I have a rescued female boxer/ridgeback who was severely abused until 6 months and was removed from the owners by the police as a result. I got her when she was 6 months old, she is 6 years old now. She is the sweetest dog - thinks she is a pug, actually. She is a perfect dog with children and adults alike. I have had dogs in and out of the house as I ran an informal pug rescue when she was growing up, and I never had problems with her being dog aggressive. Still don't if the dog is brought into her house. However...

She is incredibly dog aggressive in "neutral" territories. She learned to attack very quickly, so I get little warning, usually only the "stare". I am working very hard to use treats and distraction to get her to ignore the other dogs. I have always believed this was a problem with her understanding I am in control when we are in public, not her. Things are improving slowly.

I have read on this web about making her fear me more than wanting to fight. I am considering this, but am concerned about damaging her psyche. She is, overall, a very soft dog. I ruined my first dog (rescued spayed female GSD from a puppy mill) by following the advice of a trainer who specialized in pits. We alfa rolled, the whole nine yards, and I turned her into a fear biter. I am really worried about doing that to my current dog.

I am training her for Canine Good Citizen, and we are starting in cadaver work. She is ready for CGC with the exception of the dog stuff...

Any advice or opions would be appreciated. I am basically trying to decide if I should keep doing what I am doing since it seems to be working, although slowly, really fight it out with her, or give up totally because I am wasting my time.

BTW, she is not food driven. She just wants praise and attention, if that helps at all.

I don't think that you should ever want your dog to fear you! She must respect you, but not fear you. She must have confidence in you as her leader, that you will protect her and she doesn't need to protect you or herself.
As far as what to do for your particular dog, it's hard for me to say without seeing you and your dog. There are many things that you could be doing unconsciously that tell your dog she needs to be worried. Without seeing her it's hard to tell whether she is aggressive due to fear or some other reason. And given the past abuse (even being a long time ago) I would be hesitant to do anything too harsh.
Perhaps somebody will have more complete advice. My advice is simply do NOT make this dog fear you. She needs to have confidence in you.

You are probably right about me unconsciously sending her bad signals. I am very nervous around people, especially people I don't know. I tend to hang out on the periferi and watch what is going on. Maybe she is doing better when I treat her because *I* am not focused on what *could* go wrong, but on making things good for her....

i never thought of it from that angle...

Any ideas how to make *me* more comfortable around people? <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

I haven't found that method to be too successful with my dog aggressive pet dog. Of course, she is not training for any work; all I need is for her to be able to maintain her composure while on leash, as she is never allowed to run off leash due to her aggression. She is extremely sweet and affectionate to people; very friendly and just loves human attention. Just hates other dogs, with the exception of my Lab and my Mom's mini Schnauzer.

The approach I have found to be most successful for keeping her under control on leash has been obedience commands with tons of positive reinforcement for correct responses, at distances from the other dogs that my dog can still function at. Over time, I've been able to reduce the distance from which she can be from another dog and still be under control. Basically, I've treated it as an exercise in obedience under distraction.

This has not cured her dog aggression. Given the opportunity, she will still provoke a fight by bullying/posturing if not downright attacking. I first noticed the behavior shortly after I adopted her at 8 months of age, and she is now 8 years old.

HTH.

Dogs live for our praise! And dont want us made at them! When they do good they get praise and in most casses it is enough to ignore; yell; or correct as usual. With any type of aggression off the working field, It must be a #10 or 11 on a scale of 1to10. The dog will not be afraid of you IF you then give praise for the proper behavior.
In the wild, what would the pack leader do? Nail them big time to let them know whats not allowed.
You use OB? Not! If you see another dog coming, the minute your dog shows interest with a staire or groul, You nail her BIG time. THEN give the OB command and when she looks away from the other dog you give BIG praise for her doing the right thing.
Ron

You use OB? Not! If you see another dog coming, the minute your dog shows interest with a staire or groul, You nail her BIG time. THEN give the OB command and when she looks away from the other dog you give BIG praise for her doing the right thing. I disagree with you, Ron. I've been working with this dog for 7 years now and believe me when I tell you that not even a level 20 correction makes a bit of a difference to her. Yet when I use OB to give her direction while she's still sane, it's like night and day. Sorry but I think I'll continue to do what works for me and my dog.

No problem.
Your the one who asked. And I have no dought that what your doing looks good. But you wont always be at the dogs side that close; You wont always notice those little signs. Once the dog attacks, no one will want to work beside you with there dog. and the secont time and your out.
If this were strictally a pet I would agree with you. Maybe. But if you want to do work with this dog. Distraction is not going to be good enough.
But as you say, you know the dog.
Cheers
Ron

I also disagree. I don't think that a dog should be corrected like this as some dogs will think that the correction came from the other dog actually making the problem worse. Also, you said the dog is very soft. Remember with corrections, enough is enough. Don't use more than you need to make your point clear, there is no need to overdo it. Like I mentioned before, it's respect that you want...not fear.
I would definitely give an obedience command first, then correct for the disobedience. You can also teach your dog to watch you, if your dog is watching you, she can't possbily be posturing at or attacking another dog. And the obedience will help her to gain respect for you and confidence in herself. Dogs are always more comfortable if they know exactly what is expected of them.

Forgot to say, Ron, that I have used this method with success in the past...it depends on the dog. But from what I've read (keeping in mind that I have not seen the dog...and I hate trying to give advice without seeing the dog) this dog is quite soft. A number 10 or 11 correction may be WAY too much for this particular dog and may cause more confusing compounding the problem.
But, again, without seeing the dog (and the owner)...

 Quote:

Originally posted by Ron Bryant:
No problem.
Your the one who asked. And I have no dought that what your doing looks good. But you wont always be at the dogs side that close; You wont always notice those little signs. Once the dog attacks, no one will want to work beside you with there dog. and the secont time and your out.
If this were strictally a pet I would agree with you. Maybe. But if you want to do work with this dog. Distraction is not going to be good enough.
But as you say, you know the dog.
Cheers
Ron

Ron, Pat Voogd asked, not me. My dog *is* only a pet. Because of her level of aggression, she is not suitable for search work. You're right that a cadaver dog needs to be able to work next to other dogs. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

I have my opinions on this situation, but I've seen some things that have taught me that my opinions can sometimes be wrong, so I'm keeping them to myself, and just sharing my experiences with my pet. Perhaps there is a handler out there who successfully fields a dog with similar issues and can shed some light on how they do it. I'm not one of them.