Rex' first playtime with unknown dog

[Canis Amicus]

Many of you may remember that two months ago I adopted Rex, 3yo German Shepherd, which is dog aggressive, and still have issues when he sees other dogs, even at distance.

Since begining of May I am taking him to dog school for basic obedience, where, now, he can play nicely with his class camarades, but is still aggressive with the dogs we meet on our walks.

Today afternoon he surprised me, instead of growling and lunging to one coming dog, he barked and "whinned", wanting to play (he already had barked/growled/lunged to other dog at the same park, minutes before), with the permission of the other owner, I let him play with this dog, and he did wonderfully well behaved!

I was waiting for a moment like this.

Is there anyone here whose dog has dog aggression issues?
Do you have any suggestions for dog aggressive dog? I was told about the prong and e-collar, wich are prohibited here in Switzerland, only with police permission can be trained. I didn't look for it yet.

At the moment I cannot afford any animal behaviorist.

I am living for the day in which my boy will not see other dogs as enemies.

Thank you.

Rosana
and
Rex

[aly]

The prong collar will definately not help with dog aggression, and could even make it worse! Personally, I think it is very cool that they are prohibited there. Wish they were here too.

Its sort of hard to be able to know what exactly is going on by just reading about it on the internet. There are a lot of possibilities though. Maybe Rex just doesn't like certain dogs. Since you can't afford a behaviorist, just use extreme caution in what you do so you don't end up with a nasty dog fight on your hands.

Another possibility is Rex could be getting cues off of you. If you tense up when another dog approaches, he may sense that and act aggressively. Try to always keep his leash loose (don't pull it tightly every time you see a dog), and watch Rex closely for any signal that he may be getting upset.

It will probably greatly help him if he continues to have good experiences with dogs. I am sure the socialization he's getting in class is helping a bunch!

[Kona & Oreo's mom]

I am so glad that Rex had a positive experience with another stranger-dog. That's fantastic progress, one step at a time. :) I hope that his classes continue to go well.

[tatsxxx11]

Sounds like Rex may have made a breakthrough:) I understand completely how encouraged you were by his positive encounter! Aly's given you a lot of great advice:) I can only re-enforce that lots and lots of continued socialization experiences under control circumstances should help greatly in getting Rex to accept and enjoy other dogs! Do you/have you attended obedience classes with Rex? That's a great place for lots of positive and controlled interaction! Keep up the good work Rex! You made your mommy so proud:)

[Canis Amicus]

I think step by step I can trust him, of course, now and then he gives a backward step.

Slowly, he is greeting/playing with unknown dogs, at the park, very nicely, off leash! Sometimes he only sniffs them and comes back to me.

I noticed that when he is off leash he behaves nicer, and sometimes he doesn't even care about other dogs, he would rather play alone or with me.

Today, for the first time, I let him walk a trail off leash (no dogs at sight). He always came back to me when I let him to run free, for exemple to chase birds, or simply frolicking around.

On the streets he is always on leash.

Oh, today I bought a digital photo camara. Better photos on the way!

Thank you and have a nice day.

Rosana
and
Rex

[K9soul]

It's great to see your progress with Rex. I am sure I have read before that dogs tend to be more aggressive if they are leashed than off-leash, because a leash is somewhat confining, the dog feels he has to stand his ground more while leashed. I think just the fact you walk him so much and have him meet other dogs is working wonders for him. I also think others here have given you great advice too.

I sure look forward to seeing the pictures of your beautiful boy!

[dukedogsmom]

I am so glad he's doing better! And, I don't like those pronged collars either. I think they're cruel. I don't have any advice for you. Kay might as Simba was quite aggressive when she got him and still is sometimes. One time, I was holding him at the dog beach and a guy approached him. He lunged at the guy. But the dummy was asking if he would bite as he was doing it. Not too much common sense. I just wasn't expecting it, is all.

[christrev]

What great progress now that he can actually play with a dog without being aggressive. Like the others before me I hate any sort of training aid which hurts the dog such as a pronged collar.

I believe in positive re-enforcement, louds of praise & treats when good & ignore the bad times. yes dogs are less agressive OFF the lead, when on a lead they can't get away from the other dog/dogs so the only thing to do is to act aggressivly, plus if you yourself act nervous and pull him back, holding him tightly etc he thinks it's something bad to sniff at another dog.

Sasha is off the lead as much as poss, we play "fetch" with her all the time and she often ignores other dogs around her, she chooses her friends that way - as we do!

Just keep on with what you are doing - you are getting there.

Chris

[Erika]

Nikki has aggressive problems, too. We think she was abused by a male earlier in her life because she does not like men at all when she first meets them. She also does not get along with other dogs when she is leashed. When she is off leash, she is fine. I wish that she was better with men, because most of the time she ends up doing what Simba did on the beach. I have confidence that she would never actually bite anyone, but I am cautious anyway. I guess the horrors in her past are too hard for her to forget them. She loves a lot of guys, but it takes a little while before she learns to trust them. On the bright side, she loves women and children (and cats!) so at least she doesnt bark at everyone.

[christrev]

Hello Erika,

Nikki has problems with strange men, well Sasha is the same, she is brilliant with women, children and has a "best friend cat", but men in general she isn't keen on at all. some men she accepts OK (i.e. my partner & son etc) BUT IF A STRANGE man comes into the house.......she barks & barks for ages.......like Erika, don't think she would ever bite but it is still very unnerving to say the least.

We don't know much of her history cause she came from an animal santcuary, but I think she had a woman owner which would explain some things about it all.

Saying all that she has no other aggressive tendancies at all.

chris:rolleyes: the pic shows Sasha x ing my son.

[tatsxxx11]

Thanks for bringing up the leashed/more aggressive issue Jess and Christrev:) I was thinking of that the other day and meant to come back and mention it I too have often heard that from trainers and the logic behind it very understandable. Lots of socialization experiences under controlled settings is the key, I believe! Keep up the good work and keep us updated:)

[K9soul]

Wow, I know this is a bit off topic but that in that picture you posted of Sasha, she reminds me very strongly of my shep mix Tasha. I don't have one of her giving kisses but I have this recent profile shot of her.

http://img47.photobucket.com/albums/v145/k9soul/Tasha%20and%20Tommy/Tommy%20and%20Tasha%206/tasharain2.jpg

Then back to topic sort of, Tasha is very mistrustful of men too, except her Daddy of course who she knows. But otherwise she is very suspicious and will bark and snarl and growl when a man comes in the house. I have had her since she was a baby, and she's never had an abusive experience with a man, but when she was about 6 or 7 months old and my brother-in-law, who truly likes dogs is a bit ignorant on how to best approach a dog and act around one that is nervous, came to visit. She was nervous because he is kind of a loud, booming type person. She was slowly approaching him, sniffing him cautiously, and he reached out and grabbed her collar to pull her closer. That was it. She never trusted anyone reaching out for her again, especially a man. I was so dismayed, I didn't realize he'd do that and he meant no harm in it but it destroyed her trust and made her feel trapped. I was terrified she would bite him, since she was already tense and nervous, and suddenly trapped too.

She does best when new people just completely ignore her and let her do her thing. I try to tell them just let her approach and sniff and don't try to pet her and get her to come. After she has developed some trust, let her sniff a hand and then if she seems comfortable pet her. Most of the time she takes to women very easily.

Still when my brother-in-law comes over, he's bull-headed and as much as I ask him to ignore her, he calls and calls her and tries to get her to come and she only gets more upset when he does that, growling and barking more. My other brother-in-law she will come up to because he's never been pushy about it with her.

Well I guess I got VERY long-winded here! My heart leapt when I saw that picture of Sasha, she looks so like my girl, and has some similar personality traits it sounds like too. I have wondered before if there might not be some malinois in Tasha. The humane society never knew what her father was.

[christrev]

Gosh k9soul,

That pic is like looking at Sasha, except she's slightly darker, with a darker more "Mal"muzzle. I had never heard of Mal's till I got Sasha & investigated Belgian Sheps on the internet after someone said she looked like one. We don't know what her parentage is just GSD + something, but I am sure it's Mal , she has the intelligence, drive etc of both the GSD & Mal which I think makes her like she is, she isn't a bouncy friendly to everyone type of dog, likes to make friends WHEN she wants to, does NOT go up to strangers, is very suspicious of some men,the one's like your bro in law, who think they know dogs and rush up to them etc.......she took months to accept out neighbour, who loves her but is a little "silly" with dogs......squirted her with water not long after we got her..........see what I mean/

She LUVS women & kids.......a strange man in the house .....barks......strange woman......fusses them!

better end this will compare dogs again soon Chris