My dog is aggressive to only some dogs. I am trying to get him to stop being aggressive, but he shifts mood so fast I have a hard time correcting in time. What do you suggest?

Question

My name is Justin and I've been a longtime customer of Leerburg.com.  I'm hoping that my dedication to the site and your products will tempt you to give me a little personalized assistance with my Rottweiler.

    I have a pure breed German 5yr old neutered male Rottweiler with dog aggression issues. I have purchased and studied Basic Dog Obedience, Dealing with Dom/Aggr Dogs and E Collar Training as well as most of the training equipment you recommend and have put them to great use.  I handle him on leash with a prong and Tri Tronics collar at all times.  He has responded very well to obedience training with markers and I'm able to control him in all situations except one.  I have not been able to curb his dog aggression issues.  He has improved immensely but he is still very aggressive to certain dogs in certain situations.  I'm to the point now where I feel that I need to give him hard corrections and/or stimulation if he looks at another dog.  First, let me tell you what I've done and how he's responded:

    When I began working with him he was so dog aggressive that even seeing another dog across the street would cause him to growl, bark, lunge, etc.  I used a properly fitted prong collar and followed the methods you recommend in Dealing with Dom/Aggr Dogs DVD and he responded appropriately.  I then began gradually upping the distraction level and eventually took him to a dog park (outside the fence along the perimeter) and started correcting him at the first sign of aggression. I agree with your philosophy on dog parks....I wouldn't bring him into one even if he wasn't Dom/Aggr.  He responded well with the fence separating him and the other dog and he eventually got to the point where he can be nose to nose with another dog through the fence with no signs of aggression.  I did this dog park work over a couple weeks with maybe four visits before he showed zero signs of aggression.  I then started working him near the entrance/exit of the dog park, thinking this would be a good exercise to condition him without the fence divider. He responded well to certain dogs but then he would become very aggressive to others.  All dogs are required to be on leash in the parking lot so I think it's a great place to challenge him.  He has no handler aggression issues and I can restrain him when he gets aggressive so it is relatively safe for me, him and the other dogs and owners. I would allow him to look at another dog as it was walking by and I was never able to correct him or even say no before he began barking/lunging.  He is able to go from calm to extremely aggressive in a split second.  He would seem calm and well mannered to several dogs in a row and then he would get stupid with one or two after that. Part of it is my lack of experience but I do think he is a bit unique in the sense that he appears calm and curious then snaps into aggression without warning.  I've setup scenarios where I can pass by one dog on a sidewalk (the dogs are three feet apart) and he is fine and the same scenario a minute later with a different dog and he goes nuts.

    I exercise him regularly. We walk about a mile or two per day and I take him hiking with me as often as possible and he carries a dog pack with about 15lbs in it.  I've taken him on 5 mile hikes with the pack on and he still manages to work up enough energy to become aggressive to other dogs that we encounter on the trail.

    I've just recently began working with the E Collar after the conditioning period and several re-viewings of your DVD on E Collar training.  I've never had to use it once in obedience training so far because he always listens to my commands.  He's great at the recall, down, sit, stay, long stay, etc.  The main purpose of the E Collar and the E Collar DVD purchase was to have a tool to control his dog aggression.  When a situation arises I am always late with my correction.  He's already barking/lunging by the time I stem him.  I've been stemming him on 3 (out of 5) and he immediately stops and turns to me but the "damage" is already done.

    I need some pointers and some support from you so I can solve this issue.  Common sense tells me that I should stem him on 5 (the strongest stem level) when he first looks at another dog but I have been hesitant to do this because he is so friendly to most dogs we encounter and because I am concerned that I will somehow damage his good behavior with other dogs.  He is a 130lb Rottweiler and when he gets aggressive it scares the crap out of the other dog owner and I can't allow this to keep happening.  I live in a high rise building in a congested area of Houston and I can't have him barking and being aggressive to ANY other dog because of obvious reasons.  It took major convincing of the Community Board to even allow me to have him live here with me.  This building is full of toy breeds that bark like crazy at him and are totally out of control and I need him to be silent when he encounters this on a daily basis.

    I know what to do to make him go into complete avoidance with all dogs but I just need to know if I should do it.  It just sounds so depressing to me to have to hit him on the highest level when he looks at another dog.  But if that's what I need to do then I'll do it.  Something must be done or it's only a matter of time until someone in this building complains and I won't be able to keep him here.

    I can't move because of financial reasons or I would.  It's either make him stop or I have to find another home for him and there is no way I can do that.

    Any and all info would be GREATLY APPRECIATED.

    If all else fails I guess I can switch to clicker training and a Halti to solve his dog aggression issues...haha   JUST KIDDING

    Thanks in advance,
  Justin

Accepted Answer

Hi Justin

    I admit I chuckled at the halti/clicker comment.

    I will tell you what I would do if this were my dog.  Because he is aggressive to some dogs, in my opinion, he has lost the privilege to interact with any dogs.   I don’t think you need to put your dog into avoidance with a high level correction though.  I don’t want ANY of my dogs (none are dog aggressive) to be interacting with other dogs, I want them to be aloof and neutral. If I had a dog aggressive dog, I would still want my dog to be aloof and neutral.  I don’t see any good reasons for my dog to be interacting with dogs from outside my family pack.

    As far as using the collar, I’ll use the example of my Malinois who has been taught that our outside cats are a big NO.  I only use the highest level stim I need to use, in order to get the dog to respond.  Sometimes that means NO correction with the collar at all.  My Mal has off the chart prey drive and aggression, and because I am consistent and I give her a verbal before she is even on “alert” many times I do not even need to tap the button.  If she were to continue to look at the cat I would tap the button on a low level and work up if I needed to.  I don’t believe in cranking it up to the highest level right away because I am trying to teach the dog to follow my voice, not teach the dog that he is going to get pain every time she sees a cat.  You can always go up, but once you are at the top then what? Does that make sense?

    I would teach a dog like yours a “look at me” type command, to give eye contact to you.  I would use LOOK or WATCH ME and reward.  I would do this at home with no distractions at first and maybe even teach him to catch food you drop from your mouth (small pieces of hot dog work well for this).  Once he understands this, then you have an alternate behavior to do with him when you see a dog coming up.  You see the dog, tell him LOOK and then tell him GOOD.   If he chooses to not comply, he gets a correction for not looking.  This is much different to a dog psychologically than being given a correction for seeing another dog.  If you think about it, getting corrected for seeing other dogs can many times build more tension and aggression towards dogs in general.  Give him something else to do instead and make it worth his while.   It creates a much more balanced and trusting relationship between the 2 of you, and takes a lot of conflict out of the whole situation.  Of course, he may need a high level correction at times but this gives you a way to communicate with him fairly and so that he actually can get a reward out of the situation instead of only corrections.

    You need to work on your timing, don’t wait to give him a command.   You see a dog in the distance, get his attention even if he hasn’t noticed it yet.  Don’t let him zero in on another dog. If you can be quicker I think your training will progress much faster.  You need to be hyper aware of your surroundings, and not just looking at your dog.  Anticipate your dog’s actions ahead of time and things will fall into place.

    I hope this helps.