April 28, 2011
The expert bahaviorist could not deal with our dog. The behaviorist and our vet recommended putting the dog to sleep. Is this the right decision?
Full Question:
Mr. Frawley,I am hoping you can help us today! We adopted George from a local shelter 15 months ago, he is a German Shepherd mix, about 3 or 4 years old. From the beginning he has showed dominance towards me when he found food outside, going after me with a strong, viscous bark, but has always let me take away his food if I have given it to him. Since then my husband and I have given birth to a beautiful daughter who is now four months old. We have tried some training and met with a dog behaviorist, both of which failed. George has gotten much more aggressive towards me, my husband, the nanny and my sister-in-law. To make a long story short, he rolls on his back and shows his belly to be rubber (like he ALWAYS had in the past) but goes after the person petting him, and I believe without a doubt will bite the person who chooses not to back down to this aggression. We did have an aggression expert evaluate him and said he is not trainable (as he tried to bite the expert even after disciplining him) and that the dog needs to leave the home. He is currently at the kennel, as we try to find him the best home, either back to the trainer who adopted him out to us or to a home with a BIG outdoor space for him with NO other animals or children, as he goes after squirrels and cats.
Unfortunately he needs to leave the kennel tomorrow and if we don't find a home for him, we will have to put him down, which our vet fully supports. What do you think? Any input would be most appreciated. Please help?
Erica
Ed's Answer:
Well it may have been too late for you to do anything.
Dominant dogs are not easy dogs to deal with. If a person is motivated to learn how to live with them they can ALL be cured with proper handling. The only ones who cannot be dealt with are dogs with medical problems that cause the aggression (i.e. a brain tumor).
I have written extensively on dominance on my web site. Both in articles and in the Q&A section. You have not read that - I can tell from what you have written. You can go to my list of articles.
A very few dogs require extreme training. This is not the place to go into the details on this. But 99% of the dogs people consider dominant can be dealt with by the measure I have already written about on my web site.
This situation is an example of an unqualified person calling themselves a behaviorist. There are far too many people like this out there and I loose patience because their incompetence kills dogs (at least results in dogs being put to sleep that could have had a chance). Frankly, the same thing applies to most Vets. They are medical people and not dog trainers. They assume that because they handle and see a lot of dogs every day that they are somehow trainers - WRONG! The good ones will admit it.
Dominant dogs are not easy dogs to deal with. If a person is motivated to learn how to live with them they can ALL be cured with proper handling. The only ones who cannot be dealt with are dogs with medical problems that cause the aggression (i.e. a brain tumor).
I have written extensively on dominance on my web site. Both in articles and in the Q&A section. You have not read that - I can tell from what you have written. You can go to my list of articles.
A very few dogs require extreme training. This is not the place to go into the details on this. But 99% of the dogs people consider dominant can be dealt with by the measure I have already written about on my web site.
This situation is an example of an unqualified person calling themselves a behaviorist. There are far too many people like this out there and I loose patience because their incompetence kills dogs (at least results in dogs being put to sleep that could have had a chance). Frankly, the same thing applies to most Vets. They are medical people and not dog trainers. They assume that because they handle and see a lot of dogs every day that they are somehow trainers - WRONG! The good ones will admit it.
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