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Author
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Topic: aggressive dog
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PhantomAngel
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Member # 520
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posted January 09, 2004 09:45 PM
I have a wonderful dog named Dakota. She is intelligent and friendly and a good guard dog...she has never bitten anyone but she lets people know if she doesn't like them and sometimes she has been right. the problem is...well its hard to say what the exact problem is. Including my cocker spaniel, there are two very small dogs in the house at times, and two cats. And there are times that Dakota just explodes and attacks them without warning. There are also times she lays around and continually growls at them. I guess the problem started because I let her get away with it when she was a puppy. But now she is 3 years old. I have tried everything I know. It breaks my heart but I have whipped her so hard that when she sees me coming at her after one of her episodes, she wets herself. I finally just gave up on the whipping. I have tried time out. It seems to have helped some but not enough. These little dogs cannot stand up to her attacks. The strange thing is that when she goes outside with my cocker spaniel they are bestfriends. Dakota has even dragged me out of bed at 6:30 am because she wanted to play with Zoe. But in the house its a totally different story. I don't know what to do with her. I dont want to lose her, but I don't want her to hurt the other dogs either.
Posts: 1 | From: Southern US | Registered: Jan 2004
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fullhouse9873
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Member # 222
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posted January 10, 2004 11:07 AM
First off - I wouldn't start by hitting your dog. It really doesn't work - and it just makes the dog afraid of you. It sounds like you may have some dog aggression issues. That was exactly how Wilson acted at first with our older dog Chance.. I would sugges getting Dakota to a trainer ASAP. For the time being - don't leave her unsupervised with the smaller dogs - you may want to keep her on a lead inside the house. Also - even if Dakota wants to run and play with the other dogs - don't let her. Somne aggressive dogs can go from playing to fighting really quicly.
I can't stress enough how important it is to get this dog into training. Unfortunately - with Wilson - I let his behavior go on to long (I made esxcuses - he was being territorial, trying to assert dominance). The sooner this dog starts some training - the better chance you have of correcting this problem.
Posts: 247 | From: Jefferson, WI | Registered: Sep 2003
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K9angel77
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Member # 569
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posted January 23, 2004 03:23 PM
Sometimes dogs get along outside but not in the house because they are more protective in a smaller space. I've seen this many times. I've also seen dogs who are leashed become more aggressive, but are fine meeting knew ones off leash. They may feel a need to protect more when confined because they are limited in their movements and abilities to get out of the situation.
You need to be assertive with her but not aggressive. Aggression begets aggression. You also need to positively praise her when she's in a situation where she'd normally start a fight with the little ones. It should be controlled in the beginning, it should never have to come to phyisical aggression. You don't get a good dog when they respect you out of fear because one day the anger will outweigh the fear and you may find yourself or someone you love on the recieving end of 42 teeth. Ouch.
Keep on top of it and try to eliminate any situations that may trigger her aggression. You could also use a throw chain. These are similar to choke chains and carried in your pocket. When the dog is behaving aggressively, you throw the chain on the floor by the feet coupled with a command...STOP...LEAVE IT...NO...etc. They don't like being startled and things they can't control. The only way for them to control it is to stop the behavior.
I used this once with a 110lb 10mos old rottie that went for the back of my friend's head. He picked up the husband's attitude towards her and acted accordingly. He left small punctures in the back of her head and since the husband refused to do anything about it, she had to or she would end up much worse off. I don't usually condone this approach but she was left with little choice. I showed her how to throw it and told her the next time he charged her to throw it as hard as she could at his feet and break every last one of his toes on that foot if she had to. Not too long after she left, I got a call. He had attacked and she broke 2 of his toes. Since then he still occasionally tries to be dominant but she doesn't give up the control and keeps up the stare. That's all it is now, but could easily again get out of hand because of his history. So it is constant watch to see what is going on in his head.
Body language says a lot and if you know how to read the subtle signs, there's little chance of you being attacked. Get out of the situation before it's too late. I have yet to been attacked and it's all because of reading the body language and extracting myself from a no win situation. ![[Smile]](smile.gif)
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Q: Can this dog bite?
A: Does it have teeth? If you have to ask that question, you've already earned a bite or two.
...dogs are earth bound angels.
Posts: 7 | From: Utah | Registered: Jan 2004
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