Please contact the breeder of your dog and see if he/she will take him back for evaluation, and possible re-homing.

For what ever reason it really doesn't seem from your posts that the current situation is a good one for the dog. If that sounds heartless, I apologize, but the dog, in these type of things are always my first concern.

Cause, sadly, my experience is that it is the dog that loses.

If you wish to work with your boy I have a training group that meets in North Florida on Saturdays. We will be more then happy to evaluate him and work with you, your husband, and the dog on pack leadership and obedience.

 Quote: nancy black

kelly,
Congrats for your success with training your dogs, sounds like I need to come to Wis. and get some help from you.
Question: what corrections did you use on the dogs, prong, e collar? That is a problem for me with this big boy of mine, giving a correction that makes enough of an impression that he can overcome his obsession with either protecting me or excitement at someone coming to the house. I have used a neighbor kid to ring the doorbell but that plan fizzled out when the kid got tired of doing it, and there was still the UPS truck to deal with which drives Kobe bonkers.
thanks for the training ideas,
Nancy

My dogs were all trained with prongs and/or dominant dog collars. When I really want to shut down drive in a dog, I use the DD collar and take her air away for a few seconds. That is something the dog will not want to experience more than a couple of times. If you are not strong enough to administer the DD correction, your husband may have to do it to establish control.

One point I want to make though, is that MY dogs were taught to respect the command BEFORE the distraction was introduced. They were taught the command in a positive way... "in the box" means food will be waiting in the crate for you. Once they understand what "in the box" means and don't comply, they get a major correction. A correction that makes them think their life is on the line. I ONLY use this kind of correction when there is a safety issue with noncompliance. Then SLOWLY add distractions.

If one neighbor kid got bored with ringing the bell, find another one. Once you got the door bell issue dealt with, the UPS thing should naturally be fine as he will respect the command. If not, give him a correction to remind him BEFORE he gets to the crazy bonkers stage.

Nancy, don't give up on your dog. He sounds like a great dog....

--Kelly

Kiersten,
Did you write all that to tell me that my vet does not know what he is talking about when he said that Apache's brain injury caused his biting one man and trying to bite his owner, or that I am lying? If you have experience in brain injuries you ought to know that when the brain is subjected to a serious impact the cells start bleeding and will eventually die which is exactly what happened to Apache. Maybe something could have been done at the time to save him, but I was asleep at 5 am when it happened and my husband checked him over, not even knowing that he had hit his head for sure, just that he had run into the jeep, woke me up and told me to watch him. From that time til 2 months later when the abnormal aggression to strangers started, he showed absolutely no sign that he had been hurt.
I had young grandchildren at home who come to visit often and having a dog with the smallest inclination to hurt them or worse was not an option, as much as I loved Apache. What would you have done under the circumstances?
Nancy

Nancy,

I would JUMP HURDLES and take Betty's offer!!! She is a great trainer and breeder, and KNOWS dogs.

Meredith,
If there is a medical problem that is causing his off the wall behavior I kind of doubt how much good "leadership" training will do. And I could not count the no. of people who have posted that I first and foremost should have him vet checked. Don't know if this answers your question as it really did not make much sense.
Nancy

Tammy,
Are you saying that your dog with thyroid problems had aggression issues as well as other symptoms? The vet today kind of made it sound like she has not seen many cases of thyroid connected aggression. I can see that malfunctioning thyroid would cause more than one symptom, I am sure it does in people. But nothing else seems out of whack with Kobe, his skin is fine, eats normally, weight 10 lbs. more than 6 months ago, but not out of balance for his size. HIs test will probably come back normal based on everything else I can see, then where do I go? As one poster said there has to be a reason for such sudden change of behavior and I hope to heck I can find it.
Nancy

Kelly,
I almost ordered the DD collar but Cindy said it would not be good for the correction I needed in training Kobe away from barking at the door. But if this collar is what you use for hanging a dog that answers the question of why I have not been able to hang him with a prong collar! Some folks on a GSD forum told me about hanging being the best way to correct a hard dog but they said they did it with the prong, and I gave up as I could'nt lift him off his feet. Maybe I was using the wrong collar, do you think? Is the DD collar similar to the choke chain?
any idea why Cindy did not think this collar was good for corrections? should I order it anyway, based on your experience?
thanks for the tips on getting him started, but I still have doubts that he will ever be able to ignore that darned UPS truck, but it is more than worth trying.
Nancy

 Quote: Nancy Black

HIs test will probably come back normal based on everything else I can see, then where do I go?

You could go see Betty. Couldn't hurt, right? She is offering to evaluate him, that would be great help! Maybe you won't have to order a whole bunch of stuff that won't work. Wouldn't it be great if somebody with lots of dog experience helps you with this directly?

Nancy,

I think that as I reread all of this it has been established that 1) this is not a sudden change in behavior, but one that is has been escalating. 2) Training is in order, perhaps with the help of a professional because 3) You need to replace the behavior, train the dog about reacting in a new fashion to the door threat, 4) Don't just keep trying to correct this particular negative behavior (with a new type collar) without giving the dog something else TO DO.

The other side of this coin is 1) stop making excuses -- medical or otherwise for this dog's behavior 2) decide if this dog is a commitment you want to take on 3) START now to ACT

And for god sakes don't "hang him" with a DD collar.