Uncontrolable aggression..... - Page 2

Actually, I was kidding with her.  I think she is very intelligent and is certainly no dummy.

Jim

i know man i was just giving you guys a hard time. seems all three of us agree alot.

GSDFLORIDA... If I may, please.

"An earlier poster mentioned fear aggression, and this boy does not know fear." ------ Trust me, he does.

"He is the bravest dog I have ever seen. I think I did not explain it correctly, he is the opposite of fear." --- Trust me, he is not.

"Whenever we are on our walks, no matter what type of human or animal might be within 150 feet he starts to bristle, groan and snort. he is a longcoat and he stands his hair up and doubles his size. I make him sit and order him to focus on me, which he complies with but he is still preoccupied with his distraction. When he is in the yard it is the same and he has become a schoolyard bully. I have been restricting his yard time and when he is acting out I crate him and put a sheet over the crate, but that does nothing." ------ What you wrote here is textbook behavior on fear based agression. It is Fear Agression 101, if you will.

Let me elaborate on it a bit. A truly "brave" dog, "who has no fear and is opposite of fear" as you think a dog should be, would not even pay attention to other animals, people or kids, 5 yards from him, let alone 150yards in the distance. And why should he? He is brave, he is confident, he is balanced, he is strong... He's got nothing to prove. He is out on a walk with his owner, all that other stuff is background noise to him.

I don't think he is a schoolyard bully either. This is how a schoolyard bully dog behaves: Bully is out on a walk. Say, off the leash. You are maybe 20 paces behind him. Another guy with  his dog, no matter the breed, no matter the size, is walking towards him. The bully sees them and freezes us for a second. Head forward, eyes alert, ears forward, tail slightly up and horizontal.

Then, the dog quickly runs over to them and sniffs the other dog's butt for 4 or 5 seconds. He is wagging his tail.
He completely ignores the guy or the gal holding the leash and is compltely consumed by the dog. Then he towers over the other dog. Then, this is it. He tries tomount the other dog. No matter if the other dog is a female, or male, he is not gay. He literally tries to mount the other dog. That is a behavior of a bully dog.

Now, you say when he is acting out you crate him and put a sheet over his crate but...surprise! That does nothing.

Also,the titleof your post is "uncontrollable agression".... Why is it uncontrollable?  You can't control it? How have you tried to control it?

To the OP:

Are you contributing to this behavior? Before you say "NO!" and get offended, think about it a few minutes. Picture what happens when he behaves like this, or actually, just before. How are you when meeting people w/other dogs? My guess is you are anticipating a problem, and you do all the classic things people w/aggressive dogs do; you choke up on the leash, your posture changes, you tense up...etc. All these things escalate this behavior, and also, as a side note, make a correction very difficult- tense leash=no control.

Many people do this totally without realizing it, but I guarantee you the dog, esp. this dog, picks up on it and it raises his level of suspicion tenfold. If he's naturally suspicious, and you give him reason to think his suspicion is justified, you are never going to break this cycle. To illustrate my point, I had a dog I could  intentionally make flip out at people just by me changing my demeanor and posture and tensing up on the leash. I did it whenever I came across someone I didn't want to talk to, lol. I'd pretend I didn't understand why the dog was behaving that way (when I actually did it quite purposely by whispering "watch" and doing the things I mentioned), and I was spared that dreadful "stop and chat." LMAO.

Try acting cool as you can next time you see another dog. Concentrate on leash POPS, not leash TENSION on the prong/choke/whatever. As an aside, while I do not think you have enough experience to properly use a prong in this scenario (not a slam- just an opinion), a properly fitted, properly used prong DOES work. I have yet to see someone use it properly and say it didn't work (this is more in general than directed at the OP in particular) Anyway, loose leash, in a heel, and maybe even let the dog know you see what he may perceive as a threat. W/mine, I use "it's ok, I see it" which I stole from a friend of mine. This lets a suspicious dog know that he's not all alone in the world, you are not oblivious, there is no threat, just a guy and a dog, etc., and you are in control of the situation; there is no reason for him to take over aggressively. CONCENTRATE ON BEING RELAXED.

Just my opinion/take on the matter. Do what you want with it, bearing in mind I'm a dummy.

This has been a great thread,  in the behavior psych. world you guys are right on the money. I believe the college students have to understand animal (ie non human) reactions first before they can understand theirs and other human behavior.
jmo.
Always,
Cee

I have to agree with Jim on this; what you are describing is not a sign of a toughness or self confidence but at least he doesn't sound like a fear biter so you have something with which to work.

Yoshy, I hope you weren't referring to me calling Jen a dummy...I never implied any such thing.

Keith, darling, it's not all about you!  You only said I was too young to possibly know anything. LOL.

Jim called me a dummy in a roundabout way ( jokingly) b/c a while back I'd said either he's getting smarter or I'm getting dumber. We seemed to be agreeing far more than usual.

Back on topic now..................................

This HAS been a good thread.

"Keith, darling, it's not all about you!"

I beg to differ; in my world it is absolutely all about me! 

All for one and one and one and............   :))))))
Always,
Cee

GSDFLORIDA,
Yes you need a trainer or at least a new approach to obedience.
Never use the crate as a punishment, instead spend the time to deal with the behavior yourself.
At this age nothing's going to be easy and you definitely need some assistance.

You do not have the dogs attention #1

The dog already has some bad habits #2

We don't know how you've been training so it's hard to give you specific advice #3

Someone needs to see this dog in person and guide you in real time, not suggestions on a message board.

You worry about the future of this guy.................................What does that mean?


Moons.