Yes, Will has a clearer eye than I do and has sussed it out far better.

It doesn't sound heartless. The 8-dog pack sounded very bad even without one of them being handler-aggressive.

 Quote: will rambeau

B) keep looking for a trainer with the skill and experience to work with a dog with serious behavioral issues like this ( and good luck finding someone that can handle true handler aggression issues, they're *rare* )

No doubt. There is a "professional" trainer just up the road from us that has all over her website that she is "an aggression expert". What a joke. We recently inherited one of her pupils. Luckily the owners figured out pretty quick that she had no idea what she was doing and did some more searching.
One of her methods for dealing with dog aggression issues while out walking on leash was to have the owners carry a long wooden spoon with a huge glob of peanut butter on it. Then every time their dog noticed other dogs they had to let their dog lick the spoon to re-direct her.
This trainer also has banned GSDs from her training place (and pits and pit crosses, too). She doesn't state anywhere about banning GSDs, but interestingly all the GSDs fail her evaluation to attend the upper level classes. We only found out about this because one of her former employees told us she wasn't allowed to bring her own 2 GSDs to work with her. The main reason I find this offensive is because she has a silhouette of a GSD on her signs, brochures and all the tshirts she and her groupies wear. GRRRRR. Her real "specialty" is agility training, so fine do that but don't promote yourself as an all-around expert just because you train obedience and agility. Mike and I do not do any agility here unless it pertains to the K9 units we are working with (they have their own agility equipment) and we train that as the K9 units need for certifications etc, but we don't profess to know how to train for competition just because we've done the other.
Done venting, sorry .


Annette

Basket muzzle for walks? I know that a whole lot more needs to happen besides this and I'll leave that to the pros, but I personally find it much easier to manage a dog who isn't biting me.

I think (judging by what the original poster stated) the dog has, as Will said, learned to control people by biting and his "neck sensitivity" is actually being pissed off about someone controlling him.

It's hard to say how I would correct it, since this problem COULDN'T develop with me. I've even taken on dogs that the owners seemed to think were handler aggressive, and never saw aggression manifest itself.

For the OP I'd almost recommend sending the dog away for training. Full time. In all likelihood someone will put a prong on the dog, take the dog for a long walk, and LET him freak out like an idiot a few times while the trainer keeps walking. If he comes up the leash once or twice, he'd be hung. The whole ordeal (IF he even challenges the trainer) would likely be over in a half-hour. But he needs attention. And he won't get it in a home with 8 dogs and a once a week session.

If you're set on keeping him, you'd have to also learn how to handle him properly (confidently) after he's been trained so he can generalize the behaviours to you. The problem is, a dog like this can't be running amok in a pack of 8 dogs. He needs structure, and a 1 on 1 relationship. JMO.

I am not expereinced with dog aggressions; however, I really do understand why he would be handler aggressive. It sounds like this dog has been treated unfair by their previous owners for using too much of hard correction methods. It reminds me of abuses in circus where you have an elephant throwing a tantrum because she had it enough and doesn't want to do anymore.

I have noticed that dogs with "handler aggressions" developed from receiving too much harsh corrections and their pack leaders aren't being fair at all. I might be wrong on this. If someone kept yanking the dog around until he had it enough then he takes his aggression on the handler. Well.. Well..

It looks like you have a big problem where you need a qualified trainer who can help you desensitize him and teach him. I remember Ed told a story about Otis who was his police officer dog that had a terrible handler aggression. You can ask him for his opinion on that.

I don't understand why would you take in another dog where you have 7 dogs with other aggression issues? It doesn't make sense to me because I want to sort out the pack issue within my pack first before I introduce a new addition in my pack. It only brings in more instability to the pack where you have another dog with aggression issues.

For this case, what I will do is making a video of the dog being aggressive with handler and other issues within 8 dogs, and send the video to Cesar Milian. http://www.cesarmillaninc.com/

Let's hope that you get picked for doing a t.v. show with him. I will love to watch Cesar working with your dogs. Good luck!

Lyndsay, did you notice the date on the O.P.?