Dog advice needed before problem gets out of control!

mickysquint

hi all,
I'm looking for a bit of advice that's slowly starting to escalate. I have a 20 month old great dane cross. He's never been the most obedient of dogs but he's been harmless enough, to the point where he'd actually hold the door open for you if you was robbing the house. In the past if we was out for a walk and we walked past other dogs he would go a bit mad but in a playful way. but gradually that playful way has slowly turned to growling, showing of teeth and going completely mental. and because he's such a big dog its very nerving for the other dog walker and a real strain for me to hold him. But the biscuit came today when i had him out for a walk today, i stopped at the shop and tied him to a post, as i was in the shop i saw a fella walk past him and put his hand down to pet him only to be greeted with a snarl. In the past some one going to pet him would have made his day but like i said he's slowly getting more aggressive. so I'm after any sort of advice because I'd hate for it to get to the point where I'll have to get rid of him as i love him, so does the kids and even the other half even though she wont admit it!
cheers all for reading.

mymo

Post your general area and maybe someone can suggest a good trainer, I think you need to invest in some classes or one to one training with a good trainer.
You need training too, to look for cue's from the dog and to know how to distract and minimize if not stop altogether, this behaviour.
With the right help and consistent training this could be solved, he's still young.
Is he neutered by the way, that can be a big help.

mickysquint

hi mymo,
i live in near kilcock in meath. to be honest i was thinking about the classes. Some one also mentioned if i got another dog, wouldnt make the sight of a dog on a walk such a novelty to him and he wouldnt be bothered as much. not sure how true this is!
Also yes he is neutered, got him when he just turned 6 months and he had just been done.

Zapperzy

I wouldn't get another dog as you really need to concentrate on sorting out this behaviour before adding another dog to the mix, the new dog could also end up learning off him and you could end up with twice the problem.

You say you got him at 6 months, do you know his history prior to this? It sounds like he's never been socialized properly on how to behave around other dogs. As for the growling at a stranger going to pet him it's hard to know without seeing it happen if it could be out of fear or nervousness. From now on anyways as I'm sure you know already never leave him tied up outside a shop as it'l just be an accident waiting to happen if someone done something to wind him up and he bit them, unfortunately then you'd be at risk of your dog being put down.

Contact a good trainer who only uses humane reward based methods, if they mention shock/choke/prong collars or start harping on about him trying to dominate you then avoid these trainers. http://apdt.ie/index.php/find-a-trainer/ You should find a decent trainer on this website.

Until this is sorted have a look at headcollars for walking him such as the halti and dogmatic, they should allow better control of him if he goes to lunge or jump up at people or dogs. Otherwise a muzzle would be a very good idea.

easyeason3

He probably needs to be socialised around other dogs for a start. Classes would help with that.

Also I wouldn't be comfortable tying my dog to a post while I went into a shop. But I have to say I'm very lucky, one of the shops I go to has a guy stacking shelves & stuff & he will come out & stand with my dog if I need to pop in. I rarely do it because I'd be afraid a child could get snapped at if they were pulling at him. He's well used to kids pulling & dragging out of him from my nieces & nephews but I still would be afraid if they poked him in the eye or something. Highly unlikely but it could happen.

And your dog is presumably a purebred great dane? I'd also be very wary of someone trying to steal him.

JustAThought

That's not a great situation to be in; fair dues to you for trying to sort it quickly. You mentioned that your dog is a great Dane cross; do you know; cross with what?

piperh

Hi try contacting the lady here i know she works on positive reinforcement for behavioural change and offers socialisation classes which might help.

http://petproblems.web.officelive.com/default.aspx

portgirl123

please dont ever leave ur dog tied up outside as there as been loads of dogs stolen like this.

What is your dog crossed with?

Gremlin

Sounds to me a short term solution is a muzzle. I'm pretty sure you're not going to leave him outside the shop again in a hurry. Hope so. I'm having socialisation issues with our fella. His problem stems from fear, maybe yours is too or maybe its territorial, try changing the routes of your walks so he doesn't consider a walk to be like patrolling his patch. If its fear (remember great danes dont know they're so big!) then classes will help, they are helping our fella a lot.

Good luck and fair play for not allowing it to escalate.

mickysquint

thanks all for the replies. To answer a couple of questions, he's a great Dane cross, but we've never known what he's crossed with. We got him from the dogs trust when he was 6 months old but they wasn't able to give us too much information about his past.
Thanks for all the advice. just invested in a halti, he doesn't like it one bit but I'm gonna stick with it. and I'm gonna look in to some obedience classes.
cheers all.

Gremlin

Just re-reading this and it just crossed my mind, has the dog had the once over at the vets recently? I often hear than behavioural changes can have an underlying physiological cause at the root. Might be worth getting him checked out.