Dog Aggression

[JimmyDean]

Hi Everyone: I need some advice on how to discontinue Razer's newish habit of acting aggressive towards other dogs. He's a little under 2 and a half years old. Since he was young, we exposed him to other dogs. He has always loved to play, somewhat a little rough mind you, but nothing to worry too much about. About 2 months ago, his one pal died and last month his best buddy moved. Since then, he's shown signs of aggression towards dogs he sees on the street walking by our home. He growls, his ears perk up and yet he whines like he wants to go out and play. About a week ago, we were walking by and man jogging with his dog and Razer started barking hysterically and lunging towards the dog. Yesterday, my wife and I went for a walk and stopped to pet 2 neighbor dogs (never met them before) standing in their back yard--fenced in. The 3 of them started sniffing eachother and Razer started snapping at them. I yanked him hard on his chain and he somewhat calmed down. Then he did it again. What's with this behavior? Is he trying to show that "he's the man" so to speak? I've always correct him, but am I not doing enough? Or am I doing it wrong? Thanks for your advice.

JimmyD

[kekaufman]

Check out traing section, notes on Training pays big dividends, we are having adiscussion rigjht now.

[Judi W]

Personally, I don't believe things just "go away". I am convinced that if a dog is kept in group classes all through its puppyhood, adolesence and into adulthood, they establish the habit of working through their concerns about other dogs and keeping that work ethic going regardless of the others presence.

[Storm]

Should a dog have a tendency to show aggression towards other dogs, don't push the issue. There are a lot of dogs out there who don't get on with other dogs. Your dog is to be taught to accept the presence of other dogs not necessarily accept another dog's nose up his A**. Dog aggression can be very unpleasant for the handler as some rotties are so "driven" and powerful. The main thing in order to overcome this is to expose your self and dog to an environment where other dogs are present. Depending on the level of aggression, I would initially work the dog a fair distance from the "distraction" in order to give you the opportunity to get in the control and make sure the dog understands your command forming the required association. It makes things a lot easier if the other people are responsible handlers of there dogs so at least you don't have to worry about dogs rushing, out of control, up to you etc. This obviously must be done considering that you are working at obedience in other areas of your training in order to complete the whole picture. The dog is to realize that your commands "override" his tendency to show aggression, if your been dragged along by the dog, yelling, the dog is basically saying ##%^***# !!!! You can add distractions to aid in distracting the dog's attention away from other dogs yet at the end of the day it comes down to you saying leave and the dog must comply! Through physical and mental interaction you can get the message across that leave means leave. At this point of aggression the dog usually kicks into "high drive" and only has eyes for the other dog. Well the dog is to know that this is not acceptable, will not be tolerated and be properly reprimanded for the behavior. Let the dog know when he does well and the behavior is desirable, through consistency and firmness it definitely can be done!

[codglvr]

We dealt with a similar situation with Saga. Through the guided hand of our trainer, we worked on approaching other dogs without an aggressive reaction. It took time, patience, distance and a ton of work that we still work on today, daily, and no she never got over it, now she tolerates and as Judi W said works through it. This really took a great deal of time with our trainer during obedience classes to learn to read Saga and teach Saga before she ever got past the point of no return to focus on the task at hand. It can be done, but like I said, it is lots of work. Some dogs Saga is an angel with, I allow play time, others, no way are they off leash near each other.

[JimmyDean]

Thanks for all the responses. As usual, having a dog means constant learning and training. I'll use these and other ideas to work with Razer. I'll also check out the discussion in the Training thread.

JimmyD