How to stop dog attacking others

[2fishin2]

It aint rocket science muzzle or even better, dont take him with you. Pretty simple if you ask me

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[aussiebrian]

It aint rocket science muzzle or even better, dont take him with you. Pretty simple if you ask me

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You have a dog so you can walk and spend time with him, developing a strong bond with him because they are your friend. Leaving him at home totally defeats the purpose of having a dog. It also will make the situation much worse because he will get bored, start destroying the home, digging holes, tearing up the washing, scratching at the back door, looking at you with sad eyes wondering why you won't take him for a walk, which would have been the highlight of his day, barking because he wants to go out with you, especially when you aren't at home, annoying any neighbours because of his barking, and getting problems due to lack of exercise both mental and physical and having the potential to create an even more dangerous dog that will get more ting tong. The visits to the vets will increase, your bank balance will drop etc etc.. Not the best idea I have heard here. You don't need to be a rocket scientist to understand that point do you? I hope you will change your mind. Not really that simple is it?

So I would choose the first point you made and the best choice, being a muzzle, not leaving him at home and you only gave yourself 2 choices in your statement.

[aussiebrian]

Great explanation, thanks.

Thanks, with a bit of love, kindness and training a dog can understand what you are saying, don't believe everyone that writes on here, no names mentioned. You could think they they are almost human, maybe even smarter than a lot we know.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KrV-kXI3cR8

[Sawan Chan 7]

It aint rocket science muzzle or even better, dont take him with you. Pretty simple if you ask me

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Do you have a dog?

[2fishin2]

Yes and Im smart enough to not take him out where there is trouble brewing. Im just saying it aint rocket science. If you take your dog out and there is trouble around, dont take your dog out. But in the end up to you.

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[Ace of Pop]

Ive found Neurotic Dogs are caused by their Owners.

[Sawan Chan 7]

Ive found Neurotic Dogs are caused by their Owners.

Care to explain this?

[bina]

i had a very dog agressive boxer bitch; she was dog agressive because , around her, most dogs run loose, and i made the mistake of keeping her leashed. she was attacke sevaral times while on leash and so became the attacker as opposed to the attackee...

. several methods: training to heel, find a method or two , and work at it... from positive reinforcement style to basic training style, teach him to heel... do it in an area without dogs.

once he heels well, walk him in areas that u feel confident that u can control the situation around you...i.e. no yard/soi dogs lunging at your dog.

do not allow people to aproach withtheir dogs to sniff; its just plain rude dog/person behavior.

whenu see dogs that might be potentially problematic, move away, but not in an abrubt fashion that would cue your dog as to a problem approaching, but rather, in a matter of fact , by the way type style... without increasing your pace or pulling on his leash or in any way cueing him in to the fact that there is trouble ahead.

use lots and lots of positive reinforcement in the form of FOOD. small tidbits in your pocket that u use to reward him for looking at you, listening to you, and especially, for not looking at other dogs...

be prepared to move the other dogs away from you as well... most dogs will move away when told to 'go home' or the thai style tongue clicking at them... not raising voice or shouting, just strong firm short commands, and without stopping while doing so...

we have the reverse problme here with my small but dominant dogs on leash in the morning walk that goes past a large neutered fat labrador who is super duper territorial and not controlled by his owners... my male wont give in and this large male also doesnt just warn, but goes in for the grabbing/shaking agression. ive taught mine to stay heeled on my left side and not to pause when go past this specific house, and at the same time keep them focused on me (tidbits in left pocket); and if the dog even starts in our direction, a small stick snapped at the ground and the 'go home' human bark seems to stop him in his tracks and the attacks have lessened.

never ever ever get involved in a fight. when dogs in our area start in on a real fight (as opposed to just the snarly/growly warning sessions) i drop the leash and just keep walking and calling my own dogs. if u stand around the fight it just makes it worse.

you might muzzle him in the beginning to prevent major bites.

use a good comfortable lead. never wrap around your hand but double it up in your hand.

you might think of using different collars like a halti lead (since he has a snout, and GSD are easy to work with and although are working dogs this does not maek them agressive, no age does not matter,)that is also attached for security purposes to his regular collar.

'training collars' are not very effective on agressive or passive agressive dogs, as the pressure on their necks tends to heighten the 'aggresor' feeling inthem , also depending on breeds the pull and release urges them on (this works on boxers to get them 'worked up')

in the beginning try to stear clear of possible problem areas. neutering at this age, especially if he's bred/studded bitches, will not really help much as the behavior is learned.

you mgiht want to see what sets him off. has he alsways been this way? or new area, new dogs? check also for hip pain problems that might make him more 'testy'.

agressvie training does not stop agressive behavior. the idea is to be smarter then the dog and change the behavior, not be stronger physically then him, or to out agress him. (try to keep your own male agressor behavior modified, try avoidance and mild reactions as opposed to shouting and moving around alot when he gets agressvie. that just reinforces his behavior.) take charge and move him away. reward immediately for calming behaviors (hair settels back on neck, he relaxes his front shoulders, stops snarling, etc... the idea is also to teach him to self calm. but also to protect him from strange dogs. )

try to see what actions get him started. which dogs. why. what area are u in. what are your reactions.

he may always be a bit problematic but u can minimalize it. i managed with my boxer bitch, it was very hard work. for her i used tennis balls, a halti collar, and frankly, when off leash, i kept an eye out on where other dogs were and when i started to see her tensing up or other small changes that cued me in as to what she was about to do, i would move away from the area, calling her, and using her tennis ball as a cue to come to me, leash her up, reward and mvoe out of the 'danger area'. obviously much more training could be done but im a bit lazy and the kibbutz is full of loose dogs making this a challenge.

do not use all the super dominant physical pushing that some people seem to like on this dog.

as for the snapping at children pulling tails, well, on the one hand, kids shouldnt be pulling tails, on the other hand, he shouldnt be snapping at them, or shouldnt be left around children unattended. some house rules should perhaps be made.

[bina]

forgot to add like aussibrian mentioned, lots of exercise, also, GSD love to use their brains... train train train, for fun stuff as well, a dog busy doing fun things is less likely to go after an other dog while being busy doing something that he really loves, from searching for something to carrying something .... also, try having someone take pics of his reactions around dogs (videos) to see how he stands: is he shy? afraid? dominant? tense? ears up, ears back, snarling, smiling,lip licking, yawning, crouched down, standing forward,ears totally forward? etc... then u can also decide what u need to do to help him...

[jmccarty]

Sounds like a job for Cesar Milan!

[Utley]

Shoot the dog.

[misterphil]

Its a German Shepherd what do you expect, Typical used for security, Not a Family dog and known for attacking people, a Dangerous breed of dog. That's all I have to say on the issue.

Not exactly true, they are not born aggresive, Its all about the way the dogs been brought up. We have a Doberman and shes soft as shit.

[jacko45k]

He isn't neutered and thanks for the suggestion.

If he wears a muzzle, then he obviously can't bite but maybe.he'll start a fight and be unable to defend himself!

How does one say 'son-nam-na' in German!

[Deli]

Shoot the other dogs and keep you German Shepherd happy. They are phantastic dogs. Had 2 in my life.

[vogie]

If possible without getting yourself bitten, from the back, grab the dog's hind legs and lift. Once they are off the ground, he will lose all confidence in his ability to do anything further.

Problems could be the other dogs then taking advantage of the situation.

We were always taught at the GSD club to grab the tail and pull lifting the rear end off the ground and as they let go to swing them around in a circle so they can't bite you, This should be only tried if there are 2 people, one for each tail to separate them. (as long as they both have tails) As was also said, the legs will also work. It is too dangerous if there is only one person.

If you don't know what you are doing, better to leave them, Throwing water over them or squirting them with a hose also may work, but usually not possible to find a hose nearby.

You should NEVER pull or lift any dog by the tail. The tail is attached to the spine and these actions can cause serious spinal or neurological damage.

Also, German Shepherds are prome to a hereditery disease called DM (Degenerative Myelopethy) or sometimes known as DMGS (DM German Shepherd) which is an auto immune disease of the neurological system. This is a horrible disease without cure that leads to full paralysis

I do know if you pick up a guinea pig by the tail it's eyes fall out.

Seriously, in 25 years of attending Dog Classes often 2 times a week at the GSDCV , I did see quite a few fights, they were always separated by pulling the tails, with no one being bitten and no injuries to the dogs. I am sure if someone's dog was injured by it's tail being pulled I would have heard about it. If they hadn't have been separated, the injuries the dogs would have sustained would have been very severe.

As it was a training school, there were many people that brought their dogs along as they couldn't control them. My two Shepherds had a bad habit of wanting to chase other dogs when running free at the park, but the best command I ever taught them was the drop command. They could be heading full speed towards another dog, and if I yelled out drop, they would both go straight down. Drop is a very submissive command. If I tried to call them in the same situation, they wouldn't hear me.

One of my bitches was in the demo team and we would often take 5 or 6 German Shepherds to elderly peoples homes. Almost all the elderly were thrilled at the sight of them and their eyes would all light up and bring much joy to them. If they were attack dogs, I am sure it would be outlawed in the nanny state.

German Shepherds have many hereditary diseases, the most common in the club would have been Hip Dysplasia. I suppose the point about the Degenerative Myelopethy is that you wouldn't want to pull a dogs tail if it had that. The same goes for HD. But in a fight you do to the best of your ability to stop them fighting. The GSDCV has a program to eradicate this nasty hereditary disease, by only breeding dogs that have been x-rayed for the disease and found to be suitable for breeding. This is also one of the reasons you should get your dogs from a well recognised registered breeder, as they will make sure the parents temperament and genetics is worth breeding from, so you have the best chance of not having a dog with problems.

I have done a search and it does seem to be common practise to pull their tails to separate them. There is however one site I found that agrees with you. If you are interested I have some of the links below.

http://nycdoggies.com/break-up-dog-fight/#comments

http://moderndogmagazine.com/articles/ask-expert-breaking-dog-fight/20223

your guinea pig theory is total nonsense very much like your theories about dogs which explains why your dog likes scrapping.Just remember 2 things that most inadequate dog like doing.

Giving them varying instructions to sit, stand, rollover, leave - They won't have a clue what you're talking about. Dogs haven't evolved to include one to one conversations in their deck of cards. They don't understand things the same way as a human does, they do not display human behaviours.

Avoiding the fight is infinitely better than pulling tails but the alternative isn't so macho. I really do despair.

You have obviously never pulled a guinea pigs

[hdkane]

Several members have offered excellent suggestions (e.g., muzzle & neutering). I'd also suggest viewing some youtube videos from Caesar Milon. He's a dog behaviorist and offers some very useful suggestions for shaping a dog's behavior. The techniques are based on sound theory and practice. They actually work, trust me.

[dotpoom]

I heard on my radio from home a story almost exactly the same as yours. That big dog had a smaller dog's head in it's mouth and wouldn't let go, did a lot of damage and the owner was so distressed because her dog was like a child to her.

A dog trainer came on and gave two suggestions as to how to separate them......1...to throw your coat or anything similar over their heads...it confuses them.....2 ....squirt or throw water on them as a distraction.

Earlier, one person phoned in to say that if you shove your finger or stick or something up his a - - that will do the trick. The trainer said that that was just an old wives tale.

Personally, I'm not sure, if someone did this to me while I was fighting, I definitely think I would be distracted......... whatever I was doing.

[Saan]

I had a large dog (70 kg) and he was attacked a couple of times when he decided no more Mr nice guy. From then on it was no fun on our walks when another entire male was around. I had him castrated and problem was solved. The vet told me that it does not always work but in my case it did, took a couple of months for the testosterone to die down. An added bonus, I was told, was the castration would extend his life. He lived to 14 which is a very good age for a big dog. Might have to think about it myself soon.

[ggt]

Surely you have enough common sense to solve this problem...buy him a muzzle if you must take him for walks with you...otherwise keep your out of control canine confined...

[geezer2]

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Its a German Shepherd what do you expect, Typical used for security, Not a Family dog and known for attacking people, a Dangerous breed of dog. That's all I have to say on the issue.

What a load of Pollocks..I was brought up with Alsations/sheperds since i was 5 y/o only dog i have had and that is many over 50 years.

[geezer2]

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Its a German Shepherd what do you expect, Typical used for security, Not a Family dog and known for attacking people, a Dangerous breed of dog. That's all I have to say on the issue.

What a load of Pollocks..I was brought up with Alsations/sheperds since i was 5 y/o only dog i have had and that is many over 50 years.

it is all in the owner..you have to strong with them then they respect you..

[konying]

Do not know if its been said, but his behavior appears to be to assert dominance and protect you, because he does not see you as a pack leader.

First step is assert yourself and regain top position.

Second step is observe his behavior and make sure to stop mental escalation before it starts. What this means is when he gets into his zone, it is too late and you have no control at all.

There would be prior signs on going into the zone, figure out what it is and destruct him.

Third as someone mentioned, unless you use him for breeding, stop torturing the poor animal and either desex him or bar fine him a sexy lady.

He is an adult, a powerful dog , who is horny with no release, other male dogs are a threat , so he wants to eliminate them.

Earlier you stated you do not want to muzzle him because he would not be able to protect himself, only it is your job to be the top dog, not his. This is why you have the problem.

[KhnomKhnom]

1. wrong breed.

2. you did not become his leader early on so now he owns you.

3. too late to effectively train even if you spent 4 hrs a day on it.

4. other dogs will not attack him except he is putting out FIGHT signals so will have the other dogs fight also.

5. Get the kind of collar that has claws to dig into his throat for leading him, keep it up as high on his neck as possible and give it a sharp yank at the very earliest sign of aggression.

6. NEVER allow him to walk in front of you.

7. Never allow him to get close to the back of people or animals; this is GS fav attack direction, from the blind side, the back, just like the German army.

You have an unregistered deadly weapon. You are lucky he has not gotten a child by the throat; he would love to do that. Don't blame him for his breed's millions of years of being selectively bred to do just what he does best... guard and attack with no quarter given.

I was owned by a GS from which I learned all these hard facts. If you slack off on this animal one tiny bit, which you have already done, you and he are doomed.

Oh, forget electric shocking collars; he won't care at all.

[aussiebrian]

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Its a German Shepherd what do you expect, Typical used for security, Not a Family dog and known for attacking people, a Dangerous breed of dog. That's all I have to say on the issue.

What a load of Pollocks..I was brought up with Alsations/sheperds since i was 5 y/o only dog i have had and that is many over 50 years.

My daughter grew up with our 2 GSD's. They were both well trained and also had great temperaments. My daughter is now 26 and was never threatened by the dogs. To the contrary, she was much safer having them around. My 2 bitches were 5 years old when my daughter was born, it was amazing the number of people said things like we should get rid of them when she was born. , The most stupid comments were that we should not let them come inside and we should keep them away from her.

The worst thing you could do is not let them inside and keep them away from her. They were used to coming inside, so if you kept them outside, they would blame her and become very jelous of her and are setting the scene up for major problems. As soon as she came home from hospital, (she was home in 1 month as she was 2 months prem) we introduced them to her. They came protective of her, never to the point of being savage or agressive to anyone, but when people came to see my daughter, they were always interested and needed to be close to her to make sure she was alright. I am sure if ever there was a threat to her from someone they would have been there to protect her. When she was only 3 years old, we could let her heel the dogs in the street. She would tell them to heel and they would walk at heel beside her.

I am not saying to leave dogs alone with children, but we had the utmost confidence that they would never hurt her, and out confidence in them was justified. So again, to say they are not a family dog is ludicrous. There were many breakins and roberies around us, but we never had any.

[Si Thea01]

Its a German Shepherd what do you expect, Typical used for security, Not a Family dog and known for attacking people, a Dangerous breed of dog. That's all I have to say on the issue.

I hope the thumbnail you have attached is not your idea of a German Shepherd. If it is, you certainly do not know you dogs. It's a Rottweiler. As for your statement, in particular the last sentence, thank god for that, as you have no idea what you are talking about The only factual aspect is that they are often used in the security industry. German Shepherds are actually great family dogs and will give years of loyalty if treated correctly and are well trained and cared for.

Sure there have been attacks by this breed of dog upon humans and other animals, which is also the case of many other breeds, which by your assessment would probably not be suitable as family pets. A dog is a dog, not a human being, who by the way is also renowned for attacking other humans. A dog's behaviour relates to the way it is treated or has been trained, however, us humans should never forget that although we treat dogs as family members they are a still a domesticated wild animal, the latter, no matter what breeding they have, will always remain in their genes.

I have had the breed as my family pets for over thirty years and also bred them, with the only attack occurring when two people tried to mug me whilst I was walking him. I tell you they will never try that again, this dog put himself between those attackers and myself and inflicted a little bit of summary justice.

On all other occasions my dogs, because I trained them from a puppy, have allowed children to ride them, take food from them and pull their ears and tails, all without a response. However, when strangers came to the home, the dog would sit beside me and if the person made an unexpected move, the dog would bark a few times, I would say just to let the person know he would protect me if needed.

Any breed of dog can be dangerous so please do not malign this breed as you have. and this is all I have to say.

[sunshine51]

^^^ @ aussie brian & Si Thea01...and the OP...

There was a lot I was going to hack out here however you two have already

stated what I was going to expound on. Great stuff & well said.

Giving a certain type of dog a label is quite common these days...for example

the pit bull...labelled as an extremely vicious breed...with all the consequences

which comes with that label. Yet from being a kid to now over 60...I have known

many friends who own "bullys" and their dogs, at worst...would only lick someone

to death. Actually death is the wrong word to use but I hope other readers get my

drift.

The only dog I have ever been bitten by was from a toy poodle and that was back

in 1967 in San Francisco as I was waiting to cross a street...the vicious little bugger

without provocation from me, just decided it wanted to sink it's teeth into my right

ankle...more than once. Cops became involved, shots at the hospital for me, and

in the end the lady lost her precious pooch because it had a nasty tendency to bite

people any time, anywhere without any provocation.

As was pointed out concerning the posted photo of the Rottie...Rotweilers are

another breed who have been given a bad rap and from research this bad rap

originated when the Omen series of movies were released. I also know a few folks

and families who have Rotties and have never had any "problems" with their dogs

save for the occasional poop n pee in the home when they were puppies.

Same thing for German Shepards...same thing for Dobermans,,,same thing for

Great Danes, St Bernards and yes...the odd Golden Retriever that has been

known to bite...it is the "owners" responsibility to train the animal or have the

animal trained. Hell....this applies to all breeds, not just the larger breeds and

it also applies to street dogs (soi dogs) as well. If a prospective owner hasn't

a clue how to train their pooch...learn.

As for the OP...You have apparently let both yourself and your dog decend

into a deepening spiral with little chance of escape. Get a muzzle, have your

dog neutered and then both of you take classes on obediance. Even an 8

year old dog can still learn if you...the owner...can get him interested in

learning. It won't be easy...but you have only yourself to blame for your dogs

behaviour...not the breed and not anyone else.

As for myself...I have many years of experience with many different breeds

of dogs plus 15+ years with a Pacific Northwest Timber Wolf named Shadow

who was raised from a cub. A wolf is not a dog and never will be...however

in 15+ years of the two of us living together I was never bitten or even snarled

at. And that's not bad considering we were paired when I was only 5 years old

and Shadow was perhaps about two months old maximum. That was a very

long time ago in another country and seemingly...in another lifetime.

Nowadays the missus & I have 6 dogs; one Yellow Lab/Golden Retriever mix,

two 90% Black Labs (other 10% widely open to debate), one purebred Thai

Ridgeback, and two rescued soi dogs of which one is actually a "wild" dog...

not simply a feral dog...there is a difference...Google is your friend.

"Pets" are a huge responsibility whether the pet be a Budgie or an Afghan

Mountain Koochie or an Ovcharka...it's the owners responsibility to ensure

their animals are well cared for in all ways. If you can't do years of care for

your animal(s) it's best you not have one...after all...they're not a fashion

statement to be easily discarded when the next fad comes along.

[unclesiberia]

My other half has a SW .38 Police Special, that should sort it out for you.

[Keesters]

Have you had him for 8 years? Has he been like this all his life? Have you done any obedience training with him? If he is a new dog, and you don't have any dog training schools around and you have not done much training yourself, I would also say get a muzzle for when you take him for a walk? An 8 year old GSD will be very hard to train, I think you may have left it too late. You should be able to teach him to sit and stay and what "no" means, but if you aren't committed to spending a lot of time training him, the muzzle is your only option. Not sure where you live, but here is a school that may be able to help.http://www.k9pattaya.com/PATTAYA_CANINE_INTERNATIONAL_COLLEGE_English.htm

Use a correction collar and have a strong lead so you can give him harsh corrections whenever he tries to attack another dog. When he is getting nasty with another, he may not mean to bite you, but it is quite probable you will be bitten with friendly fire. And as the previous poster said, get him neutered. That may help a lot.

GSD life span is normally not much more than 12 or 13. The training will help you greatly with your next dog, as they train you how to train your dog.

K9 Pattaya. Went there some years ago to inquire about training my newly acquired Golden. Told to leave it with them with enough food to last plus a huge fee then come and collect 3 MONTHS later. What no training sessions with me I ask. No they said. We train and then you collect. Needless to say I did not leave them with my dog. I can only hope that they have improved because they couldn't get much worse.

[Keesters]

Maybe I missed something but the dog is 8 years old and NOW you ask about training him not to attack other dogs. Just what has been going on in the last 8 years. I get the feeling that this dog has never been exercised properly and is therefore not accustomed to other dogs and that is why he attacks them.

Definitely neuter him. If you had no intention of breeding him then that should have been done at an early age. Muzzle him when out and keep a good strong lead on him so that he can't get near other dogs. Carry a big stick. I find that just waving it at stray dogs keeps them far enough away. Don't let stray dogs get close enough to do the sniffing thing. How would you react if somebody came up and sniffed your butt.

[alfieconn]

Maybe I missed something but the dog is 8 years old and NOW you ask about training him not to attack other dogs. Just what has been going on in the last 8 years. I get the feeling that this dog has never been exercised properly and is therefore not accustomed to other dogs and that is why he attacks them.

Definitely neuter him. If you had no intention of breeding him then that should have been done at an early age. Muzzle him when out and keep a good strong lead on him so that he can't get near other dogs. Carry a big stick. I find that just waving it at stray dogs keeps them far enough away. Don't let stray dogs get close enough to do the sniffing thing. How would you react if somebody came up and sniffed your butt.

Incorrect, I have two dogs that we acquired at the same age approx 10 weeks, they both have been bought up the same way with daily walks etc, now the lab still goes crazy at other dogs and will want to at least chase after them to fight although not aggressively plus he is prone to running off although he is the more obedient of the two when at home.

The other dog is let off the lead on walks, befriends other dogs who come up to him in an aggressive manner and generally want to be everyones friend.

So for the so called experts on here, perhaps they could explain the above !!