I have a dominant aggressive dog, my own fault I was a poor pack leader. He took a run at me the other day, bit my hand so I gave him a very sharp correction. However, apparently the correction was not strong enough, when I put him back in his cage he growled at me, barked , snarled etc. Oh by the way, that has been a common practice (barking in the cage upon entry). I have desensitized him to his cage, I can get him to enter his cage, platz, open and close the door no reaction. Then I have him come back out of the cage (this going in an coming out is just a dry run, I have done it a lot to eliminate the reaction). The problem is when I finally want to put him in the cage for good and I take the leash off, all bets are off and he turns around and attacks the door of the cage, i.e where I would be standing. Is the best way to solve this problem by using an e-collar? Or should I pull him out and hang him? His aggressiveness has gotten worse lately, where he will take a run at me from 5-10 feet away. (13 month GSD) That's why I was wondering if a severe correction (hanging) is in order. I have been precticing deferment training without any luck.

Have you used the dominant dog collar? How old was he when he started this? Being a poor pack leader is something many of us are guilty of at times, but what you're describing sounds a bit more extreme than most of us have to deal with for that sin.

It is a crap shoot on using the dominant dog collar or the remote collar.

We dont know what kind of squirrles are running around in this dogs head. To error on the conservative side what if its fear aggression and not dominace aggression. If you then hang the dog you are confirming his fear.

If you know it's dominace aggression you can fight the dog. But If a dog is doing this kind of thing here he is doing it in other areas of his life with you.

It may be easier to fight the dog in another enviorment with a dominat dog collar. Once the dog has had his air taken away (to the point of NAP TIME) he developed a serious respect for slack being taken out of the dominant dog collar.

A few dogs may have to have this done a couple of times. BE CALM when you do it, VERY VERY CALM. If you have family members around - get rid of them. They only bring hectic karma to the training.

Read my article on the theory of corrections in dog training
http://leerburg.com/corrections.htm

If this were my dog I would probably consider remote collar training. But you can't just slap the collar on and go after the dog. Use low level work and do it right. Incorperate it into all aspects of training http://leerburg/com/318.htm

It sounds to me like you need to run the dog through the entire DEALING WITH A DOMINANT AQND AGGRESSIVE DOG http://leerburg.com/301.htm

Ed

He began this at a very young age, it began with food. So I would feed him in his cage, but that only made it worse. He would get very defensive of his empty bowl after he ate, a long time after he ate. So I started feeding him in a separate room (that he could leave on his own after he was finished) the same thing would occur he will guard an empty bowl. I have been more times by this dog than I care to share. I tried a dominant dog collar today at lunch, it seemed effective. After I lowered him back to the ground he stood and huffed and puffed like he was about to pass out and was submissive, but, when I went to put him back in his cage the same thing all over again. I am just worried I could hurt his throat, etc. by "hanging him” have you ever heard of this happening?

I'm going to watch this very carefully for replies because this describes one of my dogs to a "T"....luckily, he's 9lbs. But I've tried most things mentioned with him, and NOTHING changes his behavior. He's only like this about food and grooming, never anything else. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif" alt="" />

In regards to the e-collar. I have seen a few dogs actually get more aggresive when stimulated so be carefull and definatly consider the video from Ed. If the dog Bites you and learns "that this shutts it off" then you will have another problem on your hands..Good luck

That's kind of like what mine does w/the prong...

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I have desensitized him to his cage, I can get him to enter his cage, platz, open and close the door no reaction.

How did you do this?

What did he take a 'run ' at you about - the food bowl again?

Is this guy going to be a working dog or you going to make a pet of him?

Is this aggressive behavior only happening when you are putting him in his crate? And does he still behave this way with the food dish? How is he when walking him on leash - is he obedient? And when he is acting this way, where is he holding his tail? High up in the air, half way, or low? It is so hard to determine dogs behavior over the message board, however, Ed's article links that he included are awesome.