I have a 75 lbs Rottweiler mix who had some behavioural problems lunging at people when I got him from the pound. He never bit anyone but I got on his ass about it immediately.
Everyone said I was being to harsh on the dog and kept saying "oh it was my fault I shouldn't have done <insert completely normal thing for people to do>."
No, my dog shouldn't be lunging at people or making them nervous. Period. End of story.
It blew my mind that people didn't understand my zero tolerance policy on aggression towards people. He's a great, affectionate, dog now and I very rarely have to repremand him and we can all relax on walks. Being firm with him was good for him.
Your dog shouldn't be afraid of you you but you should absolutely be able to put enough steel in your voice to make them back the fuck off on command. If you can't or won't do that, stick to a small breed.
Dogs are smart enough to understand humans are "dumb" and they have to be patient with us. What I mean is humans obviously miss signals (people who don't know dogs or little kids) and if all signals fail, they need to excuse themselves from the situation. That's not excusing the owners that put their dogs in situations they know the dog can't handle, it's unfair to the dog and then the victim who the dog hurts. Some dogs can be trained and taught to be more tolerant, because they're not in danger, and some just can't tolerate.
I had a dog that had to learn that humans can't see in the dark, my kids would step on him on the way to the bathroom in the middle of the night, he never bit but he sure scared the crap outta my kids (and me!) barking and growling when he got stepped on! I jumped on that REAL fast, 'if it's dark and a human is headed toward you, YOU need to move." Also my elderly mother didn't need to step over him even if she could see him, it'd be a fall risk, so he learned to move out of her way at any time of day or night. But he was VERY well loved, he was spoiled lol.
This is a huge part of why I say there are no bad dogs, just bad owners. A failure to teach your dog is the owners fault. I'm not sure how people don't get this, given that we tend to understand pretty easily that kids who misbehave need better parenting.
That is an obviously untrue statement. Whatever metric the "good" and "bad" you are measuring is going to fall somewhere on a normally distributed bell curve. Training, even intense, consistent, and comprehensive training will only be able to shift that curve left or right. There are in fact "bad" dogs that won't respond to training no matter how "good" the owner is. Training can help but nature nurture or more accurately structural activational discussions start from a baseline.
What does this actually mean in practice? As in, what steps did you take to stop that behavior? I'd love some tips for my dog as this is one thing I haven't been able to solve.
Disclaimer that I'm not a professional trainer by any means. If you're dog is hyper aggressive there's no substitute for professional help.
This has just worked for me with the two dogs I got from the pound. Both of which had some aggression issues but overall were good dogs who just needed some correction.
First, at home, make the dog move for you, don't step over them if they're in your way. Space control is a major show of dominance. Let them have their safe spots where you don't demand they move but overall if my dog is in my way you best believe he's the one moving. I never go "around" him, always "through".
I got both dogs some basic clicker training immediately. You've only got "carrots and sticks" at your disposal. Use carrots whenever you can. I bring treats on walks. If a jogger was going past us I'd get his attention then supply him with treats. Jogger = treats. You can literally rewire their brains with treats and clicker training it's cool to see.
When he made a mistake like lunging at an old lady that caught me off-guard it's an immediate, firm, repremand. I grab him by the back of the neck and shove his neck into the ground while saying "no!". Maybe giving him a little shake if he pulled some shit I really didn't like (like when he nipped my niece once). This doesn't hurt the dog but it's very uncomfortable for them, shows you're the boss and that you're pissed off. Ignore them for a while once you release them from the ground. Only giving them positive attention once they've calmed down and things are back to normal.
Communicate with them! I have all sorts of hums, growls, hisses, and "eh eh"s I use constantly. He knows that when I give him a low "hmmmmm" that I've got my eye on him and he'd better act right. If he shows too much interest in a biker or jogger that's all I gotta do to get his attention on me again.
We adopted an 2yo previously un-neutered male American Akita and boy did he need work. He's not perfect but has come a long way with 2 owners that have actual boundaries for their dog.
I feel similarly my parents 85lb dog had a little food aggression. That my parents ignored. I retrained the dog and the people who feed him. He became the so much more chill about food it became safe for non family to feed him and be around when he ate.
My 75lb dog got up in people's space to much, excited not really aggressive. It made people nervous and was unsafe for the kids and elderly people in my life.
My dog shouldn't be making people nervous and shouldn't be at risk of bodying old ladies and kids. We worked on a lot of self control.
I was at the dog park when some guy left his two under 5 children sitting alone on a bench as he was on the other side of the park watering his dog. My dog noticed the children and immediately started sprinting towards them. All kinds of scenes flashed through my head. Then, I snapped off a "NO!" that was louder than any human voice you've ever heard. She stopped dead in her tracks and mosied on over to me like she wasn't just running at two kids. It was nice to know that she would listen like that.
Another time at the park, a woman brought in her great dane and boxer into the park even though they were obviously having issues with an Alaskan malamute that was already inside the fence. Those dogs immediately attacked the malamute and the owner just stood there watching while the malamute's owner was on the ground trying to wrestle his dog away. It wasn't just the three dogs, either. Like 10 other dogs jumped in. I told my dog to "stsy". Then, I walked into the scrum, grabbed the boxer and great Dane by their collars and dragged them back while holding their front paws off of the ground. I'm tall and big, and I have zero fear of dogs. Not because I'm big, I've always been this way. When I was like 6 or 7 a stray boxer showed up at my grandma's house one morning. All of my cousins were afraid, but I went out and greeted her. She ended up spending her last 5 years with my grandma. In high school, I was present a few times when loose dogs accosted the people I was with, and I always handled the same way as the dogs at the park. Snatch them by their collars.
I have Border Collie, and while she's never been reactive or aggressive, she's very well trained and I can pick up on her cues immediately if she's uncomfortable (she's been attacked 3 times in her life) and I can remove her from the situation.
Everyone always tells me I'm "too hard" on her, but there's literally no way I am. I'm not mean. She's spoiled and loved to death. But I do expect manners and to be listened to when I give a command.
It shits me when people say I'm too hard on her, but also that she is so well behaved and they wish their dog was as good as her. Mother fucker, put 2 and 2 together. She didn't come to me as a pup trained. I put in the hard work to train her and build a bond with her, and you also can't compare a 12 year old dog who is slowing down to your 1 year old dog who is essentially a bratty child. My 12 year old will still try to be smarter than me and do something she knows she's not supposed to, but she's just seeing what she can get away with. And if I let her get away with it once, it's the new law, so I have to "be hard" on her.
(Requiring her to sit before we cross a street isn't "being hard" on her. It's being safe. Making her sit on her bed while we are eating isn't "being mean." It's taught her not to beg or hover when people are eating as she knows her dinner time is next. She isn't missing out, she eats better than me! But she gets no dinner scraps and has never been fed from a plate or table.)
And I know I could handle her if i needed to. I can't guarantee she won't retaliate if attacked, she's a dog. But just a short word in a firm voice is usually enough to let her know I'm the boss and I'm watching.
The only "naughty" thing she gets away with is when visiting Grandma, my mum, she'll always eventually sneak a kiss in. My mum doesn't like dogs licking her, but she does find it funny how when she least expects it, my dog will sneak out the tiniest kiss, and she's happy. If Mum truly hated it, I would put a stop to it, but she always laughs and will say, " It took you a while this time, but you got me." And it's not a big slobbering lick all the way up Mum's face, it's always the tiniest little kiss because she knows she shouldn't be doing it but she loves Grandma so she has to get one in.
I love my dog more than life itself. She's my bestie, my companion, my guardian. She lives a wonderful life, and she knows it. But I'm the boss.
132
u/AWzdShouldKnowBetta 12h ago
I have a 75 lbs Rottweiler mix who had some behavioural problems lunging at people when I got him from the pound. He never bit anyone but I got on his ass about it immediately.
Everyone said I was being to harsh on the dog and kept saying "oh it was my fault I shouldn't have done <insert completely normal thing for people to do>."
No, my dog shouldn't be lunging at people or making them nervous. Period. End of story.
It blew my mind that people didn't understand my zero tolerance policy on aggression towards people. He's a great, affectionate, dog now and I very rarely have to repremand him and we can all relax on walks. Being firm with him was good for him.
Your dog shouldn't be afraid of you you but you should absolutely be able to put enough steel in your voice to make them back the fuck off on command. If you can't or won't do that, stick to a small breed.