Our 15 month old dog has been growing more aggressive on the street and at the door of our house. We had to give him back to the breeder. Is there something we can do to fix this dog?

Question

I am desperate for some advice and found your web site very interesting and I am hoping you can give some guidance....

We got our dog at 8 weeks of age from a reputable local breeder. He is now 15 months old. He was socialized very well - loves kids and people in general. We were first time dog owners so at the vet's suggestions attended obedience school at 6 months (6 weeks). He was friendly with all participants in the class - both dogs and owners. The instructor of these classes was adamant that no dog should ever be slapped or hit as a means of punishing bad behavior.

The dog sleeps in a crate at night and has been restricted to the kitchen when we are out of the house (with crate available and he usually sleeps in it when we're gone). He house trained very easily and caught onto the obedience commands quickly. Although we had what we considered some minor obedience problems we needed to work on - an uncontrollable liking of kleenex from the garbage and taking toys the kids left on the floor, we were very pleased with his progress. This dog was extremely affectionate, never growled or nipped at anyone - even when toys or treats taken right out from under him. Overall, a wonderful pet who fit our family perfectly.

Incidents of aggression began in the Spring, when we were outside more in the daylight (after our long cold Canadian winter). While walking him on leash, he started lunging and barking at people - we thought it was just getting used to being around strangers and new territory - but corrected him by jerking his leash and firmly telling him "NO", then progressed to putting him in a SIT/STAY position as people/dogs passed by. We were seeing improvement. However, we were now experiencing problems with him when people came to the door. He got very excited, and if it was someone he knew we let him greet them although we needed to remind him to stay OFF. With strangers at the door, we began removing him from the entry area to avoid his over exuberant welcomes until we could get him trained properly.

We then encountered a number of escalating incidents which finally led to our present situation. He began randomly nipping people who approached him - on the street, at the door (yes, we started letting him greet people as he was becoming less excited and now knew not to jump up on them). We attempted to reprimand him ("NO", shaking him, removing him from the situation), while at the same time apologizing to the people involved. Following his nipping (or attempt at it), he typically would be friendly toward the same person. I immediately contacted the breeder and the obedience trainer who expressed disbelief since they both had experience with the dog and he always behaved so appropriately when they saw him. Neither of them offered much advice, although we did attend another session of obedience training (at 10 months) to expose him to more people.

This situation escalated to the point where he bit someone - again, totally unpredictably - but always strange people entering the home or those approaching him on the street (we felt perhaps it was). We consulted another trainer in the City who stated the dog could never again be trusted, it was only a matter of time until he bit one of the family and he needed strict "military training" - always on a leash, always in a DOWN/STAY position when strangers approached. We attempted this however let our guard down once, with our neighbor whom he'd seen numerous times - he bit him and the man required stitches. This incident led to consultations with the vet who felt the only alternative was putting him down - though there was a 10 day waiting period after a dog bites someone. We were extremely upset by this incident and removed the dog from our home and the breeder was good enough to take him during that period. However, she phoned before the 10 days was up to say he'd been wonderful, she'd had no problems and was willing to keep him until a suitable home could be found.

This was a month ago, we still miss the dog terribly and have been to see him and can't seem to let go. The breeder has only seen one incidence of aggression when a stranger came to the door at which time she physically reprimanded him.

My question is this - is it possible that we could take the dog back and correct this behavior without having to be on guard the rest of his life. I can't help but feel this problem is our fault and not the dog's - I feel we let him down by not training him properly. I am willing to use a muzzle or any other means for overcoming this behavior but not as a permanent solution.

I would appreciate any advice you can give. I apologize for the length of this e-mail. Thank you for your time.

Sheri

Accepted Answer

The problems you describe are not uncommon. Dog aggression and showing aggression at the door are very common. The solution is almost always the same - TRAINING, TRAINING, TRAINING. This means that you dropped the ball.

Can you fix this? I don't know - you did not do the right thing in the past 13 months that you had the dog.

Usually dogs like this have nerve problems - that's where the aggression comes from. They are not self confident dogs. When they show aggression of any kind it needs to be met with a firm "NO" command followed by very, very hard corrections with a prong collar. The dog needs to respect the potential for a correction more than its concern over his perceived threat.

The issue is that many people do not have it within themselves to administer a strong enough correction to impress the dog.

Bottom line is your dog is, and was, not trained. If you cannot send your dog to his dog crate when someone is knocking at the door - it's not trained. If you cannot tell your dog to lay down when someone comes near you - well then your dog needs a lot more training.

You may be better off with a different dog - probably a female. Unless this is one of the first litters your breeder has had - I seriously doubt that they have not seen this before.

If you want to learn more - read the articles and Q&A's on my web site on fear biters and overly aggressive dogs. You can find the information in my list of training articles.

If you want to try with her dog - get a prong collar and my Basic Dog Obedience video.