Aggressive Dog

Sizzler

Looking for help!

We got a dog (from rescue) over a month ago and on the whole hes great. House trained, (usually) does what hes told And friendly with people & kids.

Now heres the problem, he gets VERY aggressive when he sees other dogs when hes out on a walk, hes only a little terrier but regardless of the other dogs size he will do his best to intimidate them and then attack them.
Hes done this twice now which has led to much embarrassment. Despite giving him a smack on the snout at the time he doesnt seem to have curbed his enthusiasm for fighting :mad:

Help !

Hes 4 yrs old, is he too old to cop on? Any reason why he does this?
Obviously we dont know his history but this is a terrible trait.

Flat

he's a terrier, thats what they do, prob nothing you can do about and believe me hitting him wont change his behaviour

... I had a spaniel that use to atack everything, but he chilled out by the time he was about 8 years old

i reckon other dog owners no terriers get like that so I wouldnt get embarrased about it

EGAR

Hitting him doesn't solve anything, OP. And four weeks isn't a long time for the dog to settle in, either. Have you had the *awww, poor rescue dog* syndrome and spoilt him rotten? I would recommend a good trainings class to socialise your dog properly (which can still be done at his age) and for you to learn how to handle him properly in a crisis situation. As it is a rescue dog, I assume he is neutered?

Bettyboop

I have a small shih-tzu and like you he wants to attack every dog in the neighbourhood,but i always have a few treats in my pocket and produce one as soon as I spot another dog,it takes his mind of the other dog and we can carry
on our merry way.:)

Ruu_Old

Feeding him treats to distract him is only going to encourage the dog to misbehave, give him mixed signals when he goes off at other ones on the street. Your dog needs some training I think OP. You need to discipline him when he gets aggressive with other dogs. When you are walking him, you need to be in control and keep him by your side.

FranknFurter

If you *are* going to give him treats when out for a walk, only give them when he does somthing *good*, give him one when he *ignores* another dog, not as a distraction to stop him doing so.

I woud make sure he wears a muzzle also, that way, if he does get like that with another dog he will soon realise he cant do anything violent with it on.

If you are tense when you see another dog, he will sense that and "attack the threat", somthing to keep in mind.

Also, another idea is as soon as he starts barking, a loud NO! and *immediately* turn around and walk straight back home ignoring him 100% all the way. He will soon learn that if he does this he wont get more walk / play.

Hope it helps,

b

Sizzler

Flat wrote:

he's a terrier, thats what they do, prob nothing you can do about and believe me hitting him wont change his behaviour

... I had a spaniel that use to atack everything, but he chilled out by the time he was about 8 years old

i reckon other dog owners no terriers get like that so I wouldnt get embarrased about it

I dont think just because hes a terrier is an acceptable excuse :eek:

He went after a puppy this evening (even though the puppy was bigger) and proceeded to try and bite him, the poor dog nearly sh1t himself and the owner was none too impressed, hence the embarassment.

Sizzler

EGAR wrote:

Hitting him doesn't solve anything, OP. And four weeks isn't a long time for the dog to settle in, either. Have you had the *awww, poor rescue dog* syndrome and spoilt him rotten? I would recommend a good trainings class to socialise your dog properly (which can still be done at his age) and for you to learn how to handle him properly in a crisis situation. As it is a rescue dog, I assume he is neutered?

Yeah I suppose we have been nice to him, but only when deserved, havent gone OTT.

We were going to bring him to dogtrainingireland's classes then we saw that they didnt admit dogs that have aggression issues! So its a bit of a catch 22? And yeah hes been neutered...is it a pride thing now?
Its really out of charachter because at home hes good as gold..

DaDa

FranknFurter wrote:

Also, another idea is as soon as he starts barking, a loud NO! and *immediately* turn around and walk straight back home ignoring him 100% all the way. He will soon learn that if he does this he wont get more walk / play.

Excellent advice

EGAR

I didn't ask to the neutering bit because of *pride thing*. Some aggression can be related to hormones, hence the question. Good dog trainings classes admit ANY dog that has issues so forget about the ones that don't and look for one that do.

Ask the rescue you got him from for advice where to go with him.

Wokie

Sizzler wrote:

We were going to bring him to dogtrainingireland's classes then we saw that they didnt admit dogs that have aggression issues!

That's not true. In fact they actually have a one-day seminar coming up dealing with dogs with aggression and also do a difficult dogs programme.

They do say that 'dogs with negative tendencies must be noted to the trainer'. I have a dog with 'negative tendences' and have brought her to their classes. I let them know what the situation was with her and they were excellent in dealing with her & me and also in advising other people in the class that she needed her space etc so that she never got too stressed out and was able to enjoy the classes.

I've also done the Difficult Dogs programme and this is excellent particularly in teaching owners how to deal with difficult situations and reading the dog's signals.

OP, I would recommend that you contact them and explain your situation. They are very helpful and will recommend best course of action.

Sizzler

Thanks Wokie.

Good to know Their website was a bit misleading.

Will give them a bell today so

Wokie

Sizzler wrote:

Thanks Wokie.

Good to know Their website was a bit misleading.

Will give them a bell today so

You're welcome, but I should have said, as far as I know, they're on holidays at the moment but I think they have classes starting on Saturday so should definitely be available from then.

Sizzler

Hfd

LisaW

Hi Sizzler,

Lisa Whelan here from Dog Training Ireland.

We would be only too happy to help you with your little terrier.

Click Here for Dog Training Ireland Training Page - click on "Details" for full info on each class

We also run a Difficult Dogs programme.
Difficult Dogs Programme

I hope this helps to clarify our position for you and we look forward to helping you.

Kind Regards,
Lisa Whelan
HNC Canine Training and Behaviour
CAP1 & 2
APDT 853

FranknFurter

(Advertising of any kind is not encouraged, however as this is more a case of information on a question I will leave it. I have however, edited it, the links will be enough. Just want to make the point that no advertising is allowed).

B

Sizzler

LisaW wrote:

Hi Sizzler,

Lisa Whelan here from Dog Training Ireland.

We would be only too happy to help you with your little terrier.

Click Here for Dog Training Ireland Training Page - click on "Details" for full info on each class

We also run a Difficult Dogs programme.
Difficult Dogs Programme

I hope this helps to clarify our position for you and we look forward to helping you.

Kind Regards,
Lisa Whelan
HNC Canine Training and Behaviour
CAP1 & 2
APDT 853

Ahem, thanks Lisa

The dog attacked a rottweiler yesterday in the local park so he clearly has issues :eek: Stupidity being one of them

LisaW

Just to be clear, the purpose of our post was not to advertise. It was to correct a statement made about our organisation that was untrue:-

We were going to bring him to dogtrainingireland's classes then we saw that they didnt admit dogs that have aggression issues!

This resulted in a further comment advising that we should be avoided:-

Good dog trainings classes admit ANY dog that has issues so forget about the ones that don't and look for one that do

We want to be clear that we DO accept dogs with aggression issues. All dogs are properly assessed and the safety of both dogs and people is paramount.

Regards,
Lisa Whelan
Dog Training Ireland

FranknFurter

LisaW wrote:

Just to be clear, the purpose of our post was not to advertise. It was to correct a statement made about our organisation that was untrue:-
We want to be clear that we DO accept dogs with aggression issues. All dogs are properly assessed and the safety of both dogs and people is paramount.

Regards,
Lisa Whelan
Dog Training Ireland

Dog Training Ireland have requested that the above point be highlighted.
I agree that it is important to make sure such a thing is understood correctly.

This has been said in the charter but as it seems nobody bothers reading that I will say it again here:
Any problem whether medical or behavioural should always be brought to the attention of a professional & advice on boards is ever only the opinion of the poster involved. Boards.ie nor its members cannot be held responsible for somone accecpting an opinion of a stranger on the internet as true.

B