Aggression Q&As

Hello Cindy, We have a 1 1/2 year old Australian Shepherd who is aggressive when on leash with other dogs in a classroom situation and walking around our neighborhood. She does not show any aggression while on leash walking around at dog shows which deal with conformation and obedience. We have her in an agility class where all the dogs are crated and one dog works at a time on the course. When it is her turn she has recently taken off and runs over to where the other dogs are crated and b...

Hello, I found your article on how to break up dog fights very very useful. I recently started working in a dog boarding and daycare facility. Some days there are as many as 125 dogs in the yards.?There are multiple yards and we do our best to divide based on temperament but yesterday was my first dog fight. I have lots of experience with big animals (steers, sheep, etc) but none with such sharp teeth. I ended up with a relatively minor bite, two teeth puncture wounds but no tearing. I use...

I found your site very informative. If a dog is friendly with other dogs, cats and people but attacks one specific dog more than once, would this dog be considered aggressive? Recently, she attacked this much smaller dog beyond repair and sadly the dog didn't survive. Is this dog to be trusted around small children? I know with any dog, there should always be close supervision. But knowing she has this ability in her, is it too risky to keep her in the home with children?

I am referring to Ed's article, What Would I do if Attacked by a Dog? After you pepper-spray a threatening, loose dog from charging at you and your dog, what if its owner denies his dog was unleashed and accuses you of animal cruelty?

We have a rescued SCWT who, after a year of walking with the same group, is still agressive toward the others. I'm wondering if I try her with a muzzle, will that help her interact and realize that they will not harm her? Any thoughts or advice would be welcomed.

We have a 16-month-old male neutered Boxer and have had him since 8 weeks of age. I have trained him on your methods and have had great results except, when he was very young about 3 or 4 months, he would turn and snap at me when I gave him a correction if he was nosing around or chewing on something. I would correct by LEAVE IT command and move him away from whatever it was. I thought that had been rectified until recently. He wears a drag leash all the time and the other morning, while ...

Hi Ed, I am contacting you from England. Boy, I wish I had seen your website before we bought latest dog. We have a 10-year-old female black lab and a 4-year-old male lurcher/labrador/collie cross, when we first introduced him to her I was told by many people never to put a male and female dog together, however we were very lucky and apart from a few spats at the beginning they have lived together quite happily for 2 years. Both are very placid dogs and although the lab shows aggression...

I have a 3 year old castrated Anatolian Shepherd, weighs 160 pounds; I weigh 110. I live part time (8 months) in Costa Rica, and I got him as a guard dog. He is great as a perimeter defense dog, because his size and bark are terrifying. Nobody breaks into my house. However, he has unpredictable episodes of aggression to other dogs. Worst with males, but has attacked females. He is trained in formal obedience, and has no trouble on airplanes, crowds, etc. He is great with people, cats, chicken...

I have read your article about introducing dogs and babies and I found it helpful but I still have a question. We have a dog who is about ten years old, Lady. Lady has never shown signs of aggression towards anyone until recently. My son is now 11 months and Lady has suddenly started growling at him almost every time she is around him. When she isn't growling it is like she completely ignores his presence, she even jumped on top of him when getting into the car one day. We don't want to resor...

I have a 3 and 1/2 year old Cocker Spaniel. He's been crate trained and up to couple weeks ago was fine about going into it at night. Now all of a sudden when told to go to "bed" at night he just lays there and growls at whomever tells him to go to bed. Sometimes he will go in, but then turns around and growls at them again. What's going on? How can I stop this behavior? I don't want him to start biting? I'm not sure how to handle him. In the past there have been times he's in the crate and w...

I have a 5 year old intact male Shepherd (30 inches at the shoulder and 110 pounds)who is aggressive toward other dogs, both while we are walking and when he is in the yard. Part of our yard is well above street level and Liam uses it as a vantage point to watch for dogs and to a lesser degree, other passers-by. He will become totally focused on the approaching dog and will charge in their direction, so I keep him on a long line to be sure he stays in the yard for that reason. When we are wal...

I have a 1 1/2 year old Malinois. He thinks that everywhere we go we are going to do bite work. How do I train him to relax? He has good obedience but sometimes he wants to bite everyone. He won't do it if I give him his negative maker "No." But I don't trust him or my own reflexes so I muzzle him everywhere. I would like him to be safe around strangers. He doesn't need to be their friend, just ignore them. I am guessing you are going to tell me to work on engagement so he will focus on me in...

Ed and Cindy, My wife and I got our first GSD 4 1/2 years ago (I got her BH last year and I've done some SHZ with a local club) and we are in love with the breed and will forever have a GSD. She is 4 1/2, our only pet, high drive and very obedient that primarily stays outside but a huge part of the family! We've trained her to be very calm in the house and has her "place" as you call it (dog mat) in the house where we allow her to come in the evenings, but she isn't allowed anywhere else i...

I have a small dog, who has become very aggressive. He has bitten several family members and recently, in the last 6 months, has ran after several family members with teeth showing and acting like a wild animal. I had a trainer come to my home to help us with him. The dog did go for him very aggressively and he leashed him and held him head up in a choking (hanging) manner and the dog was fighting until (to me) he passed out with lack of oxygen. At his time the dog did defecate and urinate on...

Our problem is with our female basset/pit. We got her when she was 6 weeks old and she's lived peacefully for 3 years with 5 cats and an older non-dominant female weimaraner. The weim died 2 weeks ago and last weekend she killed our 4 month old kitten when he came near her food bowl. In the 2 months prior to that she bit the weim twice (over food and a toy) and 2 other dogs - 1 in our home and 1 in the other dog's home - again over a toy. She attacks without warning. My partner is so upse...

Hello, I found your website while searching for a holistic vet. I adopted a Chihuahua Yorkie mix, but he is a biter. We started crate training him, but inconsistently. He had trouble getting house broken, and we discovered he had a bladder stone. Next came surgery, then the diagnosis of liver shunt. We searched for nutrition answers and found your site. We spoil the dog now, because we expect him to have a short life span, but he does have aggressive tendencies. My concern- after reading t...

Hi Cindy, I want to thank you, Ed and Michael for all the valuable services you provide to dog owners everywhere. I used the information and advice you have on your website plus the discussion boards to obedience train my dog. Nothing special, just a well behaved dog at home and in the park. Today something very sad and terrible happened. I did something very stupid that both me and my dog will regret for the rest of our days together. I want to share it with you and ask a question. I am h...

Hey, Firstly let me say "thank you" for the your website. I have found it very valuable and great info. I am interested in some of your DVDs, as I have a 10 month old shep, but don't know which ones would best suit. We currently attend obedience training at our GSD club every week, my problem isn't the obedience side, it is my dog's reaction to other dogs. When he was approximately 4/5 months old he was barreled over from behind by a strange dog off leash and he got sent flying, since the...

Hi Cindy, We adopted our 20lb cocker spaniel mix this past February. She is now about 1.5 years old. We noticed early on that she is selective about the dogs she'll interact with. She loves dogs that are about her size or smaller, but she is afraid of dogs that are bigger than her. Strangely, she also hates all dogs that look a certain way -- she barks and lunges at wrinkly flat-faced dog breeds (all bulldog-type breeds), regardless of size. If provoked by these types of dogs, she doe...

Welcome home, Jeff! I can't believe how much he sounds like Ed. Loved the video of you and Rush biking. My large dog has a high prey drive, but he does great biking. Just in case, I use a Walky Dog attachment so he can't pull me over. But as much as my dog loves running with the bike, I come close to quitting every day. We live in the city, and I've lost count of how many times unleashed dogs have come after us. I hear this from other bikers and joggers all the time. It's always a diffe...