Help

[Glacier]

Check out Jean Donaldson's "Fight". You can find it on dogwise.com. It's an easy read guide to dealing with dog on dog aggression.

I own an extremely dog aggressive dog, Kayleigh. Kayleigh has made great progress on her many other issues, but her dog aggression is not getting any better. I've found all I can do with it is manage it. The behavior itself is not going to change so I have to prevent Kayleigh from getting into situations where she has a chance to fight. Dog aggression is often a temperment trait--in Kayleigh's case it's genetic. She comes from a long line of dog aggressive dogs! (Her idiot breeder is for another post! ) It's not a matter of you not training Josie properly. Kayleigh has great recall and is extremely obedient, until she has a chance to fight. At that point, nothing I do or say matters to her at all!

Get whatever kind of tie-out you can that Josie can't break. For Kayleigh, those cable things never worked. She needs a real good quality chain--not the ones they sell in pet stores!! The ones they sell at the hardware store and add your own clips. Kayleigh has her own pen with a reinforced fence--buried underground with a layer of wire on the ground to prevent digging. Her gate has a heavy duty latch that has another lock through it so she can't pop it open. She is never allowed off-leash unless we are way back in the boonies where I've never seen another dog. If we are in a busier area, I walk her with two leashes--she's been known to pull leashes apart trying to get to another dog. If she needs to really run, I take her on the Springer on my bike. I bypassed the safety release on the Springer attachment so she can't get loose. That thing ROCKS!

If you don't already know, you should learn how to break up a fight quickly and safely.

My concern for Kayleigh is keeping her safe and other dogs safe from her. Where I live, if she injures another dog while off my property, she's considered dangerous and will be killed. That's not happening! Owning a dog aggressive dog is an extra responsiblity, but Kayleigh is worth effort--so is Josie.