Hi everyone
I have a problem with my 3 year old male golden retriever. He is extremely dog aggressive to the point where if he even sees another dog walking down the street he goes insane - lunging on lead, fur standing on end, barking etc. He has been to three different obedience schools (first when he was a pup, followed by another at 1 year and the last when he was about 1 1/2). However, the problem only started after the completetion of his 3rd obedience class. An aggressive german shepard singled out my retriever by lunging barking and nipping at my dog (who would ignore this and follow commands). I realize, in hindsight, i should have left this class but we were working on our canine good citizen for him to be a registered therapy dog. Anyway, after the completion of the class he has been aggressive to gsds and any other dark coloured dog. It is getting to the point where it is too hard to control him and I'm not sure what to do. Any suggestions?
-he is now on the prong collar, we tried the halti thing but i beleive it made it worse and he can break them easily
-i also own a shock collar for long distance training but do not know how to use it in this situation
Thanks for any help!

Forget the electric collar unless you have access to an expert who can show you how to deal with this problem. Dog aggression that is created from a dog attack is very hard to extinguish. Unfortunately the only way to correct him is with power. Positive methods will not work. You must correct him to the point where he does not dare to go after the other dog. The thought of correction must be stronger than the thought of the other dog attacking him. If you are not capable of this type of correction than you must find someone who is, isolate the dog from other dogs or get rid of him.

Lyric,Just a few questions so the board can help you.
1.) Does the dog act aggressive only on lead.
2.) Has your dog actually attacked another dog.
3.) I personally don't consider a 1 1/2 year old dog being nipped( please define nipped)so traumatic that it would change its temperment.
4.)Has the dog been socialized with other dogs.Not including the 3 ob classes.

Milt

I stand by my post even more after the new info given.

I agree with Vince here. First of all, this displays the problem with some group obedience classes. Your second post indicates that there was multiple instances of this GSD biting your dog's legs. How many times is this supposed to happen before the handler of the GSD gets his dog under control? Ridiculous.

Now that you have this agression problem, Vince has hit the nail on the head. Use the prong, and correct the devil out of the dog when he shows aggression towards another dog. If you are unfamiliar with how to administer proper prong collar corrections, get Ed's tape "Basic Dog Obedience". Here you will be shown how to do this. If you can do this and you are consistant you should at least be able to get the problem under control.

If I may add a penny's worth:

The truth is also that you have allowed your dog to be systematically harassed by other dogs until it has felt the need to protect itself.

Unless you also take on the role (that you should have done before) of protecting your dog from such harassment, correcting your dog for doing what you are refusing to do for it won't do much good. Repel off-leash dogs seeking to come up to yours any way you can. Just 'trying to be friendly' won't do -- they're invading your dog's personal space, uninvited and should be made to respect it. In conjunction with that, strengthen your dog's obedience and teach your dog to 'Leave it' so you can reward him specifically for being calm in the presence of other dogs -- and correct him for not.

That way, you can get a dog who KNOWS what is expected of him and can be relied on to remain calm in the face of provocation and who TRUSTS that in return for not adopting a defensive posture, you will fulfill your responsibility of seeing off the bothersome dog. It's a two-way street.

Lyric, The people on this board are a lot more experienced and knowledgeable then me. The advice that I’m going to give you is based on my observation and experience. I enjoy going to dog parks. My dog loves playing with other dogs. There are times in the parking lot when people have their dogs on lead and their hackles are up growling at each other, and they really want a piece of each other. A few minutes later they are playing of leash like nothing ever happened. Occasionally when I take my dog-loving dog for a walk she will raise her hackles and start barking and growling like your dog. Usually she’s quiet and goes into the stalking mode. I have read that when a dog is on lead he becomes territorial. Dogs are also keen on sensing body language. If he senses you are tense when seeing another dog then he will feel that something is wrong and return go into a defensive protective mode. The halti collar that you used before must of really telegraphed your fear. I have asked you before if your dog was better of leash and you responded that he calms down a lot quicker. So possibly my theory is correct. You have also said that your dog has had interaction with your neighbors golden and husky. Why don’t you let them play with each other in the back yard? I would do one at a time, so it doesn’t feel like they are ganging up on your dog. If he gets along with the husky you might be on your way. They look enough alike a gsd. Take walks by people house with their dogs outside behind a fence. Act relaxed; divert your dogs’ attention somewhere else. If all that fails give him a strong correction. In practice you will know how much of a correction is needed. I know a male golden is a big strong dog so you have to use all strength to give him a leash pop. Your dog sounds like a very nice dog. Good luck

Milt

Leash aggression is very common, especially with protective breeds, but given your past circumstances I can clearly understand why your dog behaves this way. The dog feels confined and defenseless to the threat of another dog, and lunging into the lead only adds to the frustration. Some of my dogs (GSD) behave this way on leash, but if confronted with a strange non-threatening dog while off-leash they will react indifferently. I agree with Dei, that you need to take control of the situation and lead your dog away from it while teaching him that aggression is not the answer, rather to ignore. I use the "leave-it" command with my dogs with a strong pop on the leash to divert their attention back to me as I lead us away from the offending dog. I also put my dogs in an immediate heel position when I spot any oncoming dogs. This keeps my dog close to me so I have more control, plus it makes them pay attention to me, so they have less attention to give to the other dog. I hope this helps. I don't think it's a situation where you need to give up on the dog completely, you just need to change your behavior as much as your dog does. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

Thanks for your replies everyone. This is my first dog ever - I got him when I was 16 and knew completely nothing. I'm getting better and will take all of your advice into consideration. In hindsight I realize I should not have let that other dog pester mine (by either dropping the class or not letting them near each other) but I thought that was normal dog behaviour. Anyway Thanks again and I'll update after I practice with him some more.