I spent Easter dinner at my aunt and uncles house. They have Wire Hair and welsh terriers and some airdales. (Unsure of proper spelling). In all I believe they have around 13. Most are crated, some loose in the house. Many dogs are aggressive toward certain other dogs in the house, it is a totally chaotic scene. No discipline, no team approach by aunt and uncle to managing these animals. My aunt has 2 huge bruises on her arm from one of the small dogs biting her in a recent dog fight in her home.

Many of her dogs put there paws up on me throughout the afternoon. I would tell them no and maintain eye contact until they left. After dinner I was talking with my mom and sister about the possible dangers in a dog park, trying to convince my sister that although nothing has happened yet, she would be helpless should one of the aggressive dogs attack her great dane.

As if on cue, one dog clawed up on me and I pushed her off and told her no. She started barking at me so I maintained eye contact and my aunt came around the corner and yelled at me for scaring her dog. At first I though she was joking. She said her dog was afraid of men and I later overheard her saying the dog was a fear biter. I told her I didn't know the dog was afraid of men and I didn't want it jumping up on me. (I guess I didn't see the sign)

Everything I've learned tells me this is inappropriate behavior, not to mention as a guest in anyone's house, I should not have to allow a dog to jump up on me. I don't know what else to say or if I need advice, maybe just needed to vent. I just returned home after 20 yrs in the military and unfortunately I have no plans of returning to their home if I can't even keep their dogs off of me when they will not.

Anyway, there it is, any comments would be welcomed. Although I would never put my dog into that scenario, I can't help but wonder what Bruno would do in the same room with these dogs.

Weeellll, unfortunately, you can't change the way people keep their dogs if they do not want to learn the proper way to keep dogs.
I agree about not wanting them to jump on you and really, if the dog was afraid of men and a fear biter, it should have been put up.

I feel for you. I have been going back and forth with my parents about how they feed their dog. The poor thing is as wide as he is tall and they won't quit over feeding him.

I don't really know what else to say. Do you think they are open to suggestion? If they are then there are tons of things you could tell them and help them with.

Actually, my uncle would be but my aunt would not. My uncle really doesn't want all the dogs and my aunt knows nothing of being a pack leader. These dogs run across the back of the couch while visitors are sitting on it and she does nothing. We've talked before about different methods and I think she sees me as an irresponsible dog owner for using an e-collar or prong and especially the dominant dog collar. I get allot of flack about that one from many of my family members. My aunts dogs claw up on people at the dinner table and it's constant. You can push one off and there's another one waiting in line. They fight all the time and they have no safe method for breaking it up. What sucks the most is I've been away and missed many family gatherings. Now that I'm back home I'd like to catch up on lost time but not if I'm expected to put up with unruly pets.

I think the fear biter comment you made is a no brainer but she doesn't see it that way. It's kinda funny, I think she has no business keeping so many aggressive dogs and I'd bet she thinks I have no business keeping any pets. And yet, the world turns.

With the details you presented, it sounds as though your aunt (and maybe your uncle) are not open to suggestions and even less so to change.

I think the most you can do is write down/tell them about Leerburg. I'd give them the links on this site that describe pack leadership, multiple dog households, or anything else that you think they would benefit from. If they don't bother to train their dogs in the most basic of manners, I doubt they'll bother to search a site as extensive as Leerburg. So I'd print out the articles, or if they are computer literate, give them the exact links.

Thirteen unruly, unsafe, untrained dogs in one house. What a nightmare!

I would give your Uncle the information to research and maybe he will start "putting his foot down"? Who knows, maybe your Aunt will come around as well.

My husband hates dogs in the house. He will tolerate them as long as they are being taught house manners but if I go overboard he is not afraid to tell me that it is too much.

OMG Eric, one day you'll see that aunt's story on the 11:00 news, "Husband returns home from Sears to find wife's dead body being devoured by 13 savage terriers!" <:-O

If I wanted to socialize with those people, it would be at a restaurant, LOL

For me it's not so funny because those people are my family. Unfortunately it is very possible they could wind up severely injured or dead. The dogs are small but there's allot and they are no strangers to fighting. I have also resigned to the fact that if I want to see them, it will not be in that situation.

Where's Old Earth Dog Bob??? He would have some wise words for dealing with terrors.

Unfortunately there's not a lot to add to this.
A house full of any breed without leadership is a disaster waiting to happen.
Without strong leadership, terriers social ranking means little when they get fired up. Even the "low on the pole" dogs forget their ranking when it hits the fan.
Eric, your aunt getting upset when you corrected her dog pretty much tells you how far your going to get.

If they haven't learned by now they probably won't...if they have cable/satellite, maybe encourage them to watch Cesar's show on National Geographic or get them Ed's "dominant dog" DVD from here at Leerburg.com

My parents were very oppossed to me feeding my dog raw, but now they see how well she's been doing and they are happy to feed her when they've watched her for me.

It makes sense if you think of them as wild/pack animals but most people/owners don't see them that way...they continue to see them as simply pets or a member of the family.