Hi there, I have a question about my female spayed, 2.5 year old Louisiana Catahoula Leopard Dog/Lab mix. I have owned the dog since Jan. 6, so about 5 months.

She is submissive with humans but has shown dog aggression before, and her hackles always go up when she sees another dog or if she barks at "trespassing" humans. (Catahoulas are known to be protective as a trait of the breed).

I have the Leerburg Basic Obedience DVD and have been trying to follow the advice in it. I have a prong collar for the dog but I haven't used it yet.

My problem is this. The dog is just recently "settled" into her new home and is now becoming somewhat territorial. My lot backs onto a park and is fenced with a chain link fence. It is a busy park and now that the weather is warm, there are always soccer games and baseball games going on. She basically ignores people in the park unless they walk too close to "her" fence, or if they are walking a dog - people often walk dogs around the perimiter of the park. When she barks, she goes right up to the fence and barks in a mean sounding voice, hackles up all along her back (I'm not sure what this means, but my last dog never did this).

She also barks when my neighbors are in their yard and get close to the fence.

I want to correct her for this, as she ignores my yelling at her and jerking on her flat collar. I believe a prong collar would get a better correction. The question is, is there a way to have the prong collar on her in the yard such that I can correct her, but she does not self-correct? When she is on a long line (15 ft) it always gets tangled up or stepped on, and if this happens with a prong collar it could be counter productive.

Also she plays rough-and-tumble with my other dog in the yard, and I'm worried that the prong collar would be inadvertantly jerked while playing.

What can I do to stop her behaviour? What do you do (or did you do) when your dog barks at the fence or in the house (at an outside noise)?

P.S. An electric collar isn't a good option because they are quite out of my price range. (If deemed necessary it could take me several weeks to save up the money for one, so any tips on what to do in the mean time would be appreciated).

Thanks!

A Bark Collar might be an option... a prong collar tends to escalate aggression more than eliminate it in many cases... a dominant dog collar or choker may be the way to go, but should be used properly. Dog-on-dog aggression sometimes just can't be cured, depends on the severity, especially if the dog is a rescue with an unknown history... one bad experience with another dog can make a dog aggressive towards other dogs for life. It may just be a dominance/territorial thing. I hate telling people to spend money for advice, but I hear the Leerburg DVD on dealing with dominant and aggressive dogs will give you insight into your problem as well as instruction on the correct way to handle it and use the dominant dog collar.

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A Bark Collar might be an option... a prong collar tends to escalate aggression more than eliminate it in many cases... a dominant dog collar or choker may be the way to go, but should be used properly. Dog-on-dog aggression sometimes just can't be cured, depends on the severity, especially if the dog is a rescue with an unknown history... one bad experience with another dog can make a dog aggressive towards other dogs for life. It may just be a dominance/territorial thing. I hate telling people to spend money for advice, but I hear the Leerburg DVD on dealing with dominant and aggressive dogs will give you insight into your problem as well as instruction on the correct way to handle it and use the dominant dog collar.

I vote the same way.
http://www.leerburg.com/301.htm
At least for me and many of the people whose dogs I work with, a video (or DVD) shows so much more clearly than print what to do and how to do it.

This one makes a sort of progression from the Basic Obedience DVD (which I think is extremely good), and you already have that, so you could take a weekend and watch all of both videos.

JMO, but I think you'll get more for your money out of these videos than out of the new equipment...... and I don't mean a thing against the equipment. I'm just balancing one against the other for someone who is on a tight budget and not (I gather) in a dangerous attacking kind of situation.

Hi, Angela <:-)

I have no problem at all paying (a reasonable amount) for excellent advice, since the FREE kind is sometimes only worth what you pay for it (which is nothing!) so I very highly recommend these 2 videos:

http://www.leerburg.com/301.htm

http://www.leerburg.com/318.htm

Also, you could start saving up to buy an e-collar -- For family pets, I like the Innotek IUT 300 model (I found a set of TWO with a dual frequency transmitter on SALE @ PetSmart for around $150, which work great on my Akita & Borzoi)...

Anyway, I'd get the Dominant & Aggressive Dog DVD immediately, and then progress from there <:-)

Hi everyone, thanks for replying.

So what you are saying is that a prong collar is probably not the best solution for my particular problem.

I will order the Dominant Dog DVD and go from there. Thanks!