Would you suggest I not do the video?? I already ordered it. He does occasionally bite us "out of the blue", especially my 12 year old daughter. By out of the blue, I mean that one minute he can be calmly sitting next to you, or giving kisses, then the next minute he jumps up, growling and biting. Or, if he starts to chew on her sneaker, and she reaches down to push him aside, he will jump up and bite her arm while growling. He will occasionally bite at us if we do something to him he doesn't approve of also.

I would still get the Pack Structure DVD. That is a must for all dog owners regardless of your current situation.

I have not seen the Ellis DVD

He is now on-leash and held by my husband or I now, so that this cannot happen. He's never broken the skin, but it's not in a playful-puppy manner either.

I've heard that the DVD tells you to initially isolate the dog for 1 to 2 weeks. Maybe I would not be that severe??

I believe that method is for an adult dog, not a puppy.

It's very possible. I haven't received it yet, so I have no idea. Does it give different methods for pups and adults? Thank you very much for the walking method, by the way.

As I said Kelly,
The dvd may well help you understand dogs and their language better. I don't know.
For fear/fear aggression though...........pinch collars, isolation. Mmmmm, I don't know.
My feeling tend more toward seeing how the positive goes first. One can always escalate things.
While one may not be able undo and back track if it goes badly for the dog.

You seem to be having a myriad of issues with this dog.
You've had dogs before? From puppy hood?
I'm sorry but I'm having a hard time getting all the issues cataloged in this poor addled brain.

If my dog isn't learning, I'm doing something wrong.

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He said that my pup alway had the fearfulness and aggression in him. In order to get rid of it, it needs to be brought out and corrected. This is the first thing I read when I opened the page...thought someone was performing an Exorcism!

Now that I have read the rest of the posts, it sounds like a 6 month old pup who has had his behavior go unchecked. I would start from the begining by utilizing the information in the videos and would not allow the kids to have physical interaction with the pup.

Yes, Randy, while growing up, I had 1 dog from puppyhood and one shelter dog that we got at 2 years old. Even though I was young, I never had a single issue with them (aside of the normal puppiness behaviors). I have always loved animals and did most of the training work with both those dogs. They walked off leash with me all of the time. I definitely felt "in charge" with them. I've then had 3 dogs, besides this one since then, all from puppyhood. Our last dog was a toughie. She was a Chow and became very overprotective at around 6 years old. Great dog with us, although we couldn't do quite a few things to her (bathing, hair cut, brushing) and a few select people, but that was it. I DON'T want that again.
This dog is good 75% of the time in the house with us. His 4 main issues when I went to the pinch collar trainer was 1)biting when excited and sometimes when reprimanded (by reprimanded, I mean grabbing his leash or collar to pull him away from something). 2) Plowing people over when they come in - now that he's on-leash, he will pull and gag while they are here, so that I have to put him in his crate. I hate to isolate him like this. 3) constant pulling on walks - he's VERY strong. 4) occasional growling at other people and dogs on walks - before the pinch, he would growl and pull away, since the pinch, he growls and pulls towards. He also counter surfs, but that is fixed with the leash and the least of my concerns.
We have tried MANY methods to stop these behaviors without success. He tends to lash out at most corrections. If you raise your voice, even in a short but firm "No", he seems to get more fired up, especially with the biting.
He was very skittish initially, afraid of noises, other dogs, inanimate objects, the car, etc... I worked him through these things. He has now regressed, but like I said is pulling towards, instead of away with the people and animals, although he already seems to be improving with the inanimate objects.

Sorry this was so long!!

 Quote: randy allen

My feeling tend more toward seeing how the positive goes first. One can always escalate things.
While one may not be able undo and back track if it goes badly for the dog.

The Power of Training Dogs with Food with Michael Ellis is one of the best videos I have ever seen. The positive approach will empower you AND make you feel good about what you and the dog are doing in training. I know Randy already recommended it. I would also get this next, if it were me. The pack structure is good, but used in conjunction with this training method will help you attain a very good bond with your dog.