We inherited a (3-year-old) dog from extended family. She had been mistreated by children and by the husband, who doesn't like dogs. My husband's guess is that she's part Boxer, part German Shepherd. She was aggressive to strangers when we got her (3 mo. ago), but in our isolated location, she seems to have gotten worse.

She is a monster to small children. I can understand that in the circumstances, but it must stop if we're to keep her. She is also aggressive to adult strangers, especially males. She bit my brother on the chin (trying for the throat) when he came to visit. It wasn't a bad bite because I pulled her away with the leash.

Next evening we went out, leaving her in the crate--which we hadn't done before. When we came back (3 of us; me, hubby, YA daughter), she was barking, growling, showing teeth, hackles up. Hubby lets her out of the crate before I know what he's about to do. She runs to him, threatening, and he yells and she runs away to me, barking and growling. I took offensive stance and demanded she cut it out. She then ran to my daughter, jumped up and tried to bite her. Daughter, not wanting to hurt the dog, used a fending kick, but by then I was there and drop-kicked her toward the kennel.

She's been in the crate since. My daughter found this site and I ordered a bunch of videos and we've read pages and pages on pack behavior, aggressive dogs, etc. (Thanks!) However the videos aren't here yet. Daughter has been taking the dog out most of the time for exercise, but sometimes it just has to be the person who's here (hubby). That seems to be working okay, but hubby is worried about the dog being depressed and wants to know how to tell when it's time to let her out of the crate.

Can I get any ideas of criteria for moving on to more freedom for her--and how much freedom?

Thanks for any help anyone can give.

Cindy

Hi Cindy,
Is this your first dog? Read this article, maybe it will help. You need to start over with the dog,

http://leerburg.com/pdf/Ed%20FrawleysPhilosophyonDogTraining.pdf

http://leerburg.com/groundwork.htm

Don't feel sorry for the dog and her "depression." Trust me she's not depressed and such feelings about the dog will not help your problem. The answer of when to let her out of the crate is When it's time for a walk, when it's time to poop, and when it's time to put a dish in her crate or to take it out. If she's amped up it's not time to let her out.

I hope you also invest in a basket muzzle for this dog.

Cindy, just mentioning that the weekend is the slowest time to post; not as many folks viewing. More folks will respond on Monday.
FYI, here was another thread recently on aggression; I have a feeling the advice will be the same in your case...

http://leerburg.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=258441#Post258441

Cindy, you have received good advice.

The dog is not depressed. Ascribing human emotions to the dog is counterproductive.

You have taken good steps by ordering videos, but there's such a huge lack of dog behavior understanding demonstrated by rewarding "barking, growling, showing teeth, hackles up" with opening the crate. Every interaction with the dog is training the dog something, and that's the kind of training you don't want to do, as Melissa pointed out.

Your post paints such a dangerous picture that Lynne's link is most likely the right advice. You need experienced help.

We all started as beginners, and this post is not at all critical or confrontational. It's just that this is not a situation for beginners to be in without experienced help.

Have you taken this dog to your vet and toldof the behavior. Without having raised the dog, you can't know when this started. Sometimes certain health problems can cause extreme behaviors, including aggression. If this is the case, training or behavioral modification will have limited effects. But also if it is health related, and has been going on for some time; dealing with the health issues alone might not be enough. The behaviors can become fixed no matter the initial reasons. So pack structure, and training or behavioral modification will still be needed.

Good luck. It sounds like you are going to have your work cut out for you!

Thanks, Al

No, she's not a first dog. She's the first dog any of us have had that was aggressive toward people. Thanks for the links--I've read the articles and learned a lot. I really appreciate your sending them.

Cindy

Thanks for all the replies, everyone.

I'm grateful for you taking the time and effort to help us. We live in a fairly rural, low-population area. Is there some particular thing one should look for in a professional trainer? Looking over this website, it would appear that the wrong trainer can be a bad thing, too. I'm not sure how to pick a good one, or whether there would be anyone in this area qualified to help.

I should explain that I am not afraid of this dog. The incident when my husband and I and my daughter came home would not have happened if my husband hadn't opened the crate when he did. I have no idea why he did that. As for the dog, I don't know why she didn't recognize us, except that she saw people coming into "her" twilight house and "saw red." She settled down right away and slunk into her crate on command after I kicked her little butt. Since she's gotten accustomed to being in the crate while we're gone, she's completely stopped showing any aggression when we come home.

I think, based on what I've read here, that this sounds like a case of the dog feeling it is her duty to defend "her" property. She, my brother & wife, and my daughter walked all around the pasture with no problem, no aggression. It was when they came into the house a couple of minutes after my daughter had brought the dog in, that she had a problem. She seemed to have settled down and accepted them, but my bro made the mistake of trying to touch her. Oops.

In my effort to avoid writing a book, I probably over-simplified the situation. From the reading I've done here, I think she has a problem with pack-order, thinking it's her place to attack people she sees as strangers--including us in the incident I mentioned. I felt certain at the time she didn't realize who we were in her excitement and the strangeness of being left in the kennel while we were away.

If there were any chance she would encounter children unexpectedly, or if she were larger, we couldn't keep her at all. As it is, we live practically in the wilderness, surrounded by Natl. Forest land, and no one comes to visit unexpected. We don't let her roam around alone. She's always inside or accompanied by one of us. However, I do need her to get to the point where she can accept adult guests who may be staying with us for a week or so, and at the very least, refrain from growling at them from her kennel. If she can't get there, we can't keep her. Sad, but that's just the way it is.

However, my primary reason for posting is my husband. He is demanding to know when I intend to let the dog out of the kennel to interact with us when we're home. As I said, I'm not afraid of her, and neither is my daughter. We are concerned that letting her have more freedom may be counterproductive in our efforts to "civilize" her. I just need something to tell my husband. Are there any landmarks we should look for? Are there any guidelines for increasing her "family time"?

I'm really looking forward to getting those DVDs. Hubby tends to believe experts more than me. Imagine that! Meanwhile, it would be a HUGE help to have just a little more information to share with him on this.

Thanks so much,

Cindy Skillman

 Quote: cindy skillman

However, my primary reason for posting is my husband. He is demanding to know when I intend to let the dog out of the kennel to interact with us when we're home. As I said, I'm not afraid of her, and neither is my daughter. We are concerned that letting her have more freedom may be counterproductive in our efforts to "civilize" her. I just need something to tell my husband. Are there any landmarks we should look for? Are there any guidelines for increasing her "family time"?

We can attempt to justify behavior like this for our dogs until we're blue in the face. Bottom line however is that you have a dog that is fully willing to solve her people issues with her teeth.You have a dangerous dog with the size has the potential to seriously maim or kill someone, even an adult. It's not about being afraid of the dog it's about respect. Your dog should be able to function through a day without the opportunity of having her "little butt kicked" so she can begin to respect you rather than react to you. You should also respect your family members enough to want them to not get bitten by this dog or expect them to need to defend themselves from attack by the dog. Structure to make this happen is key.

You and your husband need to get on the same page for dealing with the dog. Watch the vids together, talk it over, and if it's not what you signed up for or you can't get on the same page with this dog you need to have her euthanized. Rehoming a dog like this isn't a good option and the list of sanctuaries that can take dogs like these is pretty darn short usually with a wait list years long.

As far as help for this kind of aggression you need to find a trainer that does behavior modifications for aggressive dogs. This is not the same thing as obedience training but it is under dog training in the yellow pages. Then you need to check this person's track record and methods.

Best of luck with whatever you decide to do.