Aggression... It has to end!

[Papillons]

Hi everyone!

I'm a long time lurker... But I don't post very often. I love to read what everyone has to say though. :) I've learned so much!

I hope someone can help me out with my problem. First, I'll give you a little background on my dog. I have a 4 year old Lab/Pit mix named Annie. She was rescued from our local SPCA and we've had her since she was around 10-12 weeks old or so. I *THOUGHT* I socialized her well when she was younger. She lived with many cats, had contact with kids, and played with many dogs... not to mention met tons of new people, taken too all kinds of places, been in many different kinds of situations and spent little time alone.

Annie was crate trained as a puppy and young dog, but as she got older, I didn't see a reason to continue with it as she's content and well behaved in the house.

Annie lives with 5 cats and 2 other dogs (both papillons) and my father and I in a house.

She is well trained. Knows every kind of command you can think of. I just can't get her out of this aggression thing. Maybe you all have some suggestions or help... I'm getting DESPERATE!

Within the past two years, she's changed. I can't trust her with strangers. She's become dog aggressive and has dominance issues with humans. Not so much her family, but other people she may know, she still tries to dominate them. She's excellent with our papillons, but when she's on a leash and sees another dog, she's INSANE. I try using her commands like "Annie, Heel." or "Annie, sit!" She growls and her hackles go up and she LUNGES on the leash towards the dog.

When does interact with dogs offleash she is very dominate. She WILL fight another dog that doesn't back down to her. But as long as they are submissive, she plays and is happy.

With humans, it's a little different. If she is on a leash and someone goes to pet her, she gets in a very submissive pose... often lying on her back and tucking her tail... but then if their face gets near hers, she growls and snarls and QUICKLY bops them hard with her nose. Like a threat to bite. Needless to say, I don't allow anyone to put their face near hers anymore.

Occasionally, she even growls at people at a distance just because they look "funny". If someone walks differently, or is tall, or is larger... she gets aggressive.

On Halloween, she did the worst thing possible though... she lunged at our neighbor's child. She didn't put her teeth on him, but nailed him SO HARD in the face with hers. THANK GOD our neighbors are friends of ours and they weren't upset. Their son is around 12 so I don't think he'll be scarred by it. But it gave me a heart attack.

I was so ANGRY at her. I smacked her pretty hard which is unlike me but I was at a loss for whatelse to do. Usually we handle the situation (as best as we can) with a shake of a can filled with pennies, a command such as sit or heel, or breaking the eye contact and making her "work". All food bribes are useless when she is acting weird... She has no interest in food... only in what she's glaring down. Often times we just have to remove her from the situation. But I want to get it so I don't have to. Or is that impossible?

Can ANYONE help?! My dad has threatened to send her back to the SPCA, we cannot have an aggressive dog and I'd never let him do that, so he's told ME to move out! LOL But I can't do that either at this point anyway. My dad loves Annie but we all are afraid of her behaving like this! Who's to say the next time she doesn't bite a child?

Ending this post/rant/plead for help on a good note, Annie is sweet and loving to the family. She's an excellent guard dog (duh? ;)) and she is amazing with our papillons and cats. She's well behaved and incredibly smart, knowing over 100 different words and commands.

HELP PLEASE!!! :cry:

-Colleen

[DogPaddle]

Oh Colleen, I'm sorry your having this difficulty. It sounds like your doing the right things so the only other thing I can suggest is the vets and the behaviourist. Maybe someone else can offer more info?

[Doglistener]

Hi

Most aggression is based on fear but occassionally you come across dogs that are hereditary aggressive and in this case it is incurable, you can only control the situation with muzzles etc

I am not saying that this is the case with your dog but with it being a pit cross then there is a possibility.

I live and practice as a behaviourist in London and the dogs I have to treat the most for hereditary interdog aggression is the Staffordshire Bull Terrier and for human aggression it is the Engllish Bull Terrier and the German Shepherd.

The Pit is banned in the UK so I do not treat them all that regularly but I have found them to be similar in temperament to both the English and the Staff.

It is always difficult to know what type of temperament you will get when you cross two breeds from vastly different backgrounds ie a gundog/hunting dog and a guarding dog you have similar problems when you cross from herding to guarding etc.

In your case I think it is time to call in the Pro's contact a reputable behaviourist but first check with your Vet that there is not something medical that is causing the aggression, their are many instances where things like pain etc can cause aggressive behaviour.

In the meantime E Mail me and I will send you some articles on Dominance and Aggressive Behaviour Modification. However I must stress that this is just for guidance and really you need the dog professionally assessed as you cannot take any chances especially where children could be at risk.

Kind regards

Doglistener
e-mail enquiries@doglistener.co.uk

[Peng1zrule]

Being a pitmix, I cannot say that you may ever be able to trust her completley with any dog. However, what you describe her as doing to HUMANS sounds completley different from any dominance aggression.
First--I would NEVER EVER EVER let anyone put thier faces next to my dog's faces for any reason, unless it is the vet or groomer, someone in that vein. This is so "aggressive"! (to the dog) Your dog sounds afraid of strange people, and in shy dogs, this could cause a fear bite--you're lucky she's only giving fear warnings! Lots of people greet strange dogs by giving them kisses, I think children are big for this. Children also get bit on the face alot. I actually put out my hand and prevent people from kissing my dogs faces or bending down to see thier faces. my dogs have wonderful temperments but this is an aggressive move, and if the dog is scared anyway, he's likely to say BACK OFF the only way he can--with his teeth.
As for barking at strange-looking strangers, this is not particularly weird, either. It's a part of the canine temperment test, but I think most dogs react abnormally to people who don't fit what they've been socialized to. Watch a dog that has never seen a very small child, particularly one who moves jerkily because he or she is just learning to walk--the dog is startled, the dog is confused, and the dog is scared. I know a dog whose family was a certain ethnicity, and they didn't socialize the dog much, so when people of a different ethnicity came over, the dog raised caine because the visitor looked weird to him. (actually, i can think of several times I've watched this scenario)
And if she ever "gets over it" may be up to you--i think with training from a professional, she could be great!