Janice Jarman Webboard User Reg: 04-19-2005
Posts: 505
Loc: Mid Missouri USA
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I don't really have any thoughts for tests, but it does occurr to me that the dog was trained to be aggressive to passers by. In that he was found chained to a fence, someone may have been using him as a yard dog and encouraged that sort of behavior from him.
I think you are right about it being a train the trainer issue.
Does he respond to commands? Esp. commands usually used in Schutzhund? How about Obediance commands? Just a few thoughts, if he seems to know the verbal commands, then you are right, he probably has had some training.
Is it possible that he's a bit insecure in his new surroundings? He might calm down a bit as he gets more comfortable. And yes, he is absolutely trying to gauge his reactions/behavior on hers. She's all he has at this point!
Kristel Smart Webboard User Reg: 10-03-2006
Posts: 1548
Loc: Vermont
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This dog sounds like a really great dog, IMHO. If the dog will readily great strangers accepted by the owner, but acts aggressively toward people who are walking by with or without dogs in a less formal way, it sounds like more of a territorial/protective thing. Did I correctly read the post? This may or may not have been a trained behaviour. Almost all of my Dobes have done this without training, and required training to prevent it if I chose to do so. For me, as long as it's been a guarding-instinct thing and there's an off-switch, I don't discourage it. Though maybe being kept on a chain has made it more intense? Mine have always stopped carrying on if I called to the person (usually someone I knew) or had them approach me, meeting them half way. Then the dog would return to it's normal, friendly self. Even one of my therapy dogs behaved this way. The dog just needs to learn that it has to defer to it's owner. If it's a dog aggression problem though, that's a whole different story.
Howard Knauf Webboard User Reg: 09-24-2003
Posts: 1555
Loc: Melbourne, Florida
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Mike,
I commend you for helping this lady out. You are right about this being a "train the owner" situation. Normally when I feel out a dog that a owner says is aggressive I'll leave the owner out of the equation. In this case you have already done that. The next obvious step is to do what you are about to do. Just be sure that the decoy dogs are rock solid in the face of aggression.
I don't know that Janice's suggestion is accurate. Its a good guess but we will never know. A dog tied to a fence with no otion of fleeing will agress because he is forced to. It may be what the original owner wanted but I don't think it was actually trained that way, they just want the benefit of a vicious looking dog.
More than likely Kristel has the right idea. If the dog behaves while you have the lead, then turns into a monster with the owner holding the lead then it is the owner who needs the work. Good luck.
I agree, he sounds like a GREAT dog <:-) who's probably being "street defensive" because of his chaining history <:-(
Since he's visitor-friendly & dog-friendly offlead indoors, I would teach his new owner how to associate the proximity of harmless strangers with a marker word (I use "neighbor") and a TREAT -- Then when she has him outside onlead & he gets guardy if strangers pass by, she can use the marker/treat to re-direct his attention & get him to offer an acceptable behavior instead...
Good posts guys. I agree with the chaining up having a lot to do with it. It doesn't sound difficult to correct. I'd probably just make sure the owner can read when the dog is barely getting into that mode and re-direct it somewhere else. Probably teach him to not act that way, when she is in the yard with him. When he's by himself, he has permission. Dobe's are watch dogs.
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Aggresion - Good dog - Nice owner
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