dog aggressive with strangers

Our dog stays in the house most of time because she can't be trusted outside alone. She is fine until someone walks down the road or another animal comes down the street and then she is totally uncontrollable. She will run down to the road and bark at people....lunging at their shoes.....she can be very intimidating. I will have to walk down to the road to get her and it is so embarrassing not to mention all I can think is LAWSUIT. Once I get to her she rolls over on her back and begs for leinancy. We have gotten to the point where we can't trust her outside at all....even when we are outside. She has to be on a leash all the time. I feel bad sometimes because the only time she has outside is tied up or in her kennel. Does anyone have any ideas of how to train her not to run out of the yard?

Welcome to PT!

I strongly suggest enrolling her into obedience class. But I'd consult with the trainer first, if she is in fact that aggressive the trainer might have to do private lessons before entering her into a public class.
A behavorist may help a lot too.

Good luck.

Maybe one of those underground perimiter fences and collars so he has to stay in the yard? That would be helpful as a safty precaution and so you could play with him more. Not getting enough excersize probably isn't helping the aggression. I second the idea to go to an obedience class or have a private trainer.

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Bailey is a 4 year old pitt bull mix that we adopted from the SPCA when she was just a puppy. Someone had found her in a bag at the dump. She has been raised in a very loving environment and we have never had a problem with her except for her being so possessive about us. She can't stand for anyone to come close to the house. As for excercising she has had 2 ACL's on her hind legs and has bad arthritis in her hips so we try to keep it basically to walking on a lead because she goes crazy if she sees a deer in the woods or someone in the street. She is smart and follows most commands easily except for when she sees something close to the house and then she doesn't hear us at all. I will probably get her into obediance classes and if that works I will follow up with the underground fence. I don't want to take a chance of her getting out and biting someone or getting into a fight with another animal. Bailey was my first dog and has been a HANDFUL !! Thanks for the advice..it is very appreciated. ;)

I wouldn't reccomend an electronic fence to even the most well behaved dog let alone a dog with aggression issues. I don't know if you saw it or not but just this morning on my way to work I rescued a dog that had gooten out of his fence & was too scared to cross back into his yard.
See the thread here: http://petoftheday.com/talk/showthread.php?t=92680

There are many other reasons why electronic fences are not good. I'm sure if you do a search here you'll find a few good posts about the negatives of electronic fences.

You do have a point. My fear is that my dog would run out of the electronic fence despite the shock just to get the reward on the other side. Our goal is to save up money and fence a small part of our acerage so our dog can have some play time outside. Thats the plan. I think it is so great that you took the initiative to stop and rescue that poor dog. You are a good soul! Most people would have went on and not thought twice about it. :)

I agree with lv4dogs about the electronic fence. Pits have way too much drive to be held back with a shock and the more terrorizing she does to people walking by the more she feeds into the negative Pit Bull hysteria. Does she behave this way only when people are walking by your house or is it with any new people she meets?

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Originally Posted by kipperbuff

Our dog stays in the house most of time because she can't be trusted outside alone. She is fine until someone walks down the road or another animal comes down the street and then she is totally uncontrollable. She will run down to the road and bark at people....lunging at their shoes.....she can be very intimidating. I will have to walk down to the road to get her and it is so embarrassing not to mention all I can think is LAWSUIT. Once I get to her she rolls over on her back and begs for leinancy. We have gotten to the point where we can't trust her outside at all....even when we are outside. She has to be on a leash all the time. I feel bad sometimes because the only time she has outside is tied up or in her kennel. Does anyone have any ideas of how to train her not to run out of the yard?

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The dog is just a natural guard dog...when she is outside she msut be on a leash, simple as that...I have an Akita who is only 6 months old...yet I would bet my house on him protecting it. Anyone comes to the door, my dog barks at him until I let him know they're ok. I think your dog just needs to be on a leash at all time..Do you have a yard where she can play off leash, with a fence? If not, just make sure she's on a leash at all times

rather than keeping her in the house or tied up outside... you need to socialize her - deliberately and with a plan.

Get others in on it - give them treats, and then walk her on leash , making her sit when someone approaches, (telling her constantly that "it's okay") and have them give her the treat... progress up to petting, etc -- eventually she may still run to people but she will 'sit' for their attention. She may still scare the heck out of them though.

NO DOG should be let out in a yard w/o a fence - period. If you can't fence (or don't want to) - then set her up a 'run' between 2 trees with some heavy duty cable and a chain cut to size on a 'normal' collar or harness not a choke or pinch collar. Home Depot or Lowe's will have everything you need except the collar/harness.

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Originally Posted by ESS-lover

rather than keeping her in the house or tied up outside... you need to socialize her - deliberately and with a plan.

Get others in on it - give them treats, and then walk her on leash , making her sit when someone approaches, (telling her constantly that "it's okay") and have them give her the treat... progress up to petting, etc -- eventually she may still run to people but she will 'sit' for their attention. She may still scare the heck out of them though.

NO DOG should be let out in a yard w/o a fence - period. If you can't fence (or don't want to) - then set her up a 'run' between 2 trees with some heavy duty cable and a chain cut to size on a 'normal' collar or harness not a choke or pinch collar. Home Depot or Lowe's will have everything you need except the collar/harness.

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I definitely agree with you about the socializing :)