Aggression Q&As

Hello, I have a question about 2 female rescues we adopted a couple years ago. They are supposedly littermates, and at the least have been together since they were puppies. They've had a history fighting, but lately they have become much more violent. A fight yesterday required a trip to the vet for wounds. I've read on the site that adopting two dogs from the same litter can be problematic. But given we are already in the situation, is it worth trying to go through the "Groundwork to beco...

Good evening We have a 10yr old Golden retriever that we've had since 3months old, and our problem is with resource guarding. We can feed her food by hand and she'll wait between portions. But if she finds food first–either in home or outside–she will lunge and bite at us if we attempt to remove it or her. She has bit multiple people over the years, and mostly associated with food. She's a Jekyll and Hyde character: Completely sweet Golden when food isn't present, and defiant and aggr...

I have watched the course on how to establish pack structure and have a question regarding dog behavior during play. I am researching as much as I can on the subject of dog body language and signs that could prevent a dog fight. In the situation when a female and male that meet on a regular basis, have structured walks and play, is it possible that neither of them be dominant over another? The GSD female is 3 years old and the GSD male is 4 years old. They no longer play as much with each ...

I have two dogs that cannot get along: a 9 year old spayed female lab/shepherd mix, and a 5 year old intact female German Shorthair. The German Shorthair was 11 months old when I got her, and when I brought her home, the mix breed attacked her. She responded by attacking the mixed breed, and they have been enemies ever since. It got bloody a couple of times. Currently, the German Shorthair stays outside most of the time, and the mix stays in the house. I run them daily (separately), and when...

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

I have an 8-month-old GSD who is very sweet-natured and who I have been successfully working on engagement and luring training since I got him at 8 weeks. He has played successfully with several other dogs that I knew well enough to allow that interaction and had no signs of aggression. However, I started him in obedience and the other two dogs in the class were littermates belonging to a mother and daughter. They were reactive to my dog and began lunging and barking and he lunged and barked ...

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

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

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

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

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

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

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