Expert: Lee Charles Kelley - 1/31/2008

Question
I actually wrote the question below to another "expert" (Her response was really strange as I had never asked a question before and it was my first time looking up the issue and finding this website).
Anyway, any thoughts on my question?



I have already answered this question for you once before.

Your Question was:

I have a 4 year old Akita/German Shepard/Chow mix.  We have had him
since he was about 8 weeks old.  He is a very sweet dog and had never
shown any signs of aggression, though we did see a personality change
after he had a surgery for severe torsion where he almost died at 1 year
old.

After that he seemed to have severe abandonment issues.  

Twice he has jumped into our car when he realized we were leaving... He
jumps in the front seat (when he does go in the car he is never in the
front)and will not move.  He literally turns into Cujo and would
rather attack us than be removed from the car.

We were nervous about the behavior so we hired a dog trainer who did
the little shock collar training thing and he got worse.  You could not
get near him by the end the training. We did not pursue it, since it
seemed to upset him so much.  

On a handful of occassions (maybe 10 times) has been very aggressive
(growls, barks, teeth bared, ears back, attack stance) when we try to
remove him from a spot he wants to be in. (On the bed, under a desk, or in
a corner in the office).  He is worse with my husband than with me.
 He has growled at our 3 year old son once when the dog was under the
desk. He has never bitten any of us, since we do back off and remove
ourselves from the situation.  He always calms down immediatly (id say
within 2 minutes).

I am so worried he will bite one of us one day, so I want to fix what
is wrong.  We love him dearly.  Other than that, he is a great dog.  He
sits and shakes paws on comand and loves to be pet and loves attention.
 You can lay on him and watch TV.  

We do have a younger 2 year old Jack Russel/lab mix that he gets along
with. they do wrestle and play, though the 4 year old is the boss  and
lets him know when he does not want to play.  They have gotten in 2
very short fights (in 2 years) about not wanting to play.....

What should we do now to remove the issue of aggression?
He is very sweet and has never ever bitten anyone, we just want to make him happier than he is now~

Thank you so very much~
Jenifer



Expert: Cassie

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Answer
Hi, Jenifer,

Thanks for the question.

This sounds like a dangerous situation. It's hard to give clear, complete, and accurate advice for a case of aggression like this without knowing more about the dog, and perhaps even seeing him in person. I'd recommend that you see a local trainer, but I'd be very wary of one who uses shock techniques. As you found out, they only make matters worse. (This dog is already having trouble processing the electrical energy in his OWN nervous system--he doesn't need MORE electricity downloaded into him!)

How much hard, vigorous playful exercise does this dog get every day? Play has many benefits: http://www.tiny.cc/playbenefits

Does he like to play tug or fetch? I would assume that when he goes into his defensive stance it's impossible to lure him out of it with treats, correct? But if you can train him to obey some simple commands while he's in a similar, highly charged state (meaning he's ready to attack a tug rag in play, for example), it's often easier to get him to switch gears emotionally from feeling defensive, and that his energy needs to flow into your skin through his teeth, to feeling that his energy can flow into the toy through his teeth. Does that make sense? Here's a link to an article on tug, written by my friend Neil Sattin: http://www.tiny.cc/tug

However, once again, this is a dangerous situation, which has been made worse by the shock collar. So his defensiveness is more set in its ways than it was before and just playing tug with him could be problematic (if he'll even play with you--most aggressive dogs won't play tug).

Another tip: sometimes if you praise a dog before he gets too far into a state like this you can change the emotional tone. Praise makes a dog feel good, AND it makes him feel socially connected. It's hard to feel defensive when you're feeling happy AND sociable. However, this only works if you catch him BEFORE he gets too wound up. Here's another link: http://www.tiny.cc/praise622  

The main things are to make him feel safe, and give him another outlet for his aggression through play.

By the way, I'm sorry you got such strange advice from the other "expert." She seems to have watched too much television and has gotten the impression that simply watching another trainer on TV has made her a dog trainer herself. (Maybe after she's been bit a few times by trying that weird hand thing she'll re-think her career options, or decide to actually learn something about dogs!)

Let me know if you have any further questions. If necessary you can call the phone number on my website, leave a message, and I can talk to you personally about this. In the meantime, read the links I gave you, and read whatever you find interesting on Neil Sattin's blog.

LCK