dog agression?

Question

i have a yorkshire terrier (*****) tha i rescued september of last year from a dogs home, the vet tells me she is roughly 7 years old but i do have a aggresion problem with her when out wlking if we come face to face with another dog!.....she will happily walk straight past them if they do not bothere her but if they do thats it she goes straight in and attacks and it can be quite embarressing...its not just other dogs either the window cleaner is petrified of her, he was doing the windows the other day and she managed to get in to the garden to him and he dare not come down from his ladder!...i was trying my hardest to get her in ..chasing her round the garden, eventually i did it....what can i do to stop this behavior??

Answer 1

You rescued her hence you probally do not know her whole life story. She could have been abused or maybe not properly socialized. Dogs can be aggressive out of fear or simply defense. You may want to consider obedience classes, or spend a lot of time working with her. Get her used to new things and reassure her its okay. I had a dog that I adopted and was never socialized. After months of taking him everywhere and exposing him to new things he became comfortable and stopped attacking everything. But it takes and work.

Answer 2

Has your dog been spayed? This can sometimes calm down a the behaviour of a ***** as her hormone levels can sometimes be too high causing erratic behaviour. I had the same problem with our dog who we had from a puppy but had never sent to puppy socialisation classes due to time constraints. She will bark at dogs in the distance when on a walk and even go for them if they get too close. We found that placing her in a kennels for a couple of weeks (while we got a much needed holiday) really helped as it got her used to new people and other dogs. Once she had got the barking out of her system at the kennels (we gave her the kennel cough vaccine to prevent illness) she was fine and started to socialise more once she realised she didn't have a choice. With repeated visits to the kennels she has become much better socialised. We also use a bottle filled with stones which we shake hard in her face and say 'No' firmly when she misbehaves which seems to help. Also try taking some treats out with you so you can praise her for good behaviour during a walk. You could try dog classes who could give professional advice related to your specific problems,but I would recommend you see your vet in the meanwhile for something to help her relax a little and consider investing in a 'clicker' for clicker training which is a much kinder way of training using reward rather than punishment. Remember though that you can't undo any terrible things that may have happened to her in the past and may be the reason for her anxiety, you can only help her get better with praise and love. Good luck!

Answer 3

It would be useful if you knew what had triggered this behaviour in the first place, but as you got her as a rescue dog this is probably impossible. Quite often dogs behave in this way (initially) because of fear, the behaviour then becomes a learned response. Socialising her with other dogs on a very short lead may help, such as attending training classes but this would depend on how bad her behaviour is in the first place. Squirting water at her when she does react aggressively sometimes works, you can do this by carrying a small water pistol or a small squeezy bottle. I tried this with my dog who barked at everything and it worked well, she was so surprised at getting wet she stopped barking, when she did so I rewarded her, she soon learnt that it was better not to bark. As for people you need to introduce her to as many people as possible, again whilst under tight control, don't let them touch her but when she behaves nicely get them to reward her with a treat. It is important that she knows the people who regularly visit your house so that she won't feel that they are a threat either to her or yourself. Hope this helps.

Answer 4

Yorkies are tiny but aggressive dogs.
They have no clue how small they are and most are willing to take one anything that comes into their path. This is just their normal attitude and most are like this.
I would try some training classes but this is a problem you may never solve with they breed of dog.
They can show you how to correct her when she is being like that and that could help.

Answer 5

Go to a dog training school.

Your dogs behaviour is a learned response it just needs retraining. Unless it is mentally unstable ( which it doesnt sound like or it would be attacking all the time with no provacation)
in which case have it put down. ( no childs fingers are worth it)

Answer 6

not
a lot in my experience,she is set in her ways,a small muzzle perhaps?
i have 4 large bullbreeds,some with terrier.ive always found yorkies to be good ratting dogs,you cant blame her for defending her teritory from the window cleaner.your lucky my dad had one that could run up ladders and trees. good luck ,buy a pup next time and bring it up with proper training.

Answer 7

with regards to walking and the aggression towards people i would suggest a trip to the vets to make sure that everything is ok and if it is ask foe a referal to a dog behaviourist and also consider taking training classes this problem is not going to go away on its own you need profesinal help with this before someone gets hurt

Answer 8

When she starts this behavior, make a loud noise, pebbles in a soda can, clap loudly what ever you choose. After you have her attention, tell her 'NO' sharply. Then instruct her to sit. When she does, praise her like crazy. Keep this up till she gets it. She just needs to unlearn her bad behavior. She thinks she is doing her job.

Answer 9

My dog is half terrier and it's the postman that gets it the most of all. Their is no way to stop they are the dogs of Satan him self and they will never be stoped.

Answer 10

they say that you cant teach an old dog new tricks, try taking the dog to training school