Hi Everybody
We have just had an incident with our corso. He is 9 months and 95lbs and comes from a reputable corso breeder.
First, he growled at us when we pet him near a new rawhide bone, and second, lunged to bite when we tried to correct him for the growling. He has exhibited food aggression in the past and has been corrected for it.
He is a very good natured dog in all other respects, he is friendly and calm with strangers, other dogs and children. He listens when he is told to sit and lay down, generally comes when called and does not exhibit aggression when we play with his other toys (plastic or rope ones).
Please send any comments. thanks
Food, treat and toy aggression are covered fairly thoroughly on some more recent posts. In a nutshell:
Make sure your groundwork per Ed's article is good. Ed's Dealing with Dominant and Aggressive Dog DVD comes very highly recommended from me and others on the board. Read carefully about handler aggression, redirected aggression and/or punishment aggression - your dog seems to display these to some degree. This is a major concern that may indicate that your dog percieves he has a high status in your home. Don't rely on your dog's sweet nature in place of proper training and structure. As you have found out, even the sweetest, calmest dogs are very willing to be aggressive. Aggressive behaviors (growling, biting, guarding) are normal dog behaviors - we must provide leadership, structure and training so that the dog doesn't display aggressive behaviors.
Because your dog is younger, feed all food one kibble or chunk at a time for 2 weeks. After 2 weeks, feed the entire meal in a crate and DON'T mess with the food. This is all that is necessary unless your dog later begins to guard the empty food dish (also addressed on the board).
Don't leave toys or chews laying around for him to guard, stop giving high value toys or chews or give them only in the crate. Use toys only in stuctured play, like fetch.
This is not advice, as I am still learning myself with my chow, only what we have had to do. I am trying to follow the "Leerburg" method as closely as possible. People on the chow forum say you cannot use any form of aggressive correction with a chow but the lesser methods they suggested did not work. A behaviorist suggested we may never be able to give Bruno a bone to keep, ie. one that does not get chewed up right away, and it's been awhile since he's gotten one. We did not handle the situation properly when it started at 3 months old and we made him worse. Now he only eats in his crate and never gets a long term treat, only milk bone style. He is a great dog when not in aggression but when he starts growling, no good happens. Don't be fooled into thinking this is a small problem because he may start showing dominance / aggression in other areas as well. Keep a close eye and follow the advice of the trusted people on this site. DZ
I have an Akita (similar in certain characteristics to Chows) and some people on my breed's chat-boards also talk nonsense about how Akitas should just be trained using clickers, praise & Gentle Leaders (motivation only, no correction) -- My response to them is, "Whatever works for you, but when that approach doesn't turn out well, I hope you'll use a more reliably proven method before having to euthanize your dog" <:-(
I direct new Akita owners to Leerburg ALL the time & I hope they're learning as much as you have been...
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