April 28, 2011
I have a 3 year old Doberman that is a fear biter. My husband hates him and wants to put him down. What can I do to make the dog easier to be around?
Full Question:
I have a three year old male doberman that is a fear biter. Not only that but he has always exhibited crazy behaviors. I love him to death but he is making life difficult.First of all he cries all the time and if he isn't he's barking. He hasn't been properly socialized. I thought that it meant that I didn't socialize him but from reading the different messages on your site I realize that the people we bought him from didn't socialize him.
We have always had the crying problem ever since we brought him home. He cried all night and all day everyday for weeks. I tried pillows, stuffed animals and hot water bottles but he still cried. One of my sons and I ended up staying up all night holding him and that was the only way any of us could get any sleep.
He is still that big baby.
We have another problem when we have guests. He barks at them and tries to snap at them. He doesn't actually bite just snaps. If I put his muzzle on him and stroke the person and speak nicely to and about that person then my dog will calm down but be so afraid that he shivers. After repeated exposure to a person he accepts them. It is just a chore trying to get everyone to agree to pet a dog that they are afraid of.
Another problem we have is that we either end up tying him up or keeping him shut up in a room. He has become more and more destructive and he has started to use the bathroom in the house. He was and is fully housebroken.
My husband hates him and would rather I get rid of him because we can't take him anywhere. Did I mention that he also freaks in the car? He is just afraid of everything and I am concerned that we will have to put in him down.
This is long, but I am trying to cover all the issues. He has been neutered which we thought would help but it hasn't.
If I didn't know any better I would think that he suffered from ADHD.
If you can respond I would appreciate it.
Sarah
Ed's Answer:
This dog is lucky it has you for an owner. It owes its life to you.
The solution to EVERY BEHAVIORAL problem ALWAYS begins with effective obedience training. This is even more so with dogs like yours. Fear biters want to feel safe and comfortable. After a dog has gone through serious obedience training, that means training that encompasses distraction and correction training they learn that they MUST MIND THEIR OWNER or they will feel UNCOMFORTABLE because of the corrections they know they will receive for not minding.
The key issue here is the training needs to be CONSISTENT, calm and VERY FIRM. In other words the dog must respect the possibility of a correction enough that it controls the ghosts in its head. Many people are not willing to learn to train a dog and not consistent enough in their handling of the dog to accomplish this. I can't tell if you are.
With this said the dog needs to be trained with a prong collar and you can use my 4 hour DVD Basic Dog Obedience.
This dog also needs to have its environment controlled through the use of a dog crate. It should NOT COME INTO contact with strangers. You are risking a dog bite in allowing this dog near people it does not know. Dogs are pack animals and weak nerved dogs have a stronger need of pack protection than confident self assured dogs. So this translates into fear biters do not need to meet strangers, they need to be controlled and kept away from strangers (for safety sake).
The barking and crying is a factor of obedience training. If it were my dog I would run it through Obedience training so it would mind under distraction. When that was done it would understand the meaning of the word “NO” – once that was accomplished I would add an electric collar to the program (a Dogtra 1700NCP – we sell them) Then I would shock the dog at the level it needed to stop crying. It's important that the dog be told NO before the shock. I want these kinds of dogs to know that it’s ME THAT’S SHOCKING THEM – not some unknown mystery.
The solution to EVERY BEHAVIORAL problem ALWAYS begins with effective obedience training. This is even more so with dogs like yours. Fear biters want to feel safe and comfortable. After a dog has gone through serious obedience training, that means training that encompasses distraction and correction training they learn that they MUST MIND THEIR OWNER or they will feel UNCOMFORTABLE because of the corrections they know they will receive for not minding.
The key issue here is the training needs to be CONSISTENT, calm and VERY FIRM. In other words the dog must respect the possibility of a correction enough that it controls the ghosts in its head. Many people are not willing to learn to train a dog and not consistent enough in their handling of the dog to accomplish this. I can't tell if you are.
With this said the dog needs to be trained with a prong collar and you can use my 4 hour DVD Basic Dog Obedience.
This dog also needs to have its environment controlled through the use of a dog crate. It should NOT COME INTO contact with strangers. You are risking a dog bite in allowing this dog near people it does not know. Dogs are pack animals and weak nerved dogs have a stronger need of pack protection than confident self assured dogs. So this translates into fear biters do not need to meet strangers, they need to be controlled and kept away from strangers (for safety sake).
The barking and crying is a factor of obedience training. If it were my dog I would run it through Obedience training so it would mind under distraction. When that was done it would understand the meaning of the word “NO” – once that was accomplished I would add an electric collar to the program (a Dogtra 1700NCP – we sell them) Then I would shock the dog at the level it needed to stop crying. It's important that the dog be told NO before the shock. I want these kinds of dogs to know that it’s ME THAT’S SHOCKING THEM – not some unknown mystery.
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