Aggression Q&As

3 years ago my husband and I rescued a terrier mix from a southern rescue. Having had such good luck with our first rescue, we figured we couldn't go wrong. We were told Charlie was 6 months old, house and crate trained. The day we got Charlie he was covered in scratches, bites and feces. He was also clearly younger than 6 months old. His teeth had just started to poke through. Either way we brought him home and started to work with him. It was a nightmare. He was anxious and dog aggressi...

Hello Ed, I need a muzzle for my dog Diesel, and may have to find other alternatives anyway. Diesel has been our family dog since he was 7 weeks old, but he has recently shown aggression on more than one occasion towards my eldest daughter (15). He is only 1.5 years old, and is very protective with my five children, including my eldest. But, he will not tolerate ANY form of discipline towards my children when administered by my daughter. First, let me explain what the discipline entails: s...

Hi, I have had both my females, a french bulldog and an Amstaff living together since they were pups for the last year. Neither have been spayed. Recently my FB had a litter and I had seperated her down the side. The Amstaff had been barking and jumping at the gate for days. I kept the FB seperate until she gave me signs she was ready to leave, which was today, so I let her out. The Amstaff kept sniffing her, and standing rigid to her with her tail erect. After running out for an errand, I...

We rescued a 2+ yearod abused lab/chow mix. He was not neutered or trained. After 3 years, he is both, and we've tried to make up for the lack of socialization. However, he still -- very rarely -- bites. He's fine and then something scares him and there he goes. I know we can't make up for his first two years of abuse. And I know the conventional wisdom is to put him to sleep. I wonder, though -- what if we removed some/all of his teeth? I imagine it's expensive, but I don't see why it's not ...

I have a male bull terrier I have been showing since he was 4 months old and conformation classes since he was 12 weeks. We go to conformation classes every Tuesday. We recently had been to a show as a 9 month old pup. He was being judge by a man that should have never been in the ring with a puppy. The judge was very rough with him and he got spooked by the male judge and is now fear aggressive towards all men (he will let youth males touch him with out problems). He growls barks and would s...

Hi, I need a little advice, I have a 12 year old border collie, who is quite disobedient. He will not go on his lead, so this means he can't have a walk. If we try to put him on his lead he gets aggressive and will try to bite us, this is making us afraid of him and he knows it. This is causing us a great problem as we both work all day and so when we want to sleep at night the dog gets bored and barks and want to go out to the toilet. When he is out at night he barks and won't come in. He...

Hi Ed, First I want to thank you for all the information you've made available here on this website. I've been through so many of your articles, videos, and even the discussion forum and have learned a lot. I recently adopted a 2 year old GSD a few weeks ago. I've been putting her though your pack structure program, and thing seem to be going pretty well. She knows that she has to wait to go up/down the stairs, in/out the door/crate until I tell her she can go, she's very responsive ...

Hello, I have recently rescued a 7 year old Staffordshire Bull terrior/Jack Russell, her name is Penny. She is well behaved and has understood from the off that I am master. I was told she was dog aggressive and I am confident enough and usually able to distract her we she sees other dogs whilst out on the leash. However, yesterday as I walked round a blind corner another domesticated dog came with it's owner, Penny instantly lunged and bit the dog around the snout before I could react, th...

My son and daughter train 3 year old border collies for 4-h they are starting their 3rd year. The dogs are from the same litter. My son has the female Ruby and my daughter has the male Zeke. Last year Ruby got bite by another dog and she has been dog aggressive ever since. Once she starts this behavior then Zeke also becomes aggressive. The volunteers at dog practice feel exposing them to the other dogs during a meet and greet exercise will help where my children need to correct their dogs be...

Dear Cindy, I have been reading your Q&As about fearful dogs but still need help! My dog suddenly became extremely fearful. I don't know if its a "fearful stage" but he is definitely going through something. (6 mo. old) He has become SO fearful that even walks to go potty are a hassle. He tries to back out of his collar or run away when he sees cars driving by, hears voices, hears a radio, sees a person far away, loud noises. I am trying to just ignore it and trying to reinforce confidence...

I happened across your website today while doing a search on aggressive dog behavior. I have a Blue Heeler, and have raised him since he was 6 weeks old. He is now approaching 9 years. When he was a puppy, I was able to teach him to sit, shake, etc, and he listens fairly well when we are outside playing if it's just him and I. There has always been one other dog in our home, but within the last three years, my son moved his dog in (due to apartment living), and my daughter moved home with...

Ed, We have a 7 year old Beagle and a 14 year old Cocker Spaniel at home. We've had both since they were puppies, but we got the cocker first. They have gotten along up until about this past year. Lately, the Beagle has been attacking the Cocker Spaniel. She's a hunting dog, so she's fast and gets a good grip on the other dog. Out of the blue, she'll lunge at the other one and attack her, without ever letting go. When we try to drag her off, she takes the other one with her. It doesn...

Good morning, I am needing some new ideas to help get one of my dogs through a particular situation. I teach puppy socialiazation classes and am very familiar with clicker training. I also show in conformation and this is the arena where I am having the problem. About a year ago one of my young females was terrified by a judge in the ring just as he was coming up to her for her exam. During this year I have used the clicker to help her with focus and to have people come up to her and pet ...

Good Morning, I know you receive hundreds, if not thousands, of emails regarding misbehaved dogs, etc. and my question is most likely not any different, but we find ourselves in a difficult situation and don't really have the time to read countless pages of situations. Here it is, we have 3 dogs and have had them for years. We have a 5 year old St. Bernard-male, a 7 year old Golden Retriever-male and a 4 year old blond golden retriever-female. They have all been fixed. The St. Berna...

Hello, I have a quick question. I am taking my 7 month old GSD/Mal mix through your Basic Obedience after completing the traditional classes. She did very well and continues to do very well. The issue I am having is she is very "goosey" (gets behind me, starts jumping around, hair goes up and doesn't really growl, but makes noise to get back) around people when they get within about 3-5 feet of me or her. I tell the people to ignore her, don't come any closer, back up and I put her in eith...

I have read so many articles on having dogs around children, yet I still have to ask so many questions and tell you my situation in hopes that you can help me before something serious happens in my home. There are two dogs in my home which are both almost five years old. They are rotti mix, but we are not sure with what. They are my husband's dogs and they have been in this home since they were brought here from about 6 months old. One is male and one is female, they were from the same lit...

Hi Cindy, I have an 8 month old spayed Doberman. I follow yours and Michael Ellis? videos for training, especially The Power of Training with Food. Here is the problem. Sami doesn't like people, acts very afraid or nervous and is uncontrollable when they approach when we walk at the track or in a store. She will not hold a sit or pay attention. I have used a variety of high value treats but she ignores them when she gets like this. She either sees them and then it is hackles up, somet...

My mother has a female Yellow lab that she rescued when it was a couple years old. She drove by and saw it outside in a kennel and she was severely neglected. My mother has nursed her back to health and given her a very loving home for the past several years. She has socialized her the best she could. I believe that due to the lack of early socialization and training, she gets very aggressive (only barking and backing up) at some men (not all) and is very aggressive with other dogs at times. ...

My husband and I have a 17 month old female Black Russian Terrier x Shepard. We rescued her 6 months ago. Shelby is our 4th rescue. We also have a 12 year old lab X shepard, Sydney. Although we had a few bumps to start - they get along very well. Shelby is crate trained. We are working with marker ob training and is generally going well. She is very dog reactive. Barking at the window, the fence, and when on a walk she sees them coming before I do. She stands with her tail straight up, heavy ...

Hi, I am hoping you can give me some advice about how to handle the fact that one of our dogs has decided to take over as pack leader over our older dog who has always been the pack leader up till recently. I have two dogs a foxy/jack russell that is around 12-15 years. He is a desexed male. We have owned him for about 9 years. About 5 years ago we were given a female (not desexed) poodle puppy. They have got on well all these years and the male has been the dominant dog of the two. Lat...