Aggression towards particular dogs

[etanjft]

Hi
I started having a problem about a couple of months ago with my dog. Before that, he was pretty well behaved, passed his CGC, Basic, and Pre-novice training, 1st time round, then in the latest class, he somehow took a dislike to 2 dogs, 1 grey husky, and 1 dalmation. Once he sees the husky he lunges growls, and all training goes out the window. The husky is also pretty aggressive towards all other dogs, but the Dalmation is one mild dog with his tail between his legs most of the time. Other dogs in the class are fine, which include a mix of rotts, German Shepherds, Belgium Malinois, etc and he gets on fine with them both dogs and bitches.

Any advice on this/what could be the trouble here? He as well seem distracted and does not pay attention to me. I train him twice a day Morning and evenings for 10-15 minutes, followed by walks, and play. He sometimes lounges at other dogs as well esp. if they are on their walks with their owners.

My boxer Male and about 17 months old , now.

/John

 

[Krikkit]

Hi John, I wonder if these dog's are giving off signals to your boy which have upset him. Dog's are masters of non-verbal communication.. At 17 months of age he is a teenager and some teenage male Boxers (and females) can be a bit over the top at times.

As your boy has such a good grounding in obedience it may just be worth working him through it. My first Boxer Bo would sometimes take an instant dislike to another dog, generally large entire males :rolleyes: and basically all I could do was read when he was getting toey and then made him work (fast heeling, lots of sits and drops, some tricks) to get his mind off it. As soon as I had his attention I would praise and treat him and then work on keeping his attention on me. If it was in class I would move to the side, get him focused, then gradually move him back in and try to get to the stage where he was working next to the dog he did not like (this did depend on the other dog, and more importantly if the handler of the other dog was also working well with his or her dog).

It sounds as if you are doing very well in classes

Sharon

 

[etanjft]

Hi
Thanks for the info.

The trainer also thinks we should work it out between the 2 dogs and we'll try it next class- though the handler of the other dog is a slight woman and may not be able to handle her dog when they lounge.

He reccommends strong correction before the problem gets out of hand when the dog matures.

Just wonder if there are any other methods successful for this.

And Yes,we were doing pretty well in the training until recently. Currently, I doubt he can pass the CGC if he sat for it again. In the last class, he lounged so violently, he tore the skin off part of my fingers.

I'm taking it as it comes though, he's so lovable, can't stay angry with him for long.

/John

 

[Krikkit]

Hi John, we don't train with corrections at all, but I know that it is still quite common in some classes, I guess you just have to work out what is best for you. My prefered option with this type of thing is to move the dogs out of the area of stress, focus them on the handler, them move them back in together gradually (arcing around - bringing dogs head to head is very confontational). Basically this is working through the stress rather than creating more stress on the dogs. When dogs are fired up they loose touch with the handler and it is important they be brought back down to planet earth

I'd prefer to not give them the opportunity to aggress at all as for some dogs this is very self rewarding behavior. With Bo I was able to tell when he was thinking about doing his 'I am a big tough male' routine and could distract him before it happend. In those days head halti's were not heard of here, in hindsight I probably would have put one on him when he was a teenager. All in all after the teenage times he was a very well mannered boy rarely getting upset with anyone though the odd teenage male would annoy him when he did finally mature While not necessarily written for the specific situation you are in (or I was in with Bo), the articles below do offer alternatives to corrections:


http://www.flyingdogpress.com/onldagg.html

http://www.clickersolutions.com/clickersolutions/treasures/desensitizing.htm

http://www.shirleychong.com/keepers/archives/fallout.txt

http://members.aol.com/RottnMary/Classical.html

http://www.clickersolutions.com/clickersolutions/treasures/diffusingaggression.htm

http://www.shirleychong.com/keepers/archives/aggressive.txt

http://www.shirleychong.com/keepers/archives/katy.txt

I hope it all goes well for you and all the best with whatever managment method you go with

Sharon

 

[etanjft]

Hi
I did a couple of things with bobby last week-
1. Alpha training as prescribed by one of the websites you suggested, seem to work somewhat.
2. No pull policy anytime we went out- about turn and he would have to come back beside me everytime he went ahead. - previously when not in his training mode I allowed him to pull ahead while on our walks.
3. Did the get his attention and get the treat deal so everytime i called his name while walking he looked at me - and got a treat
4. in obedience class. he had to line up right next to his nemises , and he was pretty wild for a while, with some firm handling, he got undercontrol and could do walkaround the enemy without jumping.

So, yesterday I walked him out in this new area, and there were dogs running towards him with their jogger owner, and he walked straight through just took a look at them and walked in between them. Hmm. We'll see if this works.

Anyway he's going to be in the Kennel Association's dog parade next weekend with large number of dogs in the annual dogothon event! Hope all goes well.

John

 

[Teresa&Derrick]

TEENAGERS!!!

Our dog has been having these problems too and he is about the same age as the dogs you are mentioning. We used to take him to the dog park every day after work up until a month ago. He started flipping out, growling, barking, and becoming very, very aggressive with other dogs. He did this with dogs he had been familiar with too. We decided that we did not want the resposibility of his actions so we left both his and our friends alone at the dog park and no longer go there. We would love to be able to go back eventually. He isn't aggressive to all dogs but it seems there is just this vibe that is given off and then he flips. He even does this on his leash. I though it was behaivoral problems stemming from previous owners (he is a rescue dog) but it is not happening every time. HELP!
Teresa :(

 

[Krikkit]

Teresa, the links in this thread have quite a bit of info. A great resource and training aid is the book 'Dogs are from Neptune' by Jean Donaldson - from page 53 on applies to the situation you are in and you may find it very helpful (the first part is about a Boxer ). It is available at most online book retailers and I think most bookstores in the USA.

Sharon

 

[tcarlisle]

You don't mention if your dog is intact or neutered. That is an important piece of information. also, what sexes are the dogs he aggresses at, and are they spayed/neutered?

I have seen numerous cases of un-neutered/spayed dogs being aggressive at other un-neutered/spayed dogs of the same sex. I have also seen some neutered dogs that are aggressive to intact males. You might want to consider this as a source. These things seem to come one day out of the blue -- these dogs were socialized and playful one day, and then aggressive the next. It's hormones and nature at work.

I would first tryo to find out "why" this behavior came about, and then the method to stop it will likley be very clear. It might be as simple as neutering your dog, or avoiding intact males.

Tom C