April 28, 2011
Our 8 year old Aussie is very fearful. She has nipped visitors to our house before. Recently she has started hiding under the bed and bit me when I tried to get her out. Do you have any advice?
Full Question:
I found some useful information on your site re fear biters. Our Aussi is 8 years old and has always been fearful of loud noises, thunder storms etc., she is also very territorial of her house and car. That said if a person with a dog comes to visit she is very accepting, if they come without a dog she barks, and will try to nip ankles and on several occasions when people have tried to calm her she has nipped an arm. Lately she has been going under our bed and won't come out even for treats and a walk. This morning I was trying to get her out from under the bed and simply showed her treats and she bit my hand. She has been trained through agility and obedience but we have never gotten a handle on her barking at visitors or trying to calm her fears. We have a crate and she will go to that when told to. We have decided to put up a barrier to keep her from under the bed and have only her crate for refuge. What do you think? She is never aggressive to other dogs although as a puppy she was bitten by another dog. I do find that with exercise her stress appears to decrease. Fortunately most of out friends are dog lovers but I think we will have to isolate her more now that she is older. Any further information would be appreciated.Clarice
Ed's Answer:
This dog needs to go way back to the basics. Here is some reading material.
I recommend that you go to my web site and read the article I wrote on my philosophy of dog training. I think you will get some good ideas there.
You may want to read the article I wrote on GROUND WORK BEFORE OBEDIENCE TRAINING. If this were my dog it would be following this protocol to a "T".
Fact is your dog is not fully trained. That's pretty obvious as you can't get it out from under the bed. Hundreds of thousands of dogs go through obedience classes every year and the vast majority of dominant or fear aggressive dogs have no less aggression or dominance after the class than they had before. So while obedience training is important - sound leadership is more important.
I will shortly be releasing a DVD and a book titled Dealing with Dominant and Aggressive Dogs - it will be announced on my table of contents.
I would be training with one of our dominant dog collars. For dogs like this I like them better than prong collars. If you don't have a clear understanding of Obedience training, get my 4 hour DVD.
I would NEVER allow this dog in the bedroom again. It would learn that very quickly.
I recommend that you go to my web site and read the article I wrote on my philosophy of dog training. I think you will get some good ideas there.
You may want to read the article I wrote on GROUND WORK BEFORE OBEDIENCE TRAINING. If this were my dog it would be following this protocol to a "T".
Fact is your dog is not fully trained. That's pretty obvious as you can't get it out from under the bed. Hundreds of thousands of dogs go through obedience classes every year and the vast majority of dominant or fear aggressive dogs have no less aggression or dominance after the class than they had before. So while obedience training is important - sound leadership is more important.
I will shortly be releasing a DVD and a book titled Dealing with Dominant and Aggressive Dogs - it will be announced on my table of contents.
I would be training with one of our dominant dog collars. For dogs like this I like them better than prong collars. If you don't have a clear understanding of Obedience training, get my 4 hour DVD.
I would NEVER allow this dog in the bedroom again. It would learn that very quickly.
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