I adopted an intact male dog (GSD/Lab/Rottie X) a few months ago. He is now 2 years old. I plan on getting his neutered soon, but I don't think it will change anything since he is already 2. I have been using a prong collar with him and that has been working well, but recently it hasn't been as effective in discouraging from freaking out when he sees another dog.

I try to avoid other dogs as much as possible but I live in a dog friendly apartment so we do encounter other dogs once in a while. There is a male Boston Terrier in my building that makes him lose control. His hackles go up and he's lunging against the leash. I have the aggressive dominant dog DVD, and I was trying to give a correction with the prong collar that was hard enough to stop him from doing the behavior but even the strongest correction I can give him doesn't stop him. He's even started coming back barking at me when I give a really strong correction with the prong. The prong collar works in all other correction situations but he gets so worked up when he sees another dog that it doesn't have an effect.

And yes, I have it correctly fitted and I'm using it correctly.

This morning I tried a dominant dog collar, as soon as he started reacting to the Boston Terrier's presence I lifted his front paws off the ground. He kept trying to lunge at him and started chocking and sputtering. I was walking with a neighbor lady I had recently met which then told me that I should be careful because his collar was digging into his neck and it might hurt him. I hate to admit I wimped out because she was there and stopped. I know I have to be ready to go all the way with it but it's very hard when there is someone else there watching. Grrrr.

Is there anything else I can do, or should I just avoid the neighbors like the plague so they don't report me to the SPCA for choking my dog??

prongs can sometimes escalate aggression. i have a DA female who can escalate on the prong, if i don't time the correction exactly - you may want to consider whether the prong is the best collar.

....not that me and teagan are perfect, by a long shot, but something i've found for the most part to be helpful is catching her early and having her do some obedience, usually a sit or heel. i've tried to have it replace just giving her corrections. she definitely did not start out doing it well....nowhere near it - and i will correct her if necessary - but she does for the most part now know that i expect her to sit or heel quietly when there is a strange dog with sight. i also actually don't pass other dogs (though we were for a walk on a trail yesterday and had....3 or 4 off-leash dogs come up to us. teagan is muzzled, and i kept the dogs away with my legs, 'NO' and bf, and had her sit. she did quite well. but wherever possible, i prefer to avoid close contact with strange dogs. that may be harder to do in an apartment though.

i'm not knowledgable enough to advise on the use of DD collars though....it may be the best in this situation, but thought i'd throw out some other things you could also try.

My dog is dog aggressive too. I walk him on a prong but also put an e-collar on him. I have a Dogtra 1700NCP. (Anyone know what NCP stands for?)

My experience is similar to Jennifer's. I have the most success with Hans if I can catch the problem early. There is a lab that charges her fence when we walk by. If we see her ahead of time, I can start giving Hans "no" and leash pops, and while he still isn't happy about it, if I catch him before he goes into drive I can control him as we walk by the fence.

However, if we don't see her, and she comes running from around the corner as we are walking by the fence, Hans goes into drive (which drive I'm not sure) and does as your dog does. Pulls on the leash, lunges, tail and hackles up, facing the lab directly. When this happens I have to use the e-collar to get him under control. I crank it up to 60 and give him a quick hit with the continuous button, by quick I mean hit and release the button as fast as I can. This will usually get his attention back on me (sometimes takes up to 3 stims) and we can continue with our walk.

Interestingly, distance makes a big difference. When we are walking out, we pass within about 10 - 15 feet of the fence. On the way back we are across the street, and when she charges the fence Hans is easily controlled with verbal corrections, and maybe a leash pop.

Also, the other dog's attitude makes a difference. We often walk past a big boxer laying in his front yard, or in the garage with the door open. He just glances at Hans and Hans just glances at him, and there is no interaction other than that.

NCP=Nick Continuous Pager

I'll try distracting him with obedience, though I'm not sure if it will be enough to distract him. Like I said, he is a relatively new dog and we are still working on his obedience training.

I'm assuming that the Boston Terrier is also an intact male, though we've never been close enough to him for me to notice. We usually see him across the parking lot, but that seems to be close enough for my dog to freak out.

He acts differently when it's a female dog, or male dogs that were neutered early. He still becomes unmanageable, but he doesn't become aggressive, instead he whines and acts like an over sized puppy that desperately wants to play with the other dog.

Both reactions are annoying so any help on this would be appreciated.

 Quote: Tanya Jasperelli

I'll try distracting him with obedience, though I'm not sure if it will be enough to distract him. Like I said, he is a relatively new dog and we are still working on his obedience training.

it might not be at first....and there may be certain situations where it will never be, but i have found it to be a big help.

i've had teagan for just over 11.5 months (she's 6.5 years old now), and it took her about....6 weeks? before she would sit when i asked her too....at first i thought she must not know anything, until the day she stopped, considered me, and then very deliberately sat. i may be ascribing too much to a dog, but to me, it was a 'fine, you can tell me to sit' kind of moment.

it took us a long time to work with the obedience to the point that she will sit well-behaved for me, and her aggression isn't gone - and never will be - if i drop my guard, she'll go - but, as long as i'm there expecting it from her, for the most part, i get it (actually, there was a boston terrier that barked and behaved most rudely on one of our walks yesterday and i'm afraid to say she did break her heel....but it has been a good exercise for us). we're still working towards perfection, but it has been good, not only as a way to control her behaviour and work on her obedience, but honestly, as part of forging our bond. when i would correct her, she'd always give me this look....she's a relatively tough dog, i've never been able to over-correct her (and there's a few times where....well), but she'd give me this look where - she was doing what i wanted, b/c i was correcting her, but she wasn't doing willing or with any respect. she did it b/c she had to, b/c i was making her. when i can see stuff (dogs) coming, and can start to work with obedience instead - like i said, we're still working on it, it's no magic bullet for us and it doesn't change that she's aggressive, but instead - she'll sit for me, and i can feel her vibrate - i know she wants to go for the dog, but now she makes the choice to sit or heel quietly b/c i ask her (most of the time )

corrections do have their place, i'm not suggesting that you never correct, but for us, this has been a process that i think has been slower, but as or more effective at actually getting a behavioural change than the corrections, and i think it's built our relationship a lot more. we've had some serious bumps along the way (once, when i dropped my guard - and the leash, accidentally - attack another dog that i didn't know was there - it was the worst mistake of my life, and it's why she's always muzzled outside now), so maybe take all this with a grain of salt.

i guess for me, it's that instead of taking something that is already stressful for her (she's not fearful, but she's so territorial and prey driven that strange dogs in 'our' area is very....angrifying....for her) and making it negative, we can build something that's a bit more positive - it gives her something to do, instead of just being corrected.

and she's smart, and she responds better to positive expectations rather than simply a negative reinforcer. like i said, i'm not saying not to correct - i still do, sometimes, when i think it's appropriate (eta: for instance, yesterday, with the boston terrier, when she broke the heel, i corrected her) - and i'm certainly not an expert on dog aggression in general - i'm just blabbering on about how i've found this to be helpful. i'll shut up now.

i was thinking about this thread, and that i didn't post everything i was thinking (you're probably going 'good god, like her posts aren't long enough!).

but....

if you're having that serious problems with your guy, i think you need to find someone who is experienced with aggression in dogs and who can come and help you and your dog out first hand. i've done so 3 different times (a trainer w/some leerburg dogs, someone at a SchH club, and my FR trainer, who also has a lot of aggression experience). they should be able to help you in terms of what you're looking at and what you can do about it.

also, you've had your guy for 2 months. i'm sure there's still a lot of settling going on, and getting used to each other and working together. you probably know that, just saying.

and my last though - i'm not an aggression expert, i just have an aggressive dog, so i'm not someone who can say what you should or should not do. but - i always thought the DD collar was very much equipment of the last resort, or, to be specific, that using it to choke the dog out was something a handler would do only if other avenues were closed. maybe i'm wrong on that. but, i guess i just wonder, if over 2 months, you've really reached the point of last resort - especially since it doesn't sound like there is any aggression directed towards you, the handler. i guess i'm just wondering if there are other methods you could work on before you move to choking the dog out. BUT - i'm not an aggression or a dog expert.

there are people on here who are, and who are WAY smarter than me. but this thread was in my head and i didn't post any of that yesterday but wanted to.


oh! and does he get lots of walks/exercise to help tire him out? that could help as well maybe

Alrighty, here's an update on Jack and more background on him that might help with advice and such.

First up, Jack has been neutered. It hasn't affected his dog aggression but I really wasn't expecting it to since he was already 2 yo.

Jack is quite submissive and fearful. Either he was never properly socialised or he was abused. He runs and hides if I take out the broom or mop, he also has a fear of plastic bags. He has never growled or barked at me, and I can move him, pet him while he eats, basically anything and he isn't bothered. I walk through doorways and stairs first without him trying to charge past me. He learns commands quickly and he is eager to please.

He does have quite a few problems though. I can brush his teeth with no problem but he always pees submissively when I trim his nails. I can pet him no problem but when I try to inspect his feet or ears or whatever he will pee himself. He used to pee when I would put his leash and collar on before walks but he has since stop doing that. He also runs away and hides if I am angry - not at him, but if I am trying to do something on the computer and it's not working I'll usually let out a couple loud swears and that seems to freak him out. He also gets antsy when people come over unless it's someone he knows very well.

Also not sure if this is relevant but it took me months to house train him even though he was an adult and he also continually peed in his crate when I first started crate training him which isn't normal because I would only leave him in there a couple hours at a time. This dog literally would go outside for 20 minutes but the second he was back in the house he would find somewhere to urinate.

Also, from what his previous owners told me he was put in a dog run in their yard with their older, larger dog that used to beat him up constantly which probably led to his dog aggression.

I have since abandonned the prong collar though I might try and give it another shot because his dog aggression seems to be worsening.

I've been using the dominant dog collar for a few months now and am still having problems. When we see another dog I make sure not to tighten the leash until Jack reacts. I lift up on the collar to take his front legs off the ground but that just makes him sit back on his haunches. So I lift up higher until he is standing. Usually at this point he is trying to put his feet on me to get leverage. I have never held him up until he passes out, I keep him hanging until he is really calm and I can walk him away from the other dog. If we are on a walk and the other dog is in their yard I will lift up until I am cutting off his air but I will keep on walking past the dog's yard and won't loosen the collar until Jack has calmed. I do this everytime.

He seems to be getting a little crazier now. As soon as I start to lift up on the collar his mouth is open and he is sorta thrashing about. He bites at my coat, my pant leg, my elbow, and today my arm. I know he isn't deliberately trying to bite me, but he's in what Cesar Milan calls the red zone.. He's basically grabbing at anything near his mouth when I start to choke him, I don't even know if he realises what he's doing. The bites aren't hard, and haven't even broken skin or caused a bruise so I ignore it and keep on choking him until he settles down.

I've noticed that he only really loses it if the other dog is also spazzing out. Sometimes we walk by calm dogs that aren't really bothered by him and he barely reacts - same thing he we walk by really submissive or young dogs, it just seems that as soon as another dog challenges him he just can't back down. I can control him up to the point that the other dog reacts but as soon as the other dog starts barking and growling even correction won't faze him so I just lift up on the dd collar until he calms down

He's not aggressive to any other animals though. He will chase cats but as soon as they turn to face him he backs down. My sister brought her kitten to my apartment once and the whole time it was here Jack hid behind me while trying to sneak sniffs of the kitteh while its back was turned.

I also adopted a bunny a couple months ago and she gets free run of the apartment up to 5 hours a night and Jack leaves her alone. I had him on a leash for the first 2 weeks the bunny was out but he's adjusted to her beautifully and he has never tried to grab or bite her.

Anyway, here are 2 pictures of the 2 of them.





And yes Jack is allowed on the couch. I have never had any dominance problem with him so I let him on the couch. He isn't allowed on my bed though. And when I have guests over he is relegated to the floor.

The 2nd picture isn't staged, Jack was on his bed and bunny went and laid beside him -- I just had to take a picture though poor Jack doesn't look impressed that bunny is there.

Anyway, I hope Jack's background will be more helpful in finding a solution to our problem. I'm not going to give up on him because in many ways he is a wonderful dog, I will keep trying until I find something that works for us.

Oh, and on walks he is not bothered by children, people on bikes, motorcycles or loud trucks. He will walk by any of those things without a care in the world...

So any new suggestions or tips would be appreciated... I was even considering getting an e-collar and the dvd... though I was hoping it wouldn't go that far...

I am no where near qualified enough to help you with your dog's issues, but have to say I am soooo envious he is nice to the bunny! My dog is still making life hell for our three cats and seeing your guy asleep next to the rabbit must mean all is not lost! He is lucky to have you.