Jump to content
BC Boards

Aggression towards other dogs?


Recommended Posts

Hello!

 

I'm not sure if this is the right place for this, but how do I stop my dog's aggression towards other dogs? He is one and half years old and he seems to think he is the leader, he will stand over other dogs and growl. It scares me to have him around other dogs because I don't know how he will react. If a dog barks at him, he will go wild barking back and trying to get at them. Will he bite or try and hurt them? I don't know because I never let it get that far. His actions bewilder me because he has always been around dogs growing up and was never isolated. He has never acted aggressive towards people and absolutely loves people.

 

We also have an older 8 year border and the two of them usually play great together, the younger one usually insitigates play fights by gnawing his feet or ears until the older dog starts to play back, however, once in a blue moon, the two of them will start going at it and I have to pry them apart and it scares me to death when they go at it. However, afterwards they act like nothing happened and go back to playing. My older border is very very laid back and submissive, the younger one likes to stand over him as if to say, "I'm the boss". Is this normal? What should I do when this happens?

 

How do I stop the little ones behavior? I want to be able to bring him to parks and stuff and not worry about coming into contact with other dogs. Is this trainable even though he's a year and half? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated! TIA! :rolleyes:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This post will probably be moved when the mod sees it here. This is the section for asking the expert about training dogs to work stock. In the meantime, you might want to re-post it in the general discussion section,

 

A

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I would suggest you search the term "reactive" here on the board. You will probably find a ton of info to read. All of that said one suggestion (and there are a ton more) that really helped my dog I got out of the book "Control Unleashed." She suggests (you need to get your dog used to a clicker first) clicking your dog for looking at other dogs. Of course you need to not push your dog and keep him far enough away that he is within his threshold and doesn't react. But with my dog c/t for just glancing at another dog was a light bulb moment for him. You can't be stingy with your clicks, but it is amazing at how it quickly becomes a game for your dog to look at the other dog for a split second and then look back to you for the treat. So many people told me to teach my dog a strong look or watch command, but in the end the drive to react was stronger than any reinforcement I was giving him for the "look." In the end it was c/t for looking at the other dogs instead of me that really helped him get it.

 

Again, there is so much more to working with a reactive dog that I don't have the time to type it here. But, using the search feature will surely bring up 99% of it. I just wanted to post this one tool I used after a year long struggle that really seemed to make a huge difference.

 

Best of luck!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

 Share

×
×
  • Create New...