Hi POlly,
I've done the exact same training exercises with my dog. It has helped alot. It seems as if she needs to go on the defensive first. However, she now will refocus on me, and pretty quickly calms down. I am finally able to reinforce, with a verbal NO, now that I have a better understanding of some of her "cues" before she reacts. She really does not like dogs staring her in the eye, quess I can't blame her.
I'm not confident to use an e-collar.
Upon first meeting my sister's male cattle mix, she demonstrated the behavior discussed. But since they know each other, it is never an issue now. They can be off leash together in my yard, and in the house. She will attempt to "herd" him around if we are in my house however.

I suppose at this point, it does not really matter, what is triggering the behavior, as long as our obedience is right on target!?

Linda

linda

The reason I use leash corrections is that she redirected her aggression to my other dog, and even to me once or twice. Her level of aggression made it very difficult to handle her physically, so the dominant dog collar was a big help. I have to admit, I am less concerned with being fair then with maintaining control. I understood the dd collar and e-collar to be less "activating" to the dog then a prong. The best thing for this particular dog has been the exercise at night off lead. She clearly enjoys running with our other GSD, and playing with me. The other walks are on lead.

Alice, I think that the nature of the question being about aggression it isn't to prudent to tell someone to try things that could get them injured. I still don't see where it was implied that you may have said something that could get someone hurt using your techniques. Agression is something that you need to see to evaluate. Like I said before, I get lots of calls from people that say that they have an aggressive dog, only to find out that the dog is no where near aggressive once shown some authority. It's very tough to offer advice on aggression because people can get hurt trying things that they shouldn't be trying with out some guidance. Once a dog thinks he is the leader, it isn't just about getting a pinch collar at this point. It is a little more involved. Anyway, I don't see where anyone said you gave bad advice. Only the fact that some people don't like giving internet advice on aggression.

well, chris, this board has plenty of advice on aggression on it. and the owner of the site gives plenty of online advice about aggression. for example, there are many articles here giving specific advice. people have to take online advice for what it is worth. the one giving advice can't see the dog in action.

but that wasn't the objection raised. the objection was that someone who isn't a professional trainer was giving advice. i think if people reading this thread search for other threads on how to handle on-leash aggression, they'll see my advice is consistent with what professionals advise. not only that, i have enough personal experience to know that the advice works for many, many dogs.

online advice has certainly helped me with my dog over the years, and sometimes the advice has been wrong for my dog. but same thing with in-person advice--some has been good and some wrong for my dog. whether advice is online or in person, given by a lay trainer or a professional, a dog owner has to judge their own dog and find their way to what works best with their dog. try what seems reasonable, and if it doesn't work, try something else.

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a dog owner has to judge their own dog and find their way to what works best with their dog. try what seems reasonable, and if it doesn't work, try something else.

Don't mean to single you out in any way, Alice. But I think this statement sums things up in a nut shell. I agree very much with the moral and ethical issue that comes with giving training recommendations that may lead to injury for man/woman or beast. However, the person heeding the advice needs to have enough sence to consider the source, that's true. This is an online source so go figure... Not to suggest that this forum is not a benevolent resource for excelent material, more often than not quite the opposite. I find that the fact it is more personal, with full, true names, instead of online handles goes a LONG way to improve the quality of interaction that one receives from the Leerburg forum. Yet, anyone who has been here for a while, be it as a member or a visitor, must surely know that this is probably one of the most non-bull shit (can I say that? ) internet areas that you can get regarding the subject material that is presented here! Not to mention that the general impression of the proprietor is straight forward, upfront, and about as honest as you can get from a dog trainer, and I've never even met the guy! If the members, myself included, are not prepared to be shown the error of their ways then they should consider joining the "Fluffy Puppy" forum and leave the serious students with their serious instruction. I guess what I am trying to say is that I understand the problem that sometimes arises with pointing out errors to some people, but, as long as those mistakes are drawn to attention in an objective manner then everyone can benefit from the superior methods suggested. My point is that when I am wrong I am the first to admit it but usually the last to know, and would also appreciate the enlightenment be it from out of the open forum or a PM.

This is only the opinion of a basic memeber.

I was wondering if anyone has any suggestions. This is my first time on the forum so, hello! I have a 7 month old Dutch shepard that I can't take on walks! Everytime she sees another dog she completely looses her mind. She will wiggle, claw and even bite to get away from me to get to the dog. I'm worried that she will hurt herself, my kids, the other dog, or me. There is no consoling her? It is like a switch turns on and she forgets her place. Thanks for your help.

Hi Jenni, welcome to the board!

People here will be able to give you some great advice, so you came to the right place.

Just an FYI...posting your own issue on someone else's thread is what's called "hijacking a thread." In general, it's a good idea to post your question as a new topic, instead of as a reply to someone else's.

Click on a list of forums, choose the one you think it appropriate for your question, and then up on top you'll see something that says, "Post new topic."

You'll get much better responses this way!

I have a DA dog. I got a lot of great advice from this forum, however there is nothing like having a pro take a look at your dog's behavior and establishing a baseline for their training or re-training as the case may be. For me all the advice I got from this forum made so much MORE sense to me once someone who is well practiced in identifying DA behavior broke it down in real time. My 2 cents!

Ok thanks for the advice, I will try that also. On the boards I'm used to it's generally considered bad form to start new threads that are being answered in a current one as people tend to get tired of repeating the same advice over and over. So often in the spirit of an open discussion others will "piggyback" tangential topics as part and parcel of the main thread discussion. Apparently different forums operate under different discussion protocols to judge by your response. FYI many times "hijacking" is viewed with the idea of opening up new areas of information that otherwise would've been left undiscovered as opposed to worrying about a breach of protocol. But as I said, each site is different.

No, your right..it's just that with an old thread you can sometimes get mountains of old info to scroll down to get to your new message!

Sorry, hope I didn't seem unwelcoming, because I certainly didn't mean to! I just thought you'd have a better shot at getting more responses with your own thread, as not everyone looks under "active topics."

And as for people having to repeat the same advice over and over, that's when they generally direct people to the "search function."

Even similar topics can have different results, though, as new members appear or info specific to your situation makes a difference.

Anyway, welcome to the board! Sorry if I came across badly...no harm meant!