My dog gets aggressive seeing other dogs. How can I fix this at home?

Hello, Marshall may be having some territorial aggression like a GSD does. He may be protective of his home, you, other pets, and even babies. Therefore, when the trainer takes him and introduces him, his guard is deactivated and therefore is fine. Initial steps are to determine what triggers the behavior. Second step is to avoid the trigger. And the third step is to re-establish leadership. Reestablish leadership with your dog Many people have misconceptions about truly dominant actions from dogs. A dog that walks ahead of its owner or disobeys commands is not expressing dominance but is showing effects of improper training. We are not part of the dog’s pack as many people believe and thus we should not look for a role as the “dominant” dog. Rather you should try to attain leadership by having the dog look to you for guidance in any situation, instead of being submissive or fearful of your commands. Reestablishing leadership can be done by using non-confrontational positive reinforcement techniques. Tools such as head collars can be used to help re-direct your dog’s behavior. Avoid punishing unwanted behaviors Punishment-based techniques, such as leash corrections, alpha-rolling, shoulder jabs, verbal disrupters (such as ‘baaaaa’ and ‘tssssh’), and training discs/chains tossed at dogs, do not address the underlying motivation, require constant direction and force, and typically do no result in positive long term benefits. These types of punishments have been shown to actually increase aggressive behavior. Positive reinforcement training and behavior modification methods focus on changing the underlying emotion of the dog’s aggression, while promoting and rewarding desired behaviors. Hope this helps.

I'm sorry to hear that your dog is having this problem! Behavior issues like this are quite complex, and often very difficult to handle successfully on your own if you don't have any training experience. And particularly with an aggression problem, it may not be safe to attempt to work on this without professional assistance. If at all possible, I would strongly recommend making an appointment with a veterinary behaviorist who can evaluate your dog in person and help you put together a detailed plan to work on the problem. Although the initial visit may be somewhat expensive, in many cases owners are able to stay in contact with the behaviorist via phone or email about how things are going without the need for repeated in-person sessions - which cuts down tremendously on the long-term cost vs. working with a trainer every week. The behaviorist may also recommend medication or other adjunct treatment options that could be helpful in addition to the training plan. You can search for a board-certified veterinary behaviorist here: www.dacvb.org If your dog is mainly aggressive to other dogs when she sees them on-leash (the most common form of this problem, in my experience), I would also suggest the short book "Feisty Fido" by PhD behaviorist Patricia McConnell - it has very sound, useful advice for dealing with this issue that may help to get you started.

Hi, thanks for using PetCoach! This is tough! He sure is cute! I recommend using the gentle leader head collar for better control and asking for sedatives like trazadone from your Vet. Do not take him to these places until you train him to look at you (with treats) in social situations. This will take some time. You may want to pay for private training lessons so you can focus on this one behavior. There is no instant fix but being proactive, like you are, is a good step! He is young still. https://www.petco.com/shop/en/petcostore/product/petsafe-gentle-leader-dog-headcollar Good luck!

I am sorry T is starting to become aggressive. I would highly recommend getting her spayed as a first step. This can help lower the hormone levels and help with aggression in younger dogs. I would taker her to the vet to make sure she is 100% healthy. Certain disease can cause aggression like pain/arthritis or even endocrine disease like hypothyroid. If she is spayed and healthy I would recommend involving a trainer. That way you can get one on one training for T that is in your home and can detect the exact cause of her aggression

Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! This is just likely a display of dominant behavior. These types of behavior can improve though this does require in person training with the help of a qualified dog trainer. I would encourage you to contact a dog trainer that can work with you and Tova in person to really take care of this behavior. The sooner these behaviors are dealt with, the more likely it is that you can improve and resolve them. Good luck and have a great day!

This sounds like leash aggression. I suggest you consult a professional trainer for help but if you want to try on your own here is a link that may help you. ( https://positively.com/dog-behavior/aggression/leash-aggression/ )

I'm sorry that you're going through this difficult situation. You may be correct that Jett is territorial/resource guarding, or there may be other factors at play. He could also be anxious or fearful, leading to him acting “aggressive”. It is very important that you have Jett see a veterinarian to rule out medical causes, and to see if medical therapy is indicated for his behaviour. It is also essential to make sure he is up to date on his vaccinations, particularly his rabies vaccine, in the case of a bite. I recommend you seek the advice of a veterinary behaviorist to help curb this behavior. If left untreated, Jett and Sasha may end up in a fight, where one or both of them may be seriously injured, or worse. I’m not sure if you mean that he is barking and lunging or if he has actually tried to bite you or Sasha when you say he is aggressive, but it is important to curb his behaviour before he gets to that point. Please work with a veterinary behaviourist, or if that's not possible, a reputable dog trainer who uses positive reinforcement immediately. Hopefully he will improve with training and learn what is and is not acceptable behaviour. I would advise keeping him on a leash and away from other animals and people until you have the chance to work with a trainer or behaviourist. In the home I recommend using baby gates and dog crates to separate the dogs from each other, and alternating the areas in the home in which the dogs spend time so neither is left alone or one one side of the home for too long. The links below have some good information on how to introduce dogs to each other. If you decide to "reintroduce" them, you can try having Jett wear a basket muzzle (while supervised, of course) to help prevent injury. https://veterinarypartner.vin.com/default.aspx?pid=19239&id=8677941 https://indoorpet.osu.edu/dogs/new_additions_dogs/dog-dog-intro Good luck, and I hope things get better soon!