Aggression Q&As

We raised two German Shepherd from puppies Male and female, neutered and spayed. When they were between 1 and 2 we adopted a 1-year old neutered male from German Shepherd Rescue who had been abused. After about four days of his being in a kennel our Shepherds accepted him. The three of them are now between 2 and 2?. We adopted another male (neutered) from the German Shepherd Rescue a couple of weeks ago and are not having the same success. Our male we raised from a pup and the new GS have...

I just bought the prong and the basic obedience of you. I like it a lot and it has been a great help. BUT! My 14 month Rott is very dog aggressive. When we are out walking he walks a good SLOW, HEEL, COME, but if he is walking with me in a heel possession and a dog is on the other side of the street he just don't care if an almost rip his head of, doing it the right way. (Command, correction, praise.) He just turns around and barks at me and tries again. The collar fits perfect and I do c...

I have enjoyed your Q/A about dogfights very much. I have had success in having up to four female, some intact some spade, GSD's living in my home and not fighting. All of the newcomers were introduced at 8 weeks and grew up believing the oldest dog was in charge. I supported the oldest dog in her position in the pack. These were not pet quality pooches of indiscriminate breeding. They are all DDR X WGr. working lines. As the older dogs died off, the next in line assumed the top position....

I am really rather desperate and am looking for someone who can empathize with my plight with my two cairn terriers. Both are females and around a year and a half old. Recently, the alpha dog (our smallest of the two) has been initiating vicious fights with the other dog over affection with my husband and their feed dish (for examples). I realize that this is a jealously issue, but keeping these two in the same house is becoming an impossible task. I just fear, however, that Petuni...

I know you will think I am insane, but... My girlfriend and I have 7 dogs, we have a pack obviously. The dogs are: a 12 year male golden, a 10 female golden, a 10 year female lab, a 6 year female golden, a 6 year female golden/chow, a 5 year female golden, and a 2 year male golden. All of the dogs are spayed and neutered. Some of these (the older 3 & the 5 year old) we raised from pups of 8 weeks. The others were dogs that we adopted from rescue groups. The dogs generally get along...

As I read your Q&A's I see that I am not the only person out here with a problem dog. But I just may be the only one here without a clue as to what to do. We have 3 dogs and a cat at our house. The first was the cat. Then I moved in with a Shi-tzu(8-9 years old) with a bad attitude. Yes she came from the pound and I make the excuse that she must have been mistreated before I got her. She will bite me at any given time! The only reason I took her in the first place was because this ...

I am looking for a video that covers the area of dog fights and how to break them up. Specifically, I work at a training center and I am trying to locate an updated tape to show recruits how to handle dogfights. Ed

Dear Mr. Frawley, I have a problem with a friend's dog and I don't know what to do about it. I am wondering if you could give me advice or direction on what to do. This may be a little long, so I apologize now if it is. I have been with my boyfriend for almost three years and have known him for five. His family has a Springer Spaniel. I have never liked that dog. The first time I walked through that door, his dog showed his teeth and growled the whole time. Nobody did anythi...

I tried to find the answer to my question on your web site, but couldn't quite find the right fit from the previous questions. I'm really hoping you can help because I don't know what to do. We have a lab that we've had since she was a puppy. She's always been an inside dog and has gotten along great with EVERYONE up until now. She's not been to formal obedience training, but we don't like unruly dogs, so we've got her pretty well trained. She's always had ear problems and, as a ...

I'm hoping you can give me some advice on our dog. We own a 10 year old Chow/German Shepherd mix dog. She went through puppy training at Petsmart and we had a personal trainer come to our home for basic commands. We are having problems with aggression. We never noticed any aggression until our son was born 6 years ago. She is very protective of our children and house. If a person rings our doorbell or knocks on the door she goes crazy. She literally lunges at the door trying to get to the...

We currently own a 120 lb 9 month old Boerboel we got in South Africa. Over the last month he has been showing signs of aggression towards children (growling). We just had him neutered this past week to hopefully help eliminate the aggression. We also were looking into obedience training. However, while we were out at the park this weekend our dog bit a 3 year old boy. The attack was completely unprovoked and happened very quickly. Luckily the boy is fine and while the dog did break skin ...

Where do I start. Maxx is a Black Cocker Spaniel that I rescued when he was 6 months (now he is 23 months). I rescued him from being put down. Maxx is very aggressive and I don't know what to do. It seems like he doesn't want to be around anyone by me. He is very selfish and doesn't even want anyone or another dog to touch him. Examples: When I put Maxx out to go to the bathroom (he is very Obsessive Compulsive) he always goes to the bathroom in the same place in the yard which is a good ...

Hello Mr. Frawley, My name is Mark Wright. My wife, Cassie, and I have two dogs? and a newborn (our daughter Anna was born a week ago). Our dogs are Lacey, an 11-year-old pure bred Cocker Spaniel and Gidgit, an 11-month old Beagle/Collie mix. Prior to Gidgit?s arrival, Lacey was fine and understood that we are the masters. I believe that is still understood today. I can approach Lacey and pull a bone or other toy away from her without her becoming aggressive towards me....

Thank you for your site. I've spent hours poring over the material, and plan on purchasing some of your DVDs. First however, I wanted to contact you because my situation really is different from anything I've read. One month ago, I moved into a home with a 120 pit bull mastiff, who is completely blind. The dog is a foster dog and has been living with my two roommates for 6 months. He's very poorly trained, dominant, and shows aggressive tendencies (such as growling). After reading your ...

Hi Ed, I adopted a 2 year old australian shepherd about 8 weeks ago. He is a 40 pound red merle named Casey. Casey belonged to an 18 year old girl until she had a baby and could no longer take care of Casey...I was told. >From there he went to a foster family and then to an aussie rescue foster family. It was from the aussie rescue family that I adopted him from. I also have a 2 year old german shepherd. I had a 12 year old shepherd that I had to have put to sleep. The hip displays...

I got a pembroke welsh corgi last year at about this time, he never acted this way before but...anyway Whenever we go off for a drive, when I try to pick him up [or anyone for that matter] he will snarl, bite, so on. I'm only trying to help him into the car, he use to let me do it, but now... Then, just recently, he started this, I tried to pet him just this morning and his ears go back and he snaps at me and backs up. I scolded him and he gave me a deep deep growl and wande...

Hello, I would really like your opinion on the following situation: Almost 10 years ago we decided to adopt a dog from a shelter. The dog was healthy, and we guessed he was somewhere between 4 and 6 months of age - he was loosing baby teeth. The shelter noted him as a stray and there were no other details. We visited him on two occasions at the shelter prior to adopting him. He had a lot of energy, like to play ball and seemed to be a generally happy dog. We could only guess at the bree...

Hi Ed, Thanks so much for sharing your experience and advice on and through this web site. I am hoping you can help me and perhaps lead me in the right direction. I am interested in several of your videos and was wondering which you would recommend for my circumstances. I have an 8 year old neutered Basset Hound, a 3 year old neutered Rottweiler mix whom we rescued, and a 14 week old Newfoundland girl. My problems are with the rottie mix and I would really appreciate any adv...

Hello, I have a concern about our 10 month old dachshund we adopted from a dachshund rescue web-site in Nebraska. He is a intact male, but just recently had him neutered. We have only had him for 3 weeks now, we love him and enjoy him very much, he is so far very good with our oldest child, my husband, myself and our other little dachshund. He doesn't get along well with our 19 month old son. I think he is a fear bitter, and I really have to defend the dog on this part because my s...

Hi Ed, I have a 7 mo. old Lab/Redheeler (and possibly German Shepard) mix. She was a stray that we took in when she was approximately 3 mo. old. We have a great vet for her and an appointment this week for her to be spayed. I would like to have a well trained family pet and also reliable protection (We live in a very shady part of town). I am a college student and stay-at-home with my 2 1/2 year old. We are also on a very tight budget and cannot afford professional training. I have...