Can someone help me with my aggressive dog??

puddy

This is the story

5 years ago my partner (of 3 years)'s daughter bought home a puppy collie and asked him if they could keep him. Her friend at school had got a collie a year before that and the family had then decided that they didnt want it/couldnt keep it anymore and it was going to battersea. My partner's daughter said she wanted it rather than it going to battersea and bought him home. My partner says that depsite him saying NO, the dog was bought home nevertheless and the dog became part of the family.

Now 5 years on, me and my partner are going to buy a house together, the kids have grown up and moved out and she cant take the dog with her. Me and my partner decided we didnt want a dog and looked into rehoming somewhere where they dont put dogs down. We couldnt find anywhere in the south east that would take him, they all said they had waiting lists or would not even entertain us bringing the dog in. In addition by this time we were both feeling bad for the dog so we decided will become dog owners.

Now, having come to terms with this and supported the cats through having a big hairy animal in the house with them, both of us really struggle with the dog's behaviour with other dogs. He is housetrained, fairly tolerant (scared) of the cats, fairly obediant, affectionate with people, responds to instruction well BUT we cannot let him off the lead because if he catches sight of another dog, he goes mental and is aggressive and scary. he will bite another dog if given the chance. He is very strong and i have injured my hand trying to hold onto him when another dog is in sight.

He has always been like this apparently, although my partner has never walked him before, he says that the odd occasion when his daughter walked him, she said that he was always aggressive with other dogs.

When he lived with the family, he lived with another older dog and 2 cats. He was ok with them but not with other outside dogs.

We have a consulation on saturday with someone i found on the internet, but have no idea where to go with this next. our relationship is strained because of it, my partners method of dealing with this is to try and obscure the dogs view of other dogs when walking (it doesnt work), he gets very stressed about taking the dog anywhere and always keeps the retractable lead short. My method is to expose the dog to other dogs if it happens but to try and instruct the dog to sit and stay when they walk past (he doesnt). i use the extended lead but reel the dog in when i see dogs coming.

HELP!!!

Raksha

It's difficult to advise on aggressison without seeing the dog 'in action' but aggresssion should always mean the dog is checked by the vet to rule out any medical reason for it (such as thyroid disfunction) and any self respecting behaviourist will insist on that before doing a consultation.

puddy

thats interesting, he didnt ask about anything like that. recently i got my partner to get him 'done', 5 years a bit late but it was in the hope that it would reduce his aggression and also his 'humping'. it has fixed the humping but not the aggression. they didnt do any other tests when he was done i think so i dont know whether there is anything medical wrong with him.

foreign_correspondent

this may be useful -

You can contact the behaviouralists at Battersea for some advice - the dog des not need ot be an ex-battersea dog, this is an open to all service (at 25p a minute I think its excellent value! - or you can email for advice, which I assume is free!) ...
http://www.battersea.org.uk/help_adv...ice/index.html

Otherwise look for a behaviouralist who is accredited by the APDT.
http://www.apdt.co.uk/

marshallka

Raksha wrote: »

It's difficult to advise on aggressison without seeing the dog 'in action' but aggresssion should always mean the dog is checked by the vet to rule out any medical reason for it (such as thyroid disfunction) and any self respecting behaviourist will insist on that before doing a consultation.

We used pet sense when our dog was 18mths old and they never said to us that there could be a medical problem. Our collie is very hyper and even after 2 LONG walks a day he is still what some would say a problem dog. He walks on the lead but more pulling me along and also frequently cuts his feet. I may ask our vet about this now.

To the OP, we had ours seen by a dog psychologist and it was £100 and I must say was not worth it really. She just told us to put him on a doggie herbal calm me down tablet which again did not work. We are now 8.5 years on and still struggle with him but he is part of our family and although loads of people would have got rid of him he IS part of our family and much loved. I hope it works for you.

Our dog struggles when another comes past but we do let him off in the fields where lots of people walk the dog and if we see another coming we are able to call him and he does sit for his lead to go back on. SOmetimes they can sense that you are scared and you project the fear to the dog. I do it myself. The other day I was putting the poop in the poop bin and was surrounded by two off the leads dogs and mine was on the lead. I was panicing and my dog was fine but I think sometimes I panic too much maybe.

xx

puddy

what does he do?

yes i already know that if we are given advice about herbal or medication i wont be happy, i want some proper insruction and training as to how to change his behaviour with other dogs.

thanks i just read your edit, well i think that there are various anxieties, one is our worry about him attacking dogs and then there is the tension between me and my partner about it beccause we disagree about how to deal with it so no doubt it doesnt help the situation.

if i could be confident that he would obey us to come back when off the lead when another dog is around, i would be happy but theres not a chance when theres another dog, its like we dont exist

Anthillmob

hi there, i have a dog agressive staffy and a thread on here about him. shouldnt be too hard to find. its called 'cains training diary'. theres another thread somewhere but i forget what its called.

we wanbted to rehome him recently after he escaped and had a pop at a neighbours dog and nipped the neighbour in the process of the fight. but no one wanted him as he id dog aggressive and he would be put down by anywhere that would take him.

we have changed his diet to 'wagg', i walk him a lot more than what he was getting [one walk per day] and he is now muzzled.

marshallka

jenner wrote: »

what does he do?

yes i already know that if we are given advice about herbal or medication i wont be happy, i want some proper insruction and training as to how to change his behaviour with other dogs.

Our collie sounds like he has been run over by whining and barking constantly on the lead and spinning, pulling etc. In the house he is great but does growl at people sometimes. He is very boistrous and has to get to the door before you etc. I got told by pet sense that i was too soft with him. She told me to ignore him etc and if I take him to the gate and he makes the noises then go back in and try again etc. (common sense really!!) and then when the pet sense girl walked with him I forgot the poo bag so ran back home for it and he pulled her over and cut his legs because i had left him and he wanted me. She then said he was over protective of me and I need to not look at him even. (How do you do that???). Anyway at the moment he has cut his corneas from this last school hols and is visiting the vets for treatment (he just goes beserk when he is off the lead and runs into hedges etc and does not care what he hurts) and we had to wrestle him like a crocodile to get a muzzle on him. The vet needed to put stains in his eyes and he did not like it so he growled. He was in pain though and we have to go tomorrow to see if they are cleared. If they are not then they are going to sedate him for further looks etc. I honestly think he will need double the dosage though if they do. He is lovely but a real handful. Its when you have to visit the vets thats the problem. Its always a small waiting room and full of other dogs. I must admit its actually helped mine. He has seen so many well behaved dogs that he seems to have calmed a little himself. He still growls at them but he has seen me stroking others too and he probably feels more confident himself. Hes not perfect yet though.

He has NEVER bitten anyone or any other dog but he does growl but at the same time waggs as well.


Collies need lots of stimulation too. They need their brains stimulating as much as the exercise.

Good luck with yours.
xx

puddy

yes, the plan was to have a dog walker at lunchtimes when we get to our new house, involve him in agility and flyball, however, we cant do ANY of these things until he is not aggressive to other dogs.

luckily he isnt really hyper, he has calmed down considerably since getting 2 walks a day, although as I say, the plan is for 3x a day in the future, but the other dog thing is the problem. he isnt a major barker, he does a bit when seeing someone he likes and getting excited, he curls up on his 'bed' (my favourite wing back chair), he likes looking out the window, he is fed using a treat ball so that its harder to get the food out, he does go down the bins if given the chance but thats my fault for not putting it away properly, he isnt a major chewer although we have some favourite toys for him, so he would be a lovely boy if he didnt try and kill other dogs.

marshallka

jenner wrote: »

yes, the plan was to have a dog walker at lunchtimes when we get to our new house, involve him in agility and flyball, however, we cant do ANY of these things until he is not aggressive to other dogs.

luckily he isnt really hyper, he has calmed down considerably since getting 2 walks a day, although as I say, the plan is for 3x a day in the future, but the other dog thing is the problem. he isnt a major barker, he does a bit when seeing someone he likes and getting excited, he curls up on his 'bed' (my favourite wing back chair), he likes looking out the window, he is fed using a treat ball so that its harder to get the food out, he does go down the bins if given the chance but thats my fault for not putting it away properly, he isnt a major chewer although we have some favourite toys for him, so he would be a lovely boy if he didnt try and kill other dogs.

Jenner, I think he would be OK going to some training classes. At least you could do this with him as the people that run these classes would have dealt with dogs like him all the time. They will give you the confidence too to deal with him with other dogs. Perhaps you could muzzle him at first and see what he is like. I think you have a lovely doggie really from what you are saying. They are very intelligent collies and want to please you so much. I would try classes rather than a one to one.

PS just going to look into these treat balls too. I want to get mine one.:T

mrcol1000

My staff is agressive to other dogs because she has been attacked three times by our neighbours dog. She is okay as long as other dogs don't get too close. We took her to training and she was okay unless any of the dogs got too close when she growled and lunged for them. At training they think its because she is on the lead and we are taking away her chance of running so she stands and fights. But I wouldn't trust her off the lead to be honest.

We have just accepted that our dog is agressive to other dogs and so only let her off the lead when there are no other dogs nearby. When we do have to pass other dogs we just postion her on the opposite side of the dog so in effect I am in between her and the other dog. I also pull her in if she is on extendable lead well before she sees the other dog so she doesn't assoicate the being pulled in with seeing another dog. As we pass the dog we just keep her close and if she starts growling we just tell her in a soft fun voice to stop being silly and the dog isn't going to hurt her. 90% of the time once we are past the dog she loses interest. Its only if they growl or bark back that she tries to turn around and see. She sometimes growls and often lunges but very rarely barks. The only problem is when other people have the dog off the lead and the dog won't leave her alone and you trying to drag her away with these dog constantly coming up. This is when she goes mad and tries to attack the dog. But the way I see it if your dog is off the lead and keeps coming up to my dog who is on the lead then I am not in the wrong.
Anyway most of the time she lunges sometimes growls and you get a dirty look from the other owner. Ironically my dog also wags her tail and growls sometimes when shes other dogs. Also a few dogs have acted submissive round her and she has actually played with them. I guess she realises they aren't a threat?
Training will help. She is much better round dogs since training and she is getting better with other dogs. She rarely growls at them now unless they do. We were told at training the whole concept with dog on dog agressive is to show the dog your in charge (all the time not just on walks) and when she reacts to a dog to act unbothered and use a nice high voice to show the dog there is no problem. Its diffcult at first as your first reaction is to tell the dog off and pull it back but it gets easier. The only thing is that some people think your happy you have an aggressive dog as you don't tell the dog off but lucky I have thick skin!
My partner takes treats out and every so often gives the dog one of them to train her attention but I am worried that by giving a treat when the dog is agressive to get the attention away is rewarding agression. What do you think?