Being this is a family pet and she has three small children under 6 and she is straped for time and the dog is getting teritorial/aggressive as he matures WHY would you NOT neuter? It will stop the testosterone flowing. Maybe his full potential is a dog aggressive jerk? Neutering WILL NOT solve the problems but it is definately part of the equation.

It is a training issue 100%. There is no need to neuter if she doesnt want to neuter. If the dog aggression seed is planted then neutering now won't do a thing.

 Quote:

and she is straped for time

That is the laziest thing I have heard all year. If she has time to walk the dog then she has time to work on this issue, if it even becomes an issue.

Mike,

I don't know where you live, but since you have so many large dogs I'd imagine you don't live in a chaotic area such as where I do in NYC. I can't tell you how much I've learned about training, dogs, etc by living here as it is a like a freaking minefield living here. Kinda makes for a steep learning curve when you encounter "tests" daily. Everyday when I walk out my door me and my dog are inundated with crazy stimulus: crowded sidewalks all the time with dogs of all shapes and sizes, loud noises from cars, buses, etc.

Now, I held your view before I moved here as I had in intact male growing up in Missouri(suburbs) and had no problems as we didn't bring him with us everywhere where he was encountering unfamiliar dogs, but you have to consider something: What you do, the environments/situations you expose your dog to maybe very different from what she wants to do with her dog (bring her pet with her everywhere with her children). Do you bring Cujo out for regular public outings where he encounters strange dogs and people? If you brought your intact male out in the public here in NYC you would be the neighborhood jerk as there is an male that is a coonhound who's owner refuses to neuter him and everyone knows about this dog b/c he's walk in the park and other males react oftentimes aggressively b/c he is intact and his dog doesn't react 50% of the time, but when it does...let me tell you it's chaos.

Now, I realize that dog aggression can happen regardless of a dog being intact or not, but can it be minimized if you neuter early and want to bring your dog out regularly to public outings where it will confront crowds of people and unfamiliar dogs. Yup - esp if it is done early.

Now, I respect your decision and her decision to keep her young male intact, but realize too, that with each decision there are both consequences that can be seen as "unwanted" and each owner, based on their lifestyle, and what they want to do with the dog has to make.

I won't write anymore about this.

Here I agree with Mike, all things being equal, behavior issues both good and bad most in most instances are genetic in nature. Therefore negative behaviors can be managed with good training but seldom fixed. There are some that don't want to accept that fact and feel with enough love and training all negative behaviors can be fixed. IMO they feel that way in order to give them license to breed dogs that shouldn't be bred. If they have all else I am not saying that a dog that exhibits dog aggression should not be bred. I am Just saying that a dog with good nerves can be brought back but a dog with poor nerves can not. I seldom talk about dogs in absolutes but I will about that. Norman Epstein

 Quote: Gloria Hong

If you brought your intact male out in the public here in NYC you would be the neighborhood jerk as there is an male that is a coonhound who's owner refuses to neuter him and everyone knows about this dog b/c he's walk in the park and other males react oftentimes aggressively b/c he is intact and his dog doesn't react 50% of the time, but when it does...let me tell you it's chaos.....

So the neutered male dogs react aggressively toward the intact male? Well, that shows right there that a neutered male can be just as aggressive.

The intact male doesn't react 50% of the time - so 50% of the time he's not showing aggression when the neutered males ARE. I suspect the other half of the time when the intact shows aggression is cause he's had it with the aggressiveness the other dogs are giving him. Sounds normal. Also sounds like the neutered dogs initiate the aggression, not the intact male.

I'm afraid you haven't proved your point that a neutered male dog is less aggressive than an intact male.

I think the neighborhood jerks are the ones with neutered dogs who can't control them. Sounds like the owner of the intact has more control over his dog.

It's a matter of control, not neutering.

 Quote: sandy moore

 Quote: gloria hong

If you brought your intact male out in the public here in NYC you would be the neighborhood jerk as there is an male that is a coonhound who's owner refuses to neuter him and everyone knows about this dog b/c he's walk in the park and other males react oftentimes aggressively b/c he is intact and his dog doesn't react 50% of the time, but when it does...let me tell you it's chaos.....

So the neutered male dogs react aggressively toward the intact male? Well, that shows right there that a neutered male can be just as aggressive.

The intact male doesn't react 50% of the time - so 50% of the time he's not showing aggression when the neutered males ARE. I suspect the other half of the time when the intact shows aggression is cause he's had it with the aggressiveness the other dogs are giving him. Sounds normal. Also sounds like the neutered dogs initiate the aggression, not the intact male.

I'm afraid you haven't proved your point that a neutered male dog is less aggressive than an intact male.

I think the neighborhood jerks are the ones with neutered dogs who can't control them. Sounds like the owner of the intact has more control over his dog.

It's a matter of control, not neutering.

I agree with Sandy here. The poor coonhound sounds like he does his level best NOT to react but sometimes the body language the other altered males are throwing out cause him to react.

It is all about control. AND it is about reading your dog and seeing the signs of "dominance" or "threats" your dog is giving out to other dogs.

This is most common when people talk to me..."Well all my dog was doing was staring at that dog and that dog went crazy wanting to attack my dog."
And, it is a shock to them when I try and explain that their dog probably was the instigator since they allowed their dog to stare, look at, posture or whatever to the other dog.

Barking and growling are not the only signs of aggression, in fact, barking and growling are escalated and the owner/handler has missed all the other signs leading up to the outburst.

The owner/handler has to be alert and be able to see the things that may cause their dog to escalate.

OK, first off, Michelle, I did not say I was "too strapped for time" to work w/my dog. It should be pretty obvious that I spend a lot of time working w/my dog, which is part of the reason I was asking what advice you could give me so I could handle this before it becomes a serious problem. I just don't want to take him to a scheduled class, as right now I work with him whenever I have a few (like even 5) minutes of time here and there. If I tried to work with him at a scheduled time each week, I'd probably miss 1/2 the classes at least. Believe me, I work daily with this dog on training, in addition to playing with him and walking him. I doubt that taking him to Petco for clicker training is going to fix this issue. (No offense to Petco - someday when I have a more set schedule, I may even take him there to organized classes eventually to proof his training, who knows...)

In the second place, I wasn't the one to even bring up neutering. That had absolutely nothing to do with my original post. Gloria brought it up, and mentioned that the neutered dogs react aggressively towards the intact male. I could care less if neutered males like my dog or not - that's their owners problem, not mine. My goal is to control my dog, not make it easy for other (neutered) males to like my dog. So as far as neutering goes, I'm not so lazy that I will put my dog through a radical surgical procedure (yes, I now believe permanently taking away a living creatures hormones is radical). I'm not trying to offend anyone, but can we please keep this to my original question? I don't want/need, nor am I going to debate neuter vs. intact. I've done it before, and ended up changing sides...

Kori, I agree, sounds like he's coming into his own but he may not be out to get the other dog, I have seen dogs that will bark and act innapropriatly because they are on a leash/behind a fence but when they actually approach the dog they go through the normal rituals and are fine. just a thought.
Aside from that I take it the main problem is his acting like that when he sees another dog (you want to therapy work and they have to pass a test...)The only way to stop that is to put your foot down. Buster recently had an epiphany and suddenly hates dogs as well; I take it he's now and adult But he would just fall of off the edge when he saw one. Hes always been pretty handler sensitive but for this issue I had to upgrade to an e-collar, which was the only thing that got through to him in his own little world there. (prong collars just made worse) He can now walk without the e-collar, so I think we've made progress.
so Kodee may not even be out to kill the other dog, like the others said. It seems the ones you really have to worry about are the ones who dont announce themselves to the other dog.

Kori,
First I apologize for jumping track on this thread, I did not read page one and thought it was totally different from your original post.

I would agree with others here that are talking about Kodee coming into his own, and also, some dogs go through a period where they seem fearful of everything or they want to challenge everything.
I do not think altering makes a difference in a young dog.

I know you work hard with Kodee and are not strapped for time with him. I wish I had more time for all of mine, you are one of the lucky ones.

I am not a fan of scheduled classes either.

Since he has started this, are you making sure you stay calm and relaxed when you see something that may trigger him? By this I mean, are you keeping slack in the lead rather than gathering it up with tension so that you can be "ready" if he starts up? Doing this will send "signals" down the lead that he needs to "get ready" as well therefore already starting the "defense" action.

Also, if you see something before he does, what do you do?
When I see something up ahead I start getting my dogs attention by turning a different direction, doing some obedience and making a really big deal out of the dog focusing on me. This allows us to get past the "issue" without too much of an issue.

I also teach my dogs a "leave it" command so that if they start going on "alert" I say leave it and they look away and look to me for what to do next.

Carol-

No need for you to apologize at all. You brought up some excellent points. You also brought something to my attention that I think I was doing wrong - I did indeed take up the slack on Kodee's leash when we saw another dog. I didn't pull it hard enough to pull his prong collar, but I didn't keep him on a slack leash like I had been, either. I will make sure not to do this next time.

Also, stupid me didn't even think to just direct him away when I saw another dog coming. I purposely was trying to expose him to other dogs - he's always been friendly towards them til recently, so I didn't think it would be a problem. But, of course, live and learn. I will be more proactive in avoiding other dogs entirely. I was calm, though - I used a calm firm voice and praised him when he sat, also tried to get eye contact, although i had to bend down in front of him to get it, as he would not follow the "watch me" command under such strong distraction.

Thanks for your help!