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Pupforum presents your training questions answered by professional dog trainers.
Lynne has been training dogs since 1985. She has worked as head trainer for two facilities, a studio trainer (print ads, commercials and television) and as a continuing ed and certification rep for what was then the largest dog training company in the US. Lynne is a member of the IACP and keeps her training techniques current by attending various seminars and reading books. She currently competes in the sport of schutzhund, has a registered therapy dog, and has started her young Papillion in agility. Lynne owns and runs Blazing Trails K9 Academy in Santa Clarita/Antelope valley California.
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7/25/2005
Hello, I have a beautiful 4 year old border collie/cocker spaniel mix. She grew up on a 600 acre farm with a large forest and another dog. Since she lived on the farm with no their dogs except our other dog she became hostile and angry at other dogs. She is very gentle and sweet to people but with dogs she becomes vicious. If she sees another dog on the street she will start tugging and pulling at the leash trying to get at the other dog. It's embarrassing and she gets hard to control. She has already bitten two dogs on our street and we had to pay thousands of dollars in vet bills.
We have tried using a full mouth muzzle but she starts jumping around and trying to bite it off. We just wish that she could get together with a few other dogs and just run around with them. Our other dog; we had to give to my uncle because of housing reasons. She still sees him a lot but she seems a little edgy with him. We just want her to be able to socialize a little bit but we don't know how to start. Anna (ashleigh, Alaska)
Hi Anna, what a beautiful dog that must be. My thoughts are that there are a few things going on here that probably need to be dealt with. For starters, whenever you're dealing with aggression it's a good idea to work with a good trainer in person in your area so that they can help you read your dog and they can see the situation and catch any problems before getting anyone or any other dog bit. I'd be willing to give you some general tips for dealing with aggression to help you get started until you can find a qualified
trainer that can see the situation in real life though.
First off, let’s talk about your thoughts on the dog. You described her as angry and hostile. The problem with this statement is that I don't really think dogs think like this. Anger and hostility are more human emotions. We as humans get too atta
ched and pay too much attention to emotions and not as much attention to modifying behavior. Also the terms can't be measured and they mean different things to different people. So the first thing to do is to look at her from a behavioral aspect.
Instead of labeling her angry or hostile, what behaviors can you describe? Does she growl? Stare? Bark? What are her eyes doing? What's her body posture like? Does she lunge and bite? Would she rather escape then attack? If she's pulling to get towards other dogs, what else is her body language doing? How hard did she bite those dogs? What
happened just before and after the bites? What else is going on around the dog when she shows these behaviors? These are all some of the things that a trainer working with you and the dog would want to know.
Next thing would to make sure she's in good health. The last thing you want is for her to associate pain or illness with another dog. Also sometimes aggression can have underlying medical components.
It seems that she didn't get much socialization as a young dog. Socialization is imperative to having a relaxed dog later. It's not your fault obviously, but this is a contributing factor.
Another contributing factor is your reaction when she does this. You mentioned that you feel embarrassed when she does reacts aggressively towards another dog. What is your reaction to her? Are you correcting her? Freezing up? Tensing on the leash? Screaming at her? Walking away? Just watching her do it? Dogs tend to feed off their humans emotions. If you are tense and embarrassed and you tighten up on the leash, she will
feed on this and it'll contribute to the problem. If you stand and watch her do it, she may think you are allowing it. If you improperly correct her, she may make that association with the other dog, which is the very LAST thing you want to do.
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