touched much, especially around his face. For such occasions, his mouth comes to me. Indeed he is rather mouthy - when he is tired of his chews, the next target is likely to be my wrist. When he is told off, he tries to bite, too. It might be that he thinks it is a game, but whatever the reason, I would like to train him to stop biting completely. What sort of training would you recommend?

I was hoping you could advise me with my dog problem. I rescued a large 85 pound weim when he was 9 months. I was told that the family surrendered him initially because they were moving. When I first got him he would full blown jump on me and try and mount me. At first I was really scared because he is a very big dog, then I began to punish him-I would say NO! and put him to the ground. He no longer does this to me, however he did try this on a guest I had staying with me. This is not the main issue though, this is just to give you some background on how he was initially when we (My husband and I) got him.

Also when we initially walked him on leash he lunged at every person and dog. Then a month after, we were training him on an electric fence in our front yard that we had put in when we had our previous dog. My neighbor came to say hi to him, and he lunged and bit her on her hand. He had a choke collar on at the time and I pulled him back immediately and reprimanded him. I wanted to be pro-active about this so I put him in two training levels. I had warned the trainers of the incident because there were other dogs and people in the class. He was flagged with a red ribbon. He showed NO AGGRESSION to any people and barked twice at another dog in class, in which I gave him a time out. I also saw a behaviorist to specifically deal with his aggression and implemented much of the advice they gave. He showed NO aggression with the behaviorist, either. ONE YEAR PASSED and he had significantly gotten better. He no longer lunged at people across the street and he sat when people walked by, although I am very nervous and keep at least three feet from everyone. He did NOT MAKE A FULL RECOVERY -He does get "Funny" with some people though. He also has dog aggression issues. I am very careful of who I introduce him to. He will play and be happy with some dogs-mostly puppies and instantly lunge at others.

While walking him the other day, he pulled me and lunged and nipped at another person! It was NOT a playful nip- I know the difference. I don't know what to do. Obviously all that I have done is not enough. I am really distraught over this. I cannot trust him at all. I feel really awful and guilty. I have thought about surrendering him. I am going to buy him a muzzle and use that on him when we are out. I have a 3 month old baby now and am very nervous. He has never shown aggression to the people he knows, but how do I know he won't SNAP? I want to know if he can get better or will get worse with time. The honest truth is that I don't have the same amount of time I had before I had my baby to work with him and I don't want to endanger anyone else. HELP!

I have an eight year old pure bred Irish Terrier who is very aggressive to other dogs and has bitten in instances of trying to contain her from a neighbor’s dog. We also have the food problem of being aggressive when eating. I am curious of what training with the shock collar would do with a dog this age and very aggressive in these situations. Thank You.

I've spent the last couple of hours on your website and like what you have to say about dog behavior. Without wasting anymore of your time here is the problem: I have a 34 month old un-neutered male GSD who has, in the last couple of months, developed an unacceptable trait. When I pet him, and only when I pet him, he begins to growl at me. This is not a playful growl, it is stiff legged, hair raised, teeth showing deep growl. He does respond to an "ouf' command and is immediately sent to the basement and his crate. To me this dominance issue as he is by nature an aggressive dog. My question is how do I stop this behavior, as I'm sure it will lead to his demise if not controlled. Some background on the dog's training. He is quite obedient although stubbom at times. Although he has not had any formal obedience training, I am somewhat experienced as a dog handler and he knows and obeys the basic commands. He is not allowed on the furniture or on the bed, has to wait before going through doors, is fed after I eat. He is not protective of food or toys and I can take a bone out of his mouth without issues. When he was smaller, I did on occasion alpha roll him, although I wouldn't dare try that now even though I outweigh him by 100 pounds or so. He does a very strong prey drive although he is always discouraged from chasing the neighbor’s cat or dog. He is very protective of his home and does not like strangers which is ok with me ... I live in a rural area. I hope this is enough information.

Do I have a serious problem on my hands? Should I be looking into shock collars or muzzles? Should I have him neutered, he won't be bred? I would very much like your opinion.

I have a male bedlington terrier 15 months old. He was desexed at 14 months when on 2 separate occassions and with 2 different dogs, he was quickly roused to initiate a fight with entire an male staffordshire terrier that approached him. I pulled him away each time from the staffie as I was close. The first staffie walked off, but the second time the staffie lunged back ready to fight, but didn't come close enough to latch onto my dog. To this point he was not (and still with almost all other dogs is not) dominant, although he is eager to go up and say hello, tail wagging, licking their mouth and sniffing them. He doesn't usually drop down to firstly size up a new dog before approaching. He is easily distracted outside the home and often ignores my command to come especially by people (wants to greet them) and smells. In the yard he will frequently refuses to come when called even though I have made eye contact. He is only obedient when I have his attention and something he wants.

What advice on your website would be most relevant for me? Is it just more effort and consistency with obedience training? Do I need a prong collar for correction? Is this aggressive response to dogs that have dominant body language in his breed? and unfixable?

I have a 2 year old GSD. She hates having her toenails cut and will bite to prevent them from being cut. Other than that, she is a very friendly lovable pooch. I know I can use a muzzle. What do you suggest?

I was just on your website and my problem with my 6 month old cockapoo is the same as this woman named Lorraine (her email to you follows) but you never posted a response. My puppy also pulls back his gums, bares his teeth at me and has attempted to bite me which results in my swatting his nose which I think makes him hate my hands that much more. He will not let me pet him for more that a minute if that before he starts chewing on my hands. When I tell him no, this is his reaction. Always to No or stop. I don't want to get rid of him but I need some serious help. My partner has no problems with him when he stays at my house. I try him the same way but I get an entirely different response from the dog.

Here is Lorraines letter:

I came across this site while searching for dog obedience, It would be great if you could help me. We have a mixed breed, 1 and a half year old, Australian Shepard / Lab / Collie. He is a great dog, easily trained.

Our main issue is that when he is lying down and you go up to him calmly and pet him nicely and gently, he will most of the time growl at you. I describe the sound at growling with your mouth shut. Like a humming. He doesn't show his teeth, only if you take it one step further and try to scold him (To be honest when he first did this and we figured out that it was bad we would scold him by giving him a swat and shoving him outside, and also yelling at him. When we do this he cowers in the corner and his back legs shake nervously.) He may show his teeth.

When this first started (about a month after his first birthday) we were trying to figure out if this was a good sound or bad. As sometimes when we would stop petting him he would get up and come to you and ask for fuse, although while doing this his tail would be between his legs and head down.
There was one time once when he came up to me for fuss and I gave it to him and 20 seconds later he started growling and slowly cowers away. As I was saying "NO BARE" loudly.

Now we firmly tell him "NO" and when we do that he continues to do it, when he stops and we reward him by saying "Good boy" and pet him, he does it again. There are also times when I will call him and say "Bare Come!" and he won't come he will walk away with his tail between his legs and low head, looking very sad. With my husband he get's a better response. This doesn't happen all the time with myself, there are times when he will come and I will tell him "good boy" and reward him. We have tried to walk him more, on a daily basis. Myself doing it more as I am home all day.

I have an 8 month old male Rottweiler. If I try and rough house with him he backs up and looks at me. If I make a move towards him after this he will hide. He is dog aggressive and is doing some work on a puppy sleeve at the local Schutzhund club. When I sit on the couch he jumps up and sits on my lap which I don't mind at all. I begin petting him and he enjoys it. But it is ALWAYS after about 5-10 minutes of petting that he begins growling and showing his teeth and tensing up. I have to immediately stop petting him and stay still or he will viciously attack me, not play attack, a real attack. And it is every time I pet him for more than 5-10 minutes while he is on my lap. If I just go up to him at anytime anywhere and touch his side or his collar or his paws he will viciously attack me also. I have a Bullmastiff and I could basically hit her over the head with a brick and she would think I was playing and enjoy it. The Rottweiler however gets real standoffish with me whenever I want to rough play with him. Why is my Rottweiler like this?

My name is Landa, and we (my husband, son and I) adopted a 7 month old black lab from the Humane Society 7 years ago. He is a neutered male, large (140 pounds). I was able to spend my days with him until 3 years ago, when I returned to working full time. Griffey has never shown signs of aggression until approx. that time. The behavior started with the vacuum cleaner of all things! He never growled or barked, but would lunge and bite at it, while I vacuumed. It escalated to biting at people’s feet. He is very protective of the garage, where he spends his days. Recently, a 12 year old boy chased a ball into our garage, where griffey was tethered on his 20 foot lead, and the boy was bit on the foot. Deep puncture wound. I'm thinking Griff is acting protective of our home because he thinks he's the alpha, and sees it as his role, to protect the family. I am currently practicing many drills with him, including many that you mention in your article. Things are going well so far, I am hoping if you can tell me, am I on the right track? He doesn't sleep on the beds, we make him sit before feeding, he's never allowed in the dining room. He does exhibit bad behaviors like racing through the door/or down the stairs first. That has stopped. As has any of his "off leash" freedom, (for now). He walks, when told, sits when told, eats when told, and now, is even pottying when told. I was also advised for the next week, to feed him his meals, from my hand, which I've started doing, (and he's a big dog, who eats a lot, so it's a serious pain in the butt). How long will it take, before I see if this modification will work on his aggressive tendencies towards feet?

Am I on the right track?
Thank you for your time and your knowledge.

I have a question regarding our German Shepherd. He's 2 1/2 years old now and weighs 108 pounds. He wasn't socialized as a puppy, so we are taking him to a trainer because of fear biting and aggression with people in the yard and house (he hadn't been aggressive toward my husband, our children, or myself.) The trainer has been helpful, and we've seen a lot of improvement. The last time we went for a session, she told us that our dog sees my husband as a leader, but doesn't see me as one. He basically refused to obey me at times during the session. She told me he was testing me and to keep doing what I have been, which is not giving any praise, petting or food unless he's done something for it - sit, stay, down, etc, and to stare him down if he gets into a "battle of wills" with me (she told me what to look for in his stance and said to make sure he heard the command before I stare him down - I'm to look him in the eye until he obeys me), or to use his choke collar by giving it a quick snap. She's also watched me as I worked with him and has taught me to properly put the choke chain on and use it correctly (we had never used one before). She said when I give a command, to be prepared to take as much time as possible with him until he obeys.

I've learned so much from her and have been following her suggestions and our dog is doing so well! I'm very new to the dog training process, and I've been amazed at how quickly our big guy is learning, now that we know what to do. He's much happier, which makes us much happier. But then tonight, I told him "down" and he just looked at me, started to go down from his sitting position, then stood back up. I reached for his collar and he bit me and ran away. He didn't draw any blood - it didn't even hurt, but I don't understand this behavior or why he would do that. He has tested me during the training process, but has always submitted and obeyed the command he's been given. He's never bitten me before. I have been giving him praise when he obeys commands, and I don't do anything physical to him, except for the collar snapping. And most of the time, just the sound of the collar has been enough incentive for him to obey, so we aren't even having to snap it as much as before. He also bit the trainer on two separate occasions (without breaking the skin), and she said it was okay, he was just testing her. She had gotten him calmly on a leash 15 minutes after meeting him, and actually had him obeying her commands - so I've trusted her advice and have seen good results. But, when I called her tonight after our dog bit me, she suggested putting him down because we'll never be able to trust him around our children or anyone else - maybe not even my husband or myself. She told us he was poorly bred and thinks that could be causing some of the problems, too. I am wondering if putting him down is the right choice. I'd much rather keep working with him or find him another home. She told me that finding him a new home could be dangerous for the people who would take him, or even dangerous to the dog, because of the possibility of him being abused by an owner who didn't know how to work with dogs.

I've been searching the internet and I stumbled upon your website. A lot of the things I've read on it so far sound like what our trainer says and it seems like you really understand and know dogs. My question is, do you agree with our trainer? She says that he is too dangerous to have in our home with our children (ages 9, 4, and 1), that putting him outside would be cruel because he's a pack animal (which I totally agree with), and that giving him away could be dangerous to another owner or even our dog. She also told us that he may never bite us or our children, but if it were her dog, she would have it put down, just because of the possible risk. She said she knew it was hard to hear, and it is ... which is why I'm asking what you would do - would you ever suggest putting a dog down in this type of situation? I would truly value your opinion and appreciate you taking the time to read this and hopefully reply.

I have a one year old male pit-bull terrier. He has not been neutered. He is beginning to show signs of aggression toward strangers despite my best efforts to socialize him and also to maintain a position as the "leader of the pack". When we have company he seems to make a snap decision as to if he likes the person or not. If not he begins barking and growling. I send him immediately to the kennel and after some time has passed arm the visitor with a couple of treats (if they aren't afraid of him) and give him the all clear to come out. Yesterday I met a couple of men at my warehouse. He had never seen them before.

One he paid no attention to and the other who offered him a hand he barked and growled at. I put him in the car. My father and brother like to play with him and get him fairly stirred up by playing with the rope chew. I am not sure this is a good idea and although he loves to play I have asked them to stop when he beging escalating to hopefully give him the message he needs to remain calm. Yet another oddity is that when we are around my boyfriend with whom he is very familiar he does not act out. Only once that I can recall he barked at a young boy who ran by us very close. That was just one bark and nothing more. The other night he growled at me when I began to take his chew bone from him and throw it off the bed. I hate to admit but I was rough on him and he quickly got the message. Since that time we have practiced giving me the chew bone and he doesn't seem to have a problem with it though he also apparently doesn't like it. I am stumped. I have read several books and thought I was doing everything right. I searched for a long time for this dog in order to get good bloodlines and have worked hard to socialize him and still I seem to be doing something wrong. I really love him and he is a great companion. He seems to understand when he is in trouble and will cower when I yell at him. He knows when he's in trouble and goes to his kennel but still there are things I don't know what to do about.

Please help I don't want to have a dog who only lives in a kennel when people are around.

Our golden retriever who is almost two is still biting ... we have tried everything! Sometimes it seems as though she is very serious and uncontrollable. In addition, she hates to walk. Whenever we attempt to go on walks, she jumps up over the leash and bites at our hands and refuses to walk as we try to fix the problem. Also, she is very timid around other people and especially other dogs. She does not show aggression, but puts her tail in between her legs. When attempting to take her places to get over her fears, she will not even enter the store, such as pet smart. One more problem is when we have her in the house, she is fine if someone is petting her, but as soon as we stop she bites. And if we even step away from her, she will go wild, running at very high speeds with her tail in between her legs all around the house. We are very frustrated with her and feel as though we can't handle her. Please help if you have any suggestions. Thanks so much!

My golden retriever is nearly 2 years old and was neutered at 1 years old. The problem is he is brilliant most of the time but he has already attacked my partner 3 times ripping through his jumper and t shirt and sadly 3 weeks ago he attacked and killed my cat. I have spoken to my partner and explained to him that I think we should have him re-homed as I have a lot of children visiting my house everyday and worry for their safety. He hasn't really shown any aggression towards the children but he had never really shown any aggression towards my partner. (On each occasion he attacked my partner/cat he had been attacked the day before) I feel extremely nervous when the kids come and play with my daughter. He seems to listen to my 5 year old daughter the most. I have never and will never leave them alone with the dog through fear of him attacking them as he is very unpredictable on why he attacks in the first place as he shares his toys and so on..... I have read your website and have luckily always done a lot of the things you have said from when he was a pup.

What do you suggest I do as I have spoken to a lot of other dog owners who have said I should get him re-homed?

My 11 month Jack russle seems to know when I am going to leave the house. If he hears me say good bye he starts going crazy. If I put my coat on he goes crazy. When I say crazy he starts jumping and growling and biting, sometimes hard enough to draw blood if he happens to find a finger. The only way I have found to temporarily solve this is to grab a tennis ball and pretend as if I am going out to play with him, then throw the ball and sneak back in and go out the front door. I am afraid after awhile he won't trust me even when I do want to go out and play with him. I assume this is the only way he knows how to try and convince me not to leave. Any suggestions?

Hi, last year I adopted a 1 yr. old brindle Boston Terrier. He's a hyper dog but very fun and loving and loves to play. He loves every person he's met and other dogs. The other day I gave him a pig ear to chew on so he would calm down from playing and a friend of mine, who is around the dog all the time, went up and attempted to take away the pig ear when the dog growled at him. I don't know if it was a warning or if he was going to bite him. He's never done this before; I take toys from him regularly when I'm ready for him to go to bed or what have you. Also, my friend has an 8 mth. old German Shepherd female and whenever the two of them play together, they ultimately end up growling at each other and almost into a fight. The boston terrier seems fine around any other dog. What should I do???

My 2 year old Porn has clamed a spot at the end of the bed on the floor this week. If I or my husband go near her or pet her she growls, nips, and shows teeth. We can't even pet her anymore when she is in this spot. What is some training advice?

I hope that you can give me some advice on my pure bread 16 month old golden male. I am at my wits end with him. I acquired Simon when my parent’s neighbor decided that she no longer wanted him when he was about 6 months old. Simon is bigger than the average male golden, weighing in at 1101bs. I was able to take him to basic training and he listens most of the time. But in order to get him to respond, I had to use a prong collar. He has gotten aggressive in the last 6 months or so. I have not had him neutered yet but plan to. Simon has snapped at 5 people in the last couple of months and actually bit one person, breaking the skin. (Thank God this person was a friend of mine!) I had an invisible fence to start with and Simon had free run of the yard. That only lasted about 3 months because he figured out that it would only shock him for a small amount of time then he could go wherever he wanted. So now, Simon spends his days in a 20X40 fenced in area. I get him out when I get home from work and put him on a chain in the front yard. Most of the time I'm right there with him and he is fine. If someone that he does not know walks up, he acts like he is going to tear them up. If he does recognize them, he will still act protective but not as harsh. Before Simon entered my family, he was confined to a garage then eventually a backyard with a privacy fence. My 11 year old son can not handle Simon and to be honest, I have a hard time sometimes. I love him dearly but am afraid that he will bite one of the kids in the neighborhood. I was raised with female goldens most of my life but have never really been around males, so I'm not sure if this is typical behavior. Do you think that having him neutered will help with his aggression? Any ideas or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

I have a friend with a 10 month old spayed female great dane, and ever since she was about 4 months old, she would nip and bark at my friend when her 2 year old son is crying. For example - his t-shirt is dirty so she interrupts his playtime by picking him up to change the t-shirt, the 2 year old cries because he wants to play, the great dane comes over and starts barking and nipping at the mother thinking she is hurting him. As the dane gets older, the problem is getting more consistent with louder barks, more nipping, but never any actual biting or enough to hurt her. She usually has to crate the dog when she changes the boys diaper because she can't change the diaper with a dog barking and nipping.

What would you recommend for her to do in a situation like this? The protectiveness over her children is a good thing - she doesn't want to lose this - but she is the alpha and doesn't want the dog reacting this way to HER.

Generally, the dog is a very friendly excitable happy dog with no aggression issues, teaching her to "speak" is almost impossible because she almost never barks, this problem only occurs when the 2 year old is crying and the dog thinks the mother is hurting the child. Any advice you have is appreciated as always, thank you!

I adopted at 8 weeks old a Pit from the SPCA. She had dominant behavior from the get go. She does well in obedience class and with other dogs.

We have established ourselves as the leader of the pack. We have a 13 year old dog and 3 cats. She, (the pit who is now 8 months old) does not want to bite the cats, only growls at one, and that has seemed to stop. She does not want her nails clipped, though I do it anyway, though she sounds and seems as if she wants to rip my head off. She is viscously attacking my older dog who held her ground, but I can see is now giving up. How do I stop this behavior? A muzzle? A wicked good beating? Like your shovel story. I have just FIRMLY told her no, and isolated her. Her crate is in our bedroom, where we all sleep. Should it be moved?

We have a wonderful 2 year old spayed female pit bull, Scarlet, who is becoming aggressive with other animals and yesterday was involved with what was extremely close to being a dog fight, though I managed to stop her by reading her body language before it got serious, even though she definitely meant business.

As a puppy she was obedience trained, crate trained, and well disciplined and loved. She and her owner (my boyfriend) moved into my home in September, where I have 3 cats and 2 rabbits. She has always listened very well to both Kyle and I, but yesterday when she was playing with the other dog (her much larger brother) she didn't listen to me at all, which I now know is because she doesn't respect me truly as a pack leader. There was another dog that came by (which I also now know was bad since there were 3 of them, hence the pack) and she began to viscously hump the other dog, a female, and then hump her brother viscously.She was growling and snarling while doing this. She has humped 2 other dogs in the past, but without snarling or growling. Since I thought she was displaying harmless dominance over them I did not get involved.

Yesterday she was a completely different dog though, and it scared me. Before she began humping she was displaying passive tendencies with other dogs, rolling on the ground, shying away and wagging her tail in a passive manner, why would she display this behavior and then display the aggressive? We have 3 cats in the house she has begun to lunge at as well, which we immediately correct her for. Your site has been very helpful in showing that we are making mistakes and letting her get away with being boss. What I need to know is can Kyle and I both work with her, or should one more than the other? We are committed to correcting our mistakes.

My husband and I have emailed you previously with a question about our pup. We have another; we’ve ordered and watched your videos 8 wks 0 8 mths and Basic Obedience. We have an Aussie pup, currently 13-14 wks old, adopted from the shelter, survived parvo. (I mention the parvo because someone on the site seemed to suggest that parvo could cause a pup to be not quite right in the head & would like your professional opinion on that).

He is a good dog, smart and bull-headed from what I have to judge that on which is nothing. I've never owned a dog before. I had an incident occur last night that has me puzzled and scared me a little. I’ve posted about it on your site, but really wanted your opinion and input.
What happened?

I was watching TV. in our bedroom, Blu (13-14 wk old Aussie) was out just playing with his toys in the floor. He kept jumping on the bed, pulling at the sheet, biting and pulling at the bed skirt etc. He would stop when I said no but, only for a moment. I kept saying no, he would jump up on my legs, bark and jump around. Showing teeth but, it seemed like he was just playing. He continued to bite at the bed, the sheets, bed skirt, and me. Until, finally I had enough. I grabbed his scruff with a firm no. He stopped but then started the jumping around barking at me, showing teeth. Then started biting again, I grabbed scruff again, he let go, did it again, I grapped scruff AGAIN --- this time while my one hand was on his neck the other was on the floor near his mouth - he grapped hold of my hand and BIT me, hard. I'm was bleeding. I grapped his scruff harder and said "NO", pulled my hand out and picked his ass up to put him in the crate.

When I picked him up he was growling, barking, showing teeth - coming at me as if he wanted to take my face off. I've never seen anything like it. When I got the crate door closed - he was still growling, he wanted to come thru the door to get to me. I closed the door and walked out. About this time Marc (my husband) comes home I tell him what happened, as I'm standing in the kitchen washing my wounds. I thought he was going to the bedroom to change - but he went in to see if he was still growling and let him out of the crate. When I went in and saw he was out of the crate - I told Marc I didn't want him out. I picked him back up and put him back in - turned the light off and closed the door. He didn't try to bite me this time. I waited 10-15 minutes, went back in, let him out and all was fine.

Then this morning: He has shown food aggression so this morning when I fed him, I was stroking his back, saying goodboy. The moment I touched him he started growling. He had one leg out of the crate, I tried to get him the rest of the way in the crate so that I could close the door to get in the shower and he turned his head, growled and looked like, he may have shown teeth. When I got out of the shower, I went to the crate to remove the food bowl, he licked it even cleaner, while I held it, I took it out and when I closed the crate door, he growled at me again ... I stood in front of the crate talking gently to him and he barked, then started wagging his tail. A few moments later we went out to potty and he was fine. Actually, he was quite good.

What do you make of this? I'm at a loss ... I know you probably receive hundreds of emails a day and I really appreciate the time you take to respond. I am a first time dog owner, never been around dogs either. So, I have nothing to compare Blus behavior too, nor does my husband. We are trying very hard to do right by this dog and have him be a part of our family.

I have looked through your website and its one of the best ones I have seen in regards to training and aggression/dominance. I know most people do not like to respond in emails about problems with dogs but I have a question about my 3 year old cattle dog. According to your website our deaf cattle dog is demonstrating dominance towards my younger sister. No one else in the family has experienced what she has with our dog. He will stare her down and then sometimes let out a low growl and has a few times jumped at her and started barking furiousously then grabbed her hand. He has never broken the skin but really scared her. I do not want to put him to sleep but is there a chance that the issue can be worked out between my sister and the dog. Other then that problem he is a very loving and loyal dog to me and it kills me to think that I might have to give him away or put him down.

Any thoughts on this or some advice? I would greatly appreciate it! Thanks so much.

I loved your article on animal aggression & training.... Need some advice here.... I have a 1 year old black lab male - neutered. Well, he keeps tearing up the screen on my back porch. He will do it even if he has not been outside very long. He’s not doing it when he's inside the porch - he does it from the outside. Also he has eaten wires to my husband's ham radio gear that he had to get on his hind legs to reach and tear them down and eat them - not just chew them - he EATS it. I could understand maybe if I had left him outside too long and he wanted in, but he has done it within 2 minutes of being out but I have not caught him in the act many times.

When I have caught him I clap my hands really loud and holler at him LEAVE IT and he stops, but later I find it in more of a mess. He has also chewed up the metal on a bike & the seat, the ull start to the lawn mower, he has eaten the sprinkler, the winding handle on the water hose cart.... what do I do? Also, this same dog is awful about running out the door of the house and not coming back. He has pushed past me and the kids many times and taken off down the street. It has taken up to 1 -2 hours to get him back home, even bribing with the ham out of the fridge. He goes for blocks and blocks and if you get close to him he takes off. He’s the only pet in the house besides the fish, so I just don’t know what to do! We live in Navy housing on a naval base and can get in BIG trouble over this so I need some help! The several vets I have talked to about it just kind of shake their heads and say "oh some dogs do that' but I say it's not acceptable! Do you have any advice??

I have a two year old Giant Schnauzer "MAX". I got him at three months old. He has developed aggressive tendencies toward me at times. He will go several weeks/months and is on his best behavior. Then something will happen that triggers him. He will growl aggressively and did bite me on one occasion. He has NOT been dog aggressive other than barking and has not attacked other dogs even when the opportunity has been there. If you physically push him he becomes agitated and will begin growling. He is very smart and has gone through a basic obedience class which he did very well. I am considering neutering him but I afraid at just over two years I may be to late. I do like this dog and I do want to keep him. Any suggestions?

Mr. Frawley,

I have an 8 month old Pit Bull (Ray Ray) that I have owned since he was about 7 weeks old; he is obedience trained (thanks to your videos) and is doing fabulous. But, he has some sort of obsession with other dogs. I have never scene him aggressive at all not at his feed bowl, crate, around other animals, or any other time.

But, he has this obsession, it is like he starts to hyper-ventilate with excitement. When other dogs are around he is non stop crazy about playing. Most dogs take it quite well, but he will go for hours on end – without a pause for a drink or anything. My mothers Malamute, that is 3X his size, put up with it for about 5 hours one weekend when she came to visit, but then grew tired of it. Although completely out of character, the Malamute bit Ray Ray and pinned him down – seemingly harmless (no blood or crying). When I reached them Ray had gotten up and kept going and going and going. I thought the incident might finally teach Ray a lesson, but it was like nothing had happened. I separated the dogs for the rest of the weekend. He has acted the same way with every other dog he has ever met. It is always the same every time, super fast short breaths, jumping, running, completely obsessed – no growling, barking, showing teeth, or anything that seems aggressive within my realm of knowledge just excited beyond control. He only behaves like this around other dogs. Also, he exhibits this behavior at home and when we visit others, the location is absolutely irrelevant but the behavior is identical.

I will say that he does listen to commands quite well when he is on leash around other dogs, a little hyper, but he minds and is getting better. When there is no leash it is go time.

My main concern is that the behavior seems beyond his own control, much less mine. He knows he’s wrong, he knows he’ll be punished for not listening (especially to NO); but he just can’t help himself. Hopefully you’ll tell me I’m wrong.

Any help is appreciated. I had hoped to weight pull with him and I have started conditioning him to the harness already, but if his behavior doesn’t improve around other dogs that is out of the question.

Thanks for any help
Lincoln Robinson

Aggressive Rot

HI,

I hope you can make some suggestions.

Last May (2005) a very nice looking Rotti followed my husband home when he was walking our other dog. He was a stray, had been gone from home for 8 wks and the owners did not want him back because he jumped fences and they had him tied up in a backyard. I had him neutered and put him up to date with his shots. He was very friendly from the get go, allowing me to do anything that first day (bath, grooming, feeding) and has been this way ever since. A little background about me and my family; we are two adults, no small children; I have a Chihuahua & a Rescued female Dobi. I have always had dogs and this is not my first Rot.

My problem is as follows, in October I started basic Obedience with him. He has progressed tremendously; we have even obtained our first leg towards CD, first show for both of us, high score/1st place of 193 points. This dog really enjoys what he is doing, he is usually very calm, but occasionally and very randomly he may give out a small growl when I ask him to do something. It can happen when I ask him to stand for exam, or try to get his attention for an exercise when he is gazing somewhere else and even once or twice if I hug him around the neck. It does not happen all the time but one too many. He tends to be dominant at home, but has never growl when he is eating, when I take his toys away, when I bathe him, clean his ears or any other grooming. Lately I have noticed he is getting a little more watchful of other approaching dogs and persons when we are out on walks and one time actually started getting aggressive towards another dog that was walking off lead about ½ a block away.

I am in ongoing Obedience classes and had been invited to attend a Shutzhund training to observe and see if I may be interested.

Should I try to correct the dominant behavior before pursue going into Shutzhund? Or will that make him to timid?

He is not totally out of control and he is generally a very mindful, intelligent dog.

I have read all the articles and plan to purchase your DVD on dominant dogs…Any other suggestions would be appreciated.

Betty

Ed's Answer to Aggressive Rot:

Betty

You have no choice here – YOU MUST ADDRESS THIS DOMINANCE. If you ignore it will slowly increase.

I strongly recommend my new DVD Dealing with DOMINANT AND AGGRESSIVE DOGS (read the description)

You are doing the right thing in training this dog – but obedience training is only a small part of dealing with dominance.

A couple of points to start today:

1 – NO TOYS – dominant dogs NEVER HAVE TOYS – not ever

2 – NO HUGGING THE DOG – it is an invitation to get bit in the face and IT WILL HAPPEN.

3 - 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 in solving behavioral problems such as dominance and/or house breaking problems.

4- I hope you are using a dog crate.

This dog may become a handful for you to work with. Male Rots are very strong – if this is the case you may want to consider training with low level stimulation from a remote trainer – I just finished a DVD on this too (last fall) Remote Collar Training for the Pet Owner Often times a remote collar is a easier way to work with dominant dogs. They don’t go into fight as easily.

I have a ton of information on dominance dogs on my web site. Here is a section I put up last week – it has several hundred emails – your will go there too – under recognizing signs of dominance.

I am curious what you searched on to get to my web page?

Regards
Ed

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