Very Aggressive--too late?

[jenniemitchell]

My precious monster is now 6 months and still very aggressive (he ws not the alpha in his litter, either). I'm finding it very hard to control him--if I correct him when he's doing something he shouldn't (chewing my shoe, etc), he bites. If I tell him to get off a piece of furniture, he just stares and snorts. Physically remove him? Bites again.

Yes, I've had this problem for a while. Will training at this point work with him? The trainer uses a choke chain, which I'm not a huge fan of, but seems necessary (of course, he's a perfect angel with him). It can't be this hard to raise an obedient pup, but if I can't get control of him, I may have to give him up. My battered arms will not hold up much longer. :confused:

 

[Tulsa-Dan]

Training will work at any age. If you don't like the techniques of that particular trainer, find another one who uses positive reinforcement techniques rather than harsh correction techniques.

You may also do a search on THIS SITE using keywords "biting" and you'll find tons and tons of information on how to deal with this problem.

I'm curious as to what you are doing, exactly, to change these behaviors in your pup. These are pretty much puppy behaviors and they do grow out of some of them, but you need to get the biting under control immediately. Do the search and find out how many, many others (we all go through this) have handled the problem.

Good luck.

 

[Aimee]

I am in agreement with Dan. I would recommend finding a trainer in your area that uses positive reinforcement and get enrolled immediately. Your puppy's behavior to me sounds like normal puppy behavior that wasn't nipped in the bud in the beginning therefore it has begun to escalate. If this is the case, you shouldn't have any problems reinforcing proper behavior if done so properly. Good luck!

 

[jenniemitchell]

OK

Thanks, guys, I will use the key words to find workable solutions. Terriby horrified by the day's events at the moment, so far from home.

 

[Krikkit]

Jennie, I was thinking about Diablo yesterday and had some ideas which might help. Will post later when I am up to it. He sounds as if he really can divert all that energy into things which are better than what he is doing now.... Were you able to source Culture Clash?

Sharon

 

[jenniemitchell]

Dan

How to use keywords? Is that an AOL thing? I can't see where to access it.

 

[TAZZIES MOM]

:( We had two boxer pups littermates, a male and a female, We never had any problems till the male was almost two years old. He started to attack the female, he would just look at her and she would cower and hide behind the furniture. Then he started growling at my husband, He tired the shaking and rolling him on his back to establish dominance. One nite when we were getting ready for bed my husband was calling our female in the room, he turn to look at the male and he started growling , so my husband turn so he was not staring at him and challenging him. he lunged and bite my husband in the arm, he ended up with a bruise the size of a softball.I called a animal behavioralist, she said there was nothing you could do to change him, once he attacked his owner. we thought that if we got him fixed that would help, she said ( maybe, but that would only help the dog aggression) For 3 days we kept him muzzled when he was out of his kennel, but that was to risky cause he still would growl at my husband and our female, then he also could get the muzzle off. At times it was like he had a personality change. We finally had to have him put down. He was a beautiful dog and had a sweet personality , it was heartbreaking to have to do that. If your dog is displaying signs of aggression take care of it early if you can before its to late.

 

[Astoreen]

Jennie-

Right at the top of the page (below forums, mailing lists, etc.) you will find a row of little gray boxes. There is one labeled search, click that. It will take you to another page to type in a "topic" for your search, here you can enter "biting" or any other topic of interest to you, scroll down and click on begin search. This should bring all threads on biting up for you.

Best of Luck,
Trishia

 

[gilmore]

This may sound funny but it works wonderfuly for us. Put your dog in a time out when he is to hyper or mis behaving. We have a dog bed and thats where Gilmore goes when he gets a time out. Gilmore is 5 months old and still full of energy so when he has to much or is chewing on something he should be all we have to say is 'Get on your bed' and point to the bed and he knows and goes over and lays down. He will stay there until we tell him to get up. This has been most effective. I hope it works.

Good luck!

 

[Nedra's_momma]

Please DO NOT do dominance rolls on an aggressive dog!!! You will get your arm taken off!!

Jennie,
You need to work on bite inhibition with him. There are many ways to do this, you have to find out which is right for you. Unfortunately this may mean hiring not one, but multiple behaviorists to evlauate him. Please cross reference between them and when in doubt post their "findings" here. There are many people here that work in rescue and that have fostered dominant dogs. They may be able to help. Also, please know that there is a difference between dominant and aggressive.

I know a girl that fosters and she got a *very* dominant borderline aggressive male in. She gives timeouts in his crate when he is out of line. I'm not in anyway advising that you try this without consulting a behaviorist first, but know that you are not alone with this.

Keeping my fingers crossed that you find a viable solution that works out well for the both of you!

Good Luck!