I moved into a home with a Pitbull Mastiff who is completely blind. I've embarked on being the pack leader. How do I correct him when he growls? Is yelling NO enough?

Thank you for your site. I've spent hours poring over the material, and plan on purchasing some of your DVDs. First however, I wanted to contact you because my situation really is different from anything I've read.



One month ago, I moved into a home with a 120 pit bull mastiff, who is completely blind. The dog is a foster dog and has been living with my two roommates for 6 months. He's very poorly trained, dominant, and shows aggressive tendencies (such as growling).



After reading your advice, I've embarked on becoming the pack leader.
It's only been a couple weeks but I am making progress. He will now sit and wait before coming outside.



My problem is how to correct or deal with his aggressive behavior. Mostly this happens when I want to take him for a walk, and he doesn't want to go. As I approach him with the leash, he will jump back and growl at me. This frightens me as he could kill me if he wanted to! It just happened right now, and I yelled "NO!" and went in my room and closed the door. But is that letting him win, as he doesn't have to go for a walk? He sat outside my door and whined. There is no way that I am going to approach him when he is growling at me and force a leash on to him...he's too scary!



THis happens also if you try to take something from him that he wants to keep. Should I simply yell no and let him keep it, because I'm too scared to really yank it from his powerful jaws!



Your web site. says to correct aggressive behavior and not allow it, but I can't find anywhere exactly HOW you should do that. Is simply yelling NO enough?



Thank you so much for your time - dealing with this dog is taking over my life!



Stacy