We adopted a 2 year old Aussie 8 weeks ago. He has been biting people and I just don't know what to do. Do you have any advice?

Question

Hi Ed,

    I adopted a 2 year old australian shepherd about 8 weeks ago. He is a 40 pound red merle named Casey. Casey belonged to an 18 year old girl until she had a baby and could no longer take care of Casey...I was told. >From there he went to a foster family and then to an aussie rescue foster family. It was from the aussie rescue family that I adopted him from. I also have a 2 year old german shepherd. I had a 12 year old shepherd that I had to have put to sleep. The hip displaysia and arthritis were just too painful for her and she kept falling on her hind end. She was a wonderful dog for 12 years. My 2 year old shepherd is also a great dog. She has been trained and is very social around people. Casey the Australian shepherd I adopted gets along great with my 2 year old shepherd. I'm taking him to obedience training and he is doing exceptionally well in that area. He will be ironically earning his canine good citizens certificate this week. Casey is a very loving and affectionate dog. he's very smart and listens well. however I don't think he was socialized or trained as a puppy  very well. My problem is Casey  will attack people coming in and going out the front door. One of my daughters friends had been in the house one evening. Casey had even gone up to her and let her pet him. As she was standing by the front door to leave Casey came up from behind and clamped down on her elbow. She had one small puncture wound about the size of a pencil head.The rest were scratches. It didn't bleed at all. But the girl went to the emergency room and it cost us $1200.00 . Another night he lunged out the door at my daughter whom he knows very well. But because she came in through the front door he jumped out and bit her on the upper leg and bruised it. Then he bit the back of my sons pants  the other friday because he was giving me a kiss and hug before he left to go away for the weekend. Just last night Casey bit my sons girlfriend on the hand as she was wheeling through the kitchen door. Chrissey had been in the house for about 20 minutes before I had let Casey out of the cage. I put him in the cage as people come in and out because I don't trust him. Casey knows Chrissey. She is here almost every weekend. He didn't break the skin but left teeth marks that went away after about 20 minutes. It seems his problem is when people come in and out the front door or if they are in the house and get up to walk to another room or across the room I have to watch him carefully for movements towards that person as if he is going to bite them. He's an absolutely wonderfully behaved dog except for this one problem biting and its a big problem. I have been trying positive behavior training by giving him treats as people come in and out the door but It doesn't seem to be helping. I don't want anyone else to get bit. Do you think this is a behavior that can be changed? I'm leaning more towards returning him to aussie rescue. I think Casey needs to be with someone who lives by themselves and doesn't get much company. Your thoughts would be appreciated. Thanks.

    Annette

Accepted Answer

This dog has pack behavior issues and if you plan on keeping it you need to jack your obedience up about 50 notches.

You may want to read the article I wrote on GROUND WORK BEFORE OBEDIENCE TRAINING. The dog should NEVER be off leash in the house.

The dog does not respect you as a pack leader – if it did it would not be doing this. If it were my dog the slightest attempt to bite would bring down the wrath of the gods. This dog would think it’s life was about to end. On a scale of 1 to 10 the dog would and should get a level 12 correction.

I guarantee you that the reason this dog changed homes was because he did this in other homes. With this said – you have empowered the dog by allowing this behavior to continue.

While you may be getting a CGC award the level of training for this is minimal. Absolutely minimal. I tell people that the vast majority of dominant dogs come out of obedience classes just as dominant as when then went in. That’s because pack behavior issues were not dealt with. OB training is only part of a solution with a dog like this.

You need my DVD on Dealing with Dominant and Aggressive Dogs.

Fact is if this were my dog I would run it through my OB program and when that was done it would be trained with an electric collar. Then I would teach it to wear a muzzle and I would set up scenarios to test the dog. If the dog even looked cross at anyone I would give it an avoidance level of correction. With all that said – I would NEVER allow the dog to be loose around guests. Not ever. Why risk it?