Untitled Document

Dealing with the Dominant Dog

This article was written by Ed Frawley (Leerburg Video Produktion) He is a professional dog trainer and police K9
handler in the United States.
Ed has been producing dog training videos for 20 yers in America and his web adress is http://leerburg.com

Many people, including experienced dog trainers, misunderstand dominance in dogs. These people feel that dominance always needs to be dealt with through force. A simply "alpha roll of the dog and be done with it" is a common approach. In most cases this is also the wrong approach.

In addition, many people think that we should only be concerned with dominance in a large dog and not a small dog - these people are also wrong. While a large dog (like the one in the photo above) can put you in the hospital, a small dog can put your child in the hospital. Dominance of any kind needs to be dealt with and if not eliminated at least controlled in all dogs.

I have owned a number of extremely dominant male dogs over the past 25 years. Because of this, I have been forced to study dominance just to live with some of the stud dogs that I breed. I look at dominance in a different way today than I did 20 years ago. I have learned that dominance is controlled by using your brains and controlling the environment the dog is placed in.

No one likes to get bit, I look at the scars on the arms of many of my friends and consider myself lucky. I have never had a serious dog bite, yet I have handled some very dominant aggressive animals. When I ask about these scars, I always get the same answer "I made a mistake with that dog." Getting "dog bit" comes down to making mistakes in how we handle our dogs in a given situation.

Dogs are a pack animals and the best way to learn about dominance is to study pack behavior. Looking at the research done of wolf packs is a good way to start to learn. A wolf pack always has a dominant pair of animals. Wolves don't maintain their dominant position by fighting with pack members every day, they do it through subtle means. Body position and attitude play a major factor in maintaining a dominant pack position.

Obedience Training:

Controlling dominance means establishing yourself as the pack leader. The remainder of this article is going to offer ideas on how to accomplish this in different aspects of the dogs life. The easiest way to begin this process is through obedience training. Understanding praise and correction is going to go a long way towards establishing a working relationship and a bond with you and your dog.

I have been a fan of the sport of Schutzhund since 1974. Unfortunately over the years many people new to schutzhund have heard that "You don't train your dog in obedience until it is a year old or protection trained." Nothing could be further from the truth. In the early years the Germans that came over and did seminars used to say "No obedience during the first year." What was lost in the translation is that they only meant that a trainer should not do the jumps, the forced retrieve and compulsion exercises until the dog is more mature. This does not translate to mean that you don't train obedience at all during the first year - but unfortunately a lot of people have taken that translation and tried to live with it.

So waiting to train obedience has created some dominance problems for some people and their dogs. There is a great deal of obedience that can be learned motivationally during the first year of a dogs life, look at the videos I have done titled Training a Competition Heeling Dog and Basic Dog Obedience to get an idea of what can be done.

The command to concentrate on when dealing with the dominant dog is the "DOWN COMMAND". Every dominant dog is going to want to resist the down. When I get a new male that has had a lot of bite work training and I see that he is a hard case - I will always begin my control work with the "down." Almost all dominant dogs are going to resist and resent the DOWN. Initially I will use food just like with a puppy. Most (not all) adult dogs will respond to this.

The important thing is to teach the dog that it must down when told and it must stay down for up to 30 minutes (you should never expect this from puppies). You can accomplish this by putting your dog in a down during the news. I also recommend that you do it on leash - so if the dog gets up without permission you have a means of grabbing him without starting a fight when you go for his collar.

While the majority of dogs only require obedience training to get their dominance under control, other dogs need additional work to establish their handler as the pack leader. What I have found is that handlers often inadvertently allow things to happen in their normal life that helps develop a dominant behavior in their dogs. The remainder of this article will deal with these types of situations.

Understanding subtle dominant behavior in our dogs will help people learn how to establish themselves as the pack leader in their own home. Here are just a few behaviors many dogs will display that represent a certain dominant behavior in the home:

Sleeping in bed with the owner
Not allowing the husband into the bedroom after being gone on a business trip
Growling near food or toys
Not allowing you to take toys away by showing aggression (not just playing keep away)
Always going through doors first
Forcing you to pet him when you are busy doing something else.
Being extremely dog aggressive
Showing aggression to certain family friends and not others

The Bedroom:

Controlling dominance begins at home. The first thing we need to do is to take total control over the dog in terms of where he is allowed to sleep, eat and play. The dominant dog should never be allowed to sleep in the bedroom. The best place to sleep is always reserved for the pack leader (you). Make your dog sleep in a dog crate in another room in the house. Of course if your dog lives in a kennel out back this is not going to apply.

TOYS:

As puppies grow up they should not be allowed to become possessive of their toys. The handler should be able to take every toy away from the dog at any time without the dog showing aggression. If the pup growls, the handler should firmly shake it by the back of the neck while scolding it.
If the dog is older and there is a concern over being bitten, a leash should be put on the dog and the dog should be corrected off the toy. If there is any growling at this point the handler should scold the dog with a firm deep voice. Once the dog has dropped the toy the handler should lead the dog away from it before bending to pick it up. Until the dominant situation is under control that toy is never given to the dog again. The handler controls his dogs universe and the dog needs to learn this. One factor in that scenario is "You determine what toys are played with and for how long."
If the dog will not give up a toy when corrected on leash and the handler does not feel comfortable with his ability to safely get the toy out of the dogs mouth, there are 2 options available.

Ignore the situation, only pick a fight that you can win. When the dog finally releases the toy. Pick it up and put it away for good. He doesn't play with it anymore.
If you have decided ahead of time to force the issue and win the war of the toy with a strong dog you will need to do some pre-planning. First put a second choke collar on the dog. Second, attach a leash to a solid sturdy object (one that will not move). When the dog has the toy, put him on leash and take him to the location of the second leash that is attached to the post. Clip the second leash to the second choke collar on the dog. So the dog now has 2 leashes on, each attached to a different choke collar.

Now tell the dog to drop the toy and back up and stretch the dog between the post and you. Put enough pressure on him that he spits the toy out. As soon as the dog spits the toy out "verbally praise him". If you can approach without getting bit, do so and calmly praise the dog. If he try s to pick up the toy when you approach, don't get mad, just back up and stretch him out again. This process should not be a wild and hectic operation from the handler standpoint. Keep your cool and remain calm. Continue to string the dog out as long as he goes after the toy when you approach. If you don't feel comfortable picking the toy up, then kick it out of his reach. Always remember to only pick a fight that you can win>

This process is only necessary with big dogs. Little dogs are simply picked up off the ground and hung until the drop their toy. To soft handlers this may sound gruesome. But its no more gruesome that a dog bite in the face of a child.

If you have no plans to protection train your dog it is not a good idea to play tug games with puppies. This builds the dogs drive towards being possessive of his toys. If you do plan on doing sport schutzhund work or have plans to make your pup a personal protection dog or police service dog you are going to want to play a lot of tug games with the pup. We want to build this drive towards the tug and eventually the bite sleeve or body bite suit. What needs to happen at an early age is to develop a relationship with the dog that after allowing him to win the game of tug a few times, the handler can take the tug away from his dog. I have found that giving the pup a piece of food after taking the tug away is a way of rewarding the dog for releasing the tug. This also is the beginning of teaching the dog to "OUT".

On a recent trip to Holland I saw a Dutch friend handle his extremely tough hard dominant KNPV (Royal Dutch Police Dog) dog. This dog went through numerous handlers before coming to Yoop (my friend). The dog bit all of the other handlers, in fact he bit Yoop on a number of occasions until Yoop figured out how to handle him. Now when he does bite work with the dog and commands the dog to "OUT" he always gives the dog a piece of meat. Many serious trainers may get their nose out of joint over this, but I would challenge them to handle this dog. The bottom line is that we must use our heads and do what works with these dogs to show them who the leader is.

Dinner Time:

A dog with dominance problems is never allowed to be in the kitchen or dinning room while the family eats and the worst thing that can happen is to feed a dominant dog from the table. Again, the pack leader always eats first and gets the best pieces of food. If your dog is a house dog, always put him in the dog crate or another room at meal time. The worst thing you can do is feed these dogs from the table. It only enhances your problems.

FOOD:

Dominant dogs are often aggressive around their food. With a pup you can correct growling and force the dog to let you take food away or have your hands around the food as he eats. With older dogs I am not sure its worth the fight to win the battle. If I buy a dog that is aggressive around his food I usually do not force the issue, but then my dogs live in a kennel.

If I had to work on this with a dog that needs to eat in the house with kids, I would always feed the dog in a room by himself. I would never leave food down after he ate, especially with kids in the house. I would not walk in and pick the food up when the dog was near the bowl, I would call him into the other room (maybe give him a treat for coming) then go in and pick up the food bowl without the dog being present. If I had to get the dog used to me around his food I would only feed him while I was holding the food dish . If he refused to eat while I held the bowl - tough. Sooner or later he would eat if he got hungry enough. The fact is, I don't think there is much of a reason to push the issue in that way. There are other battles that can be fought and won a lot easier than this one.

Petting Your Dog:

Having a good bond with a dominant dog is critical. These dogs live and die by pack order. The only way to maintain control is to maintain a good relationship. But this must be done on your terms. A dog that comes up and tries to force you into petting him when you are reading the paper or working on the computer could be displaying a form of a dominant behavior. Do not allow this to happen. Make the dog go a lay down. In fact controlling his behavior through the use of a long down is one of the very best ways of establishing yourself as the leader.

New handlers need to understand that almost all dogs will want to be petted. But there is a difference between a happy friendly dog that just wants a pet and a dominant dog that wants to force his attention on you when you are busy doing something else. Understanding the difference between these 2 situations may come down to experience. If your dog does not display any other symptoms of dominance except wanting to be petted, you don't have much of a problem.

Showing Aggression to Family Friends:

If a dog shows aggression to certain visitors (and not others) to the house that he has seen before and simply does not like, this is a form of dominance. People with small dogs think this may be cute, while others are pleased that their dog is acting protective. Both are wrong. This behavior needs to be controlled. The dog needs to be taught that this behavior is unacceptable

The easiest way is to verbally scold the dog and put him in his crate (or another room.) By you showing him that you control his environment all the time you are establishing yourself as the leader. In a pack, the pack leader is the one that determines who fights and when. If we allow our dogs to determine who to attack on his own, we are allowing his dominance to take hold.

People that protection train dogs (in schutzhund or police work) may be thinking that this is bogus because these dogs go out and work on their own. The fact is that Schutzhund dogs, personal protection dogs and or Police Service dogs do not work on their own. Through training the handler establishes the rules of engagement. The dog learns when it is and is not acceptable to bite. If anything protection training helps establish pack order as long as everything else in the dogs life related to dominance is done properly.

Doors and Stairways:

Living with the dominant dog requires a number of small subtle things being done to make the dog understand that you are his master, the leader of his life, the person he looks up to and respects. One of the small things you can do is always make the dog let you walk through a door way or go down a flight of stairs before he does. This may seem like a small thing but in fact it is not. If you in force small things like this (that do not require a fight to accomplish) you are setting the tone for the relationship.

Dog Aggression:

This is a difficult situation. I have found that its easiest to control this at a very young age and get a grip on it before it becomes a serious problem. I don not allow my puppies to fight. I step in a shake the snot out of them for getting too serious about fighting. They quickly learn that I am the one who determines if and how hard they are allowed to play.

Controlling dog Aggression in adult dogs is the topic of a completely different article. It involves using electric collars and muzzles. The fact is that with some adult dogs that have not had this early training, no amount of work is going to completely eliminate dog Aggression

Alpha Rolls and more:

If I tried to Alpha Roll one of my stud dogs without a muzzle on he would eat my lunch. When I hear people talk about taking an adult dog and "alpha rolling" them I shake my head and compare it to Russian Roulette.

For those that don't understand what an alpha roll is, let me explain. When a dog shows signs of dominance many trainers will tell new handlers to take his dog and force it down on its back on the ground, then the handler is suppose to get down on top of the dog and grab it by the sides of its cheeks and stair right into his eyes until it sub mitts and looks away.

Well this is fine for some little FOOFOO - but you had better not try it with a large dog that is truly dominant. I just got an e-mail from a friend who told me about an episode in his California schutzhund club where two dogs got into a fight. After the fight was broken up the females handler (who was not very big) alpha rolled he large male German Shepherd male (who had not been obedience trained during its first year of life because she had heard the saying that you don't obedience train schutzhund dogs). Well, the dog attacked her and bit her badly in the face and upper body leaving her with permanent disfiguring scars. The dog was subsequently put to sleep.

The unfortunate thing is that if things had been done differently this should not have happened to this poor women and the dog would probably still be alive today.

I am not a fan of "Alpha Rolls". I may be wrong is my position on this and it certainly would not be the first time. I will say this, if a person is going to alpha roll a large dog, you had better have the dog in muzzle and you had better be big enough and strong enough to win the fight. Always remember that if you are going to pick a fight with a dominant dog you had better pick one you know you can win.

My feeling is that in most cases with extremely strong tough dominant dogs I accomplish as much through subtle body language and voice commands. In other words, rather than create a situation where I have to string a dog up on a leash (and damage the bond with the dog) I will avoid the situation all together or I will scold the dog with a deep voice and stair at him. There are times with a real kick ass dominant dog that I will not even force the issue with a direct stair because this could trigger an attack. I accomplish the subtle alpha position by scolding the dog and then either leading him away or calling him to a heel and walking away from the siltation.

Here is where we need to know our dogs. You may know that truly strong stubborn dog may fight you if your try and force him into a down position after a confrontation. I am a firm believer in not having a fight with my dog (unless it can not be avoided). I believe that you loose a lot more than you gain in coming to blows with the animal. Its always better to control him a different way. For example if you need him stiffen up and hump his back after a situation occurs, don't try and down him for control, rather heel him away and put him in his dog crate. Do something to show the dog that you are the one that is in control of him and his environment.

If a handler forces a situation to the point where the dog attacks, then that handler has made a mistake. He has misread the situation and now has a problem. The goal is to see the potential for a fight before it happens and avoid it without loosing face with the dog.

For example, I use a Tri Tronic s electric collar to get my police dog to release his drug toy. The collar has resulted in the dog spitting the toy out on command, but he has such strong drive for that particular toy that he guards it. I may be able to reach down and pick it up, but there is a good possibility that I would get bit trying this - so why do it? I will either heel him away from it or toss another toy and take him away on leash when he moves off the original toy.

So as I close this article there are a couple of things that need to be remembered:

1- Only pick a fight that you can win
3- In most cases you loose more that you gain in a fight with your do, .even if you win.
2- Whenever possible use your head and think about a problems causes and solution Always remember that once your dog relinquishes pack order to you he will be a much happier dog. Its like they have a great burden lifted off their shoulders. As I work through the various problems on dominance with a dog I always remember that in the end this dog is going to be a much happier dog.

Testimonial

I have some of your video tapes and equipment and I just can't tell you enough how much they have helped. You deserve an award for your videos ! Out of my first litter of German Shepherds, I have chosen a male to keep and train for my own personal protection dog. My husband & I manage a small motel now and he is a city cop and works at night, so I'm here by myself alot. I feel very confident that I have chosen the right dog for me because of your videos and articles on testing pups. This puppy "Zues" and I "clicked" when he was 2 or 3 weeks old, it's one of those hard-to-find bonds between owner and dog, that no amount of money will buy. I am so proud of him. He's 14 weeks old and we have mastered "sit" very well and now we are working on "down" and also working with a leash some. Your videos have taught me a better way to train and I am more patient because I have seen the outcome. I get so frustrated with some of my customers that buy my pups, as I'm sure you do too. I can't seem to get the fact through that a well trained dog doesn't just happen or that it does take more than a month or two to get wonderfully trained dog and just because a puppy has a good working bloodline doesn't mean that he will automatically be "wonder-dog", that it does take some training. I recommend your articles and videos to my customers and give them your web address because I believe you are wonderful. We've been able to accomplish much more with our dogs since we discovered you. We even have a 1/2 Rott. that has been a pleasure to train. I always said I would never have a Rott. I thought they were "time-bombs". He has proven me wrong. He is about 18 months old and is a little slow maturing, but we're not rushing him. He is just now starting to show some aggression. Thanks to your articles on "Dominance" and "Aggressive" dogs, we better understand all dogs now and I'm not so affraid that this Rott ( Rabi ) will be out-of-control. My husband brought him home from the pound because he had a good bite and because he had a very even temperament. ( not to mention that he's a little soft hearted and could not stand to see him put down ). And I am so glad he did. I have to tell you though, that when strangers or friends are over and they hear us tell Rabi "fooey", that think we've lost our mind. This is Texas, "fooey" isn't in the vocabulary ! But it DOES work. My husband was told that you never are suppose to say your dog's name along with "no" or "fooey" that they associate "no" with their name after awhile and you have trouble getting them to "come". Is that true? It makes sense. The "Dominance" articles really helped with my stud dog. At 2 yrs. he started getting pretty domanant towards my husband mostly. It really didn't take alot of effort to make him quit, just persistance. He's fine now. Before reading your articles I wouldn't have known what to do with him because I have never had a dog with that much domanance before. Again thank you so much for taking the time to write all those articles and make all those videos.

Sincerely,
Lisa Fenton

QUESTION

I have purchased a few videos from you and some products your website is awesome thanks.... My question is I have a 5yr. old Rotti he has a good pedigree with some good working dogs in it that was told to me by a Rotti person well the dog has been obedience trained and has some some bite work I got the dog about 2yrs ago and he has been a good dog playful and very alert but when I purchased the dog from a K-9 trainer and breeder of Sheperds and Malinois he said Bo has a lot of defense in him and to be careful with him and not let him around children as he is a one handler dog well I did just that and I keep him in a very secure kennel around noone but here recently when I go take him out of his kennel he will growl at me,I tried correcting him but he still does it and when I get him out his tail stops wagging and when I praise him hes not excited anymore,Bo is very dog aggressive from day one and tries to chase cars... lately Ive had to muzzle him to put him on a chain to clean his pen out I use a Jabsco muzzle I got from you, now I have to make a decision weather to keep him and deal with this problem or put him to sleep,I would like to keep him but am I putting myself in a dangerous situation of getting bit one day or can I deal with this problem, selling him is no option because I know he can hurt someone badly and there are too many irresponsible dog owners out there so what should I do?????

Thanks, Confused Allen

ANSWER

It seems a little old for a dog to all of a sudden start to become aggressive to the handler. Usually this begins at an earlier age (around 2 or 3.)

I would begin by having the dog checked out by a vet. Maybe there is something medically wrong with him. Maybe he is not feeling good and just wants to be left alone.

If the vet gives him a clean bill of health then you need to deal with his aggression or make the decision to put him down.

I have an article on "Dealing with the Dominant Dog and Dealing with the Overly Aggressive dog" - read these and make sure that you are doing everything properly.

If he is used to wearing the muzzle, make him wear it for awhile and then take him out with a prong collar and do some obedience training. If he growls, correct him very hard. Make him mind through force. See if he will come after you and how much. Maybe he just needs to be "tuned up" so to speak to remind him who his pack leader is. (It's not fair to try this on a dog that may be sick.)

If he comes after you then its time to get some help from someone who really understands rank drive. The problem is not a lot of people know how to deal with this. It involves a nylon slip choker and hanging the dog until he comes close to passing out. This is not done with a fight. The handler must remain very calm or it just brings out the fight in the dog. If that happens then you loose what you are trying to do, because he thinks its a fight and thats not what this is about. Its about a tough dog understanding that you are tougher and you can kill him if you want. During this whole process you are calmly quietly saying "NOOOOO NOOOOO NOOO - YOUR WILL NOT DO THIS !!!!"

Dogs (all dogs) are pack animals. They understand rank. Right now your dog does not respect your rank in the pack.

QUESTION

I HAVE A 2 1/2 YEAR OLD GSD WHO HAS BEEN OBEDIENCE AND PROTECTION TRAINED. I HAVE USE ALL OF YOUR TRAINING METHODS FOR HIS PROTECTION WORK. HE HAS BEEN VERY GOOD WITH KIDS WHILE STILL SHOWING A STRONG NATURE TO PROTECT. HE LOVES TO STAY IN THE YARD AND PLAY BALL WITH THE KIDS TO THE POINT THAT HE INTERFERES.

MY 10 YR. OLD SON CALLED HIM IN THE OTHER DAY TO PUT HIM IN HIS CAGE SO THAT HE COULD PLAY BASKETBALL IN THE YARD. NEEDLESS TO SAY THE DOG DID NOT WANT TO COME IN. MY SON ORDERED HIM IN HIS CAGE. HE WENT IN BUT AS HE PUT HIS HAND TO THE CAGE TO LOCK HIM IN,THE DOG GROWLED AT HIS HAND. I PULLED HIM OUT AND GAVE HIM A PFUI WITH A CORRECTION. I TOLD MY SON TO LOCK HIM IN AGAIN WITH THE SAME RESULTS. I GAVE ANOTHER CORRECTION AND HAD HIM TRY IT AGAIN. THIS THIRD TIME HE LET HIM CLOSE IT. DID I HANDLE THIS SITUATION CORRECTLY OR SHOULD I BE CONSIDERING GETTING ANOTHER DOG. SINCE THIS DOG HAS GROWN HE HAS DEVELOPED FIGHT DRIVE. HE HAS OTHERWISE BEEN A CHARM FOR ME AND MY FAMILY. PLEASE HELP ME ON THIS ONE. I,M REALLY SHOCKED.

ANSWER

At 18 months the dog is coming into maturity, he is starting to exhibit some rank drive.
You need to follow the information I have in my article on dominance to a "T".
You did the right thing, I would probably have kicked his butt a little harder.
I don't think I would replace the dog just yet. If necessary get a muzzle and a prong collar and have our son work the dog in obedience in a muzzle. If it were my dog I would get an electric collar, a prong and a muzzle. I would learn how to use the collar with the tapes I have, and then have your son works the dog while you controlled the collar. It would not take long for the dog to realize his position in the family pack - (which is below the child.) Do not do this without a muzzle.

Question:

HELP! We got Tucker when he was 6 months old, from a family that had two very small children. They felt overwhelmed and could not keep the dog.
He was wonderful and friendly until about the age of 1 year. He suddenly became very aggressive.
Things that occurred about that time:

We rented a room in our house to a women and he was sprayed by the mailman. At it's worse, Tucker would attack (charge at someone's feet and stand there with his teeth showing and snarling in a way that you knew he would attack if the person moved another inch. This started to happen to the women who rented from us on a daily basis.

Eventually he would attack my husband in the same way.
In almost every instance this occurred in the morning. The ritual was something like this.... My husband would get up, get dressed, take Tucker for a walk, on returning back to the house after the walk, Tucker would join me in bed. My husband would come to kiss me goodbye and Tucker would VICIOUSLY (growling, snarling, pacing, charging) keep my husband out of the bedroom.
Then later when I was up getting ready (usually the same way every morning) Tucker would hang out in the bedroom. When it come time to leave the women who rented from us rode to work with me. When it was just about time to leave, Tucker would begin pacing and when she came downstairs to leave, he would run for her feet. She would literally freeze. I would have to get Tucker away form her or he would have bitten her and sometimes did actually grab her foot with his teeth.

Some of the ways I would try to stop this:

Scream "no", keep a leash on him in the mornings and pull him away,
sooth him out of the aggression by stoking him as he snarled and growled, choke collar with the lease attached.
Sometimes I would literally have to come from a half asleep state to a full dive out of bed to grab him so he would not attack my husband. There were even times that my husband would have hold of the lease and have his arm outstretched to keep tucker at a distance. A few times tucker would even be lifted off the floor and would be choking. My husband had to do this a few times just to keep tucker from getting him. I have been the only person to be able to touch him in this state.
I can pick him up. He is growling and snarling the entire time he is in my arms while I carry him off to a room or his crate.

We have had private training, one group class, drug therapy, animal behaviorists look at him. We checked for medical explanations (hypothyroid) his blood work is perfect!

The roommate is gone, but now we have my husbands teenage daughter living with us. He will attack her as well. The way we have solved this mostly is adapting the way we live. After my husband walks the dog in the morning. He leaves him outside until he's ready to go. He kisses me goodbye and on his way out lets Tucker back in. WHENEVER I am getting dressed everyone just stays away from the room and when we leave, I let everyone leave first and then I come out.

If anyone comes to visit I lock Tucker in the Bedroom. The other day Tucker turned on me. First time in four years! He did not bite me. I grabbed him and pushed him down on his back, held him down by his neck and smacked his face a couple of times (not hard) and said No! I am not afraid of Tucker, everyone else is!!!!

I am fairly certain that somehow I have caused this monster by reinforcing this behavior SOMEHOW?????????? Can this be changed! The problem is still there even though it happens much less than before. But it is because my family has changed the way they live. I can't imagine why my family would tolerate this (except that we Love Tucker very much!!!.

MOST of the Time, Tucker will sit in ALL of our laps, jump for joy when any of us come home. and at night when we go to bed....My husband is permitted in by Tucker (in fact, Tucker cuddles with him every night) Probably to keep him away from me. I'm sure you can tell that this is a really bad situation. My step daughter ALWAYS ask where Tucker is when she enters a room, you just can't trust him and she's afraid he will be in the "attack mood". Can you HELP?

Answer:

Can I help you? NO !!!! I don't think you can help yourself!

You mentioned in your email that you thought that you had created this problem. Well, you are 100% right - you have. You have allowed this dog to take over your house and it is beyond me how people can allow this to happen. But then I am a dog trainer and the solutions are very simple (to me).

If you want to keep this dog, which I am not sure is the correct decision, you need to make some serious changes in the dogs life. From the sound of it you are not going to be able to do this.

The first step should be to get a top quality electric dog collar and learn how to use it. There are good instruction videos on this (we sell some)
Get a good muzzle for the dog and make him learn to wear it - the jafco plastic muzzles that we sell are fine for this.
The next step with this dog is to NEVER allow him in your bedroom again. Not for any reason. The bedroom for these kinds of dogs is 100% off limits. He should be corrected for coming in there (make sure to have the muzzle on him when you do this)
Do not ever ALPHA ROLL a mature German Shepherd - or for that matter any large dog. I don't care how strong you are - your face is only inches from this animal and if you pick the wrong dog on the wrong day you will be getting plastic surgery on your face. I know people who have made this mistake. DON't DO IT - I cringe when I hear people tell me that their dog trainer told them to "put the dog on his back and get on top of him." You are dealing with an amateur when they tell you this. Do not ever let the dog get into your lap. This is foolish. This is not a situation where this dog is trying to get loving - its a way for him to demonstrate his dominance. People totally misunderstand how strong a dogs pack instinct is. They don't recognize when a dog is jumping up to be friendly and when he is jumping up just to show someone that he can do it any time he wants. These are 2 totally different situations. So the solution is don't ever let him do it at all.
Train the dog that it has one spot in the house that he must go to when he is told to go there. This can be his crate or a certain rug. Start by teaching him to go there for food. Once he understands that when you say "Crate" he must run to it and get into it, then you can correct him when he does not go there when told. By correcting him with an electric collar (the way the videos show) you will have control over the dog without having to fight him. The dog should never be fed before you eat.
He should also be fed in the garage or the basement. This is important.
Finally, if the dog does attack your husband in the way that you have said, your husband did the right thing in stringing the dog up. His only mistake was he quit too soon. With dogs like this they should be stung up until they pass out or just before they pass out. During this process there should be no screaming at the dog, the handler should be very calm and not act like he is fighting with the dog. It's OK to say in a calm voice "You will not attack me - you will not do this." The dog must feel that he is about to die and he must understand that he has no control over it. This is the ultimate way of establishing whom is the boss.

If done properly it only takes 2 or 3 times and he will never have to do it again. From that point on the dog will realize who is the boss and what can happen if he screws with the boss.

But I can not over emphasize that when this is done the handler must be very calm and very quiet in how he acts.

If you are prepared to do these things this dog may be salvaged. If you do not you are risking your step daughter and any guests that you have, What kind of a home must this be for a step daughter who is afraid of the dog? You have a bad situation that s has creeped up on you but also caused by poor handling. If you are not prepared to make the right steps to correct this , you should put the dog to sleep.

Ed Frawley -

QUESTION

I will start out with a little bit of history on our dog. He is registered. We brought him home with us when he was 5 weeks old which I have since found out that was not a good idea. He is 19 months old and resides both inside the house and in our fenced yard. We had him professionally obedience trained in which he stayed at the trainers house for 1 month. He is still in the process of training but he now stays with us and we take him to an obedience class with other dogs. The trainer wants to do this for distraction purposes. His name is Bubba. Before he left to go to the trainers, Bubba growled at our 9 year old son twice. Once when our son petted him while he was eating (the dog got a major correction), and once our son petted Bubba while he was sleeping. We was not in the room at that time. He had never growled at our son before this. We sent him to the trainers and told her of the growling. Bubba has been back home 2 weeks. He plays with our son during the day, licking his face, and rubbing up against him, tongue hanging out and tail wagging. They play both in the house and out in the yard. After about a week, we came in the house one evening, our son walked over to Bubba, petted him on his chest, and said Hi Bubba. Bubba growled.

He doesn't show his teeth when he growls, but looks our son right in the eye and does a belly growl. Once again he was corrected. ( I have a horse crop and I came down hard on his head and sternly said NO at the same time. My son again petted him, this time on the top of the head. Once again, the growl. Once again, a correction. I did not have a leash on Bubba at the time. The times that Bubba has growled at our son has all been in the house and only in the evening, (night). We talked with the trainer. Our son has played, teasingly with Bubba since he was a puppy. Such things as walking up behind him and trying to scare him. Our son has watched his dad playing ruff and tumble with Bubba and thinks this is okay. The trainer told us Bubba respects the dad but not the son. We also have a 7 year old daughter. Bubba has never growled at her. (Bubba will growl at anyone if they try to pet him when he is eating, we have told the children not to bother him at this time.) I am the one that works with Bubba and we have tried to guess what the problem may be. My son is a very affectionate child and I don't know if any jealousy could be involved.
The trainer said Bubba is not CRAZY, the growl is a warning and she doesn't think he would ever hurt our son. She thinks there has been something in the past that our son has done that has stayed in Bubba's learning block and he has not forgot it.
She thinks with pack order, the dog sees our son as the loner, and will let him in the pack only when he wants to. It was suggested that our Son hold Bubba's food bowl, sitting down for 5 consecutive days. If Bubba growls, he is corrected and the food is taken away. After 15 minutes, try again. Bubba does not get to eat unless he takes it from our son. If after five days, he continues to growl, we need to get rid of him. That is the history. Now my question is this; is this something that will pass and we can correct? I love the dog. He is everything that I have ever wanted in a dog, BUT not at the risk of my child getting hurt. If there is any way we can correct this, I would be willing to do it, especially since Bubba seems to love our son most of the time. Any suggestions. I don't want to get rid of our dog, but if there is a chance of our son getting hurt, I can't keep him.

ANSWER

The dog is going through maturity and trying to change his rank in the pack. Read my articles on my web site about DEALING WITH THE DOMINANT DOG.
You made a mistake in sending the dog off to a trainer. This accomplishes very little with a dog like this other than to teach the dog that the trainer is dominant over him. It does nothing to change the way he views his family pack.

You need to do some serious obedience training yourself. Get my training tape titled Basic Obedience. Also get a PRONG COLLAR and learn how to use it. If the dog shows any signs of growling during hard correctins - get one of these cheap Jafco muzzles I sell The dog can not bite you with a muzzle on.

When you are satisfied with his obedience around you (and you have done the things in the article I wrote on dominance. Then put the muzzle on and have your son do obedience with the dog. You can put a second 20 foot line on and follow behind him. If the dog gets growly, you hit him so hard with a correction that he flips over backwards. This is a level 109 correction and the SOB will learn that you do not growl around the boy. But this always is done with the muzzle for safety purposes and it is very very important to make sure he has been aclimated to the muzzle for 2 weeks before doing this.

DO NOT DO WHAT THIS TRAINER SAYS WITH YOUR SON HOLDING THE FOOD BOWL. You are only asking for a dog bite. This is foolish advise from someone who needs to learn more about dog behavior.

Do what I said above. Take the dog through the program. Tell the kids to leave the dog alone when he eat. Why force the issue. Just leave him along. Put the food down for 20 minutes and pick it up, even if he has not eaten. He will eat the next day when the food comes down. It only takes a couple of days for the food to be picked up for him to learn. This is a simple way to eliminate that problem.

Maybe after the dog has gone through the training with the boy and learns not to fool with him you could make a point of having the boy hold the food bowl when there is a treat in it. The dog eats from the bowl and its put up. Not immediatly and not when he is growling while giving eye to eye contact. This is one step away from a bite and to say that he will not bite him when he is doing this is stupid.

QUESTION

I have a question concerning my Pit bull. Recently he has been attacking my roommate, and when we try to leave the house through the front door. One thing that stands out is that, if he does not let us take him out in the morning we know to sneak out the back door otherwise he will attack if we try to use the Front door.

He started doing this to his owner my roommate. Three days out of the week he works very early in the morning. He use to be able to take him out in the morning, but recently he has not allowed him to take him out. He does allow me to take him out instead of my roommate . The problem is that if the dog is not in the closed room with my other female Pit bull and me. He will sit in front of my door and wait for my roommate to head towards the door, as soon as he does he run towards the door and tries to bite the door and my roommate. He has only been doing this towards my roommate, but recently he has started to act like that towards me.

He is like doctor Jeckel and Mr. Hyde. One day he does everything perfect and acts like a wonderful dog, but there are days where he has this look on his face where fear comes to me and my roommate. He is not neutered from reading your literature it won't help if I neuter him. So before I put him down I would like some advise to what I can do to correct the problem.

Thank You

Carlos Gonzalez

ANSWER

This dog has a problem with RANK. In other words he is the pack leader in the house.

I have written an article on Dealing with the Dominant Dog on my web site. I do not believe that a dog like this will respond to JUST the work I describe I this article.

The issue of rank can be cleared, but it takes a lot of skill from the handler and is a dangerous thing to try and correct. I would guess by your email that you do not have the skill to do the work if I describe it.

My advise would be to find someplace that needs an area guard dog and give it to these people (after you are sure that they treat the animals in a kind way) or put the dog to sleep before he really attacks you. This behavior is not going to get better, it will only escalate.

QUESTION

I have an American Shepherd (I look forward to the day when I can purchase a REAL shepherd from you!) who is 2 & 1/2 years old.

He is an outside dog. Yesterday he came into the house through the patio door. I calmly took a hold of his collar to take him back outside. He growled at me.

This morning we went for our 2 mile walk. (I can let him walk leeshless where we go) He darted off running at the geese. I told him to come. He did not come. Usually he does. While he was peeing on a tree, I walked up to him calmly & took a hold of his prong collar & told him "bad boy." He growled at me.

In both situations I was not at all harsh with him. Why did he growl? He has only done that once before about a year ago. I corrected him with the prong collar right at the time he did it. He hasn't done it since until yesterday.

It scared me a little bit this time. He has been told no many times before & not growled at me - why now?

I haven't been able to spend as much time with him lately as I normally do - is he mad at me? Is it just a temporary behavior thing or do I need to have him put to sleep?

Michelle

ANSWER

Your dog is challenging you for rank in the pack he is coming into maturity, and this is rank drive showing its ugly head.

You also need to take this dog through serious obedience training, in addition to doing EVERYTHING I mention in that article.

If you are afraid of the dog then get one of these jafco muzzles and it should become part of his life. He wears it all of the time . Especially when he has the prong collar on and is in a position where he will growl.

QUESTION

My name is Saskia and together with my husband and 2 children age 4 and 6 we live in belgium with 3 dogs. a rothweiler from 6 , a bordeaux dog from 2 and a mastino from 1 year old. About two weeks ago my oldest daughter came in screaming that the dog bit a child from 11 years from next door. It was not serious so we thought that he entered on our garden without notice and tryed to grap his sister when she was playing with my children. This had never happend before . Last friday a women came in with a child from 3 at her hand. The dogs all begin barking but I rememberd wondering why the mastino his name is vito kept on barking . They where behind a fence. I went out to escort this women and child inside . When I oppend the door vito came like a tornado bent his head to pass me from behind and attacked the child. He snaped her hip I let myself fall down on him while the women pulled the child backwords. He still had a hold off the sweatschirt and he schoke his head very wild and agressive from left to right. We finnaly had to pull him away with 2 persons and lock him up (with keys) because he opens the doors pushing doors or pulling or sliding with weight pumps on it he opens them all. There was no reason att all in attacking this child. It had not spoken screamd or yelled at the dog neither did the women . I lett them in so he had to accept there entrence. Today my husband was standing next to him when a man and his 2 children walked inside. Immediatly he stared to groam at this 2 children completly ignoring everybody else in the room. His eyes were fixed on them and was again very agressive My husband lead him out off the room . As i start wandering what could have caused this aggresion in my dog towards children? My neigbour the mother from the child that he bit first the one from11 years she came to me and told me that her father in law saw already that this boy somethimes is teasing the dog through the fence. I don't know exactly what he did to make our dog into what he is right now: a very dangerous killing dog towards children. What can be done to make him again tollerent towards other children, and could this also turn against my own children. Upto know he's still very nice but can I trust him now like I did before??

Thanks saskia Maes

ANSWER

There is NO SOLUTION FOR YOU. The only safe solution is to have this dog put down. I am sure the child next door had something to do with causing the dog to become aggressive, but at this point it has gone too far. The dog should NEVER EVER be allowed near children.

If you decide not to put the dog down, the damage it does in the future rests on your shoulders, because you know the risk this dog is to others.

If you do not have the heart to put the dog down. Find a factory that needs a guard dog. There are plenty in your country. I know because I go there. Make sure the factory has a fenced in kennel for the dog to live in (look at it first) and agree on the quality of dog food the dog will get.

This dog is just now coming into the first stages of maturity this problem is only going to get A LOT WORSE as he matures.

Question

Hello there and thank you for taking the time to read my question. For mothers day a few years ago I received a female German Shepherd who was given to me by my daughter. The prior owners were looking for a home for her as they were starting to raise Jack Russell's and the shep was just to dominant with them, they would NOT get along. At first I thought it was because she (the shep) was kept outside and was lacking for attention. Well, it is going on 3 years now and her behavior has not changed. I think life would be so much more pleasurable for her if she would only stop trying to "rid the world of all other living creatures, other than herself." I foolishly had her bred last year not thinking that this was a trait that could be passed down. I just thought it was a behavior problem that needed to be addressed. She had a beautiful litter of 9 pups and I have one of them that I call my little "misfit." We love him very much but he is now showing the same dominant behavior as his mother. (by the way, she was spayed yesterday!!) She is only 65 pounds, but he on the other hand is 85 and only 9 months old. He is very hard to control when he (or she for that matter) sees another animal. It doesn't even have to be a dog. They both love their family very much. I have 3 children under the age of 10. The only time they ever show any signs of aggression towards the kids is if they try to lay over them when they are petting them or snuggling. I am the only one who can do that without any growling or moaning on their part. The male, who hates baths, showed his first real sigh of aggression yesterday when I was trying to get him in the tub. I grabbed his collar and called him and he growled at me, twice. I am not sure if I handled it correctly or not, but I just kind of ignored him and said sharply NO then proceeded to pull him in the tub. I gave him lots of praise for his good behavior. I know there has to be something I can do to change this behavior. I love them both very much and want them to be happy, as well as myself and my kids !!! Please don't tell me a professional trainer is my only resource as that is not an option for me at this time.

Answer

You have a male who is becoming dominant at an early age. You need to read my article on this.You also need to obedience train this dog with a prong collar. He needs to understand his position in the family pack, which is at the bottom. Keep the collar on during the day with a short 2 foot line that you can grab and correct him with.

If he shows signs of growling or biting get one of the cheap Jafco muzzles we sell.

Tell the kids "NO MORE ROLLING ON TOP OF THESE DOGS" why even put the kids in a position where they could potentially be bit.? No use creating a problem yourslef.

As far as the dog aggression goes this has to be dealt with a electic collar probably a Tri Tronics sportsman model they will always have to have this on its not something that ever goes away for good.

Testimonial:

January 27, 1999

Hi Ed, My name is Jill Frost,I live in WA.state and breed German Shepherds. I do obedience training,have been in schutzhund and behavior problem dogs are my specialty. I just got on-line for the first time a few days ago.I wanted to tell you how much I enjoyed your articles ,WHY IT'S A BAD IDEA...,and DEALING WITH THE DOMINANT DOG. I can't tell you how refreshing it is to see someone tell it like it is! I have been using the pack/alpha theory in my training and consulting for years.Because of the huge popularity of the Rototiller breed, I have lost count of how many have come to me with behavior/dominance problems.For the last 4 years my behavior consulting has been 75 % Rotts.It sickens me to see a breed gain such a bad rep because of the stupidity/negligence of owners.I'm glad that the lady whose Rotts killed the boy was convicted,she deserved it ! If she was training with these dogs and had some knowledge of SCH. then she cannot claim she didn't know their capabilities as the average pet owner claims.Just yesterday in our local newspaper there was a jogger that was mauled by 2 Rotts. He 's hurt badly.When the police came on scene one dog attacked the car.They were shot.These dogs had gotten out before, My neighbors bred their Rotty bitch and kept 3 pups.These pups are now over a year old, 2 intact males,2 intact females all running together.They have a renter on their property that had a 13 yr old malamute.He had been there long before she had these pups,and the dogs got along .The pups started trying to play with the old dog when they were quite young but when she would try to scold them the mom would jump in .The old dog stopped coming out from under her owner's trailer except to potty.The old dogs owner,Scott, told me that the Rotts would sometimes run circles around his trailer and bark at his dog. The owners of the rots would laugh as they thought this was cute! I told Scott that something had to be done because this "game"would escalate and his dog would be hurt or killed.One day,I heard their dogs really carrying on and saw them running circles around Scotts trailer.I tried to call the rotts owner and quickly realized no one was home. By this time rotts had Sheba . I just reacted and ran down there ,on the way breaking a branch off a tree. I beat those dogs with everything I Had in me and it still took awhile to get them off her . Then they just circled.If it were not for another neighbor coming to my aid I don't know how I would have got her out of there. I do realize it was stupid of me to put myself in that position but I couldn't just sit there, it is not in my nature. Unfortunately sheba died .The rott owners are making up excuses for their dogs,and saying it was shebas fault because she use to try to bite the pups when they were younger! These dogs have no obedience training and they all still run together. I don't try to push my knowledge on people and the things I have told them is ignored(they are very defensive and I'm labeled as a know-it-all).Something bad is brewing and I cant do a thing about it . Plus what is really scary is Rott owners just had a baby! Ed,these people are just a small example of what I see going on around me, It's unbelievable ! Anyway thanks again for such good articles.

Sincerely,Jill Frost

Testimonial:

Hi Ed,

I work with /tons of behavioral problem dogs and aggression counts for a good # of them. I agree with the obedience being paramount & the dog learning to mind. I recently finished a couple of dogs with this same problem and have heard from the owners who tell me the dogs are doing great. The key was teaching the owners how to establish basic control over the dog and how to correct for bad behaviors. The "behaviorists" around here are really just dog trainers w/a different name so they can charge more by the hour. I use a lot of motivational training but in this case the dog has to be taught boundaries - and correction is essential. A lot of what I would call "90's type trainers" who only believe in food and praise will never be able to finish a dog like this reliably. Or it may take forever. There has to be a consequence to bad behaviors. The dog needs to learn limits and the owners how to train and handle such a dog. In short,
I agree. Regards,
Nick