Dog agression question

[Ronnie]

I know a few long term dog owners are on here so thought I ask in case anyone can help of give any advicew. I have a little pekinese dog, cute and ugly at the same time, shaved him like a lion and looks just like one these days. At home he´s the best dog ever, listens, sleeps alot never bothers me, makes us laugh out loud when we play with him, snores like an elephant at night,...etc

BUT

When i take him out, as soon as he sees another dog, he gets in a possessed state, even pulling him and grabbing him, calling him...etc nothing works to snap him out of it. The other day he had a run at a massive German shepherd who was unleashed which grabbed him by the neck, the little shit wasn´t fased, didn´t squeele or bark ort anything, was just going for it fearless trying to bite the other dog back yet he barely has a friggin mouth.

Its annoying now, as he walks very well without as leash and is perfect in evryway apart from the odd smelly fart he lets rip every now and then in the house, but this problem is major, as when he is in this state he goes for us as well when we touch him and tries to bite us. Then look all cute and submissive again later.

Not sure what to do.

[skip]

those ankle biters are the worst bro....first how old is the cute thing....some of those toy breeds get...that way.....need to train them early on...no with my rotts and dobs....i have only ever need to use a shock collar once....i dont like em....but this bitch was so hard headed....it worked fine after a bit,skip

[Mrs Monsta]

Our first dog was exactly like that (dog aggressive), hence is why we became dog obedience trainers.

Firstly, when walking it, keep it on a lead all the time.
One of those head collar thingys (halti) is good, as when he shows aggression, you can string him up and it closes his mouth at the same time whilst giving a correction, such as "NOOO"! long and loud.
But remember.... you must praise your dog when he does the right thing too. They need to know what's right and wrong.

As skip said . . . the earlier you train it the better.
Our dog was 8 yrs till we tried to fixed the problem.
He would see a dog and show no sign of aggression. Then out of the blue BANG he'd go for it. And that was after 2 yrs of training still.
The longer you leave it, the harder it will be to fix.
Prob caused by lack of socialisation with other dogs.

[sly fox]

has he stil got his knackers?

[Ronnie]

Yes and they´re bigger than mine in case you wanted to know.

[sly fox]

errr not really... well knackers on a dog makes em more aggressive

u need the dog whisperer mate

[Mrs Monsta]

errr not really... well knackers on a dog makes em more aggressive

But if the aggression has been there for a long time, there is the problem of learned behaviour. Meaning: if the dog has been doing that for a while, then it will keep doing that, regardless of whether he has his accoutrements or not.

How old is the dog?

[straad]

honestly if you let him get his head nearly bitten off by a GSD i can see why he is that way
a puppy getting attacked at a young age will often cause dog aggression
my dogs are trained to fight people but if a dog comes i would fight it to keep it off my dog, of course i carry a gun and a knife and have mace for the wife when she walks them. I fucking HATE unleashed dogs. All the moron owners think they have control over them, well sure as long as the dog wants what you want but once there is a real distraction their dog is just as bad as a wild one
we train with distractions, do obedience with other dogs running by them balls bouncing over them people fighting by them, cars bikes etc... only then will you know what your dog will do, and i still walk my dog with a pinch collar
...sorry rant over

your problem,
the dog needs to associate dogs with good things
he now associates them with bad things
Start with focus training
you say any word (mark) and then feed your dog a treat
then after a few sessions only say the word when he looks at you (ie dog looks in your eyes you say YES feed dog treat)
this is the basis for marker training, tons of books and videos on it
do this over several sessions and he will learn whatever word u use (ie. "yes", "good" etc...) means look at you and get a treat

then you walk very far from another dog, as soon as he sees the dog u mark/treat
rinse repeat over and over millions of times eventually you move the dog closer still reward
eventually the dog learns other dogs mean i get a treat
the trick is don't rush it.
go very very slow you want to always win, never loose and have to back up

its a lot of work, most people ask but the answer is not easy so they never do it
could take months or years depends on how often you work it, do it every day it goes fast, once a month not so much

[Mrs Monsta]

Do you really have to use a food treat as a reward?
When we trained dogs, it was always "praise" and heaps of it.
Like a real ruffle up or scratch behind ear.
Remember... you won't always have food on you. And he will expect a food reward.

[MonstaDwarf]

There is a place for both food rewards and praise. they both work on the basis of positive reinforcement and critical distance. As was mentioned. Be in a position where YOU can be in control and be patient. Pattern learning takes little time to go from the teaching to training phase but a long time from the learning to proofed. If you use food then hopefully you will realise that food can be phased out and needen't be used once you dog is proffed.