Our Aussie is aggressive to children and strangers. Our breeder told us that kids must have done something to the dog and another breeder told us to kill the dog. What do you think?

Question

Hello,

    I have a question in regards to my 1-year old Aussie (maggie). Her name is Maggie. Can we help her? I will try to keep this brief but help you understand her behavior the same.

    Maggie was brought into our home at 12-weeks, she was/is very shy. We went through obedience classes with flying colors, although the social end didn't go so well. Maggie would show her teeth at the other dogs and sometimes growl, she would flip over on her back when people try touching her and growl at them. Now she loves other animals but she lunges at any kids (not us) that came near her. She growls at the vet and almost any new person that enters our home.

    We continue to work on this behavior but we just can't seem to get a handle on it. I've spoke with the breeder, the only answer she has is that maybe the neighborhood children are teasing her. I also spoke with a different breeder who suggested we put her down because it sounds like something mental.

    I know this is brief, but knowing this little, is there still hope?!?

    Thanks,
 Lori

Accepted Answer

Both breeders are wrong.

Your breeder is either inexperienced or giving you a line of BULL. The dog has genetic temperament problems. The issues are not because any child did something to the dog.

The second breeder is just flat inexperienced and stupid – please pass this on for me. It is not necessary to put dogs like this to sleep. It is necessary that the dogs be in the hands of a responsible person. You need to get a dog crate and use it. You need to control the environment that your dog is in.

There is no need for me to ever allow a person to pet my dog. In fact, I do not allow it. If you allow it then this is a owner mistake and not a dog mistake. I also do not allow my dogs to come in contact with children (unless the children are part of the family and the dog knows and likes them). Why would a dog have to come in contact with a child? There is no reason UNLESS you allow it to happen. If a child gets bit this is not a dog problem it’s a people (owner) problem.

Too often people just don’t have the information that is really common sense. If your dog is trained you should be able to send it to the dog crate when you wish. Now this does take training but it's not rocket science. When people come over send the dog to the crate. When people try and pet your dog tell them, “Please DO NOT TOUCH MY DOG – she has issues with strangers.”

Odds are your dog needs distraction training. If you would like to learn more about the principles of obedience training a dog, read the description for my Basic Dog Obedience video. You will probably find that you have not had the full picture on the steps of training a dog must go through before it can be considered fully trained. You can also read why I am not a fan of taking an untrained dog to obedience classes. I think if you read the testimonials on that tape you will see that my customers feel the same way.