Difficult dog question.

[TNDemo]

I have a dog aggressive Boston Terrier. I got him two years ago from Animal Control. He was almost a year old - probably a puppy mill dog taken away too early from its mother and not socialized properly. I brought him home to a bagle (beagle/bassett) and a cat. He is definitely dominant but aside from being annoying at times gets along with them but cannot tolerate any other dog. We have done basic dog training but have never been able to get the dog aggressiveness under control. I talked to the vet last week about it and she said it is a very difficult behavior to break and an average dog trainer can't do it. It would have to be really intensive training that would probably cost in the thousands before it's over and the success rate is not great. My daughter and her dog just left our house. For two years we have tried to socialize these dogs to no avail. Her dog is very sweet and gentle but we cannot let them be together because my BT spazzes out. We put up a gate at the stairs to keep them on different floors but this time the BT climbed it and immediately attacked the visiting dog. There were about three incidents over the last few days where he managed to get access to her and we had to pull apart the snarling growling mess.

99% of the time he is fine - just home with us. The only real problem is if he is around another dog. We do walk him in the neighborhood and try to distract appropriately if another dog approaches and reward good behavior, but it's a band-aid on a gaping wound. My great fear is that he will get out the door or the fence and attack another dog. I will not surrender him to a rescue or pound because this behavior will not improve and there are too many well behaved dogs that need to be adopted and I would be very clear about what his issues are so he will end up euthanized anyway. I am trying to decide if I should consider euthanasia. We love him and he is great entertainment but I am terrified he will kill another animal if let loose. So what would you do? Just continue being vigilent about him not getting out and enjoying him otherwise or put him down before something bad happens?

[La Lioness Priyanka]

1. i am going to pm you

[flvegan]

2. You brought him home to another dog.

How did that go initially? You say he's fine with that dog, but otherwise not at all. Also, does he act immediately aggressive with other dogs when out on these walks?

[TNDemo]

4. Immediately aggressive - on sight.

Today we went out to lunch and my daughter starting questioning herself if she really pushed the door to where her dog was. We had a terrible time until we got home wondering if we were going to find a pile of fur and blood. I said if he hurts or kills that dog this will be his last day and she said she might do it herself, although she had just finished telling me I shouldn't consider it before we left. I think all that anxiety worrying if he had gotten access to her dog made me think I have to get serious in my thinking. Of course talking about it is much easier than doing it because we really do love him.

[rebel with a cause]

3. I have a lab mix that can be somewhat dog aggressive with

larger dogs, but it is merely a defensive behavior. In her lifetime she has lived next door to a Great Dane that attacked her (and me) every chance he got and later a Chow that attacked her but not me. She is also cat aggressive while her sister is not, but they lived different lives. When Isis was a puppy we lived next to a large park where people dropped their unwanted cats and these cats ran in wild packs. Almost every time we would try to walk Isis the cats would attack her from the bushes. I got to where I disliked the cats almost to the point she did. Isis is a sweet dog but, like humans, her experiences have left her with some dislikes/distrust toward others.

Perhaps your dog had some bad experiences when he was a puppy also. I personally would just continue being vigilant about him but then I don't know how aggressive he gets. Isis is just barking, growling and threatening with larger dogs but would fight if they attacked back and if I allowed it.

[Kali]

5. he IS neutered, right?

[S n o w b a l l]

6. Do you have a doggy day care anywhere near you?

I have an Akita, a breed known to be dog aggressive and when she's out in the yard, and see's another dog, she goes ballistic. Funny thing though is she had no problem with my adopting my other dog or when I dog sit my sister's bagel. If she sees that I'm ok with the dog, she's fine.

My point about the doggy day care though is this. I had to board both my dogs for a week during the day while I had contractors inside my house. While she was there, they said she was completely fine with the other dogs across the fence. No growling or barking so I think it's a territorial and protection thing with her. If I really thought she'd do bad harm to another dog, human or animal, I'd take her there every
day and have them work with her and socialization.

It only cost $15/day and I'm sure if they have trainers or experienced handlers there, which they should, and you asked them to work with your dog, they probably would for little extra charge. It would be worth a try if you have a facility like this close to you.

[TNDemo]

7. Hadn't thought about that.

I'll have to check it out.

[JCMach1]

8. We have a Saluki-mix with food agression and sleepy-time bitchiness

Have tried all the experts tricks and NOTHING.

And yeah, she has bitten over this.

[lunatica]

9. Sounds like your dog needs you to be the Alpha

He may need strict boundaries imposed by you which you can do by distracting him as soon as you see the aggressive behavior start by doing a quick little jerk on his collar or bumping him with your hand just hard enough to get his attention and following it with "no" or "stay" or "sit". If you're the boss he'll likely give up his self imposed role of alpha dog. Usually with good results.

Cesar Millan had a program named "The Dog Whisperer" and he shows these types of techniques without every abusing or punishing dogs.

http://www.cesarsway.com/tips/

[TNDemo]

10. We have tried all those techniques while walking.

He just goes into a manic frenzy and we cannot distract him enough usually and he ends up trying to bite the leash to get himself free. I sprayed Bitter Yuck on it to try to get him to stop. When we are at home we can give him commands and he will comply but once he spies a dog, it's all over. We usually just end up picking him up and walking until past the dog.

[lunatica]

12. Sounds like some kind of bad training or experience

Maybe his previous owners trained him to attack other dogs and the only reason he accepted your dog was because your dog was already in the house when he came along.

[elleng]

11. Call the Dog Whisperer!