Aggression Q&As

Ed, I would like to ask you a question about my 8 month Great Pyr/lab mix. I've had her since she was 8 weeks old. She has been well socialized, gets plenty of exercise, and has been to obedience class. We have a 12 year old Schipperke, and two cats that have been around her since the beginning. 3 months ago she started being food protective with other animals. We no longer give her bones, and we feed her separately from the other animals. At 6 months old we saw the first signs of ...

Cindy, I have an 8 month old german shepherd (Jones) that I have socialized extensively to try and make sure that he had no aggression problems. He has never showed any sign of aggression towards other dogs or people. He has never showed any sign that would worry me. Today we were at a park with a few friends who have a 10 month old Weimaraner and a 4 month old german pointer. The dogs were playing fine and I pulled out a Kong that i throw for my dog and started throwing it for the...

Hi, I hope you can help me. We have (2) one and a half year old Bloodhound brothers that we are training for search and rescue. The problem that we are having is they are now at the age where they want to kill each other. They got along wonderfully as pups (inseparable) but now all hell has broken loose. No, they are not neutered. Yes, they have been crate trained but at over 120 pounds each, they have outgrown their crates. We cannot afford at this time to purchase new crates. We ...

Dear Cindy, I've written in the past and appreciate the expert advice you gave. I hope you don't mind that I am contacting you again. I had a major crisis this morning, resulting in a death by pack-attack of one of my dogs and bite wounds to myself (I was trying to break up the fight). My mother passed this October after which, in my grief, I adopted a new small dog to replace the one I'd had and that had lived here for the last few years. The 9 pound rescue m...

Dear Mr. Leerburg, My name is Daniel Noguera and I own a 2 years old Vizsla named Diego. While looking online for tools to correct my dog?s problems I found your website and numerous excellent resources. However, I?m still confused about what my best alternative will be among your resources to address my dog?s unwanted behavior; therefore, I?m hoping to get some assistance from you. To do so, I will describe some of my dog?s issues. * Diego does not trust new dogs coming...

Hi Ed, Earlier this year I emailed you with a raw-feeding question, via a Yahoo Group (I think), and of course you were nice enough to respond! I'm sure you don't remember me, but anyway, the raw feeding is going great with our four dogs. :) Only by accident did I come across your Leerburg website today, while Googling for information on the dominance issue we are now having with our two female littermates, 14 months old, lab/chow mix. I only made the connection that you ...

Cindy: I have a 15 month old female German Shepherd that is extremely dog reactive. When I have her out for a walk and she sees another dog she starts screaming. I don't know how else to describe it. People come out of their houses because they think that a dog has been hurt. She also pulls and is only focused on the other dog. This is what I am currently doing to try and stop this behavior: I have had private sessions with a trainer and introducing her to other dogs...

Hello, We have, currently, 5 pit bulls in our household: 3 male and 2 female. 1 of the females is fixed, the other is the mother to the 3 males. All are pure bred. We've always had a little aggression with the males (the are just 6 months now, the last three out of a litter of 8) but n0othing major until recently. When preparing two of the puppies for their walks, Cocoa, the largest of the males, charged from the back porch and attacked his brother violently. We had a hard time eve...

Hi there, We have four dogs in our household. A Male Neutered Standard Poodle (2 1/2 years old); a Female In Tact English Bull Dog (will be two in July); and two 13 month old Black Russian Terriers. A recently neutered (8 weeks ago) male and an in tact female. The Black Russians are littermates. We are having problems with our 13 month old Male Black Russian (100lbs) named Ralph. He is a bully and aggressive with the Poodle and the Bull Dog. He doesn't mess with his sis...

I have two male Yorkshire Terriers that are 10 years old. They both were brought into the house at the same time (Christmas) when they were 3 and six months. They have fought since they were six months. They are cousins (their fathers were brothers). It is definitely a dominance thing but lately they are having many fights (3 in the last two weeks). When they fight they cannot be separated and it is very scary. Sometimes injury occurs. We are in the Philadelphia area...

Hello, I've been searching your site on dog dominance, but can't seem to find quite what I'm looking for. I recently adopted a third standard poodle (male), and after just one month, he and my two females are getting along really well. I have had no growling, no "arguments," no dominance issues between the new guy, and the other two. My two females have always gotten along so very well, which is why we got a third, and so far, the new boy is fitting in so nicely! I've been...

Good Evening, We are raising two females at my home. One is a pit bull and the other is a mix which we were told had pit in her but we don't see it. We have two small children, 11 and 7 years old. We are currently having a problem with what we think is dominance but we aren't sure. We had our mix pit (named Daisy) first and have had her since she was a pup. She is now 1 1/2 years and we got our 4 yr old pit less than a year ago. They have been in three fights since we got Lexi (the...

I'm a little chagrined asking for free advice but I can't seem to find this situation discussed anywhere. Is there such a thing as a mid-life testosterone rush in dogs? My dog's behavior has changed in a matter of days. Johann, my 4-yr-old male neutered German shepherd has always been docile and playful toward all dogs--and philosophical with the ones who lash out at him. But he suddenly became aggressive toward intact males last week--twice at the dog park and once on a wal...

Hi, Our un-neutered 2-year old female GSD is extremely aggressive toward other dogs. Thankfully she is not aggressive towards humans at all. It has gotten to the point that we can't allow the kids to walk her for fear of dragging them to attach another neighborhood dog, and yesterday she yanked the leash out of my wife's hand and attacked a dog. In my best estimation, the aggression stems from an abortive attempt to do Schutzhund training with her. Our training director, a ...

Dear Cindy, I am just about at my wits end. I have three German Shepherds, Mom, Dad and son. Dad is 7 years old and my gentle giant. He weight 125 lbs. and is very laid back. However he is alpha. Son is 18 months old, 100 lbs. and thinks he is the new stud on the block. They all got along really well until Max (son) was a year old then he started to test Boaz (dad). I have to keep them separated as there have already been four serious fights. I have tried just about everything I ca...

Hello, I have been training an adolescent rescued Belgian Malinois, with four other people, to be a service dog. He (Cade) has, however, recently shown extreme dog aggression that has created a road block for Cade and threatened his future as a pet. So, he has sent three large dogs to the vet with punctures or open wounds. He's attacked over toys (twice on-leash and twice off), and once trying to "protect" someone from another dog, a nonthreatening dog. We've consulted a behavorist...

Hi, I just spent the last two afternoons watching your videos that arrived on Tuesday: 'Dealing with Dominant & Aggressive Dogs' and 'Establishing Pack Structure with the Family Pet'. They are excellent! I have been doing everything wrong. I ordered these videos after my two German Shepherd bitches were in another fight this past Saturday. To give you some background, I have kept them totally separate for the past six months since their last fight. I was terrified Saturday ...

I have two Heidleberg Shepherds from Heidleberg farms in Houston Texas, both 3 year old bitches. They have both been through off leash obedience training by trainers in Houston. We recently moved to Montana and the neighbor has goats and sheep (5). The owner came home to see his goat missing an ear and my dogs covered with blood and they had the goat cornered. He called my dogs who responded immediately but then wanted to go back to the goat. As a compromise I paid for the goats vet bill ...

Hi, I have a 3 year old labradoodle. I only got her at 4 months and I know she wasn't socialized to people or other animals before then. I immediately got her into training and we were working on becoming a therapy dog team. When she was 17 months old she was attacked by a 3 year old Great Dane. It ran up from behind us sunk its teeth into her hind quarter. When I freed her, the dog then grabbed onto her tail and began to pull her away from me. I did get her free but she was bitten...

I have an 11 months Border Collie and was introduced to your site by my dog's breeder. I've watched your DVD "Basic Obedience" and found it to be extremely useful and have practised the three phases approach to dog training as you've recommended. Though my dog has been through Obedience classes, but they all lack the "correction phase." Therefore the results have always been inconsistent. With correction built into the training program, I have seen a vast improvement in his consist...