Our 10-month-old is aggressive to other dogs. Our vet and a police K9 training facility recommended us to use the ecollar but our trainer disagreed. What do you think?

Cindy,

I wanted to get your opinion about our 10 month old female German Shepherd, Indi. She has begun to be aggressive towards people and some dogs. When she is aggressive towards people she is on leash and when they get close enough, that I guess she perceives as too close, she will lunge and snap towards them. She is not quite as bad with other dogs but does show some of the same behavior.

We were attending training classes at the local pet store to learn the basic commands, which she has learned quickly but it has not helped with any socialization or with being around people. The aggression has seemed to get worse with people.

We have contacted a local training facility that trains a lot of the local law enforcement K-9's. They have been certified dog trainers for over 25 years and are recognized as qualified instructors by the AKC. They recommend that we come to training, using an e-collar. My husband is a former K-9 handler for an agency here and he is familiar with e-collar use and it worked well with his German Shepherd. This particular dog was not aggressive to people. He was a dual purpose drug/bite dog.

The local pet store trainer, that knows Indi, has called me and wants us to come back to her. She is saying that using an e-collar on an aggressive dog will make the aggression worse. Her example was, if we use an e-collar when she is aggressive towards a person the dog will then associate the e-collar correction with that person and will continue to be aggressive towards that particular person.

I also called our vet and he did not suggest that the e-collar would have this effect. He actually said that this may be the way to go for this situation.

I have done some research on the internet and talked with other people and have gotten a mix of opinions. After reading your website and many others I think that we are headed in the right direction but I am trying to be cautious as I don't want to make a mistake that could be detrimental to Indi. I feel like she can be a great dog if we take the right steps, I just want to be sure that we are taking the right ones.

I have read that it is important to identify the type of aggression that your dog has but that has been difficult for me. Indi is a great dog at home and with myself and my husband. She is fine with our other dogs (one 7 yrs old and one 3 yrs old, both about 35lb mix breeds). Our daughter and her husband visit and bring their two dogs and she is fine with them and their dogs. She shows no aggression towards any of us in any way. Our daughter does visit fairly frequently. Our son on the other hand does not visit as much and she will bark at him but not show any of the other aggression signs. It seems to be only people that she doesn't know, and I have not been able to pinpoint what it is they do that makes her be aggressive.

I also realize that we, as her owners, owe it to her to be trained in the correct way to handle her and that the problem, most likely, is with us not her.

We are scheduled to begin training on Saturday. This training is on and off leash obedience using an e-collar.

We really appreciate you taking the time to read our email and any advice or information that you may be able to provide us with.

Thanks,
Mark and Pam