Aggression Q&As

My name is Amanda. I have a very serious problem. I have a 9-year-old lab mix named Harley and a 1 1/2 year old Rott/lab named Jake and two children. I brought Jake home when he was 8 weeks in May of 99. We felt Harley needed a new companion after our Husky passed away the previous November. They had been together for almost 8 years. Well, Harley took Jake in right away with no incidents ever, until Harley stole a dog bone out of Jake's dish, when he was standing right there watchi...

I have been reading your web site and everything else that I can find on aggressive dogs. Sassy just turned 2 and is a golden from very good show lines and also according to the breeder from good temperament lines. She has had some food aggression problems in the past that I have worked on with her since we had her. I thought we had it pretty much fixed. I took her to training at 10 weeks old because of this and we have enjoyed it and been in training ever since. She has passed her therap...

My husband and I have a 5 yr. old Rhodesian Ridgeback that we got at 6 weeks of age. He has been a wonderful pet and friend to us but we are now faced with a difficult decision. For 5 yrs. it has only been the three of us. Both my husband and I have loved and treated Maxwell (the dog) as our child, a person more so than a dog. The only training that Maxwell has received was puppy training, but he has always been very well behaved for my husband and myself, though he definitely has ...

I have a 15-month-old male (not neutered yet) English Springer spaniel. This dog has been a sweet lovable member of our family since he was 8 weeks old. He gets a lot of exercise, love and kisses and attention and discipline. The last 3 days or so, we notice his intense need to get at the many squirrels in our yard, so much so that he has dug under the yard and escaped chasing the Squirrels down the street. He has done this several times in the last days or so. He doesn't seem interested ...

We have a four-year-old lab that in general is a very likable dog. She has developed an aggressive behavior that is quite odd. On her background, she came from a very reputable breeder of field Retrievers and has had solid obedience training. She is quite active and strong. She is friendly to strangers and children in our yard. About twelve months ago, I noticed one day after the gardeners had been to our house, she was acting odd. I inspected her and immediately noticed that she h...

I came to your web site hoping to find some answers concerning my aggressive German shepherd. I was very upset to see your answer for almost all of the concerned people are to putting their dog to sleep. This is a member of the family. We've had our dog for almost 5 years now, and a lot of the behavior some of these people described relates to our dog (Baldwin). His behavior upsets me, and concerns me whenever anybody new visits our home. But I don't think putting a dog down is the answer...

I have two dogs and both seem to show signs of aggression to people who are afraid of them. I do my best to question people to whether or not they are afraid before they approach. For some reason they always tell me no yet I can see it in their eyes. I know if I can see it my dogs can see it. It is at this point they begin to growl as the person approaches. I correct it at the time but is there anything I can do long term. Is this a sign of weak nerves or dominance? Can it be permanently ...

I'm an avid reader of your web site and would appreciate your input on this question. I have a 10-month-old male GSD (neutered at age 6 months). 48 hours ago while I was away at my sons' hockey tournament, my wife heard him barking very aggressively on our front porch. My wife was expecting a playmate for my other son to be dropped off and went to the door the check out the barking. My sons' 12-year-old friend was decked out in full ski apparel including ski hat and goggles scared to come...

I have question I hope you can answer for me. Our college-aged son adopted from a shelter a 2-year-old Kelpie and Australian Shepherd mix (I think). Anyway it is very evident the previous owners abused this dog. It hides from the newspaper when it is rolled up and it will run away from any balls etc. The problem is the dog is now living with us because our son is in an apartment in a large city with a new job that requires him to be gone 10 hours or so. The dog is well behaved except for ...

I been reading your articles on aggressive dogs and I was hoping you can give me some advice on my situation. We own have a pure bred American Pit Bull Terrier, Bambi (who just turned 2 years old this week). We purchased her from a breeder and both parents were on site (and were very nice and loving). She is UKC and ADBA registered. The breeder has since moved w/o leaving a forwarding address. She has always been aggressive when the doorbell rings and has trouble calming down. She ...

Really respect your views on dogs so I am trusting you with an important question. A friend has a 1-year-old female Neapolitan Mastiff that is somewhat dominant in character and can be quite intimidating to strange people and other dogs. She's moving for the first time since she got the dog, to a house where the present tenants in the basement have a 12-year-old female Shepherd mix. The Shepherd is apparently quite sweet natured and has been bitten a few times by aggressive dogs so probably i...

My three and a half year old German Shepherd spayed bitch has a problem with charging other dogs. She is fairly well trained and comes to call immediately if I call her as soon as I see another dog. But if I am not quick enough she completely focuses on the dog and charges, if the other dog does nothing she will do nothing when she gets there. If the other dog starts to run or is an excitable bouncy type of dog she has to stop it and will chase it and grab it to pull it down and then she ...

I have recently acquired a Dachshund. He was one year old when I got him, he is now 14 months. The people who had him before me kept him alone in the back yard. They could no longer keep him because of a barking problem. I felt that a barking problem would not be to hard to break I was wrong. He still has that problem to a degree. The bigger problem is he has become EXTREMELY aggressive the longer we have him the worse it gets. He is fine with our family, but when other people come over they ...

I just adopted a female rottweiler, approximately 1 year from the pound the day before getting put to sleep. She is loving, gentle and responds to some commands. I arranged for my boyfriend to bring my male rott, 2 years to the park to meet her. Both dogs were on leashes with pinch collars. They were equally aggressive, with my male dog more out of control than I had anticipated. He has gone through 2 obedience courses. He has been the only Housedog for the past 3 months. He was raised from 1...

I have a three year old German Shepard, Rudy, with whom I have spent hundreds of hours training. I would classify him as obedient (hand signals, basic commands, etc.). I have never given him any form of defense training. In fact, I gave him training to not bite when playing or otherwise. There is one problem I have never been able to successfully address. While he is friendly and outgoing with adults, he barks at children and little people. I am afraid he would bite someone. I, the...

I would like to know how to stop aggression. Also I would like to know if my two males, one 6 months and one 18 months old, will fight for dominance. Both are neutered. In first letter I gave you the background of their attack on the goat. I would very much like to buy your video. Thank you, Dean

Hello. I was wondering if you may be able to help with a few questions. My husband and I have had a German Shepherd for the past two years. His name is Sargent. We picked him out when he was six months old. He has gone to puppy training and adult training and passed very well. My husband was the one who took him, so he is much better behaved for him then myself. He is very good and listens most of the time, except when it comes to children. When he sees them running and riding the bikes, ...

I have a one and a half year old male GSD. He was a rescue dog and hadn't been socialized at all when I got him (almost a year ago). He is very smart and learns everything I teach him right away. I've been wanting to start him on some protection training, my problem is that he is very dog aggressive and tends to be either intimidated or overly defensive around tall men, although he has been slowly improving in both areas. I don't want to encourage any uncalled for aggression. Would protection...

I am a 40 year old woman who has always had dogs - all kinds of dog. I particularly like dominant dogs in that I want protection (I live alone). My experience has been with Dobermans (females - love that breed). Recently I rescued/adopted an almost 2 year old Giant Schnauzer who was apparently left to his own resources for 20 months. He did not have proper human bonding, was belligerent and arrogant when first here but has come around somewhat. I have worked him daily with obedience; I pr...

Hello, I just read your article regarding dominant dogs. I have a question, and I hope you might be able to provide some advice. I adopted a female German Shepherd from a rescue group. The rescue group was at capacity and this particular woman was going through a bitter divorce at the time and wanted to place her dog. I adopted the dog (female GSD about 2 1/2 years old) directly from the owner. I was only told that she has a ?mischievous streak.? When I got the dog, things started ...