Aggresive dog
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Aggresive dog
I have a 3yr old collie/lab named cheeco last year he got attacked by 2 rotties and ever since he attack's nearly every dog, kids, and bikes. He doesnt bother with my other 2 dogs and a friends dog i dont have a back yard or anything and i cant afford a trainer i have tryed the choke chain and the head collar and nothing has worked . We are going to get him fixed but a friend told me that i would have to clam him down before he gets fixed any tips would be welcome plz thx
Re: Aggresive dog
Hiya,
Can you give us some more information about Cheeco's day please, tell us about how often he is walked, how often you train him, what other activities you do with him. Tell us where he is fed, when he is fed, what he is fed and also if he is left alone at all during the day and where does he sleep??
Its highly likely that he now sees other dogs as a threat - so he gets in there first. Does this happen off lead or onlead??
Your first step has to be safe management, after all no matter what has happened to him, YOU are now allowing him to attack dogs/kids/people on bikes - you ultimately have control over this so you need to take that control.
Use a lead and keep him ON that lead.
Avoid times of day and places where there will be the things he currently hates.
Keep walks shorter to also help you avoid unpleasant incidents.
Two more questions - Firstly, out of each day, how much time does he spend with your other dogs and no other human, how much time does he spend with a human and no other dogs, and how much time does he spend with both people and your other dogs. Just work it out roughly in hours/half hours etc, no need to get down to minutes!
Secondly, what would YOU say are the highlights of your dogs day - when he wakes up in a morning whats the first thing he wants to do and is excited about?
Please bear in mind that the answers to these questions are important and will help us to help you (even if you can't see the reasons for them), and also this is NOT the full solution to your problem, its just the start, so do not be thinking 'oh no I can never walk him again/never do xyz with him again'.. this is JUST the beginning and things like keeping him on lead and avoiding other dogs/kids/bikes is just for now, NOT forever.
Can you give us some more information about Cheeco's day please, tell us about how often he is walked, how often you train him, what other activities you do with him. Tell us where he is fed, when he is fed, what he is fed and also if he is left alone at all during the day and where does he sleep??
Its highly likely that he now sees other dogs as a threat - so he gets in there first. Does this happen off lead or onlead??
Your first step has to be safe management, after all no matter what has happened to him, YOU are now allowing him to attack dogs/kids/people on bikes - you ultimately have control over this so you need to take that control.
Use a lead and keep him ON that lead.
Avoid times of day and places where there will be the things he currently hates.
Keep walks shorter to also help you avoid unpleasant incidents.
Two more questions - Firstly, out of each day, how much time does he spend with your other dogs and no other human, how much time does he spend with a human and no other dogs, and how much time does he spend with both people and your other dogs. Just work it out roughly in hours/half hours etc, no need to get down to minutes!
Secondly, what would YOU say are the highlights of your dogs day - when he wakes up in a morning whats the first thing he wants to do and is excited about?
Please bear in mind that the answers to these questions are important and will help us to help you (even if you can't see the reasons for them), and also this is NOT the full solution to your problem, its just the start, so do not be thinking 'oh no I can never walk him again/never do xyz with him again'.. this is JUST the beginning and things like keeping him on lead and avoiding other dogs/kids/bikes is just for now, NOT forever.
West Midlands based 1-2-1 Training & Behaviour Canine Consultant
Re: Aggresive dog
hiya
The Aggression is when he is on and off the leash. Cheeco is walked 3 times a day . I try and train him every day on the vocus training . We dont do alot of activitys with him .He is fed in the lounge with the other 2 dogs . He is fed about 5 oclock every night. He is fed on dry meal and on occ he gets raw mince beef. He is never left alone either me or my partner is always in. He sleeps in the bedroom on the floor with a big fluffy blanket. He spends most of his time with both dogs and humans. The first thing he does in the morning is jumps up on the bed to greet us
The Aggression is when he is on and off the leash. Cheeco is walked 3 times a day . I try and train him every day on the vocus training . We dont do alot of activitys with him .He is fed in the lounge with the other 2 dogs . He is fed about 5 oclock every night. He is fed on dry meal and on occ he gets raw mince beef. He is never left alone either me or my partner is always in. He sleeps in the bedroom on the floor with a big fluffy blanket. He spends most of his time with both dogs and humans. The first thing he does in the morning is jumps up on the bed to greet us
Re: Aggresive dog
Ok thanks.
Right, I would feed him only a small portion of food in his bowl, the rest is training rewards. Mix that portion of food up with some small pieces of strong cheese, ham, chicken - whatever he REALLY likes best, whatever he will work his socks off for.
Feed him on his own rather than in the room with the other dogs, even if it doesnt appear there is a problem this will rule out any stress caused by eating with other dogs, AND since the food in his bowl will now be much less, that may cause some issues between him and the other dogs. Fed away from them, it cant.
So, now you have around 80% of his daily food, plus some high value rewards, and thats in your pocket all the time - Get him on his own several times a day and do some training with him, make it fun and make it rewarding.
Walk him on his own - instead of going for two or three longish walks, aim for five or six much shorter ones (or more if you can manage it) - see how you get on with doing walks that last just ten minutes, and keep him focussed on YOU the whole time. Practice walking on a loose leash, nicely, responding to your commands the second you ask and generally focussing on you.
On these walks IF you see another dog, you avoid it like the plague, if that means turning and RUNNING away, do it. If it means hiding behind a hedge or parked car, or crossing the road, do it. Whatever it takes so that you remove him from the sight of whatever it is he is likely to aggress at, do it.
Stick with doing this for at the very least, a couple of weeks. Do not attempt to get him near to other dogs at all, just avoid them. In a fortnights time, see if you can compare his behaviour and interactions with you now as to how it was previously, he SHOULD be more attentive to you and calmer, keener to work for you and generally more relaxed. If he isn't, then something is still stressing him out so have another look at what is going on, you may need to do more training/activities at home, more frequent (but not longer) walks, or change wher eyou are walking if you are still bumping into a lot of dogs.
When you get to a point where he is more relaxed and keener to work for you, then you can start to THINK (not test it out, just think!) about his 'critical distance' - that means, how close another dog/kid/bike can be BEFORE he actually reacts. When you figure out what that distance is, thats the distance you will work at to get him relaxed and comfortable with those things and NO closer. You may well also find that one day he can see something from say 50feet away, and the next day he cannot handle them nearer than 80feet. Thats perfectly normal, the stress that builds up on one day does NOT just vanish overnight, so even if he got something right on a Monday, theres absolutely no guarantee he can handle that level of stress on the Tuesday, you may need to take things easy for a day or so before trying again.
On the whole you will not need to purposely take him near other dogs/kids/bikes etc to work on this, once you try avoiding them you will see that life will throw them your way anyway so there will be plenty of opportunities to observe and learn what he can cope with and what he cannot along the way.
What all the above will do is- give him a chance to relax and trust that YOU will deal with stuff, he doesnt have to. Stressed dogs (and humans!) cannot learn, its not that they dont want to, its that they actually CAN'T. It will also increase his bond with you in a healthy way (hes GOT to work for you to earn his food, and you have GOT to provide him lots of opportunities to earn that food, or you will have loads of food left at the end of each day and a sad hungry dog!), so you will be exercising his mind far more than you are currently, and a dog whose brain is exercised has little time to worry about other things such as kids/bikes/other dogs.
All that will then get you to a place where he is calm enough and trusts you enough that you can teach him that the sight of certain things is in fact GOOD (because you will pair it with the high value food rewards you have) - th is will take time because he has good reason to fear at least other dogs, if not other things, so he HAS to be calm and trusting you and eager to learn or it won't work.
Right, I would feed him only a small portion of food in his bowl, the rest is training rewards. Mix that portion of food up with some small pieces of strong cheese, ham, chicken - whatever he REALLY likes best, whatever he will work his socks off for.
Feed him on his own rather than in the room with the other dogs, even if it doesnt appear there is a problem this will rule out any stress caused by eating with other dogs, AND since the food in his bowl will now be much less, that may cause some issues between him and the other dogs. Fed away from them, it cant.
So, now you have around 80% of his daily food, plus some high value rewards, and thats in your pocket all the time - Get him on his own several times a day and do some training with him, make it fun and make it rewarding.
Walk him on his own - instead of going for two or three longish walks, aim for five or six much shorter ones (or more if you can manage it) - see how you get on with doing walks that last just ten minutes, and keep him focussed on YOU the whole time. Practice walking on a loose leash, nicely, responding to your commands the second you ask and generally focussing on you.
On these walks IF you see another dog, you avoid it like the plague, if that means turning and RUNNING away, do it. If it means hiding behind a hedge or parked car, or crossing the road, do it. Whatever it takes so that you remove him from the sight of whatever it is he is likely to aggress at, do it.
Stick with doing this for at the very least, a couple of weeks. Do not attempt to get him near to other dogs at all, just avoid them. In a fortnights time, see if you can compare his behaviour and interactions with you now as to how it was previously, he SHOULD be more attentive to you and calmer, keener to work for you and generally more relaxed. If he isn't, then something is still stressing him out so have another look at what is going on, you may need to do more training/activities at home, more frequent (but not longer) walks, or change wher eyou are walking if you are still bumping into a lot of dogs.
When you get to a point where he is more relaxed and keener to work for you, then you can start to THINK (not test it out, just think!) about his 'critical distance' - that means, how close another dog/kid/bike can be BEFORE he actually reacts. When you figure out what that distance is, thats the distance you will work at to get him relaxed and comfortable with those things and NO closer. You may well also find that one day he can see something from say 50feet away, and the next day he cannot handle them nearer than 80feet. Thats perfectly normal, the stress that builds up on one day does NOT just vanish overnight, so even if he got something right on a Monday, theres absolutely no guarantee he can handle that level of stress on the Tuesday, you may need to take things easy for a day or so before trying again.
On the whole you will not need to purposely take him near other dogs/kids/bikes etc to work on this, once you try avoiding them you will see that life will throw them your way anyway so there will be plenty of opportunities to observe and learn what he can cope with and what he cannot along the way.
What all the above will do is- give him a chance to relax and trust that YOU will deal with stuff, he doesnt have to. Stressed dogs (and humans!) cannot learn, its not that they dont want to, its that they actually CAN'T. It will also increase his bond with you in a healthy way (hes GOT to work for you to earn his food, and you have GOT to provide him lots of opportunities to earn that food, or you will have loads of food left at the end of each day and a sad hungry dog!), so you will be exercising his mind far more than you are currently, and a dog whose brain is exercised has little time to worry about other things such as kids/bikes/other dogs.
All that will then get you to a place where he is calm enough and trusts you enough that you can teach him that the sight of certain things is in fact GOOD (because you will pair it with the high value food rewards you have) - th is will take time because he has good reason to fear at least other dogs, if not other things, so he HAS to be calm and trusting you and eager to learn or it won't work.
West Midlands based 1-2-1 Training & Behaviour Canine Consultant
Re: Aggresive dog
hiya Thank you very much for this advice i have just 1 problem with the treat thing he wont eat anything bcause he has his muzzle on but he loves his ball. I feel this problem was my fault as i did panic so i will do anything to sort this out . thank you again and i will let you know how we are getting on with the training .
Re: Aggresive dog
Do you mean he wont eat because the muzzle stops him - if its a basket muzzle you should be able to poke treats through. Some have a little extra section at the end of the nose you will have to lift out (thats for food scavengers not for biters) before you can poke treats in. If it ISNT a basket muzzle, it needs to be, not a fabric one that holds his mouth shut, those are dangerous for exercise.
If he wont take food he adores indoors, when he is outdoors, then thats a sign he is REALLY stressed and hes going to struggle to learn, so keep trying with food rewards as you reduce his stress, it will be a good measure of how relaxed or stressed he is!
If he wont take food he adores indoors, when he is outdoors, then thats a sign he is REALLY stressed and hes going to struggle to learn, so keep trying with food rewards as you reduce his stress, it will be a good measure of how relaxed or stressed he is!
West Midlands based 1-2-1 Training & Behaviour Canine Consultant
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ladybug1802
- Posts: 1991
- Joined: Mon Sep 06, 2010 3:39 am
- Location: Surrey
Re: Aggresive dog
I have a basket muzzle on my dog when we go to the vets (I go in once or twice a week for training visits because he used to have bad fear aggression and would luncge and snap at strangers, and couldnt even be in the vet waiting room and let someone else walk over the other sideas he was so scared)|. So I go in for training visits and he now lets the vet sit next to him and stroke him....but he always wears a basket muzzle when we go in as habit, and also so when he may need to go in for something to be done in an emergency, putting the muzzle on him isnt strange for him.
I have 2 muzzles...one for emergencies with no pieces cut out (just in case) and on the other I have cut out one of the bars at the front. It makes no difference regarding whether or not he could bite somoene thru it as he definitely couldnt....but it means it is easier for me to slipe bits of chicken, sausage or cheese or something in there. The treats anhd rewards are hugely important in situations like this to change the dog's association....so if I were you I would do this too. Just by cutting one of the vertical small bars out it means there is extra space for feeding treats.
Dont use the neoprene Mikki type muzzles though as the dog cant pant or drink or anything in them....ah I see Emmabeth has already said this..oops!!
I have 2 muzzles...one for emergencies with no pieces cut out (just in case) and on the other I have cut out one of the bars at the front. It makes no difference regarding whether or not he could bite somoene thru it as he definitely couldnt....but it means it is easier for me to slipe bits of chicken, sausage or cheese or something in there. The treats anhd rewards are hugely important in situations like this to change the dog's association....so if I were you I would do this too. Just by cutting one of the vertical small bars out it means there is extra space for feeding treats.
Dont use the neoprene Mikki type muzzles though as the dog cant pant or drink or anything in them....ah I see Emmabeth has already said this..oops!!
Re: Aggresive dog
hi ladybug thank you very much on your advice about my dog checco he is doing alot better and we dont have to use the muzzle all the time. We have found a place that is enclosed and we let him off the leash and he run's about for hours thank you again for all your help. I wounder if you could give me some advice about my female bulldog she is 4 yrs old i have only had her for 9 months every time i take her on the grass she trys and humps my leg my legs are full of scratches she doesnt do this in the house its only when i take her on the grass any advice would be very greatful .
Re: Aggresive dog
It might be worth you starting a new thread on this issue. I'm no expert, but my first thoughts would be trying to find something to distract her that is more fun than leg humping (toy, treats, game) or, if possible, ending the walk as soon as she does it.janeybaby wrote:I wounder if you could give me some advice about my female bulldog she is 4 yrs old i have only had her for 9 months every time i take her on the grass she trys and humps my leg my legs are full of scratches she doesnt do this in the house its only when i take her on the grass any advice would be very greatful .
Jasper, lurcher, born December 2009
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ilovemydogs
- Posts: 5
- Joined: Wed May 16, 2012 3:46 am
Re: Aggresive dog
hi there i have got 4 dogs in total 2 plummer terriers 1 patterdale terrier and 1 doge de bordux and we have a problem last year the 2 year old plummer terrier called zak and he attacked my 8 year old daughters leg then few months later he bit my 12 year old daughter and zak bites torments the other terriers and i recently got a new dog called scruffy the doge de badux i have mixed her with the pattedale terrier (jen) and the other plummer terrier (nel) and they got on fine but i keep zak in a cage because when he was a puppy he chewed furniture barked bit and we trained him and he doesnt listen and now i try to train him yestuday i took him for a walk he was ok he listend to me but then he lost the plot he chewed through the lead so i had to pzaull him home by his harness then my partner took him out for a walk a dog came over and sniffed at zak and he tried going for dog but thank fully he was on the lead and he bit my partner and put a hole in his arm me and my family have considerd many ideas such as training him neutering him or putting to sleep i dont know what to do i am very scared of him biting my 1 year old baby girl and hurting the puppy when the puppy comes to zaks pen (scruffy) zak gets his teeth out at scruffy few months ago i tried re homing him but it didnt work i have tried to train him many times when he does good i praise him give him treats i give him the right food etc just like the show i have 1 month to decide what to do before he gets put to sleep anyone have any advice
thanks
thanks
Re: Aggresive dog
Could you start this in a new thread, please? Also, please give a full run-down of all your dogs' ages, previous history, and daily activity - what and when they are fed, walking, exercise, training, playing, everything... Then the experts will be able to give the best advice for what is clearly a difficult situation.ilovemydogs wrote:hi there i have got 4 dogs in total 2 plummer terriers 1 patterdale terrier and 1 doge de bordux and we have a problem last year the 2 year old plummer terrier called zak and he attacked my 8 year old daughters leg then few months later he bit my 12 year old daughter and zak bites torments the other terriers and i recently got a new dog called scruffy the doge de badux i have mixed her with the pattedale terrier (jen) and the other plummer terrier (nel) and they got on fine but i keep zak in a cage because when he was a puppy he chewed furniture barked bit and we trained him and he doesnt listen and now i try to train him yestuday i took him for a walk he was ok he listend to me but then he lost the plot he chewed through the lead so i had to pzaull him home by his harness then my partner took him out for a walk a dog came over and sniffed at zak and he tried going for dog but thank fully he was on the lead and he bit my partner and put a hole in his arm me and my family have considerd many ideas such as training him neutering him or putting to sleep i dont know what to do i am very scared of him biting my 1 year old baby girl and hurting the puppy when the puppy comes to zaks pen (scruffy) zak gets his teeth out at scruffy few months ago i tried re homing him but it didnt work i have tried to train him many times when he does good i praise him give him treats i give him the right food etc just like the show i have 1 month to decide what to do before he gets put to sleep anyone have any advice
thanks
Jasper, lurcher, born December 2009
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danastinson
- Posts: 33
- Joined: Mon May 14, 2012 3:21 pm
Re: Aggresive dog
[quoted spam deleted]
My pitbull was fought and she was attacked by another dog. The only time she is aggressive is if she feels my children are in danger especially my youngest so this statement is not true. I don’t mean to argue but that’s the way it is. My Chihuahua tries to "attack" and my pitbull and she does nothing. Statements like this give dogs bad images
. Not trying to attack or anything but my dogs are very loving even given their past. It just takes extra work if you are willing to try.
My pitbull was fought and she was attacked by another dog. The only time she is aggressive is if she feels my children are in danger especially my youngest so this statement is not true. I don’t mean to argue but that’s the way it is. My Chihuahua tries to "attack" and my pitbull and she does nothing. Statements like this give dogs bad images
. Not trying to attack or anything but my dogs are very loving even given their past. It just takes extra work if you are willing to try.Re: Aggresive dog
Dana, unfortunately this board is often targeted by spam bots. That's one of them. They post nonsense and a couple links to something they're trying to sell and hope that someone'll click the links. 
We just report them (the triangle button with the "!", top rightish of the post) and ignore them. 
We just report them (the triangle button with the "!", top rightish of the post) and ignore them. Delta, standard poodle, born 6/30/14
Re: Aggresive dog
I removed the spam in case anyone thinks they are going crazy.
Unfortunately a side effect of improving the spam prevention on this site has meant that NOW we get a higher proportion of spammers who are actual real people, rather than 'spam bots' (who are just a computer running a program) and so in some instances it can be MUCH harder to detect spam from just an idiot posting!
Unfortunately a side effect of improving the spam prevention on this site has meant that NOW we get a higher proportion of spammers who are actual real people, rather than 'spam bots' (who are just a computer running a program) and so in some instances it can be MUCH harder to detect spam from just an idiot posting!
West Midlands based 1-2-1 Training & Behaviour Canine Consultant
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danastinson
- Posts: 33
- Joined: Mon May 14, 2012 3:21 pm
Re: Aggresive dog
Yeah sorry guys i realized that after a while. i hadn't taken my zoloft for a couple of days i was actually getting back on to delet my post.