Aggression Q&As

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...

My 8 month old male Standard Poodle has recently challenged me by biting twice. We adopted him from a family that neglected him during the first 16 weeks of his life leaving him unsocialized and with some behavior issues. When we brought him home at 4 months, he had severe seperation anxiety if left alone and will bark excessively non stop and still does. We try to take him on walks and to dog parks as much as possible, he gets along with other dogs great but he is still very shy towards stra...

I've had my 7 year old pitt mix since she was 4 weeks old. I took her through obedience classes and she follows commands nicely unless she is excited about visitors. She's never been aggressive towards anyone. The only aggression I've seen is towards other dogs who approach us while walking and towards a friends toy poodle who constantly harassed her. Up until now she's been great with my son who is 16 months. He loves petting and hugging her and I truly thought she liked it as she's a...

I adopted a 5 y/o male Rottweiler 3 months ago who occasionally nips other dogs, children, and even me. He is a neutral dog - submissive to me (pack leader) but neither submissive or overly dominant towards other dogs/people. The family I got him from had a 2-3 y/o little girl and he is obsessed with small children when I take him to the park, especially little girls. He gets excited and stays close and keeps a close watch on them. He did a very gentle nip to a little boy who was running and ...

I have a male and female ridgeback and 3 of their pups (2 males and 1 female). Females spayed, males intact. Pups are 17 months old. The one male challenges the other males only when we are not at home. I come home to bloody paving too often and he (the challenger)is always the one that loses the fight. Is it too late to neuter him? I don't want to give him away as he is the most loving most playful and respectful dog when we are around. He always loses but keeps growling at the other males. ...

Hi. My family is having a problem with two of our dogs being aggressive. My mother and father have four dogs in total. One is a female we've rescued from a shelter. We have an older male dog who is very gentle, then we have two younger males (they're about two years old). Recently the two younger males have become very aggressive. They've attacked the older male dog about three times, nothing too serious but it was enough that we took Drake (the older one) to my sister's for a little wh...

Hello Leerburg Staff. My question is about what seems to be crate aggression. I have read many articles on your site and now I am trying to find one about crate aggression but have been unlucky. I can't be the first person with this issue, maybe I am looking under the wrong article headings. Anyway, I have bought a GS puppy and have not let the puppy interact physically with my other dogs, just through the crates. My 4 year old Lab tries to attack the puppy when she is in the crate if he goes...

We have a two year old dachshund spayed female named Frankie. We rescued her from a dog breeder when she was 5 weeks old. Her mom died suddenly when the puppies were just 2 weeks old and the owners did not care for them properly. The littermates all died but Frankie and her brother. She weighed under a pound when we got her. The owners got tired of feeding the puppies canned food and they were going to put the remaining two puppies to sleep. I heard about this situation and took both of the d...

Dear Cindy, Thanks for your prompt and helpful reply to my e-mail concerning using e-collars to control prey drive in my 2 year old 110 lb. mastiff/boxer female. The first collar was apparently defective as the replacement worked on the lower power setting just as you said it should. I have had this dog for a year. She is a rescue dog and is assimilating into the family pretty easily. There have been a few issues - for example, a fear of plastic grocery sacks shifting in the back of the...

Hello Ed and Cindy, In your experience, how effective is pepper spray in breaking up a dog fight? Occasionally (say once a year) my 2 rescue boxers will fight with each other. My alpha female goes after my (much larger and younger) male. The male then has to defend himself as the female will repeatedly go after him, and he has hurt the female before. We eventually are able to break them up, but I know how foolish it is to try to break up a dog fight, especially if you are by yourself. ...

I am in serious need of your advice, I emailed you a few days ago about the blisters on my dog's face due to his muzzle, the muzzle itself isn't causing the blisters, it's the fact that he rubs his face on everything from the couch to my legs. Any who, I am considering removing all his teeth as a last option, but before you judge this decision let me give you a little background on my dog. Like I said in previous email about the muzzle my step mom contacted you at the first of the year regard...

Cindy, I have a two year old Male not neutered german shepherd from working lines. He always mouthed me as a pup and never really liked being touched on the belly, feet, ears. Even though he didn't like it, I continued so he would get used to touching. I do all of your suggestions and also NILF and he listens to me for everything. Lately, he has started growling when I pick up his foot or try to clip his nails. I have your dominant dog collar and have corrected him until he stops and allow...