My German Shepherd male is a little over 4 years old. He is trained to help me by alerting me when the phone rings, or someone is at the door, a hearing assistance type dog which I trained myself. When I got him, we socialized him all the time, parks, stores, meter reader, mailman, and all was well. I made it a priority to get him around children, other dogs, buses, different events around town, so forth. I even took him to the ball game and many kids petted and talked to him. Obedience training and working with him over several months gave me a well mannered and responsive dog, but there is a serious problem now.

Back in late summer, we went in our yard and my GS was attacked by a pit bull who lived nearby. This was a frightening experience because the dog grabbed his face and wouldn't turn lose. The owner of the pit and I were there in seconds and we did get them apart after some effort. The owner of the pit bull did pay for all the vet bills, but there is a lingering side effect that I'd like advice on. The dog is becoming hostile of the mailman, the meter reader...anyone that comes on our property and also growls when there is a dog or children going down the road. He is now also hostile towards the veterinarian which before this happened, she would get down in the floor with him and he would lick her in the face joyously. Now, even though we want to believe we have control, I always put a muzzle on him when the vet is giving him injections or anything...I just cannot take the chance based on recent history.

Today was another wake up call. The mailman came up and my German shepherd barred his teeth and started after him. I snapped out no, and gave him the down command, which he did not obey until I got there, and grabbed his collar. The dog continued show his teeth even afterwards. Only when the mailman started walking away, did this stop. I am now very concerned about what might have happened if I had been in the back room?

I contacted a local trainer, and he said that that I had the wrong breed if I did not want an attack dog. I don't agree with that, does anyone else here?

I have considered hiring a couple of strangers to dress up like mailmen and meter readers with the idea of trying to re-socialize the dog, and when he shows signs of hostility towards them , a strong correction to be administered. Is there hope in this method? That would be the only way I would know to do it, but I think the pit bull experience complicates it because correcting him at the vet's office hasn't yet modified his behavior towards her. Or maybe the pit bull experience has no bearing at all, although the hostitle behavior was observed soon after. I believe there is also an issue of my being his pack leader. I have to think he would have stopped on command instantly if he still had or ever had respect for me as pack leader.

The dog is not castrated, fyi.

Advice please.

Hi Andrew,

Sorry to hear about this. Sounds like you had a good dog before the attack.

From what I've picked up lately (from Ed's videos, other web sites and boards and talking to other people) the attack on your dog will most likely affect it forever (dog agressive).

I've been very careful about not letting my dog off leash especially when there are other dogs around (I know circumstances change very quickly), and if another dog charges mine while on leash I'll get between both and kick the shit out of the other dog if need be (sorry but I have to live with my dog and I will NOT allow loose dogs to spoil all the HARD work I've put into having a very good dog) and I've come close to kicking the shit out of the owners (that's who deserve it) for putting me in that position in the first place (I hate having to hurt animals).

It seems that you have all the right ideas of how to deal with the agression towards people and I'd continue down that path to see how it goes (severe corrections when agreesion is shown).

Have you had this dog since it was a pup?
Have you trained with a prong/EC or have you considered it?
Is your yard now fenced and does your mailman have to walk to your door to post a letter or is there some alternative to that? Fencing and removing some of the temptation to bolt may help.

I'd say the trainer that said "I had the wrong breed if I did not want an attack dog." is an idiot (just my opinion). I've not been traning very long and I beleive it's down to how you train the dog and the temperament of the dog (your dog would seem to be good before it got chewed) therefor he is talking nonesense.

There are many people on this board more qualified than me to offer advice so maybe someone with more experience can offer better advice??

HTH

John

Not just your opinion, John. My first thought on reading what that so-called trainer said was "Idiot."

Andrew, your dog went through a traumatic event and of course it affected him. Some things you can do to help him are take him to the vet for casual visits and have the vet and vet techs give him treats. At first they'll probably just have to gently toss any treats near him. When they toss or offer the treat they should talk to the dog in a friendly voice without looking directly at him. Don't forget to call first or make an appointment.

If your regular mail person, delivery people (i.e. UPS driver), etc. are willing to help ask them to do the same thing. This way, hopefully, the dog will start to associate some of these people with good things once more.

Issue corrections when needed. This tells your dog that you are his leader. If you think that he might, in a sense, be questioning your leadership due to what occured, put him on a combination nilif and daily obedience training program to help you re-establish your top pack position.

Andrew,

Some NILIF resources to check out here:

http://k9deb.com/nilif.htm
http://www.cairnrescue.com/docs/NILIF.htm
http://www.justshepherds.com/training.htm

I know you've probably read about all this stuff before but it helps to brush up and I always find I learn something new in one way or another every time I go over something (even just looking at things in a different way).

HTH

John

The only thing I would add to this.. You might woant to look into training with a E-collar. There is a good DVD on this that Edd has. And here is a site you might wont to check out too. http://www.loucastle.com/articles.htm
You also might try sending Lou an email for some help on this too.
Good luck

I'm sorry this happened to you and your dog. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/mad.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/crazy.gif" alt="" />

From the info you gave I beleive that your dog may have associated the dog attack with the other dog's owner. You stated that 'it took some effort to get them apart'. It sounds like that dog saw the other person jump in and may have thought the owner was helping the other dog attack. So if this is the case I have no doubt your dog has lost trust in everyone but his family.

I think your dog may have this problem for life as someone else said. But that doesn't mean that the behavior won't improve or be managable. But you will always need to be on your toes to keep things calm and safe. I think the 'trainer' you spoke with is not worth the breath you used talking to him. Sound really ignorant to me.

Look for another trainer, get referals from other owners or talk with some breed rescue groups who often get dogs with issues. Ask them who they've used and you might get a real trainer this time.

Good luck,
Jamie