my dog was bite on the back at the park 2 weeks ago.His temperment has totally changed towards other dogs.When i take him to the park and a dog comes up to him he will now try to attack dog.Looking for some advise on how to stop the aggression.

Hi, your dog has now decided that no other dogs are going to get a chance to get him so he now feels that all strange dogs need seeing off before they get him. The best way to get him over this fear of other dogs is to go to a training class, where he will see that not every dog is out to get him and he will learn that he isn't alowed to behave like this.

Why not register guest and get support while you work with your dog? You might be better to see a behaviourist on a 1:1 to check whether a class would be too stresful for him as yet. Pet insurance covers this but check the policy and your vet can refer you to a behaviourist or there is a website on Association of Pet Dog Behaviourists.

A class probably wouldn't be a good idea.  As you have said that he will try to attack other dogs then who is to say that there won't be another dog there with a similar problem.  Even if all the other dogs there are of sound temperament it is very unlikely that their owners would want to have their dogs used as guinea pigs unless they have actually volunteered to do so. He needs to meet dogs that are able to help him recover from his bad experience but this should be done with experienced stooge dogs and in a controlled environment.  How successful you will be in turning around his aggression will be dependant on many things.  His age and breed of course, how much socialising he had at an early age and how much since.  Your reaction to his aggression and the reaction of the other dog owners will have had an impact.  Can you give us a few more details about him?
Sally

My dog is a 4yr old GSD(male)He has attended dog classes since he was a puppy and he has a certifacate at advanced level.When he as at the classes he dosen't bother with the other dogs because he knows he is there to work.It is only when he goes on a walk or at the park he becomes agresive towards other dogs.He seems to switch off and becomes hyper and dosen't seem to want to listen to any commands i give him to a certain extent.He wants to focus on whats going on around him.I have to put a muzzel on him which is very dissapointing to look at for me.

If he doesn't bother with other dogs at class because he is there to work does he ever take a coffee break and have a friendly chat with a dog?  When you are out with him at the park did he ever interact with other dogs before the incident 2 weeks ago?  If he isn't practiced in the art of doggy conversation then that will explain why the one bad experience has caused you so much grief.  You should seek proffesional help. Email me and tell me where you are and I'll try and point you in the right direction. sally@scallywagsdogs.com

he always got on great with the other dogs at the park playing the chasing game.I stay in the north lanarkshire area.ANY HELP WOULD BE GREAT

Is your dog neutered? I had a male GSD that became aggressive to other male dogs, very aggressive. He ran after one who went right past our house and bit into it. The other dog ran and my dog broke his jaw as his teeth stayed in the flesh of the other dog. This was some years ago. When he was getting his jaw fixed, and I was at home. I thought about it and then I went back to the vets and said, "while you're at fixing his jaw, fix him." From that time on he was not only not aggressive to other dogs, not once.... he became quite friendly with them.

Gosh Carrie such finesse ;) are we basing the future handling of dogs on this story?

Sadly it's also just as likely that castration will increase any existing problem :(

Jackie,

I'm not the one here due the credit for finesse. In fact, your kindness and charm overwhelm me. I see that your compassionate ways with perfectly kind hearted, well meaning people whom you don't even know, must really make for a patient and compassionate dog owner and what an ambassador for your country.

As I stated, this dog was years ago, one of my first....before I became the dog/horse trainer that I have become over many years. So, yes....he wasn't fenced in. He was young and not trained well yet. He certainly within a very short time and as he matured a bit became one the most lovely, happy, well mannered and obedient dogs.

THE POINT of my story wasn't told in order to be insulted or squashed down from you. It was told to show how the removal of testosterone eliminated aggression in that case, not to mention a cazillion more. This has been shown, experienced and is widely known in most of the medical community.

Carrie, as I know you're an intelligent person, you will know that castration is likely to exacerbate aggression in fearful dogs - their aggression is limited by testosterone - remove it, and their hormone-inhibitor is removed. Certainly castration can be beneficial with certain types of aggression, but by no means all. The dog needs careful observation to read its body language to discover which type of aggression it exhibits.

I know that you are aware of this, but I've posted it because others may not be. I would hate people to get the wrong impression that castration automatically 'cures' aggression.
:)

Have to agree that castration is not the cure all for all aggression cases; not only that by the time the is entrenched it may have become a learned behaviour and so the removal of the said items may be completely superfluous :D

There are behaviourists who specialise in aggressive dogs and I recommend that you browse the APDT site or the APBC site (the latter is via vet referral only) to find a qualified person in this area who can identify the triggers.  Often what owners believe is happening and what actually IS occurring can be quite different.

HTH

Hi Tohme, must say I fight shy of replying to any request for help with an aggressive dog, as you do need to see the situation, so often people think and tell you that one thing is happening and if you take a look it is something entirely different. Feel that advice given over the net for aggression can be dangerous and the only safe advice it to look for a suitable person to help you sort the problem, and for most people asking the vet for a referral is the best way.

There are so many things that can spark a dog off and so many different types of aggression, some times it is not even aggression but pain or panic, so take the dog to the vet for a check up and then if nothing is found ask the vet for a referral to someone to help you sort the problem, well that is the advice I would give.

Absolutely Jackie H

Correct diagnosis in many problems cannot be given via the ether! :D  The best we can do is offer suggestions and point people in the right direction.

Perhaps I should have used the word graphic instead of fineness, no intention to offend but the story of that particular dog and the result of it's castration does not apply to all dogs and it is not helpful to suggest it does. My comment was intended to give you a chance to explain that.

EDIT:- that will teach me to go and make some coffee half way through a post, 2 of you beat me too it.

"It was told to show how the removal of testosterone eliminated aggression in that case"

IN THAT CASE. I am aware of the various types of aggression and that testosterone is only responsible for behaviors in relation to that hormone. There are neurotransmitters which are affected by testosterone. I've read too.

"but the story of that particular dog and the result of it's castration does not apply to all dogs and it is not helpful to suggest it does."

I've read a lot of posts which aren't particularily helpful.

"So, I'm very sorry that I went off subject with my story. 

"Feel that advice given over the net for aggression can be dangerous"

I'm sure you mean that generally, but in case you're referring to my post, where on it did I give advise? I think I asked a question and then told the story of my dog running after another dog, his broken jaw and his behavior change.

Was sure it was something like that Carrie, that was why I commented on a thread I would normally not post on, thought you would want to clarify your remarks. And I will repeat I am sorry if you thought my comment was having a go at you, it wasn't, I was just concerned that people would think the castration was a cure for all aggression when we all know that is not the case.

one can not say ALL or NONE or NEVER or ALWAYS.....of course, jackie, castration or any solution isn't a means to fix ALL problems.  however, it is scientifically proven that neutering your dog can indeed eliminate dog to dog aggression.  if you can argue with that, perhaps you should be some sort of scientist yourself. 
all info given on a message  board is subject to arguement.  the posters here are just regular people like myself.  i feel like i am well-versed in dog training and dog behavior, however, there are many things i don't know.  so, that is the point of a forum.  different ideas, different techniques, different opinions.  that is what the word "forum" means.  naturally someone's advise may not work for someone else.  i have read plenty of posts here that i would consider to be inaccurate and infact quite wrong.  we, as readers, just take what we find positive and leave the rest.  so if you didn't mean to mock and squash carrie's post, you should perhaps think about re reading each one you write to see your tone before you press the post button.

>>however, it is scientifically proven that neutering your dog can indeed eliminate dog to dog aggression. <<

Can you give me details of these paper and publications please I would be very interested to see the findings and how they were obtained.

PS Can you please explain why you are having a go at me?

You are absolutely right, elija, castration can eliminate dog-to-dog aggression. But only in certain conditions. If the 'aggressive' dog is attacking because it is naturally fearful (often due to a deficiency of testosterone) then removing the source of what little confidence it has will almost certainly make the situation worse.

Each case should be judged individually, with the individual circumstances carefully studied.

yes, that is EXACTLY what i said.......YOU CANNOT SAY ALWAYS OR NEVER or any of those extreme words.  each situation is different. 

jackie, i am having a go at you because you have a go at everyone else.  "such finese carrie, should we base the whole future of dogs......."  that was sarcastic and uncalled for.

you can find plenty of information on your own regarding the absense of testosterone helping eleviate dog/dog aggression, or call a vet and ask.  i didnt say that castration cures aggression, i said that it CAN help.  i didn't make any promises, i just said it COULD help.  it was a suggestion to the origional poster which is what this is supposed to be about.  it is up to him/her to take or leave the advise given here.

here:

Aggression problems are most common in intact male dogs, including dominance aggression (Line 1986, Crowell-Davis 1991) as well as fear-related aggression (Galac 1997), aggression between males (Hopkins 1976), and other types of aggression (Neilson 1997). Castration is a valuable part of the treatment for aggression problems, and is helpful in preventing problems from occurring in the first place. Roughly 50%-75% of the dogs who are castrated because of aggression problems will show signicant improvements or complete disappearance of their aggression. Of course, training is also an important aid in preventing and/or treating these problems! (Askew 1992, Beaver 1983, Blackshaw 1991, Crowell-Davis 1991, Fry 1987, Knol 1989, Line 1986, Neilson 1997)

also another out of lots of sources, im sure     www.daneangelnetwork.org/SPAYINGandNEUTERING.html

<<Roughly 50%-75% of the dogs who are castrated because of aggression problems will show signicant improvements or complete disappearance of their aggression.>>

Not much cop for the 25% - 50% who don't! ;) But understand what you're saying.

Do I, don't think so, I was sure that Carrie didn't mean what her post suggested and I did not think that people should get the impression that all or even the majority of aggression cases can be cured by castration, if you have a problem with that I'm really sorry.

But I would be pleased if you can give me details of the research you speak of, thank you.

See you have now given some detail of what evidence you were speaking from, will take a look and see from what basis they work, most of these tests are taken from pre-selected animals, if it was a cross section with a control group I will be very keen to follow the leads up, thank you. It is some while since I was in the thick of things and I am always interested in new research.

i just did offer one of a zillion websites and a quote from another.  you can find more if you'd like or ask a vet or a medical physisian about the testosterone hormone. 

i didn't say that ALL OR THE MAJORITY...  as i have stated twice here, i would not say ALL OR NEVER OR ALWAYS.  why do you keep insisting that i say that castration eliminates ALL aggression problems.  i said it CAN HELP SOMETIMES.  
oh, i didn't find the actual study of when they discovered testosterone is responsible for aggression SOMETIMES.   it is presumed that that info is well known and has been for decades.  likewise, it is common knowledge that the common cold cannot be cured.  i don't need to find the exact research inwhich that was discovered.

Thank you Elija.

Going back and re-reading (I have a short memory) the original post, the dog was attacked and then his attitude to dogs thereafter became aggressive. OK. So...are we to assume this is fear based since he had in fact a frightening experience? Seems darn likely doesn't it...probably is. However, dogs do change as they mature and what was previously a placid dog, becomes changed with an episode of aggression all of a sudden. (this happened with my GSD. He had been fine for a while, then started getting ornery) How can you prove that what happened was in fact due to fear and not a coincidence in timing that the aggression happened to start after that attack on him due to regular hormone changes and flat out dominance aggression? That is not a scientific experiment or true experiment to automatically assume something based on an obvious looking culprit. There can be other things happening at the same time. You're still making assumtions. We can't see the dog's body language or anything else.

Even if it is fear related or partically fear related plus intermittently coming about from other causes, neutering in many cases, will alleviate much aggression. They lose interest in retaliating or rising to a challenge from another dog for the most part. They lose that intense interest in other male dogs and tend to avoid these confrontations all together. This I have come to observe over many years with a lot of dogs, reading, (no. I'm not supplying a bibliography) talking with very experienced dog people, medical people etc.

Yes, I do understand that there are many instances and behaviors that are not testosterone related. It can be the dog's own temperament, training, handling, enviornmental influences plus more. (as in my case story...it was testosterone and my rotten handling of my dog which God forbid, might have been mistakenly used to base a whole new generation of handling skills from)

This is a conversation that is going nowhere, so I will back on out of here.  The poster should ask someone who can observe the dog in person or talk it over with a good vet.

<<The poster should ask someone who can observe the dog in person or talk it over with a good vet. >>

Exactly, Carrie. Anything said by anyone who a) isn't qualified in such matters, and b) hasn't witnessed the situation first hand is purely pointless speculation, and anything suggested by anyone on a website could make matters worse.

Although it is possible, i would've thought it is very unlikely that the dog just happened to be maturing at the time of the arressive incident. 2 weeks seems too close to the incident to me, i suspect that the aggression is related to fear, and a case of 'get in first'.  Obviously i am not an expert, but i wouldn't suggest neutering the dog on the basis that it will stop the aggression, if the poster thinks neutering may help, i would suggest asking the vet for a tardak injection to see if neutering would make any difference, before taking the plunge. I think the first thing the poster needs to to is ask the vet if he or she can refer them to a qualified behaviourist after the dog has had a full ckeck over to check that there is no physical cause.