My dog is becoming more and more aggressive and I am concerned about the safety of my children. Do you have any suggestions on how to fix this aggression problem?

Question

Dear Mr Frawley,

I am extremely concerned about my dog as I have been told by our head Schutzhund trainer that my dog is a risk to my small children and people in general. He is 9 month old black and tan from very good show lines.

The problem is that for the past few months he has become extremely aggressive. When walking on the street he barks and has tried to bite a few people. I am trying to correct it and have been told that he is "high in the nerve" and I will only achieve limited success as it is genetic. I also know of another person who had a two year old from the same Breeder. This dog was great with his child who used to kiss it goodnight every night, until one night the dog bit his child in the face. I have 3 year old daughter and a baby on the way. At the moment he does not display any aggression towards her at all but I am concerned that the risk of him biting the kids one day is high. I use corrections but but he is not responding well. I have been told to use a pinch collar and cable. My fear is that even though I could maybe correct this when in my presence I cannot trust him when I am not around.

I do not want to take ANY chances when it comes to my kids.

Please advise me on whether I should keep the dog or not.

This would be greatly appreciated.

Kind Regards,
Neil

Accepted Answer

Neil,

It sounds like the dog has short nerves. Short nerve dogs require almost all prey work if they are to be trained in Schutzhund.

They also require a stable pack structure in their home. They need and strive for harmony and leadership. When they don’t get it they can get neurotic.

The average person thinks that obedience training is all that’s need to establish pack structure – these people are 100% wrong. There is a ton more to it than that. I wrote a free eBook on this (and in fact at the moment I am editing a DVD on this exact subject) My web site has a large number of FREE eBooks that I have written. Go to the main directory for eBooks.

If I owned your dog I would run it through this program. I would also strongly recommend that you read and follow the information in the articles I have written on dogs and kids and dogs and babies.

I have owned truly dangerous dogs in my life – dogs that have taken body parts off humans (I.E. an entire calf muscle and a shoulder blade). I only had one bite on my kids and that was because my then 16 year old took my personal dog out while I was in Europe after I warned him to never take him out of the kennel. The point her is that if any dog you ever own bites your child – you f@#$%^ed up big time. It is not your dogs fault. Even the sweetest pooch that lacks pack structure can strike a child.

I would also be training this dog with a remote collar (low level stimulation). I did a DVD on this called Remote Collar Training for Pet Owners. I use a Dogtra 1900NCP on my personal dog.

Cindy (my other half) used Dogtra 200NCP on her dogs. It’s a little smaller in size than the 1900NCP.

There are less expensive collars on the market but I don’t believe there are better collars.

I prefer the 1900 because it has a digital read out on the transmitter that goes from 1 to 127. This allows very precise control. I am raising a GSD right now and he started wearing the collar at 4 months. I would never own a dog again without using a remote collar.

I hope this helps.

I will guarantee you that the man that owned the other dog had holes in the way HE CHOSE to live with his dog.

Kind Regards,
Ed Frawley