We have an Old English Sheep dog that is becoming very very aggressive. What can we do?

Question

I have a 1 year old Old English Sheepdog. We originally wanted to get one because of how they are supposed to be good with children and other pets.

All was well until he was 10 weeks old and was attacked by a Boxer adult in the town. He was dog shy for quite a while after this. At 5 months we took him to "Super dog" recall training classes, as with all other training (sit, tricks) he would listen, but not come or stay when called. This class took 6 weeks, once a week, and we continued the training at home. He was fixed at 7 months, due in part to the non-stop humping problems he did, especially with our son.

Our children are: daughter 15 and son 12.

Even after the training he still does not listen unless there is a treat involved. We have tried to wean him off the "treat training" but it does not work. But now the worst is yet to come.

He has over the last 2 months been displaying attack aggression towards our daughter. She comes home for lunch and he jumps on her like he is totally happy to see her. But when she goes to leave he will jump on her and growl viciously and try to bite her. One day we were on the couch/sofa and he jumped up beside her. He is not allowed on the furniture and so she pushed his bottom as always and told him "off". He turned on her like lightening and tried to bite her face... I was home and ran over to subdue him...he then turned on me. He was crated for the rest of the afternoon...and once released he acted like the usual Old English Sheepdog.

He has been jumping on everyone lately and is biting and nipping. The only way to subdue him is with a body tackle...if you do very firm voice command he will not listen...even with a treat. If and when he listens with a treat he will get the treat... listen until he thinks the treats are gone and then proceed to act unreasonable again.

The trainer as deemed that my husband is the alpha, yet I have been home for 5 months and my children are at school. I have been in the eyes of trainers the alpha. I am very strict. He is mellow all day but when the kids come home he becomes nuts, when my husband is home he is in charge of the dogs behavior too. But that is primarily since that is when he is out of control.

He usually sleeps on the floor of our room at night and if we are in a different "situation", he is out of the room. We have always been told that dogs have to "be with you at night" so that is what we have always done.

When my son tries to have friends come over he barks at them horribly. If they run in the house he goes crazy and barks and growls and tries to get them...if we have people over at all we have to have him on a leash or crate him or we think he will hurt someone.

Any stranger that come around is barked at viciously and it takes about 30 minutes to get him under control, but if the "stranger" moves quickly he is at them again. An example: We had Xmas dinner with 15 people and some of which had been over before...he acted mean to them too. We had to crate him. Later when we though he calmed down we let him out, but had to keep him on a leash. He would constantly bump into everyone and if any man would get up quickly or enter and leave the house (smoke break), he would go crazy again.

We are extremely upset since one of the main reasons we got an OES is because they are not supposed to display this type of behavior. We are trying to sell him now, but what else do you recommend? Should he be put down?

Thanks,
Connie
Alberta Canada

Accepted Answer

Here are my thoughts:

1. You need to read my web site on dominant dogs – articles and Q&A – you have not done this. I can tell from your email. Look in the list of training articles on my web site.

2. You need to crate this dog a lot. He should not be allowed in a bedroom. He needs to be crated when there are stranger over. EVERY TIME ALL THE TIME.

3. He needs to be properly obedience trained. He is not now. 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.

4. Cut the hair around his eyes so he can see. My personal feeling is these dogs have temperament problems and some of it is genetic some of it is because they cannot see through the hair. With a genetic weak nerve, they overreact to things that startle them because they do not see things well.

5. He probably needs a new home. This dog is beyond your skill level. It also very much sounds like it is beyond your trainers skill level too.