Ok so I am a volunteer at a humane society and there is a dog there that has been brought back 3 times (possibly more). The first time wasn't her fault (person has allergies) but the other 2 times was because of how territorial she is.
She is a very sweet dog most of the time and is about 1 1/2-2 years old. She has territorial aggression and tends to snap at you if you force her to do something she doesn't want to. I've looked up some stuff on how to fix the behavior but all i can find was "go see a Professional dog trainer."
Well, I obviously can't do that and the humane society is small but always busy so they don't have the money or time to do it. She isn't a puppy anymore and I am worried about her chances of getting a permanent home. I would take her but I have no way of contacting my roommates (they are away for the summer) and they have a very skittish dog. Plus, i have 2 cats and i don't know how she would react around either.
I want to help her. If you are a professional dog trainer or have worked with such dogs before advice would be appreciated.
Do not tell me that there is nothing i can do for her or to go see a professional. It will just serve to piss me off.
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Recommended Answer:For more information please contact me at whmndz@aol.com and if I don't reply within 2-3 days resend it from a different email. Sometimes yahoo doesn't send to aol. And Sorry this is so long. I can help you on my email in shorter steps. I would like to see the dog also. If you have pictures...send them.
I am not a professional but I've had these problems with my 3-legged GSD/Lab/Pitbull mix that I got from the shelter. I go and get dogs that are shy or have these problems and "fix" them and then either find a new home for them that will ensure and practice what I've done or keep them. I'm getting a new one once the paper work goes through. Okay so the dog I had would charge and bite with full grips on the entering stranger's arm or leg. She went for my Dad's handyman's neck once. Okay to fix this, what I did was first started practicing pack order. If you adopt this dog yourself this will work. You have to spend loads of time with this dog though.
Start off with excercising the dog. If you go jogging, or put the dog on a treadmill. Dogs have a natural migration instinct and that is to travel. The leader of the pack determines when and where they travel and how long. Wolf packs travel for miles a day to cover and track territory. Walking the dog, if you're dedicated and don't want the dog to be put down, is the best thing right now. When you walk the dog, YOU go out first and call the dog then. Practice this until the dog does it right. When you open the door and the dog is trying to charge out, then BODY BLOCK the dog in the door way. This will eventually get to the dog that it CANNOT go out until you tell it to. After the dog is there peacefully and sitting and waiting for you to call it, go down the stairs or out the door and then call it's name with a calm assertive voice. Don't yell, because the dog will learn that it is only to come after you say Buddy, Buddy, BUDDY!! It will come after you do that. So say it once and tug lightly on the leash. After excersing the dog will be in a MEDITATION MODE and this is desirable for training obedience. The dog will rest at your feet. Start training to COME when called, DROP or OUT, and SIT. These are some of the most important commands you can teach a dog.
Entroducing the dog to different things, like umberellas and cats and dogs. Make sure the dogs or cats are seperated and the new dog is in a kennel and let the more submissive dogs run around and sniff the dog. Next you introduce the dogs one-by-one supervised on a leash. Killing and Chasing cats are natural for a dog because the dog is a hunter and it's PREY DRIVE is to chase any moving object until it is caught. The best time to introduce animals is when in MEDITATION MODE. I'm talking jogging for an hour or so well if it's a collie, it will need mental and physical stimulation whereas if it is a greyhound then since it's a sprinter, then you could let it run around in the yard for a few times, put it on a leash, and then walk in the park for 30-45 minutes. When letting the dog off leash even in an enclosed area, you should make the dog sit, and then take the leash off and then give it the OKAY or FREE command and let it go and play. Throw a ball and let it chase it.
Food is important to a dog so this is a great way to get her out of her aggression, make her do obedience commands and then after, go and prepare the food and mix your hands into it. Raw meat diet or half dry, half wet would do nicely when mixing it because the pack leader provides food so you want your scent on the food. Make the dog wait for food. The dog could pick up immediatly or not but even if you wait an hour for the dog to calmly sit down and wait for food (always feed after exercise) you do it.
Grooming- well some dogs like this and some don't so if your dog doesn't then hold the dog down and put a muzzle on the dog. Start with the basics like just water one day and wet it everyday. Press each paw and separate each toe. Play with the ears and open the mouth. Touch each canine. Eventually start with soaping. Anyone who will adopt the dog will have their kids or themselves groom the dog. Let the dog explore each tool you use and introduce it to as many things as you can. Remember dogs are different than humans and will experience things differently. They start will the NOSE, EARS, EYES. Humans are opposite with eyes, ears, and lastly smell.
You should never force a dog to do something because they will snap at you either first or last. What I mean is that every dog has a FIGHT or FLIGHT instinct. Some will try to go away and run and if it can't then it will use it's last resort and that is to attack and try to get away. It doesn't know that the medicine is good for it or that you are trying to keep the dog calm when it breaks its leg. It probably thinks that you are trying to eat it because it is weak and it knows that everything will go for the weakest link. Some dogs will fight first if dominate. This is why you practice
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- Can you guys call around asking dog trainers to donate a few hours a week for training, to teach y'all how to train aggressive dogs? Call veterinarians and ask if they can put you in touch with dog trainers. Or they may be listed in the yellow pages.
- What an immense waste of resources on a dog that should have met the big blue needle already.
I wonder how many dogs who DON'T have issues will be turned away and perhaps euthanized while this dog takes up valuable time, money and more importantly SPACE!
- Dogs that snap at people should not be adopted out, they should be euthanized.
- I'm sorry, do you own and run the shelter? If they deem the dog unadoptable because it is showing aggression, the dog WILL be euthanized. Try again.
Please don't come on here looking for help and then give attitude to people for helping you.
You SHOULD go see a professional dog trainer. Why can't you take the initiative to contact some trainers in your area and see if any of them would be willing to help give you some guidelines for free?
I also hate to break it to you but snapping at a person for telling the dog to do something is not territorial aggression. That is called a bad attitude and has nothing to do with territory.
Someone needs to learn how to properly correct a dog and start working with that dog on corrections.
- I understand that you are a volunteer and certainly your heart is in the right place, but one thing you should understand is that because of varying circumstances, not all dogs can be rehabbed. She is a liability for the shelter so it is either get professional training or have her put down and most shelters won't put those kinds of resources towards something that may or may not work. I am surprised the shelter hasn't euthed her already. It is the sane, sensible thing to do.
- What does the dog snap at? When you tell her to sit, stay, lie down? or when your trying to put a leash on her? Or When your giving her food? I am a dog trainer and My min pin was agressive when i rescued her and she has calmed down greatly from training. If you could answer my questions above i could do my best to try and help you. I care for all animals and want them in all loving permanent homes ! anything i can do to help :]
- The other posters are right, I'm sorry you don't see it that way but what the shelter has is a potential liability risk. This dog is NOT territorial, a dog that snaps because you corrected it is not territorial it's untrained and aggressive. So what you basically want someone to do is to tell you (who has no experience in training) what to do in order to make this dog the "perfect" wonderful dog you think it should be? It's not going to happen. If you are inexperienced then you can actually do more harm to this dog than good. If the dog snapped for a correction then the correction was wrong. Dogs do not snap when you say AH AH, or oops, they snap when they are yanked or hit or treated aggressively. When properly corrected thru positive reinforcement training the dog would not have reacted aggressively.
People want dogs with no issues when they adopt, the number of people who know nothing that go in and adopt a dog is quite high, they don't want one that they have to spend a lot of time training.
This dog would need to be worked with for years and years, it's not a quick fix, any dog that shows aggression is unadoptable.
I'm sorry and I know you like this dog but unless YOU know what you're doing you shouldn't adopt this dog either.
