Hi I am looking for a recommendation for a behaviourist/trainer for my GSD Charley to help me deal with her dog aggression. Background: I've had Charley from 9 weeks of age, she is a GSD bitch who is now 2 1/2 years old. She was brought into a pack which included a cairn terrier and a labrador x rottweiller (sp). As a first time GSD owner I did a lot of reasearch before getting Charley and knew how important it was to socialise her early on. From a pup she was socialised well with other dogs, playing with dogs on walks and going to weekly obedience classes, which she did really well at. When charley was age 1 my mum got a GSD, Kodi who was five month old, it was Kodi's second home. Kodi was very shy with dogs from the word go and was scared of nearly everything, and would hide behind our legs. People would comment that she was cute and a big baby. Then around age 18 mths (Charley) and 12 months (Kodi) both Charley and Kodi changed and became what i would term dog aggressive. I do not know why this happened, they had no stressful experience and were not attacked or anything like that. Both will now try to lunge at other dogs when out walking. Charley will bark at dogs and Kodi does the same and also bares her teeth. Obviously they are never allowed to actually get near another dog as they are restrained, but their obvious intention too is causing me concern. For this reason both are kept on a leash when out, unless we are in a private field with flat land where we can see another dog coming from miles away and can get them back onto leashes. Charley and Kodi now attend a different obedience class, which is predominantly GSD's. The club encourage letting all dogs off the leads to play together before and after the training. Charley is a different dog in this setting, she will play wonderfully with all the other dogs and is very different to her behaviour while out on walks. Kodi however cannot be let of the lead and is growling and lunging when other dogs come near her. After assessment with a dog psychologist at the club Kodi has now been put in a special class with other similar natured dogs. I'm not sure if this isn't making her worse though, as it is causing her more stress and we haven't seen an improvement with either dog really since going to the club. Questions: Can anyone recommend a good behaviourist in the Chorley, Lancashire area? Generaly are obedience classes good for DA dogs or do they make the behaviour worse? Why is Charley behaving differently in different settings? Does anyone have any ideas for how I can discourage this behaviour and have Charley walk calmly past another dog? Sorry for the really long post but I would really appreciate some advice with this (as would my mum).
Tail Tapping Antics are in Chorley, and I know they allow DA dogs in class to work etc. Hevvur (on here) has taken her DA Bullmastiff to the classes with quite a lot of success.
http://www.dogfriendlytraining.net/ Is Lynda anywhere near you? Cannot recommend her highly enough. If you want a behaviourist pure and simple the best ones will only see dogs post a vet referral. They will generally (not always) belong to a professional organisaiton such as http://www.apbc.org.uk/ http://capbt.org/ http://www.ukrcb.org/ TBH this sounds more like a) barrier frustration and b) feeding off another dog than anything else and if I am right then it could be solved really easily IMHO
Have you ever heard of dog reactivity? Sometimes dogs seem to act aggressively on-lead or in certain situations, without actually being dog-aggressive. Usually it's fear based, the dogs thinking "Well, I'll scare you away before you realise you're scaring me!". The fact that Charley is OK in other situations makes me believe that she's just a bit dog-reactive, or perhaps just becoming protective of Kodi. Does it only happen when you walk the two together, have you tried walking them solo? This method is based on TTouch but the principle of desensitizing a reactive dog works without the TTouch aspect anyway http://www.spiritdog.com/reactivearticle.htm This may be worth a read too, I've heard of several owners of reactive dogs using BAT successfully for reactive dogs http://www.theotherendoftheleash.com/dog-dog-reactivity-treatment-summary If you want to find a local trainer then I would recommend checking the APDT website - http://www.apdt.co.uk/ Otherwise, a behaviourist might be a better option, perhaps moreso for Kodi but might be useful for both. A behaviourist tends to go a bit more indepth than a trainer. There's a similar organisation to APDT, which is APBC - http://www.apbc.org.uk/ Both organisations have a set of guidelines for members to adhere to, which involves using modern, positive methods with the dogs, so no choke chains, shock collars, water bottles, etc. which can worsen things with a fear reactive/aggressive dog. With any sudden change in behaviour, a vet visit is worthwhile and may be worth having some thorough tests done on both dogs to rule out health issues perhaps being the cause first though.
Are you absolutely sure it is aggression and not just frustration at not being able to engage with the other dogs? I ask because when on a lead, my Lab does EXACTLY the same thing to any other dog we pass - lunging, barking, baring his teeth, the works. Yet off leash, he's the biggest softy at the park and plays happily with every dog he meets. And when on leash, if I take him over to the dog he's barking etc at, he will try and get it to play! This 'barrier frustration' is a well known behaviour and though it can LOOK like aggression, it isn't. It certainly might explain why one of your dogs, at least, is fine when off leash and playing at the GSD class.
` Thanks for this, Iv read her website and it looks good. Does she do 1-1 / behaviourist type work it doesnt really say? Wigan isn't far from Chorley but it doesn't say exactly where the training venue is? Im ideally looking for someone who will come on a walk with me and point me in the right direction / give me some strategies. They are only occasionally walked together, so I do not think it is Charley protecting Kodi. I definately agree that the behaviour is fear based. I know that the lead and the feeling trapped thing makes the behaviour a lot worse. But because of how she is behaving I cannot trust her to be off the lead. When shes lunging at the other dog shes not looking like she wants to play with it, she's looking scared and like she's trying to compensate for that with a big front! Thank you for all your replies so far
some of it could be learnt behaviour, some could be genetic and also dams interaction with pup - is the dog English, German or mixed? Re the more fearful one she should only be around calm social dogs not other reactive ones, i doubt she will ever be 100% but her behaviour can improve over time with patience and the correct guidance
Totally agree with Wildmoor about more nervous bitch, when I had a dog who was nervous agressive my club put us in the advanced class where the dogs all ignored him untill he learnt manners & how to behave, they said it was good practice for advanced dogs & wouldn't upset the newcomers & teach them bad habits. Would think putting all dogs of this type together would be the last thing to do.
