Hi,

I've been reading through this board for some time, and I know a number of you have had success with overcoming our four legged friends issues. My 9 month old entire male is being a real handful at the moment, if a dog tells him off he will submit completely and play nicely, however any sign of nervousness and he becomes a snarling monster. We are seeing a behaviourist on a 1 to 1 basis, who's "diagnosed" fear based agression, (well that and raging hormones). He's also been enrolled into a weekly class (with small numbers) specifically for dogs with issues. So we are working on it.

However my normally balanced 15 month old bitch, has started to growl at some dogs. She growled at a puppy yesterday, and she had her 1st session in a local bronze class last night and growled at a rather excited (but lovely and friendly) retriever. It didn't escalate as I quickly distracted her with a fine piece of cheddar. I think her behaviour is being triggered by the beastie, but obviously want to nip it in the bud now.

Appreciate that the 2 are rather close in age, and a gap of at least 2 years would have been ideal. However the pup was being badly treated, we took him in at 12 weeks and the OH couldn't bear to let him go (we did have 2 good homes lined up). So we are were we are. We are now walking them seperately so they don't feed off each other.

So what I'm asking of you guys are there any books out there that will help me to understand this and help me to work through it, tips and experiences also gratefully received. Oh I suppose I should add that these are Rotties - so another reason why this needs to be stopped now, I don't want mine to be the cause of yet another Rottie story in the papers.

two books which I found useful were Jean Donaldsons ' Fight' and also Click to Calm if you are into clicker training. 

Thanks for this, haven't tried clicker training yet, but am willing to do whatever it takes to put these 2 back on the right path.

I can also reccommend the jean Donaldson book, and any of hers are good. 'Culture Clash' is mor egeneralised, but very good at getting us humans to see things from a dog's point of view.

Another one to check out is James O Heare's book for owners with aggressive dog problems.
He's written several books but it's this one:

http://www.crosskeysbooks.com/product_info.php?products_id=679

it would be interesting to hear if you find it helpful, if  you decide to buy it :)

Thanks for the suggestions guys will def look into them all and will provide progress updates.

T

just had a look on the link and seen a book called fight by Jean Donaldson and OMG so looks like my Snoop on the front cover!!! Has she seen him in action I think so ! :0

Well I've ordered all the books recommended (should keep me out of mischief for a while), but thought I'd give a quick update. The beastie had a 1-2-1 with the behaviourist (sp) yesterday morning, and was apparently the perfect dog according to the OH. He was on and off lead with dogs running around - didn't bat an eyelid. Walked past the kennels where some rather aggresive dogs were barking, growling and trying to get to him - laid at OH's feet!. Walked to a park where there were yappy dogs barking at him - again no reaction.

Had his first training class last night, (the small numbered one for dogs with issues) we were prepared with muzzle and cheese - best behaved dog in it!!! Didn't need the muzzle, and again wasn't even interested in the hoo-ha going on around him. He's shown us a glimpse of the dog he can be, we just need to keep working on him to ensure he stays that way!