How to help my dog overcome sudden fear and aggression towards people?

Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach. My advice is to get professional help sooner rather than later. This type of behavior is often due to anxiety. I would strongly recommend talking to your vet about anti-anxiety/ behavior modification medication which can make a huge difference! Once the medication is on board, the fear-threshold is lowered, and learning can occur. At that point, working with a reputable trainer in your area is a must. Best wishes to you and Cooper.

This is difficult to improve. You can try asking him to sit or another obedience command and praise and treat if he focuses on you when a bicycle or person he is aggressive with is around. This will take lots of time and patience. In the meantime I would crate him when people come into the house, then have them sit and take him into the room on the leash. Have them ignore him, just continue to talking with you or others. Pet and reward him if he’s relaxed. If he can’t relax or won’t sit or obey, do not punish him but take him back and put him in the crate again in a quiet room. Eventually he’ll learn that if he’s obedient and relaxed he can stay in the room with you and guests. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach to help you care for Rags.

I hate to hear you both went through this trauma and unfortunately there is not an easy answer or easy advise to give. Dogs can suffer from PTSD type problems like people and until he has multiple, positive encounters he will not be the same. The other issue as well is that he is a large dog who is barking/growling and strangers are not going to approach him. In Hades brain, he does to want people to approach, so he barks. Of course, people do not approach so in Hades brain, he wins. He is having positive re-enforcement so he keeps doing it. This is a complicated situation that is best dealt with by a professional trainer who understands how dog's brains work. Because there are some aggressive signs already being shown, you need to stop him at this behavior before it escalates. You do not want a dog bite situation. I hope this helps to lead you in the right direction.

First of all, well done on noticing this and realizing you need to take some action to avoid problems in the future. It's pretty common for dogs Conan's age to start showing signs of being fearful - when they are puppies they just deal with being nervous about some situations and as they get closer to adulthood they start to use aggression to ward off scary things. So Conan could definitely work up to biting someone if he continues to be fearful. The most helpful thing would be to start working with a good trainer and/or veterinary behaviorist. You want to use positive only techniques. If that's not possible, you can try to work on this on your own by asking random men to drop him treats and dropped treats whenever you walk past a male on the street.

Hi, thanks for using PetCoach! You should start with one on one training and NO walks until he is trained. Hire a trainer. Use positive reinforcement and train him to "sit, "heal" on a leash, "look," and "leave it." Also get him used to the gentle leader harness that goes on the muzzle, this allows for amazing head control. Once he is used to the harness and is able to listen to you at home, practice outside on a leash. When people approach ask him to "look" at you and sit. When he does this and ignores the person passing by he gets a treat and verbal praise. You can do this with people you know first. This will take A LOT of time and effort on your part but it should help. https://www.petco.com/shop/SearchDisplay?categoryId=&storeId=10151&catalogId=10051&langId=-1&sType=SimpleSearch&resultCatEntryType=2&showResultsPage=true&searchSource=Q&pageView=&beginIndex=0&pageSize=24&fromPageValue=search&searchTerm=gentle+leader&omnitureEnabled=false&cm_sp=SearchSuggest-_-gentle+leader-_-Location&searchsuggestion_keyword=gentle+leader I wish you and Bruno the best!

I certainly sympathize with your situation. My own 2 year old dog is the same way. The key to training him is to expose him to situations that are not too scary for him, but improve his confidence. This is not a quick or easy process, and will need to be continued long term. I have found the best method to be a desensitization and counter-conditioning system. When Max encounters something that is slightly scary for him (not too overhelming at first), ask him to sit or lie down for a treat. The goal is to get him to do something that he is comfortable with and receive a treat (positive reinforcement) for doing that behavior instead of being afraid. Do not give him any reinforcement (verbal or otherwise) for fearful behavior, but try to ignore it. Instead reward the behavior you want to see. It would be a great idea to have a trainer try to help you start this type of training program, so you might ask your vet for a recommendation on a trainer. I have been using this on my dog, and it works well, but requires a lot of work. I hope that was helpful! Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach.

Hi, thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! I am sorry you are experiencing this with Bongo, but this is a serious matter. He is not even a year old and what you are describing is very worrisome. A veterinary Behaviorist is the best thing for you and Bongo as you will get the best outcome. Just having him on Prozac is not enough, you need to work and train him daily. Biting your owner, even TRYING to, is unacceptable behavior. I don't think it is territorial aggression that is causing him to not want to go in his sleep area. It could be fear or not wanting to do what you ask. I would suggest, for your safety that you lure him in the sleep area with a special toy, treat, or Kong stuffed with food. Or attach his leash and walk him in to the room after his final walk of the night. If these things do not work, place a basket muzzle on him before forcing him in the room and then remove it. Bongo is not an easy behavior case and there is no easy fix. A behaviorist is your best option so you can manage his behavior in a safe way. I wish you the best!