Aggressive Dog help

[kayeandjim00]

When we are out walking she used to snarl and bark and would try to lunge at other dogs. Now she doesn't even wimper. She wears a prong collar and knows that, outside of our property it isn't proper to bark at another dog (she knows that's it's ok to bark on our property vs off our property) and she knows that it's our roll to protect her when we are out vs her protecting us.

This was all learned in that 2-2 1/2 hour session. Here's the place that we went to, just to give you an idea of the type of place. http://www.dogsenseunlimited.com/ They do regular obedience training and aggressive dog training.

Not to be too off topic but our dog does exactly this! We are about 3 weeks into a 10 week course and we have been really pleased so far. It's funny how negative experiences just keep building on theirselves. Once she growled and barked and then every other time after that WE would tense up, she would sense it and immediately go back to that mindset. Our teacher is also big on the dog seeing us as protector instead of the other way around. I"m glad to see this has worked for others. She definitely seems calmer and we are trying very hard to just relax when other dogs are around - easier said than done.

 

[crz4mm2]

I'm with kayeandjim00, at least in our experience. Not to say that I won't be on guard with Sheena, but she is night and day different in her behavior. She went from a dog that went crazy when she was in our house and saw another dog walk by our house (which happens many times a day) --she would not stop barking no matter. Now, she will bark at passing dogs, come get us to go look, then we give her the quiet command, and she will not bark again. Drives her crazy, but she knows it's not something to bark at.

When we are out walking she used to snarl and bark and would try to lunge at other dogs. Now she doesn't even wimper. She wears a prong collar and knows that, outside of our property it isn't proper to bark at another dog (she knows that's it's ok to bark on our property vs off our property) and she knows that it's our roll to protect her when we are out vs her protecting us.

This was all learned in that 2-2 1/2 hour session. Here's the place that we went to, just to give you an idea of the type of place. http://www.dogsenseunlimited.com/ They do regular obedience training and aggressive dog training.

THis is exactly the kind of behavior my dog has.... I would love that. I wishI lived closer
I will look around and see what I can find if there is anything like this here...
Thanks. Gives me great hope.

 

[Disney Doll]

Right now the Jack thinks she is the alpha dog, whether you think she is or not. You must break that behavior.

That means several things. Obedience work is one. The Jack needs to walk with you, at heel, for 30-45 minutes per day, every day. At heel. That means if she takes one step away form your body, you snap the leash and say "Heel" and pull her back. She should be the last dog who gets everything. There should be no separating toys, food etc. She lives in a home with 2 other dogs and she needs to realize that everything will be shared. Behavior corrections need to be swift and effective, and need to be consistent. No "oh she didn't mean it" or "oh, the puppy walked by her". Any behavior that is less than "warm and fuzzy" needs to be corrected immediately. Dogs have a short attention span. You can't punish them for something they did 10 minutes ago, because they won't know what the heck is going on.

Basically, you have to make the dog's life miserable for a few days, till she gets the idea that good behavior means fun and bad behavior means no fun. And by miserable, I don't mean cruel. I mean firm.

Keep a training collar and a leash on her at all times while she's in the house, and then when necessary, you can do an immediate correction.

We have a Springer Spaniel. Not an aggressive dog by nature, but high, high energy. We got him at 10 months old, from folks who couldn't keep him, and had pretty much let him run loose in their fenced in yard all day, then brought him in the house to sleep in a crate at night. They had 3 small kids at the time and I don't think they could devote the time and attention required to properly training Ted. He was a wild indian. We went to obedience school with him. We worked on the "homework"...the trainer required 15 minutes of work twice daily. And it worked. It took time, but it worked. Even now, 12 years later, if Ted starts to get a bit too big for his britches, I do a little training walking with him, keeping him at "heel" for a couple of days, and he's back on track.

It does work. It takes time, consistency and patience.

 

[Tigger&Belle]

Sheena was socialized poorly when she was a pup. She was raised with 3 other older dogs, all barkers and was NEVER brought out on a leash on her own (she belonged to my sister, who loved dogs, but just didn't have the time for her). When my sister's bad marriage ended I took the dog (after my sister drove her across the country), but we had some bad habits to undo, which I didn't work with right away. I really should work with her more, but even the little bit I've worked with her has helped a lot.

Here's her picture. You can tell that she really has the rough life living with us.

 

[crz4mm2]

Right now the Jack thinks she is the alpha dog, whether you think she is or not. You must break that behavior.

That means several things. Obedience work is one. The Jack needs to walk with you, at heel, for 30-45 minutes per day, every day. At heel. That means if she takes one step away form your body, you snap the leash and say "Heel" and pull her back. She should be the last dog who gets everything. There should be no separating toys, food etc. She lives in a home with 2 other dogs and she needs to realize that everything will be shared. Behavior corrections need to be swift and effective, and need to be consistent. No "oh she didn't mean it" or "oh, the puppy walked by her". Any behavior that is less than "warm and fuzzy" needs to be corrected immediately. Dogs have a short attention span. You can't punish them for something they did 10 minutes ago, because they won't know what the heck is going on.

Basically, you have to make the dog's life miserable for a few days, till she gets the idea that good behavior means fun and bad behavior means no fun. And by miserable, I don't mean cruel. I mean firm.

Keep a training collar and a leash on her at all times while she's in the house, and then when necessary, you can do an immediate correction.

We have a Springer Spaniel. Not an aggressive dog by nature, but high, high energy. We got him at 10 months old, from folks who couldn't keep him, and had pretty much let him run loose in their fenced in yard all day, then brought him in the house to sleep in a crate at night. They had 3 small kids at the time and I don't think they could devote the time and attention required to properly training Ted. He was a wild indian. We went to obedience school with him. We worked on the "homework"...the trainer required 15 minutes of work twice daily. And it worked. It took time, but it worked. Even now, 12 years later, if Ted starts to get a bit too big for his britches, I do a little training walking with him, keeping him at "heel" for a couple of days, and he's back on track.

It does work. It takes time, consistency and patience.

Oh, I know she thinks she is the alpha! I have her on a leash right now. I plan to do just what you have said. Any bad behavior at all is going to be an immediate correction She does work out with me every day. I must admit I am not as good about the 'heel' part as I should be so I will work on that.
thanks. I know it can be done. I won't give up.

 

[Tigger&Belle]

One thing that I've always done with Sheena is to give her permission to go outside. Our other dog, Magic (who is old) can waltz outside, but Sheena has to wait until I give her the "release" command. I used to say "OK", but the trainer suggested "release" since it's not a word that we say as often as ok. I tell her "OK" before she is allowed to eat her food, get a treat, etc. She also has to sit before she gets a treat. When she has a toy and I want it I give her a command to release and she has to let go. That's done in play, but she has to let go. She has to do the same with the kids.

The trainer said that heeling when walking on a leash is not important, but she is not to tug on the leash. Since she walks with a prong collar she gets a correction before she gets to the end of the leash and there is never any pulling. Those collars look horrible, but I so wish that we'd had one with Magis since they are so much more humane than the constant pulling and coughing that he's always done.

But your dog is a little guy and there are probably different techniques for small dogs. The general ideas still hold, I would think. A trainer will help you with specifics and is really what you need even though you are getting some good ideas. It's much better to nip aggressive behaviors in the bud.

BTW, when Sheena first came into our house, she did display some not so nice behaviors to Magic. As much as possible I tried to let them work it out, but I wasn't worried for Magic's safety and I crated Sheena when we weren't supervising closely (we also had cats that we had to supervise--Sheena had to pass lots of tests before my sister could leave ).

 

[Pea-n-Me]

This is just my opinion and I base it on my own experiences and what I know about dog behavior.

The Jack will attack the pup for no reason. NO treats involved, no toys involved. Nothing else around.

Most normal dogs will cut a puppy some slack. They inherently know they should not hurt them. A dog that will go after a puppy to harm it has a serious aggression problem, one which is much more than your run of the mill alpha dog issue.

You have an obligation to keep this puppy safe from harm. At the rate you're going this puppy could easily be killed.

It is difficult to live with a truly aggressive dog. If you choose to keep the JRT you should probably work on finding a more suitable home for the puppy. It is not fair to bring a dog which cannot protect itself into a situation where it can and will most likely be harmed.

You can certainly take steps to work on your Jack's behavior issues, but please keep the puppy safe, first.

Best of luck.

 

[crz4mm2]

This is just my opinion and I base it on my own experiences and what I know about dog behavior.



Most normal dogs will cut a puppy some slack. They inherently know they should not hurt them. A dog that will go after a puppy to harm it has a serious aggression problem, one which is much more than your run of the mill alpha dog issue.

You have an obligation to keep this puppy safe from harm. At the rate you're going this puppy could easily be killed.

It is difficult to live with a truly aggressive dog. If you choose to keep the JRT you should probably work on finding a more suitable home for the puppy. It is not fair to bring a dog which cannot protect itself into a situation where it can and will most likely be harmed.

You can certainly take steps to work on your Jack's behavior issues, but please keep the puppy safe, first.

Best of luck.

THank you for your thoughts.
I am keeping the puppy safe. Keeping them separated when not under constant suppervision is pretty safe I think
I am taking steps to correct the behaviors, and I THINK it can be corrected.
I would not knowingly allow a dog/puppy to be harmed.
I have had dogs my whole life. I have just never had one that has shown this kind of aggressive behavior.
Right now, she is sleeping at my feet (on leash). The puppy is playing nearby.
Thanks again.

 

[crz4mm2]

One thing that I've always done with Sheena is to give her permission to go outside. Our other dog, Magic (who is old) can waltz outside, but Sheena has to wait until I give her the "release" command. I used to say "OK", but the trainer suggested "release" since it's not a word that we say as often as ok. I tell her "OK" before she is allowed to eat her food, get a treat, etc. She also has to sit before she gets a treat. When she has a toy and I want it I give her a command to release and she has to let go. That's done in play, but she has to let go. She has to do the same with the kids.

The trainer said that heeling when walking on a leash is not important, but she is not to tug on the leash. Since she walks with a prong collar she gets a correction before she gets to the end of the leash and there is never any pulling. Those collars look horrible, but I so wish that we'd had one with Magis since they are so much more humane than the constant pulling and coughing that he's always done.

But your dog is a little guy and there are probably different techniques for small dogs. The general ideas still hold, I would think. A trainer will help you with specifics and is really what you need even though you are getting some good ideas. It's much better to nip aggressive behaviors in the bud.

BTW, when Sheena first came into our house, she did display some not so nice behaviors to Magic. As much as possible I tried to let them work it out, but I wasn't worried for Magic's safety and I crated Sheena when we weren't supervising closely (we also had cats that we had to supervise--Sheena had to pass lots of tests before my sister could leave ).

Thanks T&B.
I will work with the dog. I think we can overcome these problems with constant training. Thanks again for your help! SOmeone who has been there and done that is invaluable!