agressive toward people

ORIGINAL: luv4gsds

This is what its about hofmanngestalt.

when we first got jake (the 15 pound chi mix)  he was pretty friendly with everyone, we ve had him for about a month now and he has turned pretty agressive toward most people.  he will even try to attack people sometimes.  so now whenever my kids have company over i have to lock him in my room because he has gone after their friends before.  a couple things that will set him off is if anyone picks up anyone else he will attack the one that is holding the other person.  kids playing (screaming cause they re all girls) loud will set him off, fast movements, or sometimes just for no reason.  he snarls at some of my neighbors even though they re friendly and dont do anything wrong around him.  when we meet strangers sometimes hes ok and sometimes he snarls for no reason.  is there a cure for this behavior or is it just typical people-hating chi behavior. 

hes fine with me and my kids, even when they re loud and move fast.  its just other people.  and hes fine with people who come into my home.

People do it every day thats what it makes it so great about having free choice. And horses and dogs are different type of animals. Its like refuring a chicken to a cow. If she is trying to make a place for those two dogs to live instead of living in a shelter or worse been euthanized then all means go for it jaye. People take on two pets every day.

 
Actually, if you've worked with both, you would see that while they ARE different species, they are not all that different really.  Unlike chickens and cows, they are both mammals.
-they are both social
-they both must learn that their human is their leader, or chaos will insue
-they both need mental stimiulation, as they are both very intelligent
-they both are athletes, and therefore need lenty of physical stimuation
-they have both been selectively bred to work with humans
-they both bond, sometimes very deeply, with their people
-they both learn in similar ways
-they both respond in similar ways to human body language (I approach a friend's fearful pony the same way I approach a fearful dog)
-if not properly handled, they can both cause physical damage
 
While it's true that horses do not have prey drive, they do have fight or flight, just like dogs, and there ARE horses that will choose fight if the hooy hits the fan.
 
It is actually much simpler to add a second horse than a second dog.  A horse doesn't live in the house with you.  If a horse dislikes children, men, strangers, etc (and there are many that DO), they can be seperated much more easily than they can in a home, particularly a home frequented be guests.
 
The first dog needs to be settled in the home before another dog is added.  The owner needs to take the time to bond with an adult dog just as they would a puppy, as well as identify and deal with any training issues.
 
And what is it with this "free choice" crap?  Didi I suggest that there should be a law against getting a second dog close to a first?  No!  I said it wasn't a good idea.  There are many things that people can do that are not good ideas.
 
The wrong thing done for the right reason is still the wrong thing,

Anything I post on here someone turns it around to suit the occasion. Is that the way it goes when someone has a different option and approach.
 

People do it every day thats what it makes it so great about having free choice.

Getting two dogs at the same time. And you don't have to give me the speach about horses I have owned horses before even worked on a race track in delaware. And this isn't about other animals. This is about a dog. A mixed breed Chihuahuas. So maybe we can keep this thread on track to help jaye instead of nik-picking one another.

i agree, this topic isnt about horses or whether or not i should have gotten 2 dogs.  the fact that i have two dogs is NOT the problem.   maybe some of you wouldnt have recommended it but its worked out fine and i firmly believe jake would have the same issues whether or not there is another dog in the house.  he would still have the same issues whether or not i have kids.
 
i do believe he was somehow mistreated by his original owner and that may have something to do with his behavior, along with the fact that hes part chihuahua.  this dog does not have any agression problems whatsoever with MY kids!  please stop harping on that one thing.

ORIGINAL: luv4gsds

Anything I post on here someone turns it around to suit the occasion. Is that the way it goes when someone has a different option and approach.

People do it every day thats what it makes it so great about having free choice.

Getting two dogs at the same time. And you don't have to give me the speach about horses I have owned horses before even worked on a race track in delaware. And this isn't about other animals. This is about a dog. A mixed breed Chihuahuas. So maybe we can keep this thread on track to help jaye instead of nik-picking one another.

 
I could say the same about you []
 
jaye, if I were you I'd get a behaviorist involved.  The person could then see the dog in action, and tell you the best way to procedd.

trish, thanks for your advice.   i think in jake's case its best to leave him in the room.  i check on him frequently and hes usally just laying calmly on my bed so i think for now its the best way to manage it.  with the picking up, whenever my ex boyfriend comes over, he kind of "practices" with jake.  he ll pick up the kids, one at a time, to get jake used to this.  if jake starts to go after him i tell him no and he stops.  then my ex and whichever kid hes holding both pet jake to let him know the situation is ok.  i dont know if this is the best way to go about it or not but anyway thats one thing we ve been doing.  i havnt had any good ideas about other people on walks yet, except to just avoid them.

jaye, I have some holistic solutions to maybe help with what you are going through. If you want them let me know and I'll pm them to you.

Sally has fear issues with strangers.  She doesn't become aggressive, but she cowers.  One this that has helped her has been to associate strangers with yummy things (she's very food motivated).
 
When I started walking her at the park, she was ubber scared of men jogging towards us.  When I would a jogger coming, BEFORE she reacted, I would give her treats.  I'd keep shoving them in her mouth as the jogger passed, but if she cowered or tried to run I would stop the treating and ignore her.  This way she began to see joggers as GOOD things rather than something to fear, but by stopping the treats if she did react fearfully she learned that that sort of reaction got no good things for her.

thats a good idea i think ill give it a try, maybe it will also help with her fear of motorcycles.
 
and yes i do believe its fear-agression,   not just agression for agressions sake.

the fact that i have two dogs is NOT the problem

 
That's right.  I have five dogs.  The number is NOT the problem.  As I see it, the problem is that you have added a dog that is uncomfortable with some people, among them, children.  The dog may not be as happy in the situation as you think, but you must be objective to find that out.  Learn what stress signals are, and see if your dog exhibits them.  If so, the key to training is to expose her to new stimuli, but not to overload her until she is really stressed.
As a horse person myself, I would not be taking track info as gospel.  As with working dogs, those folks know what makes a horse keep running, but many of them will also load a horse with bute until it feels no pain, and keep running it until it suffers a fracture:-(( 
If horses don't get along, you can put a fence between them, or a stall wall.  It's harder to separate dogs from their stressors.  Much better to really learn about behavior, and either desensitize/train them or place them in a more comfortable situation.  I'm not saying jaye should do the latter, but it's important to keep the dog's well-being in mind.  Just as when you are faced with decisions about euthanasia, it isn't how much we'll miss the dog, it's more about what the dog is already missing - a good quality of life.
 

By the way, isolating a dog does nothing to change the situation, it just manages it.  I think if you got "Help for Your Shy Dog", it would give you lots of good ideas about how to be able to go on those walks...

Yeah, Sally was scared sh**less of bikes when I first got her.  OK, actually bikes, motercyles, cars, trucks, etc....lol.  It really helped to walk her in areas where she would see and hear these things, but she still was far enough away from them to feel safe enough to learn.  This park I walked her at had a track, and one side of the track was parallel to a busy road.  It was close enough to worry, but not all out PANIC her, and she eventually got used to it.  I would also take him on lots of car rides.  I don't know how he feels about the car, but Sally has grown to love it.  It's a good way to expose her to things that if she were right next to might otherwise really frighten her to the point that the exercise would be worthless.
 
I would also do NILIF.  It is good for fearful dogs because they learn that YOU are their fearless leader, and that you will keep them safe, and that they can trust you.
 
It also helps if you lace yourself between the dog and the fearful thing/person, even if this means having a leash on him in the house if someone shows up.  This shows the dog that it's OK, YOU (as the fearless leader) will take care of it.  This way he may not feel like he has to react.
 
I would do a google search on fearful dogs.  I got many of the suggestions that have helped Sally off of training websites.  Keep it up.  It can be very frustrating having a fearful dog.  Sally isn't even fear aggressive and I find it frustrating sometimes.  Keep in mind that a timid dog will ALWAYS be battling that part of him even if he no longer seems timid.  Hang in there.  There is one book that is at our library that had some good stuff in it, I will try to find the title.

im pretty sure the dog is happy, its not like we have little kids over every day, so its not a constant problem.  and no matter who he lives with hes going to encounter strangers.  one thing i know for sure is that he is much happier than he ever was before we got him.  it took him a couple weeks to not be terrified of a leash or anything sounding like chains.  i do realize that putting the dog in the room is simply management of part of the problem which is why i started the thread for help.  thanks for your suggestion about the book, ill look for that one too.

The second and third books on this list have helped me with Sally.  I know that at least "Dogs Behaving Badly" is available at our libary.
[linkhttp://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/search-handle-url/index=books&field-author-exact=Nicholas%20Dodman&rank=-relevance%2C%2Bavailability%2C-daterank/102-4075623-2649745]http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/search-handle-url/index=books&field-author-exact=Nicholas%20Dodman&rank=-relevance%2C%2Bavailability%2C-daterank/102-4075623-2649745[/link]

Does your library have a website?  Many nowadays do, and that way you can see if they have a book before you actually get there.

i dont know if they do but ill look around for one, thanks.