Welcome Danielle.

Just want to thank everyone for their input on this matter.
This is what I have done and it seems to work for him.

When I take my dog for a walk now I take a ball with me. When I see someone walking towards us I take the ball out and tell him to sit. I do this to get him to focus on me. I wait until the person passes and then I give him a little play time.

I also think that he just needs to get used to being taken for walks again. Also I have always used a prong to correct unwanted behaviour. I don't use the prong on him right now because of his injury. I think he knows this and maybe that's why he thinks he can get away with stuff because he's not going to get the correction he's used to getting?????

As far as protection training, well I would have loved to get involved in a protection sport. He certainly has the drives for it but no luck. I live literally in the middle of nowhere and there are no clubs anywhere near me. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" />

Right now I'm going to focus on obedience and getting him socialized. I didn't realize that 4 months could change a dog like that.

Thanks again, I am learning a lot from this board.

Glad to see that things are working out a little better for you.

Everything starts with obedience. No obedience = no control = no freedom and problems.

I would immediately get a hold of Ed's basic obedience tape and start with that. If you follow those principles you'll lay a great foundation. Some problems may take care of themselves, others you'll have to deal with individually. But at the very least you will have established the groundwork for succesfully overcoming them.

One thing I would probably do in your situation would be to put the prong on my dog (but only when with the dog) and attach a 6 inch piece of rope. If your dog barks at someone through the window you should walk over to investigate. If it was, let's say, a man walking down the street I would praise my dog for alerting. But once you have decided that the dog should stop (let's say the guy has already passed your house) I would say to my dog, very gently and while VERY gently petting him, "It's ok". When he continued I would firmly but not angrily say "knock it off" and then say "it's ok". When he continues give me a mild correction while stating "knock it off" and then again say "it's ok". If he continues then give him a level 8 correction and very firmly tell him "knock it off" and then again say "it's ok". What is all important is that when the dog stops, even for a second, you IMMEDIATELY begin praising him and then say "let's go" and take him out of the situation. Maybe even give him a cookie or a toy.
Ultimately your dog should alert when a stranger approaches, should be rewarded but should then cease when directed and again, be rewarded.

Once you are at this level this will carry over to when you are outside, although not necessarily on the first walk. But again, you will have laid the foundation.

If you'd like to try it, I hope it works for you. It did for me with my two. Now they're like a light switch with this thing.

Good luck. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

By petting the dog and saying its ok when you want him to stop you are causing the opposite to occur. The dog thinks you are praising him for acting in such a manner. IMO, you have given sound advice(teaching obedience is always sound advice) with the exception of this and I'm not sure about the correction either. I would rather see the dogs behavior re-directed with obedience.

Chuck, all too often handlers aren't communicating with their dog. What I am suggesting is to try and soothe the dog from an agitated state of alert to one of calmness. Communicating is done both verbally by saying "it's ok" and "easy, it's ok" and by very gentle and soothing petting along the back. This is not rewarding the dog; it is communicating. But it must be done in such a way so that it is clear that the handler is NOT rewarding the dog. As for the corrections, this dog sounds like it's overdue for some. I can't pretend to read a dog over the internet, heck, they're hard enough to read sometimes in person. But unlike another poster stated, I don't feel this dog has poor nerves. For it to charge and bite a grown man, with no training, indicates a certain level of confidence and fight drive. The corrections I advised to be given would gradually increase in their firmness if the dog did not respond to a lesser correction. It doesn't sound to me like this dog is going to shrivel from a good correction. Now if there is a fear of handler aggression, throw on a muzzle too and when he goes for the handler, level 10 time. As with all training, to be most effective the timing of the praise/corrections must be done at the correct time and to the correct degree. Trying to explain training techniques over the internet, and for that matter, even in person is sometimes challenging.

Another thing I did (and do) with my dogs, when I was training obedience, was to take them to a vacant, children's playground and get them on things that moved and rattled, etc. I would get my dogs to climb things that were challenging and a little (but not a lot) stressful. All the while I spoke to them, encouraged them, soothed them, and egged them on. I never forced them. If they didn't want to do it, fine, we went on to something else and came back a few minutes later. Eventually the dog will climb anything. That was a plus, but not the purpose of the training. The goal was to establish communication and understanding. The handler is communicating to the dog while it is under some degree of stress. Over time the dog, while under stress, will listen and accept the soothing words of its handler. The higher level of understanding that is gained carries over to everything but is most beneficial in a stressful situation, when the communication is most needed I don't recommend that inexperienced handlers go out and do this as they may do it wrong and push their dog into avoidance. My point is that by adding an element of stress, but not too much at first, the dog not only learns obedience but obedience under the stress of the agility.

I think Chuck is correct. Unless you have already broken the dog away from the undesired behavior, you are not "communicating" with the dog. It is rewarding, Fido can't understand the difference. It depends on the focus of the dog at the time you are trying to "calm" him. JMO

I don't think dogs think. This would be a case where the dog would need to think, to do what you think, do you think? That's what I think. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />

 Quote:

I don't think dogs think. This would be a case where the dog would need to think, to do what you think, do you think? That's what I think.

OH No! Now I can't think!

Crapola, I have a paper due at 6 pm. Thanks a lot vancamp. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/mad.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/mad.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/mad.gif" alt="" />

JK <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif" alt="" />

I do a lot of walking and bike riding with my dog. When I see a jogger, stroller or bikers I pull over to the side and give the down command. I will always cheerfully say hello. It's almost automatic now when I stop the dog goes into the down. The reaction I always get is thank you good dog. I also use this command "look at me"when I'm riding and the dog gets distracted with another animal. It takes work but the dividents pay off big time.

Patrick,

I'm with Vancamp on this one. I respect your opinion though and perhaps we can just agree to disagree.