I had GSD that would nut up every time we saw a dog. We took him to a trainer who employed e-collars to cure the dog aggression. It worked sort of -- What happened is that Max would no longer lung or bark at other dogs on walks.

Great right? Well you would think so except dogs used to steer clear of him before the e-collar since he was obviously unhinged.

Unfortunately, the new silent Max would not give off any warning until the dog was to close and bam lets get out the check book to pay the nieghbors vet bill.

In short, you can use an e-collar and it will probably cure the barking and lunging but I would not walk that dog without a muzzle since if a dogs comes running up to you and your pup you are in trouble.

Good luck I know it is a pain.

I want to see a picture of this beast!

well guess what, i have a dominant male english mastiff, and with certain dogs he used to go completely ballistic until i figured out how to handle him. believe me, it was a very steep learning curve for me, as i'm a pet owner and this is the first time in 50 years i've ever owned a dominant, hard dog. and this dog is very hard.

what some posters here have already said: you've got to be on the ball and paying attention to this dog's body language at all times. the second the ears come forward and he starts to fixate on another dog, he gets one warning "NO" or "UH-UH" and if his ears don't go back down and he doesn't redirect his attention to me in 1.5 second flat, he gets a HARD correction on the prong. keep moving through the whole thing and turn away from the other dog at a 90 degree angle and just keep moving.

i use the big prongs. even though he's not as responsive to the heavy prongs as he might be with the little ones, he's a hugely powerful dog and i need the heavy prongs for him, just for safety's sake.

what is the history of the dog? was he acquired as a puppy? did he have a dominant personality? was he ever attacked by another dog? basically what i'm getting at is, is this fear or is it dominance?

i went through a lengthy period in my dog's rehab where i didn't permit him contact with other dogs in public, so i'm not buying it that you can't avoid them. even if you have to put him in the car and drive him to a deserted area at night to exercise him, do it.

i would not recommend using a dominant dog collar on a 200 lb. mastiff. from everything i've read, that could turn into a real nightmare. i think you probably need to go to an e-collar if you can't work with him on a prong. i have never used an e-collar, but when i was researching how to handle my own dog, i became convinced from my reading that an e-collar would be my next step if i couldn't redirect him with the prong.

the whole secret is training him to never even look at another dog. by the time he goes ballistic, it is too late, and you can't control him. i used to look at him, see that he was about to go completely nuts, and feel helpless not knowing what to do. that never happens any more, and we can walk right by other dogs and he ignores them, because he got his corrections before things had a chance to escalate.

i'm a 130 lb. woman and the dog is 150 lbs. of solid muscle, so it can be done, even with a giant. but if my dog is in the "red zone" with another dog, there is no way i would think of alpha rolling him. even a leash correction will cause him to redirect his aggression to me once he's that far gone.

best advice: get good professional help live and in person. this is nothing to fool around with. good luck!

Thanks for all the advice! I'm still hoping someone can give me an alternative means that will be effective.

I'm leaning towards the E-Collar though I would like to use a different method. I guess there isn't any "magical" answer out there.

Thanks a ton everyone!

B.B

brian, i forgot about the hips issue. proper use of a prong shouldn't hurt his hips, but if you are concerned about it, i do think an e-collar is your best bet.

did you know that ed has a dvd on how to use an e-collar? you can order it through this website.

I would agree with the E-Collar too. If I ever had that problem to battle again, I would buy an E-Collar and Ed's tape on how to use it. On the web page for the video it clearly states

 Quote:

8- There is a section on how to deal with dog aggression or animal aggression with the e-collar. I explain the safety concerns in how to approach dog aggression and how this training is different from normal obedience training. Using a remote trainer at the wrong time or in the wrong scenario on a dog aggressive dog is dangerous.

http://www.leerburg.com/318.htm

After what Trent said it would be wise to proceed with caution and knowledge.

Good instructions above Alice <img src="http://www.leerburg.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

I've only handled 1 aggressive dog before and it was nowhere near 200 lbs, so this is more of a question than an answer. Could you do like Cesar Millan does sometimes with dogs that he has worked with and put a back pack on the dog to help redirect it?(along with an e-collar and muzzle) I know the dog has bad hips so not too much weight, but just enough for him to feel. Just a thought.

 Quote:

Unfortunately, the new silent Max would not give off any warning until the dog was to close and bam lets get out the check book to pay the nieghbors vet bill.

Unfortunately that's just the way it goes sometimes. Not all (read: most) dogs can truly be "cured" from animal/dog aggression, all you can do is control the initial reaction, but every dog has a breaking point that puts them back into their original frenzy. This is where being a watchful owner becomes a critical factor and why we teach the dog that even looking at another dog is a correction, it eliminates the initial eye contact stare-down posturing behavior that is most likely to spark the conflict. Whether another dog is stupid enough to come running at you is a whole different thing and that's when you need to learn how to handle your dog while trying to keep the loose dog at bay. Most dogs are chickens, not difficult to make em run for the hills at all, the tough part is getting your dog to the point where he will not break a sit/stay under this type of distraction so you can deal with the loose dog instead of fighting with your own dog.

 Quote:

the tough part is getting your dog to the point where he will not break a sit/stay under this type of distraction so you can deal with the loose dog instead of fighting with your own dog.

i guess i got lucky with that part. i had good early success with a reliable sit/stay from puppyhood, and it has worked reliably when we've been approached by aggressive dogs.

when i step in between the dogs and threaten the invading dog, my dog stays calm and is very content to let me take care of it. i've never had a problem that way.

how i got a rock solid sit-stay: i use mealtimes. he runs through various parts of his obedience routine to earn his meals. i also use play time with other dogs (he's only aggressive with certain dogs, and loves most other dogs). when we see a friendly dog coming, he has to sit/stay to earn the right to play with the other dog. it's gotten so he will sit/stay as a way of asking me permission to play.

the stay has gotten so good that sometimes he won't break it even when i release him, because he wants to be sure he gets his dinner! <img src="http://www.leerburg.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />

Also castrate him -- with hip displasia there's no excuse to breed this dog, and getting rid of the testosterone factor may help tone down his aggression to a more easily managed level...

But until you've got that beast under control, he should be wearing a fool-proof muzzle when out in public!