Dog Community

No, why oh why does she do this?

Posted : 6/29/2006 10:00:06 PM

Gizmo graduated from her novice obedience class just a few days ago and I was so proud of her. On her last group class she did better than she ever did before when it comes to her agression.

She is an extremly dog fear agressive dog. She was hurt as a puppy, had major surgery and has been through so much that created this fear agression. It has been very difficult just to get her to the point she is at now. In her class and with privet lessions with a traner I have learned to control her agression to the point that she behaves nicely. My problem however, is that out of class she is not the same. The same correction do not work for her in the park or on walks. She does every command perfectly, like sit, stay and all of thoes but as soon as anouther dog comes close she goes crazy and I can't stop her. I have her on a lesh at all timse and muzzle her in her group class. Why do the agression corrections work great in the class but don't work at all out of class?

When not muzzled on walks she will bite me when anouther dog suddenly appears, I have a bruse on my calf from her and have had my skin punctured when I first started the training. I don't like muzzling her but have found she behaves better with the muzzle then without. Normaly she is very friendly with people, childern and other animals but once anouther dog is tossed into the picture everything changes. I know I've asked severl times for advice here but with everything I've done for her I only want to know what else I can do. She is so sweet and easy to fall in love with I just wish she didn't have this fear agression issue.

probe1957

Posted : 6/30/2006 9:02:12 AM

Let me see. If you have a muzzle on her, she is calm and responds to your commands. If you don't have a muzzle on her, she bites you whenever she sees another dog. My, but this is a complex quandry. [

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mudpuppy

Posted : 6/30/2006 9:41:51 AM

My problem however, is that out of class she is not the same. The same correction do not work for her in the park or on walks.

well, often dogs behave totally differently in class than they do elsewhere; it usually just means you need to practice more in many different settings.
I question the use of "corrections" for a fear-based aggression problem. Surely "correcting" her will make her fear worse?

Xebby

Posted : 6/30/2006 8:04:29 PM

Most of the training I do is out of class like in a park or a walk aroud the neighborhood. I take her for her walk almost everyday. Its very unlikely that I run into anouther dog during thoes times. Not many people in my small town walk their dogs. But on the rare ocasion another dog is present out of class she goes crazy, Even in the parks I take her to regularly.

The Correction I use is treats, in class when she starts to act out I hold a treat to her and start to prase her in a way to destract her from the other dog then give her the treat when she calm down making shure all attention is only on me. The secound she starts to look away I call her and give her treats. This same tecqunice does not work out of class. What else can I do?

pumaward

Posted : 7/1/2006 7:31:46 AM

Like probe said, there's also that other factor of a muzzle and no muzzle. Why not bring her out on a muzzle one day just to see how she behaves?

spiritdogs

Posted : 7/1/2006 1:36:10 PM

Why do the agression corrections work great in the class but don't work at all out of class?

Because the park or the neighborhood is full of dogs she has never seen before, she's on a leash (and knows she can't get away).
There are some great books on this subject:
Feisty Fido by Patricia McConnell
Scaredy Dog - Understanding and Rehabilitating Your Reactive Dog by Ali Brown
Click to Calm by Emma Parsons
This is a common complaint and just means that you need to introduce distractions (other dogs) from a greater distance and more slowly. The techniques for doing this are outlined in the books. They'd be good additions to your library. It may take a while, but you can make this better. Never perfect, probably, but better.