Help! My Rescue Dog is being Aggressive

[WoodRose]

We adopted a lovely Springer Spaniel last week. He is absolutely wonderful with people and our resident collie. However, I am having problems with his aggression towards other dogs. He gets very excited when he sees other dogs, even at some distance - lots of lunging, crying and tail wagging. If a dog then approaches him, he goes for it and doesn't let go, even when it yelps.I spoke to his fosterer and the rescue centre and they saw no evidence of this sort of behaviour.

The poor dog has had a lot of upheaval in the past 6 weeks - dumped in an Irish dog pound, then taken to a rescue centre for 2 weeks, followed by three weeks with a fosterer (where he was very happy!), and then taken away by us. As far as I know, he has always lived in a fairly rural area. We live in London, albeit a very green part of London.

So far, I have been stopping any displays of dominant behaviour in the house (paws on surfaces and people)with a firm "paws off" and removing them. I make him sit and stay before he eats his dinner which is served after we have eaten. I make him sit and stay whilst I open the door and cross the threshold. As well as firm but kind discipline, he is getting LOADS of cuddles and love.

Exercise is a bit tricky at the moment. I need to keep him on lead because, apart from the aggression, his recall is iffy to say the least. I do what I can and run with him in the morning, have a session of clicker training in the garden and walk him for 1.5 to 2 hours in the afternoon. We are due to start obedience training in September.

Please advise me as to what else I can do to help my dog. I am at a complete loss. He has showed absolutely no aggression whatsoever towards our resident collie, so why the Jekyll & Hyde behaviour?

Very hard to say without seeing his exact behaviour. However as he is a new dog to you I would make sure that he is not off lead with other dogs. (Great deep advice from Minimu!)

What you need to do is to get him really on to you. Whatever the reason for his aggression this will help. So teach lots of watch me commands, sit, downs etc. What you need to be able to do is when you are walking past a dog get him to concentraee on you 100%. If he can't do this on a lead there is no way he will do it off lead.

You don't know his past but this will be hard but if you have a good recall and a dog that will listen to you whatever it doesn't matter if he is fearful or just grumpy you can control it.

At the moment I would not let him interact with other dogs unless you know they are friendly and then he must be on a lead and looking and concentrating on you. If he can do tricks get him to do them when the dog passes.

You may need to get in a friendly neighbours dog and have them stand a long way away to start with and then gradually get the dog used to concentrating on you even when the dogs get nearer.

This will be hard work but in a few weeks you will see a difference. The other thing to consider is a head collar but I would be reluctant to advise this without seeing the dog as although you have more control and the dog can not lunge as much you will not be teaching the dog new behaviour just preventing the old behaviour.

Good luck it will be interesting to see what other suggest. I am afraid there is not quick fix but things can get much better. If he is truly aggressive you may want to consider a muzzle as you may relax more if you know he cannot hurt people.

Hate to say this (sorry Valhalla) But I have heard so many times of resuce centres not "seeing" the behaviour that some dogs show away from the centre. I would contact them again most good rescue centres have links with behaviourists and get them involved and helping you.

Thanks for this Minimu. I have been doing watch me commands with the clicker in the garden and he has been very quick to pick it up. However, once we are in the park or woods with all its distractions, he doesn't register me at all. Early days though, so I will keep going with the watch me commands.

I bought him a loopi chest collar and that has given me more control. I really have problems when an off lead dog approaches him. I have been trying to anticipate problems by changing direction if I see an approaching dog, but this isn't always possible. I had wondered about a muzzle, but wondered whether this would heighten his anxiety.

I have spoken to the rescue centre and they have recommended a behaviourist. However, she is unable to come to us and we need to travel to her in Tunbridge Wells. I was hoping she would be able to see him in his enviroment. Do you think that will make any difference.

We have a lovely neighbour who has offered to bring her dog over, so we will give that a go. I am feeling very upset about the whole thing. I know that we can't keep him if he continues to be aggressive, but I shall feel very guilty and an utter failure if we have to give him back to the rescue.

I would always want to see the dog in the environment so probably look for another behaviourist.

The muzzle should not heighten his anxiety if he wears it at other times to meeting a dog. Like just going for a walk he may begin to associate it with going for a walk like his lead. Good idead about the loopi chest collar.

It is so frustrating that you get the dogs to do commands but as soon as you need them they forget all about them! Just keep at it but keep adding in harder distractions. Maybe haing a dog barking on your pc you can get free downloads may be a starting point.

Do not feel a failure IF you have to give him back. The rescue should vet both dog and owner to make the perfect match if not they should take some responsibililty for the outcome. However it is early days and things can chance quite dramatically sometimes.

Thanks once again Minimu! Do you know if there is a list of approved Behaviourists available?

I am really hoping I can turn things around. I spoke to his fosterer and she didn't have any problems with him either - usually ignored other dogs on walks apparently!

I think I will give the muzzle a try - for my own piece of mind apart from anything else!

Is the fosterer local to you could she come for a walk with you. If the behaviour is new (though I feel that this is unlikely)did she walk him on his own - or what did she do differently.

list of behaviourists

Unfortunately, the fosterer is in the Isle of Wight; we are in London. She walked him with her Westie around an area bordering a golf course. It was much less populated (people and dogs) then our local parks, but she did say that when he did encounter other dogs he occasionally wanted to play but mostly ignored them. The only thing his fosterer did differently to me was that she let him off-lead to run in an enclosed field.

I am afraid at the moment I am feeling a bit angry with the Rescue Centre. They specifically described him as "a dream with other dogs". Living in London, I would never have adopted a dog which displayed aggression towards other dogs. I am terrified he will be aggressive with the "wrong" sort of dog.

PS - Thanks for the list!

I can understand your anger and other people saying they had not seen the behaviour does not help! However it may be easily treated.

video showing a mildly aggressive dog and the change in behaviour after a short while so it can be done. Click on watch video here link!

tohught id add my 2 pennoth,,,,,,,,perhaps if he sees you avoding othr dogs with him he senses your fear down the lead and then acts aggressively to protect you. Maybe as mini suggesta amuzzle for your confidence and then you may feel you wont back away from other dogs i think you need to be brave and assertive when out and aout wit other dogs around.

good luck i think you are doing brilliantly btw

Minimu - thanks for the video link. The dog's behaviour was very similar to mine. It also provided a handy link to another You Tube link "Aggressive Dog Fixed in 5 Minutes". I'm not sure about the methods, but it does provide a wonderful soundtrack of manically barking dog to use in my training!

Hotbot - I agree. I think the muzzle will be as much benefit to me as to my dog! I have been trying to jolly my dog along when we see other dogs and give him lots of praise when he doesn't react. Unfortunately, we have had 3 incidents in the past week where he has been aggressive, 2 of which were entirely unprovoked, so I know that despite my best efforts I am tensing up.