I have a 7 year old cockapoo with aggression issues. I have tries everything .?

Question

Behaviorists, medications, training etc. We adopted him 3 years
ago. Essentially, he bites under ciertain circumstances: If we try to
take away something he has that does not belong to him, he'll growl and bite. He will do this when he is resting and doesn't want to be bothered. We have learned to manage the situation in that we know the circumstances where he will bite and we avoid these situations.
We tried prosac which turned out to be a disaster, he became more aggressive, we've gone through the whole training/behavior modification stuff which has helped but there does not seem to be a way to keep him from biting permanently. The vet/behaviorists tell us it is genetic and we just have to manage the sitiuation. Is there anyone out there who has tried something different? He is a great dog 95% of the time but his aggression limits us from allowing him to interact freely with other people. My husband is apprehensive around him and all in all, the situation is not ideal. HELP!

Just received a response from Emrille. Thank you , very thought provoking and caring response. My dog walks 3-4 miles a day and seems to be quite happy. The situation is not impacting lives to the extent that we would consider putting him down. Although my husband is apprehensive around the dog, he is the one that consistently provides effective discipline and effection. Thanks again for your thoughts. If I was at level 2, I would rate your response as BEST.

Answer 1

Give him chamomile tea, 3 times per day in a little canned dog food..Begin with the meaty ones, such as Cesar's... as he gets used to the flavor, you can switch to a larger can, for convenience..
You can by chamomile in bulk, in the Mexican spice section of your grocer's, called camomilla or Té de manzanilla.
In the tea section of the grocery store it is usually in bags, rather than bulk..but you may be able to find the bulk..
Anyway, dump it out of the bag, and put a teaspoon of the dry tea in his bit of canned dog food..It is safe for him..will reduce his stress, and reduce his aggression..It gives a relaxed feeling of well-being..As he learns to handle the stresses better, then you may be able to stop feeding him the tea..

Answer 2

I am not going to ridicule you or make pointless comments such as "talk to a trainer" since it seems that you have exhausted your local resources and truly do care about your dog.

Unfortunately, despite seeking help from others, the problem may still be at home. You say your husband is apprehensive around the dog--the dog can pick up on this and is going to use it to walk all over you. I never, ever endorse using corporal punishment (ie: hitting, kicking, shaking, dragging, screaming) against a dog, but you have to find a way to make your pup understand that you guys are in charge.

If you find that you agree with the vet and behaviorist you've spoken with, and that this has turned into a situation where all you can do is "manage it" without truly fixing it, you need to stop and examine exactly how this is going to affect your life. Are you still able to lead a normal life? Has this hampered your social life at all, your work, or your emotional well-being?

How about the dog? Does he seem miserable? Is he still able to go outside and play, go on walks, enjoy being a dog?

Sit down and seriously weigh the different options. Cockers (and thus cocker mixes) have a tendency to have genetic issues that can lead to aggression. When this happens, they are very unpredictable, and thus hard to handle in a normal household.

If you find that the dog is truly unhappy and uncomfortable, and that your life has been greatly hampered by the situation to the point where you can no longer function normally in a day-to-day basis, then the most humane thing may possibly be euthanasia. This would be as a very last resort when all other options have been tried and failed. Definately take the time to discuss this possibility with your veterinarian.

Answer 3

Do not let your son get into a situation where the dog would bite him. Chances are he sees the child as his equal (or lower in the pecking order) and, thus, considers it okay to growl and defend her food. Don't set your dog up for failure (and your child up for an injury) by letting him feed her. Feeding time is a primal ritual for dogs. Petting and talking aren't natural to a dog doing something instinctual like eating. If you're saying "it's okay" when she's exhibiting bad behavior, you are only reinforcing it. You need to teach the dog that your son is as much an authority figure as you are. The dog needs to respect your son's space. Have your son walk the dog (if possible). If the dog is too strong, then you walk the dog with your son walking in front (it can help symbolize that your son is 'ahead' of him in pack ranking). After the dog is tired, have your son give the dog some water out of a bottle (this means more than cuddling as your son will be giving her a necessity). You need to be able to take away a bone or food before your son can. Don't directly face off with her or try to grab it with your hand (strong breeds in particular do not respond well to this behavior). Step toward the bowl and claim it as your own (stepping forward so that the bowl or treat is between your legs and having the dog back off). Once this can be done without a negative event, you can have your son stand behind you so your dog sees he, too, can claim her food. I would suggest seeking professional help if possible, because pit bulls are so strong and already get a bad reputation. Your dog may be giving you subtle warning signals you are missing. p.s.: You did not mention how much exercise your dog is getting. Pit bull type dogs need at least an hour long walk each day.

Answer 4

Your dog has decided that he's the alpha boss, and you're letting him think that way. I'm sure the behaviorists told you techniques and methods that will help show the dog that YOU are in control, so why aren't you doing them? Believe me, having your husband be afraid of the dog and avoiding the aggressive situations rather than dealing with them are not going to solve this problem.

Rarely, if ever, is aggression genetic. It was trained into him (or more accurately, not trained out of him).

Unfortunately, you might have to consider putting this dog to sleep or putting it in a shelter. If this dog poses a threat to you, family, or even strangers, and you cannot or won't train the aggression out of him, then it is safer for all the people involved (who are more important than the dog, sorry) if the dog is taken out of the picture.

Answer 5

It seems you have certainly tried to help your dog, but I wonder just what techniques the behaviorists and trainers have been giving you. Not all techniques work for all dogs, and frequently aggressive techniques simply result in a more aggressive dog.

In case you haven't tried these, I'll suggest a few resources:

The Yahoo group AGBEH: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/agbeh/

Here in the Aggressive Behaviors in Dogs group, with appoximately 480 experienced dog trainers from around the world, we discuss with pet dog owners how to modify the behavior of dogs which sometimes exhibit aggressive behaviors toward dogs and/or toward people. Oftentimes aggressive behaviors arise from dogs' fears or anxieties. Harsh training and physical punishments may make the problems worse. Trainers give information about using behavior modification as well as suggestions for safe home management and on using positive-reinforcement for teaching new skills.

Nothing In Life is Free (NILIF)

http://k9deb.com/nilif.htm

This is just one article, a search on either the full term or the abbreviation will bring up many others

Many excellent articles on this page, some on aggression and leadership: http://www.flyingdogpress.com/artlibreg.htm

Jean Donaldson's book "Mine! A Practical Guide to Resource Guarding in Dogs"
http://www.dogwise.com/ItemDetails.cfm?ID=DTB740

Book Review:
http://www.kateconnick.com/library/donaldsonmine.html

In the long run, to have any hope of changing his behavior you must change YOUR behavior and how you relate to your dog.

If you still unsuccessful at helping him, you must consider whether you are willing to live with this risk for several more years. In my opinion, a dog who feels the need to bite is not a happy dog.

Answer 6

There is a high incidence of "Rage Syndrome" in Spaniel breeds. These dogs will be perfectly civil with strangers, loving and affectionate with their family, but then will suddenly attack family members for no apparent reason, their eyes becoming dilated and sometimes changing color during and after an attack.

The dog will not respond to any attempts to stop it, often appearing confused afterwards, but will return to its usual loving demeanor with no awareness of the attack. This is a very serious issue and to determine if your dog has this condition you should consult your vet about having an EEG and genetic testing done.

Answer 7

A dog should be trained on how to eat, walk with you, not to bark, potty training and sleep on its place etc. You can teach anything to your puppy, dogs get trained easily with some good instructions. If you want some good training tips visit https://tr.im/gNCTw

If properly trained, they should also understand whistle and gesture equivalents for all the relevant commands, e.g. short whistle or finger raised sit, long whistle or flat hand lay down, and so on.

It's important that they also get gestures and whistles as voice may not be sufficient over long distances and under certain circumstances.

Answer 8

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Answer 9

my cocker spaniel has bitten every member in my house. I would say the 95% of the time he is a great dog but when we least expect it he bites. i have handled it by not playing rought with him at all and using a strong voice when i am disciplining him. they need to respect and if they get spoiled they start biting/

Answer 10

Oh that sounds like my littlest dog. He is such a love...until. And once we've reached 'until', it is too late. We also tried the clomocalm (doggie prozac), Comfort Zone (phermone) plug ins, training, behaviorist, etc. I can say we got little help from any of those.

I’m not a behaviorist but I’ll note a few things in your comments that raised a few flags. First and most important is that your husband has built up a shield of apprehension when dealing with the dog. Your dog knows this, takes advantage of this and attempts to control the situation. So your husband probably has that apprehension because of past experience and your thinking, this isn’t getting me to the root of the issue, right? Well, yes and no. The apprehension only aggravates an already bad situation.

My other guess is that the first time or two the dog snapped at you or someone in the family, you were so taken aback you let him get away with it, or maybe you yelled at him (I did) but that doesn’t really teach the dog anything. He was testing the waters and a response like that would empower your dog. Then he continued to do it because the first few times he was able to get you to do what he wants…in other words, he received a reward for this bad behavior. Then we get to the built up apprehension, created out of incidents like this. As I said, your dog can probably sense this and has decided, well if THEY are uncertain, then I better take control of this situation. You’ve probably heard this a million times but basically, your dog considers himself alpha. He is the master of his kingdom (your house and all of the people in it). You’ve probably also heard a few million times that most dogs don’t WANT this role, they take it on because they don’t know what else to do.

So blah, blah, blah, what did we do? Well, we didn’t cure our dog entirely, but we did make some progress that has been very promising so maybe my info will help a bit. Our dog was re-homed with us and came with separation anxiety. He latched onto me immediately and then decided it was his job to protect me (all 14 pounds of the mini-dach he is!). I did him a serious disservice by allowing him free reign of the house, furniture, our bed, etc. I felt so bad for his prior experience. So I ended up with a 14lb German dictator who would growl at my husband if he came towards me in any way that ‘seemed’ threatening…like to give me a hug or pat me on the shoulder. Then he snapped at each of us once when moving him off the bed or picking him up when he was comfortable and didn’t want to be bothered (similar experience with a coveted toy AND he was dog aggressive). That was it. We started making some changes immediately. First, the dog doesn’t own anything. He doesn’t sleep in our bed…ever. He isn’t allowed on the furniture unless invited (rarely). We worked on basic commands (and really enforcing them) even more than we already had. And this was all helpful, but we (I particularly) still had tension at times when dealing with him because I’m horribly afraid of being bit.

Then we started watching Cesar Milan and The Dog Whisperer (National Geographic channel?). It’s really a great show. His message is almost the same regardless of the behavioral issue: to take control of your pack in a calm, assertive way, discipline before affection. He stresses the importance of “the walk” and how to take control of it. YOU have to control all interactions with your dog in a calm way. If you are tense and apprehensive when moving him, taking away a coveted toy, walking him when kids and/or other dogs are out, then he senses the tension and reacts just as you’ve seen your dog react. I couldn’t possibly tell you in one answer everything Cesar teaches, and I couldn’t relay it to you exactly as he would. But I genuinely learn something new with each episode. We now walk our dog almost every day and we control the walk, he doesn’t lead us and he isn’t allowed to react to other stimuli (kids, dogs, etc.). The result is a calm but assertive correction (snap of the collar…not to be painful, to get his attention). It’s also very important to walk the dog in a calm way. You should not need to tense your arm and fight your dog to stay by your side. You should work on relaxing your arm and getting your dog to walk properly with short corrections. That’s probably the biggest lesson I took from the show. Our biggest issue is the dog aggression so I started to pay attention to how I was acting when we did walk the dog. If a dog or bike or small child came close, I would immediately tense up. I’ve learned to walk with control. I don’t react to the stimuli and after time, my dog stopped reacting to the stimuli as well. He sees that I am leading the walk and he actual pays attention to ME. We've also noticed a significant reduction in the barking and lunging we previously experienced.

I would watch his show, TIVO it if you can or rent the videos (I believe they are out). He also has books on dog psychology. It has been very helpful for us. We aren’t 100% there yet either, but I’ve seen noticeable progress with some of these simple techniques. Heck, I think you can even submit an application to be on his show!

I hope this is at least a little bit helpful for you. It certainly isn’t a quick fix. It requires work. Good luck!