April 12, 2011
My lab has become aggressive over the past couple years. What do we do?
Full Question:
Hi-We have a 5 year chocolate lab. We bought her from a breeder. About three years ago she started showing signs of aggression. I can't really pin point when it began. Anyway, we have had dog trainers, animal behaviorists, dog walkers (which we still have).
She is food aggressive, has dog aggression and it aggressive towards my husband and me. It isn't ALL the time, but I am ready to get rid of her. I don't want to, I love her, but I am afraid of her. I just took her for a walk and she found a stick so I sat down next to her and let her chew it. She started growling and showing her teeth to me so I distracted her and threw the stick. When I got home and went to take her leash off, she tried to bite me. She has bitten my husband already and attaked my Dad's Westie.
We have a dog walker that comes everday for 30 mins while we are at work. I walk her for 20 mins every morning before I leave for work and we walk her again for another 30 mins when we get home from work so I know that she is getting enough exercise??
My husband is ready to have her put down. We have talked to the vet they did bloodwork and could find nothing wrong with her. She is GREAT with children and other people (as long as they are not going near her when she is eating) but I just don't know what to do. I know that Lab Rescue places will not take her and I can't think of the idea of her sitting at the pound. We do not have children yet, but this is a concern of mine....
Any suggestions would be great.
Ed's Answer:
I hate to tell you this but this do is the way it is because of the way you have chosen to live with it.
This dog has dominance issues that have been allowed to grow and continue. The vast majority of the time these problems are fixable if the owners are willing to educate themselves and change the way they have lived with this dog.
Here are the DVDs that will show you what your mistakes have been and how to fix them:
Establishing Pack Structure with the Family Dog
Dealing with Dominant and Aggressive Dogs
Once you have established control and pack structure the type of training to do is marker training. This is non-confrontational and when its followed up with corrections it’s the best way to train aggressive dogs.
I would also recommend that you use my web site search function. It’s on the top left of every page on my site (which is 16,200 pages long) Type in your KEY WORDS (dog aggression) and you will find a great deal of information.
Regards,
Ed Frawley
This dog has dominance issues that have been allowed to grow and continue. The vast majority of the time these problems are fixable if the owners are willing to educate themselves and change the way they have lived with this dog.
Here are the DVDs that will show you what your mistakes have been and how to fix them:
Establishing Pack Structure with the Family Dog
Dealing with Dominant and Aggressive Dogs
Once you have established control and pack structure the type of training to do is marker training. This is non-confrontational and when its followed up with corrections it’s the best way to train aggressive dogs.
I would also recommend that you use my web site search function. It’s on the top left of every page on my site (which is 16,200 pages long) Type in your KEY WORDS (dog aggression) and you will find a great deal of information.
Regards,
Ed Frawley
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