Quote: Carol Boche

I told Doug that I am going to go get a Chi dog so that I can mother it, put clothes on it, get a stroller for it, let it harass everyone with nasty behavior and talk mooshy to it when asking it to stop......HA HA HA NOT!!!!!!

Carol, Widget is offended. Do not F with the Chi dog. You may be in over your head...

You need to forget the critics in this thread; being hard on yourself is not going to change a thing. Not only that, but I, for one, am not convinced you did anything WRONG, per se.

Yep. Excellent choice.

 Quote: Carol Boche

I told Doug that I am going to go get a Chi dog so that I can mother it, put clothes on it, get a stroller for it, let it harass everyone with nasty behavior and talk mooshy to it when asking it to stop......HA HA HA NOT!!!!!!

Dog Fu isn't quite as dangerous with smaller dogs.

 Quote: Michael_Wise

Dog Fu isn't quite as dangerous with smaller dogs.

AH-HAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

 Quote: Connie Sutherland

 Quote: Michael_Wise

Dog Fu isn't quite as dangerous with smaller dogs.

AH-HAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Ditto.....this made me laugh....Thanks Michael

I can't express how great you all are, and how wonderful this thread is - thank you Carol for starting it and not being embarrassed to do so.

Geoff asked about the signs leading up to Lear's first incident. The biggest sign was Lear barking at me from his crate. It wasn't just a bark that he wanted out. It was (again, embarrassed) ferocious barking, angry, how dare you walk around the house without me type barking. Definitely "I'm the boss" barking. Downright ferocious, attacking the crate and barking more ferociously when I verbally corrected him with a "no" or a "quiet".

Slow obedience at times also, but see that now as my laziness to be consistent and demand instant obedience. Any aloofness at that time is hard to judge even looking back at it now, as he is the follow me everywhere type dog and was quite happy and playful up until the first incident. But I think more importantly, it was the lack of respect for me that was the root problem. He does definitely love me and shows it constantly, but I knew in my heart he didn't respect me as he should. Again, another handler mistake. I think knowing your dog loves you can fool you into thinking all the other important things are there too. Not so.

Jenni, thank you for what you said. I'm going to try and follow your example as well and have already begun with no coddling for a while and will step up the OB. I really need to look at myself as a dog handler instead of just a dog owner/momma. Lear, like Caleb, is very sweet with me also so his attack was totally unexpected.

I had startled him out of a sleep, just by petting him (nothing I hadn't done before) and he came at me. He was suspicious of me for the next 4 days, leading to another 5 incidents, although none as severe as that first one. Very threatening dominant stiff posture, eyes staring and fixed on each incident. Each time, except the first, I was able to deter an attack. He's not a dog that backs off if threatened, but why he saw me as a threat I don't know and it concerned me. I got headaches and tears from thinking about that part.

On one occasion when I knew he was going to lunge at me (drag line out of reach), I did the only thing I could think of, I gave a stern down command (platz) and to my amazement, he did it instantly. I then told him "place" and he trotted into his crate and I shut the door.

I thought my future with Lear was over and cried a lot about it. Like Jenni, I considered giving him to someone, someone who can handle that much dog cause didn't know if I could. I was broken-hearted and couldn't bear the thought. Like Jenni said, this was my baby. I don't quite know how to not feel like that. Cindy wrote to me that she knew I wanted a cuddly dog, but Lear is not that dog. Cindy (what a wonderful lady - wow) and Ed, as well as some of you whom I know and respect and who handle these types of dogs, are my heroes.

I'm realizing you don't learn much with the softer temperament dogs (boy, do I love those), but it's the tough ones who teach you the real lessons. So I'm thankful for my dog, for his love, for all that he is and I'm keeping the monster.

Awwwwwgg....damn Sandy, you made me cry. Seriously, you did. (and I am not a cryer)
That was an awesome post.
You are the best thing for Lear and I can pretty much tell it goes both ways.

 Quote: Steven Lepic

Question for those who've experienced something like this, but have NOT swiftly dealt with it.

Did you find that the experience turned out to be a big and memorable pay-off for the dog? In other words, did it happen AGAIN at a disproportionatly frequent interval compared to the elapsed time preceding the first incident?

Ok, I did have a very similar situation and was a complete novice as to what to do. My dog was about 15 months old and I was practicing walking on leash in the midst of distractions (squirrels running between oak trees in a park). He was only in a flat collar and highly prey driven, so this was a challenge. He was doing great until two squirrels started to quarrel at a tree 3 feet away from us, when he lost focus on me, I gave a correction and he came up the leash at me and nailed me right above my wrist. He didn't break the skin but left one of those deep bruises. Shocked, I acted instinctively, I wrapped my fingers into his collar and kept my knuckles pushed up against his chin until he stopped thrashing around and then walked back to my car and put him in his crate and went home. From there I went back to groundwork though he did challenge me several more times, he never bit me again. He jumped up and body checked and also would try to rip the leash out of my hand. This lovely behavior continued until he was about 30 months; in total maybe half a dozen times. I can't say it escalated but I can say it diminished when I backed off on the distraction training and brought it down to square one great distance and short duration and worked sloooooowly towards greater self control.

I don't think my issue was so much dominance, though he was definitely testing the waters, as it was his being overwhelmed and having no outlet for his prey drive. Any time he had one of those physical outbursts it was due to my interfering with his desire to chase something. A definite training mistake on my part too much too soon and not giving him an outlet for his frustration. Bad handler....Carol, are you done with that newspaper?

On the bright side, he'll be 8 years old next month and is very stable....well alright I've lost a couple of screen windows when he's jumped out them after squirrels on the patio but hey nobody is perfect . And leaded glass windows on patio sliders is a sound home improvement investment.

Now if I had Carol's knowledge or experience I probably would have been able to have fixed my situation immediatley vs. a little over a year until I got the compliance I wanted, but I learned tons and no damage was done so I guess it was a win/win.

 Quote: sandy moore

... The biggest sign was Lear barking at me from his crate. It wasn't just a bark that he wanted out. It was (again, embarrassed) ferocious barking, angry, how dare you walk around the house without me type barking. Definitely "I'm the boss" barking. Downright ferocious, attacking the crate and barking more ferociously when I verbally corrected him with a "no" or a "quiet".

I've seen this before as a frequently-overlooked sign when owners tell me that the dog "suddenly" exhibited dominant behaviors. I've heard it described as separation anxiety when it was actually the dog vocalizing about being kept behind bars, unable to lead "his" pack. (Cesar Millan had one of these on an episode last year; the owners thought he was lonely and scared in the crate.)

Another misinterpretation is the owner thinking s/he's seeing "protectiveness" when what it is, is resource-guarding. "My human -- get away!"