Aggression Q&As

Hi Mr Frawley, I went through your website about some tips on my dog's behavior. My dog is 18 months old mix of Portuguese Mastiff, Estrela Mountain Dog and Portuguese Cattle Dog, according to the vet, as he was given to me as a Lab. He is not neutered. He has always been social friendly with other dogs untill about 2-3 months ago, which he has become aggressive. In my opinion, the reason is the age. He used to be play, pushed by others and never answered back but was friendly play. Was...

Dear Mr. Ed Frawley, Hi, my name is Justin. I live in Vermont and I have a 1 1/2 year old johnson american bulldog/american pit bull mix. His name is Conrad and I have had him since he was 4 weeks old. Conrad is about 85 lbs and extremely aggressive to anyone he does not know. He is very protective of my house, car, kennel and mostly me. He has already bitten 6 people and just bit my girlfriend the other night but did not break skin. I know I was a little hard on him when he was pup and I ...

My dog, which is now 4 years old, is a lab mix whom we adopted from a shelter. Since she was a puppy (Mattie) she has exhibited signs of weak nerves. We always attributed her aggression toward people as acts based out of fear or lack of trust. She has also exhibited problems wanting to dominate relationships with other dogs and, in doing so, displayed signs of aggression. As far as we were concerned, we had raised and trained our dog very well. She follows all commands with the occ...

Dear Cindy, I have a 5 year old female GSD who has always been fearful aggressive, terrified of every one (except my mom and me), noises, and objects. If she can't run away from some one then she will bite them. When someone is in the house she will either hide in bedroom or hide behind me. I've had a 12 and 10.5 year old before her and now a 9 month old who never had this problem. I'm very experienced in training dogs, non-professionally, but do not know how to fix her to make her...

Hello, My 6 month old chihuahua has a very annoying habit and I am hoping you can help me teach him not to do. When I first got him at 12 weeks old, he was perfectly fine around everyone, but one day about a week later out of the blue he just started to get extremely afraid of my dad. He will not sit in the same room as my father and he will pace around the house watching to see were he is. If my father gets up and walks into another room, my dog will start to bark and run upstair...

Hi, My name is Lena. I have been reading your site about dog aggression. I have a 1 year old large munsterlander, who shows way too many signs of aggression. When he was six months, he nipped our friends young son. He was alright, but it greatly concerned us. Ever since then, we have been trying to destroy those signs of aggression, but it has been difficult. He is a baby to everyone in our family. He has never shown aggression to any of us. We can steal his food, mess around with ...

Mr. Frawley, I sincerely hope this email reaches you. I have been an avid reader of your web site. and have purchased some of your material in the past. I have a problem. I am a dog trainer of six years, I have experience dealing mainly with working dogs. Sled dogs, some entry level sport, and personal pets. My problem lies with a female Malinois I own from an irreputable breeder from Oklahoma. I have raised this dog as of 5 weeks of age, the dog is now approximately 16 months old....

Ed, I have purchased several of your videos and 4 heating pads, all of which I appreciate. I am a breeder of Field line Labrador retrievers. Your site and products are listed on our recommendations we give to new pup owners. I have spent quite a bit of time on your site but still have a question about a how to rehab an extremely shy dog. We have a female, Trixi, that was attacked as a pup by another female which was in season. After this attack, I found your site from wh...

Hi, I have an 11month old GSD. She has not yet been spayed? I am waiting for her to go through one heat. She is a bit shy and I spent a lot of time when she was very young having her meet and play with other dogs and I introduced her to lots of people. I would stand out in front of stores and ask folks to pet her and I would take her on walks where I knew there would be lots of people and activity. She is very gentle with my granddaughters and she is very sensitive to a correction....

Hi, My name is Jennifer, I have been reading your site top to bottom over the last few weeks and have found a lot of great information. I was hoping to get some help on which video/book you think would be helpful for myself and our 1yr old neapolitan mastiff "Bella." We have had Bella since she was a pup and had a "horse accident" at 12 weeks old. The horse stepped on her toe and damaged a growth plate. She's had two surgeries at 12 weeks and 16 weeks. --- This really hinder...

I got Patton from a breeder when she was 11 weeks old and she was delightful - friendly to all. She went to stores with me and played at the dog park. She would go to manhattan and stay with my daughter and son in law and I would visit and she was the same - went into restaurants, stores, etc. When she turned 8 months old and was spayed, the world changed. She became very aggressive to all strangers - and she despises children. (She is fine with dogs off the leash still.) We have a very g...

I have question on whether the pup I have may be at risk of being a fear biter. The dog is a five-month-old Shar Pei male, that we have had since he was 16 weeks. The mother was outgoing, father was more standoffish, but friendly to strangers at the dog show with the owner present. The pup was/is shy, and it has taken about 6 weeks since he has been with us to approach us with a wagging tale, but still reluctant to be petting on the head and neck (backs off), but more agreeable for pets u...

I purchased a cocker spaniel for my three children this past Christmas. I read many articles about socializing, selecting the right dog, and training. I typed in family pet on the Internet and found cocker spaniel. I had many conversations with the breeder and asked all the recommended questions. He was black and tan with white markings. Everyone who saw him wanted to pet him and told us how beautiful he was. My children have been asking for a dog for a long time (10 year-old and twin 9 year-...

The problem in a nutshell is aggression towards people. I need to decide how to try to handle it, or return the dog to the breeder. About a month ago my wife and I adopted a 2 year old female bouvier. She is the 3rd bouvier we have owned, all from the same breeder, all adopted as adults. This dog was originally in a home with 3 other bouviers, and reportedly had developed aggression towards the other dogs which is why the original owner gave her up. She reportedly had never exhibit...

Dear Ed, Our family is in a terrible position and we have a very difficult decision to make. We have a 5 year old Wheaton terrier, Reilly, that is a sweet and very loving dog with our family. We have 5 children ranging from 9-19 and she has been incredibly docile with them. She was the tiny one in her litter and very scared of her siblings. In retrospect we should have known that this could become a problem. She has a very weak stomach and requires special food. We tried to board h...

Hello Mr. Frawley, I recently read your article on the web and found it very informative. I used to own a Polish Tatra and as you may know, are natural and determined guard dogs. I cannot tell you how much I miss that in an animal that offers that kind of relationship. It can be wonderful. I am writing you because I had a question about some information on your site. My wife and I have a male Great Dane/St. Bernard mix that will be 7 months on January 16th. You mentioned on ...

I have a Australian Shepard/Rottweiler mix dog, he was born without his right eye. I picked up from the pound because the previous owners other dogs were too aggressive towards him. I was married when I got him and my ex-husband was not very nice to him, I never saw him hit Jack but Jack would stay down stairs until I got home. Shortly after my husband left me Jack started nipping at peoples ankles. He would sneak up behind them nip and run with his tail between his legs. When I'm not hom...

Dear Mr. Frawley: Today I killed my dog. Abby, our sweet, bicolor GSD, lived with us for six of her eight years. I adopted her from the Humane Society. The worker there later told me Abby had been seized during a raid at a dog fighting ring. They'd tried to use her as a guard dog. They also had bred her continuously and used her pups as bait. It took her two years to learn to wag her tail. She craved attention, and I was her person of choice. Our other GSD, Griffon, d...

Sir I just recently acquired a great dane dalmatian mix. He is 9 months old and he weighs about 67 pounds. He is a very sweet dog, he likes kids and he adores me. I could do anything to my dog and he wouldn't even bat an eye lash. However, I picked him up from the pound and I believe that he either was abused by a male or he has never been around them. He wags his tail at every kid and female but he starts barking and acts like he wants to bite every guy that walks into the house o...

Hi Mr. Frawley, I could write all day, but I have made so many mistakes, that I just need some help to get me started on the right road. I have 2 dogs for 8-yr 11 yrs and blind. 1-Golden mix for 1 1/2 years that I took as so shy, couldn't be adopted. She has become a member of the family....very slow. Even now, I am trying to get a collar on her, much less in a crate. It took 4 weeks to get her to come all of the way into the house. She is 5 years old I took in 2 females Dob...