I have a Giant Schnauzer who I basically rescued at 2 years of age. He is overly aggressive and dominant. What should I do?

Question

I am a 40-year-old woman who has always had dogs - all kinds of dog. I particularly like dominant dogs in that I want protection (I live alone). My experience has been with Dobermans (females - love that breed). Recently I rescued/adopted an almost 2 year old Giant Schnauzer who was apparently left to his resources for 20 months. He did not have proper human bonding, was belligerent and arrogant when first here but has come around somewhat. I have worked him daily with obedience; I practice "we live an obedient life."

    He is a VERY dominant dog. I walk him every morning for about 90 minutes, it is an excellent exercise period and we practice obedience. This morning as we were coming off a steep mountainside we hike up Aries (the dog) became very aggressive towards a hiker. I had him on a very short lead, as I rein him in when I see someone (mostly because I'm worried about dog aggression, which he has been regularly demonstrating ... he was fine for his first month with me, friendly with other dogs, then suddenly he turned to berserk boy). Anyway, he just lost it with this man. I had him on a flat lead and choked all the way down and told him no, no, no. The usual. What bothers me is that this dog will display aggression out of the blue. He's fine for days or a week and then BOOM he flips out. Before flipping out with the hiker, as we were coming off the top of the mountain he grabbed his lead and tried to pull me down. Now, I'm a pretty athletic woman but this dog is one strong SOB. I shortened up the lead tried to get him under control and kept walking. This on again off again behavior makes me leery. I had him on "choke"; no lead available for the rest of our walk home (a good 30 minutes) and immediately put him in his crate. I have realized in our short tenure that this is not a dog to take on - he just gets more committed to his dominance. He'll definitely take the challenge.

    I think he's got a good temperament and he's very smart, but he's definitely got aggression issues with dogs and now people - and out of the blue (this is what bothers me the most the Schizo behavior). The breeder is going to be prejudiced in this matter but I like my face and want to keep it. Please write me or give me your phone number so I can call and talk with you. I need expert advice early in the game, I've only had him two months. We've been to one group obedience class and it was good socialization but he needs a lot of private work and attention. I think he can come around but I have moments where he worries me. He flips out. He loses his focus. Because he had NO training from his previous owners he gets lost in the moment and fails to respond properly to commands. I want a dog I can enjoy not one that I'm worrying is going to attack the dog, the person or God forbid me. Please give me some thoughts or let me speak with you.

    Best regards and thanks for your time,
 Lisa

Accepted Answer

I assume you have read my articles on Dealing with the Dominant Dog and Dealing with the Overly Aggressive Dog and that you are doing these things.

To begin with, this dog needs serious obedience training. This must include “prong collar work.” I call a prong collar "power steering for dogs." If you are concerned for your safety then you must invest in a good muzzle and take the time to put it on him and let him adjust to it before obedience training with it on. It must become second nature for him to have it on or he will expect a fight every time it goes on and we do not want that. This can take a couple of weeks and means every walk is in a muzzle - there is nothing wrong with this - its done all the time in Europe. I would recommend the Police style muzzle we sell - not cheap but very secure and safe.

If it were my dog I would take him through my Basic Dog Obedience video (and muzzle if necessary). I would not take him to obedience classes until I was through with the training and then only in muzzle. Why risk a dogfight before you have control - you are putting the cart before the horse by introducing him to all of the distractions of other dogs before he is trained to mind you.

You need to read the Q&A sections on my web site.

I would then get one of the Tri Tronics Electric collars and work "LOW LEVEL" stimulation training on the dog. I use these methods on my police dogs - which are about 100 times tougher than anything you have in a Schnauzer. Make sure to get the right model - there are a lot of them but you need the ones that offer multi-level stimulation from the transmitter. Do not do the collar work before you do the normal obedience.

If you follow what I say you can probably work this dog. It will take a lot of work and attention to detail.