Devil dog is getting quite aggressive now. What to do?

[ShinyAndNew]

Besides rehome him that is? I am a firm believer that when you take on an animal you take on that animal for life, good and bad.

Behaviorist is finally booked for Saturday, now that DH has realised I will not rehome this dog, unless he looks like he is an immediate danger to my family. Atm, he is only an immediate danger to me, and I am idiot enough to put up with this while it's getting sorted .

He started off being agressive towards DH so I presumed it was something DH was doing and not a problem with the dog. In the end DH admitted he had been hitting the dog . This has now stopped. He wasn't doing it hard, just what he called 'a tap in the nose to let him know who's boss'

After DH complained loud enough that he cannot get the dog out a night, because it keeps snapping at him, I took over and started putting him out. He was just the same as normal, a little growling but no snapping. Untill two nights ago, he properlt snarled at me and went to bite me, but then thought twice. However last night he did bite me. He didn't break the skin, but I don't know if that is because he didn't want to, or because I pulled him off before he got a proper grip of me.

It's only on a night when we put him out to do his business. He growls when he has to go to bed, but he will go.

An obvious solution is to take him out the front on a night on his lead to do his stuff, as he doesn't seem to mind this and to fit a dog flap. Which we are going to do. However since this is something that has gotten progressively worse, I think his next step will be to attack me when I put him into the kitchen to sleep and atm he cannot sleep anywhere else as I don't fully trust him (or the dds) and they have no bedroom door. I need him to be locked away from them on a night.

Any tips/insights from anyone?

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Shit, I am no expert but I do know hitting a dog is quite likely to cause aggression. What was your dh thinking? You need help asap. I am sure someone more knowledgeable will be alogn to help. How old is the og?

Approx two and is a rescue dog with no history. I suspect he may have been mistreatred in the past. He has quite a few odd behaviors such as behaving agressivly towards Dh's work bag and attacking his food bowl.

Does dog still have his bits? This is first question any professional will ask.

Nope, he was neutered just before xmas, though this behavior (growling and attacking inaminate objects) seems to have gotten worse since then. Though he stopped humping everything in sight.

He is a royal pain in the arse, most sometimes, but underneath it all, he is a good dog so I'd really like to work this out.

During the day he is very loving. It's just on a night when he has to go out/to bed.

How do you put him out at night?

I call him out first. He knows "Go to bed" and during the day when he is put to bed because I am popping to the school or whatecver and he needs to ve out so that he doesn't dart out of the front door when I am returning he will go no problems. But on an evening when you tell him "bed" he starts growling and has to be pulled from the sofa by hos collar.

After which he reluctantly goes to bed, growling all the way. He used to go outside like this too, but one day just stopped, and then had to be dragged off his bed by his collar, after which he would go, but again growling all the way.

Then it got to the point where he was being pulled all the way out (from his bed) by his collar, growling.

The growling then turned to snarling, which culminated in him trying to bite me.

I know he was telling me he doesn't want to go out, but if doesn't empty his bladder he wees in the kitchen on a night. Plus as I said it is a behavior that is getting progressively worse and I worry that his next step will be to refuse to go out to bed and that will escalate to where he is snapping at me when I am putting him out.

Is there something in the back that he is scared of? It could be that in his previous place, the back garden was something that he was terrified of. Also do you shut the door when he goes out?

Have you got a background to his past?

Just that I am wondering if the back garden/yard is dark and the door shuts, maybe he is scared that he wont be allowed in and shut out at night.

Is he ok to go out there during the day?

Not judging your DH, but dogs noses are very very sensitive, no wonder he has the hump!

www.infopet.co.uk/pages/0130.html

is useful

Hope the behaviorist goes ok

Sounds a nightmare :-( Not an expert at all, but we had a dog who had some dominant issues and we ended up rehoming her with my inlaws as I was worried about the children. But you know all the stuff about making sure the dog knows its place in the hierachy of the family - like not allowing the dog on the sofa or the beds, making sure you go through doors first, feeding the dog last, so the dog knows you are the top dog?! My inlaws have since undone all my good work with our dog as they cant bear not to spoil her, but she did need to know her place, and she was very well trained, but could be snappy about getting out of the car, or if she had stolen a sock or something and you tried to get it off her.

Yes the yard is dark. He goes out fine on his own during the day. He actually asks to go out, we do shut the door yes, but only because he would come straight back in without doing anything. I don't think he is scared of the yard, or the dark. But it is possible he is worried he won't get back in again, but we never leave him out for more than 10 mins at a time and never have done.

No history, so it is very likely he was locked out for hours at a time.

He never sleeps in the kitchen during the daytime, he has to be on the hallway or the same room as you and goes berserk if you close any of the doors.

We have been trying to build his confidence at being alone, by leaving him in a room for a few seconds then coming back in, but we are not getting very far atm. He starts barking as soon as he realises the door has been closed.

Oh I wish I was the behaviourist on this case!

From what you have said and described he is an anxious dog and it getting more stressed hence the more seemingly aggressive behaviour.

No coincidence that he has got worse after being "done" as this means his testerone levels are lower. Castrating a nervous dog can make them much worse as they have lost the bit of courage they once had. However saying that he can still be improved drastically.

If Bella was here she would suggest a DAP collar - a good idea. I am reluctant to give a treatment program as you are seeing a behaviourist who being on the ground will pick up other issues.

But this is generally an easy case to solve just consistent, calm, positive handling and he will be a different dog.

I would of course get out the old clicker. . Click and treat just to get him used to the clicker. Then click every time he goes outside and gradually he will be happy to go out day and night. (I have obvioulsy shortened the process but you get the idea!)
Also cicker training dogs gives them a huge amount of confidence as they can only do right and that in itself will make him more chilled and relaxed.

I do love treating these cases as in a few months you can have a totally different dog. Let us know how you get on on Saturday.

I am trying really hard not to go but some dogs hate having their collars touched and this can cause the growling - again this can be worked on with amazing results.

Could you crate him in the hallway at night? Our dog (also a rescue) used to get upset, not so much when we put her into the utility room at night but when she woke up in the morning..She would try to chew things and wee/poo everywhere (which I thought was bad 'toilet training' but was in fact caused by stress).
Our dog trainer suggested letting her sleep nearer the rest of the family, so we bought her a crate and now she sleeps in it in the hall and she's been happy ever since - no crying or chewing or poo/wee in the house.
And if he's worried he'll get locked out at night, could you put a coat on and pop outside to call him out - and hang around whilst he wees? If our dog is anything to go by, once they get secure then you can stop it (we went out with our dog for the first few months as she wouldn't go outside without us, now she's fine going out by herself). (Bettter in the summer though )

We do clicker training for obedience at home, i.e. sit, click, treat, down, click, treat.

I was hoping to use it to help with recall but, but he follows me everytime I leave the room and seems to instinctively know when I have the clicker in my hand and comes running .

I'll wait and see what the behaviorist says about it. I know he uses positive training and not dominance theory.

Excellent I expect this is why you are the last one to see his aggression.

Glad you have a positive trained behaviourist coming

You should see things change quite quickly.

We could crate him, yes, but I am worried that dd2 would let him out during the night.

He gets on her bed and she gets very annoyed and tries to pull him off, I don't want him copying the agressive behavior with her. She isn't really old enough to explain it to. Although she has learned never to disturn him when he is resting and to call him if she wants to play with him.

I know I bang on about how much damage dominance theory and negative training methods can do, but it's so easy to see how your little dog's behaviour could lead a less knowledgeable person to conclude that he's being 'dominant' and that his owner needs to assert themselves more, producing an even more anxious dog and escalating the awful, vicious cycle. I'd even be tempted to speculate that he ended up in the pound in the first place as a result of misdirected handling by his previous owner
Am glad you are getting a good behaviourist on board and I'd take great comfort from Minimu's optimism for his future.
I'd get a DAP collar on him, yes, and try to make dh and dd understand that being tough with him (for want of a better word) is only going to make the dog worse.
Very best of luck & keep us posted

Well we had better time last night after following some of the advice on the link posted.

We asked him to go out, he started growling, so instead of dragging him we crouched down and talked to him and he was eventually coaxed to bed and then given a treat and settled into bed calmly and quietly. We will carry on with this, as it's much calmer and less stressfull for all involved, untill the behaviorist comes.

Will see vets about DAP collars later today, when the dds go out.

I don't think he is an agressive dog by nature, I don't believe that many dogs are. If he was he would be agressive during the day and he is not. I don't think he believes he is in charge either. This is the only problem we have with growling, he will happily drop a toy as soon as you tell him to, without any growling.

Good luck with the behaviourist.

Even the most even tempered of dogs can be inclined to get snappy if they are pulled by their collars (how would I react if someone tried to drag me somewhere I didn't want to go by the neck?!) and if he has growled (given a warning first, which is a good thing) but the dragging has persisted, he has no real option but to pregress to a snap.

Also, had he wanted to do damage with a bite, make absolutely no mistake he would have done.

So, all is not lost and I suspect his behaviour can be sorted fairly easily, tbh, with the help of a good behaviourist and a change in management.

DO ensure your daughter is not allowed to drag the dog by his collar though, and in fact, it may be an idea to take his collar off in the home and find another way of moving him to where you want without having physical contact with him. (I am sure the behaviourist will show you how to do this anyway).

Good luck.

I agree with the taking off the collar bit. It's so tempting to use it to make the dog do something, but in the long run it must be better to work with his desire to please his owner.

(Mind you, if I buy one of those Holly and Lil collars Bella went and told us about then mine's wearing it all the time )

The collar is left on because he has very poor recall skills. We have been to beginners training class to help with this, but he was too distracted by the other dogs for it to be any use and it was suggessted we do one on one training untill he is better socialised. Which is why I have been going at DH about getting in a behaviorist to help with the growling and the social side. Dh claimed we couldn't afford it as we have a holiday to pay for, but has now realised that we need too see someone now not later.

He has a habit of darting out of the door, when we get visitors. He will come straight back in, if there are no distractions i.e. other dogs/playing children/people with carrier bags full of goodies. Which since we live near a park is doesn't happen often.

His collar has his tag on and I don't want him getting lost and ending up in the pound again (although he is microchipped).

I work on recall at home in our alley with long rope tied to his collar. He is slowly getting it. Once he is coming back all of the time, we are going to borrow a friends dog to introduce distractions.

His recall in the house is okay, unless he is in the window and other dogs are walking past.

I have taken on adult dogs before. I can train puppies from scratch and stupidly thought I could do the same with an adult dog, but it would seem I have bitten off more than I can chew with this dog.

Dd2 doesn't drag him off her bed, she shouts at him and tries to push him. She is always stopped straight away and he is never in their room unless I am. I am trying to get her to stop pushing him, but she gets so upset when he is on her bed, it's difficult for her to control herself. She is very possesive over her things.

The dog does listen to her when she tells him to drop ine her toys, but not wrt to getting down off the bed.

I am sure the behaviorist will help with all these things and he runs his own training classes in obedience that we will be invited to once the dog is better socialised. I suspect the first trainer was a bit crap.

I have never taken on adult dogs before that is.

It wasn't me who brought up those collars! I merely provided the link (kind, helpful person that I am)

If I spent upwards of £40 on a collar I'd be wearing it myself, day in, day out!

Shiny - don't be hard on yourself. Every dog is different, and they all teach us something new. The important thing is that you are going to get help to work on him, and you should really feel quite optimisitic after what Minimu has said. Chin up

Certainly don't feel hard on yourself at all - we have all come across challenging dogs in out time who encourage you to some inventive training methods. I can still have dreams about that patterdale terrier!

Yes, but do you really think having him stuffed was the only answer, Minimu?

2 weeks later

Go on, Shiny - giggle: I dare ya