I just finished watching the first half of Ed's video "Dealing With Dominant & Aggressive Dogs". All I can say is WOW and I wish I had not waited so long to watch this one. I have a question regarding a family move to a new home and dominant dogs. We are moving a few states away to a new home with two GSDs. I am a bit concerned about the dogs dealing with the move and a new environment. My female handles change pretty well, except that she hates to do her business anywhere but at home. And thanks to some moron baggage handler, she freaks when she is crated for any length of time. My male is my biggest concern. He is an extremely dominant dog with a tendency to be dog aggressive. Hence, he is always on a lead when outside and kept away from other dogs, except for the female. They have no issues.

The video mentions going back to ground work upon a move with this type of dog, but how far back would that be? Do I treat him like he is a new dog being brought into my home? Crated except for potty breaks and exercise? No affection? I want to make this move as easy as possible on everyone including the dogs. They know something is up because of all the boxes stacked in my living room. And I caught my male marking on them the other day!! That is something he has not done in 3 years!! I would appreciate any suggestions.

Ed talks about going back to square one, a lot.

Nancy, I can tell you when I moved (and it was just locally, so the physical move itself was not stressful for our dog)that extra crate time was in order once we were in our new place.

I found with my dog that she was alerting (barking and growling)at almost any noise she heard outside the house, and I'm sure it was the unfamiliarity of her new surroundings that contributed to this. She also was misbehaving in the house (grabbing items off the table/counter and destroying them), which was out of character for her.

We went back to crating at all times when we weren't home, and closing the crate door at night (she normally slept in her crate w/ the door open). Being in her crate seemed to relieve her anxiety and give her time to adjust to the sights and sounds of her new environment.

As far as going back to square one, play it by ear and see how your dogs do and adjust accordingly...

 Quote: Nancy Stinson

The video mentions going back to ground work upon a move with this type of dog, but how far back would that be? Do I treat him like he is a new dog being brought into my home? Crated except for potty breaks and exercise? No affection? I want to make this move as easy as possible on everyone including the dogs. They know something is up because of all the boxes stacked in my living room. And I caught my male marking on them the other day!! That is something he has not done in 3 years!! I would appreciate any suggestions.

You know your dogs better than anyone else, and it sounds like you're rightfully anticipating your male to be negatively effected by the stress of this move - as in, there's a good potential for regression in training or certain behaviors... good for you for being keen about it, and being prepared. It's hard to say exactly how far back to square one you need to go, but with an aggressive dog, it's probably best in this case to be overly cautious and take a pretty conservative route.

Like Lynne, I made a big move a few years ago with my dominant dog (doesn't sound nearly as intense as your boy, but still) and noticed a marked change for the worse in Oscar's behavior leading up to our departure date. I was quite concerned about it, but we immediately moved back to some groundwork and had a very strict structure in place for him once in the new apartment. We didn't go all the way back to full time crating, but his freedom in the house was more limited, our walks were much more controlled - and LOADED with obedience (which I found super helpful in both reinforcing my leadership and making him feel generally upbeat). He responded VERY quickly, and very well, to this adjustment and we were able to gradually return him to his previous freedoms without incident.

Moving is such a stressful thing, I wish you and your dogs the best of luck. Make sure you squeeze in some nice long walks in between all that packing - it'll be good for you AND the dog's nerves.

~Natalya

I wish I would've know about this place when we moved a year and a half ago. We went through all kinds of issues with the older dog (13), including voiding in the house and refusal to recall.

Thanks for the advice. I guess it is better to be safe than sorry with this guy.