My dog is a fighter.

[Radar Chief]

How do I cure it? She’s a Catahoula cur.
She’s great with people, very friendly and loving, but get her around another dog and it’s on. This weekend she got in a fight with a buddies blood hound one day and another buddies German short hair the next.
I hate it. I can’t take her anywhere with me if she’s constantly trying to dominate every dog we run across.
So, any helpful hints? How do I tame an aggressive dog without breaking her spirit?

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by tooge

This is gonna sound strange, but it works. Mount your dog. She needs to be dominated so she doesn't think she is the pack leader when you are around. Put her on her back and straddle her and muzzle her face and tell her NO loudly when she does it next, in the presence of the other dog. Or call that Ceasar guy.

I'm sorry, but this is awful advice. First - this issue clearly isn't dominance within the household. Second - Ceasar Milan is a cherry picker that looks great because he can train dogs which were raised by absolute Fing reeruns.

If you take a dog with a true chemical issue or legitimately ingrained hostility and try that alpha roll bullshit, you'll end up with an extremely dangerous animal on your hands. You're likely to have a dog that now sees itself in competition with humans rather than just dogs. Or you'll end up with a standoffish dog determined not to slip any further in the pecking order. Sure, he may see you as the dude that can whup him, but maybe not that 7 year old next door. I cannot recommend strongly enough against that thing (and Milan in general).

My recommendation, though frowned on by some, has always been an adjustable shock collar. You'll need one with variable settings and never use more than is absolutely necessary to resolve a situation. You will also need to train the dog on just exactly what it means. I know a guy that got one, slapped it on his dog and proceeded to blast the hell out of the thing anytime it did something wrong. Well the poor dog didn't know what the shock was, where it was coming from or what it signified. All that did was create a nervous animal.

You need to put him in a controlled situation with a 'benign' distraction (like a child with a dog treat or something). Put a long check-cord on him and let him go towards the distraction. Tell him to come, invariably he will not and then you'll activate the shock collar while pulling on the check-cord. As soon as he breaks from the distraction and starts coming back like you said, release the charge. It won't take him long to realize that the shock means that he needs to stop what he's doing and listen for your command. In time you can dial the shock down to where it's just a chirp and no real juice.

The nice thing about the variable power, however, is that if he's in a real mess and won't listen, the option of incapacitating him is always there. I've never needed it, but it's an option worth having. Just remember, to the man with a hammer, the world looks like a nail. Don't go overboard with the juice on those things, it's not designed to hurt but to re-focus.

After a few of those situations arise, the dog will realize that it's the aggression towards other animals that's getting him the shock and if you're discreet enough with the remote, he'll never associate the pain with you, simply the commands. Anytime you're in a situation where he may see another dog, have the collar on him and ready to rock. In time you may be able to wean him off it. If you can't, c'est la vie, but it's still an effective tool for managing the situation even if it can't fully eliminate it.

[JD10367]

Dogs are strange. They have very specific ideas about things, a lot of it ingrained. A friend of my dad's had a dog, some sort of Shepherd/Husky mix, I think. They got him as a puppy, when they had an older cat. That cat ruled over that puppy, even though he was bigger than her.

The puppy grew up into a very large and ornery dog. The thing's head was huge. It would growl at everyone. God forbid it got out, it would fight with any other dog and kick it's ass soundly. And as much as it hated other dogs, it seemed to hate cats even more. If it came across one, it was all over. Basically, any other living thing it could get at, it would rip to shreds.

And yet, even after going out and fighting with other dogs and literally killing cats if it could find any, this killing machine would go home, and there was the old cat, now almost 20 and barely stable on it's paws. And this giant dog would love that cat, and cuddle with it and lick it and protect it, and if anyone went near that cat he'd growl at them and eyeball them. It never associated the thing in the house with the things outside. That old cat finally died, and that dog moped for weeks.

[Lzen]

Cesar Milan knows what he is talking about. I recommend watching a few episodes of the Dog Whisperer. Seriously, download them or whatever you need to do. Ignore what some of his detractors say. He just doesn't follow the typical dog trainer ways. But he has also rehabbed many a dangerous dog into calm and balanced dogs where a lot of other so called experts would just have given up and had the dog put down.

[MOhillbilly]

Monks of New Skete books, read them, re-read em.

[Brock]

Originally Posted by Lzen

Cesar Milan knows what he is talking about. I recommend watching a few episodes of the Dog Whisperer. Seriously, download them or whatever you need to do. Ignore what some of his detractors say. He just doesn't follow the typical dog trainer ways. But he has also rehabbed many a dangerous dog into calm and balanced dogs where a lot of other so called experts would just have given up and had the dog put down.

I'd be interested to see the Cesar failures, and you know there's a bunch of them.

['Hamas' Jenkins]

Originally Posted by Brock

I'd be interested to see the Cesar failures, and you know there's a bunch of them.

+1.

****ing Mike Vick could look competent given the right editing crew.

[MOhillbilly]

radar, how 'on' is your dog? jump out the window when it sees fur 'on'? or saddle up next to another dog, show some hackles and teeth waitin for a submissive position 'on'?

[Bwana]

Originally Posted by Brock

I'd be interested to see the Cesar failures, and you know there's a bunch of them.

No doubt about that. The guys is good at what he does, but there is now way in hell he nails it 100% of the time, no way.

[DeezNutz]

Originally Posted by Brock

I'd be interested to see the Cesar failures, and you know there's a bunch of them.

Ironically, his last failing was same day I was last wrong about an argument.

About 9 years ago, as I recall.

[Radar Chief]

Originally Posted by MOhillbilly

radar, how 'on' is your dog? jump out the window when it sees fur 'on'? or saddle up next to another dog, show some hackles and teeth waitin for a submissive position 'on'?

That's pretty close.
I mounted an eyebolt in the bed of my truck with a leash that keeps her in the bed but as soon as she’s loose around another dog she’s got her hackles up looking to dominate.
A fishing buddy has a huge yellow lab/German Sheppard mix she didn’t dominate but he’s about the only one, and honestly she was working on wearing him out, keeping him moving by circling and nipping at his backside, when I took her home.

[CoMoChief]

Originally Posted by GoChiefs

Sell her to Michael Vick.

I'm surprised it took even that long before someone made a Vick reference.

[tooge]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

I'm sorry, but this is awful advice. First - this issue clearly isn't dominance within the household. Second - Ceasar Milan is a cherry picker that looks great because he can train dogs which were raised by absolute Fing reeruns.

If you take a dog with a true chemical issue or legitimately ingrained hostility and try that alpha roll bullshit, you'll end up with an extremely dangerous animal on your hands. You're likely to have a dog that now sees itself in competition with humans rather than just dogs. Or you'll end up with a standoffish dog determined not to slip any further in the pecking order. Sure, he may see you as the dude that can whup him, but maybe not that 7 year old next door. I cannot recommend strongly enough against that thing (and Milan in general).

My recommendation, though frowned on by some, has always been an adjustable shock collar. You'll need one with variable settings and never use more than is absolutely necessary to resolve a situation. You will also need to train the dog on just exactly what it means. I know a guy that got one, slapped it on his dog and proceeded to blast the hell out of the thing anytime it did something wrong. Well the poor dog didn't know what the shock was, where it was coming from or what it signified. All that did was create a nervous animal.

You need to put him in a controlled situation with a 'benign' distraction (like a child with a dog treat or something). Put a long check-cord on him and let him go towards the distraction. Tell him to come, invariably he will not and then you'll activate the shock collar while pulling on the check-cord. As soon as he breaks from the distraction and starts coming back like you said, release the charge. It won't take him long to realize that the shock means that he needs to stop what he's doing and listen for your command. In time you can dial the shock down to where it's just a chirp and no real juice.

The nice thing about the variable power, however, is that if he's in a real mess and won't listen, the option of incapacitating him is always there. I've never needed it, but it's an option worth having. Just remember, to the man with a hammer, the world looks like a nail. Don't go overboard with the juice on those things, it's not designed to hurt but to re-focus.

After a few of those situations arise, the dog will realize that it's the aggression towards other animals that's getting him the shock and if you're discreet enough with the remote, he'll never associate the pain with you, simply the commands. Anytime you're in a situation where he may see another dog, have the collar on him and ready to rock. In time you may be able to wean him off it. If you can't, c'est la vie, but it's still an effective tool for managing the situation even if it can't fully eliminate it.

Um, that was mostly a joke. I am guessing by all the previous Radar posts that he already knew about pack behavior. Let me be less subtle. Put a bunch of peanut butter on your nuts. Dog wont want to fight. You wont hate dog so much.

[MOhillbilly]

Originally Posted by Radar Chief

Yes.
I mounted an eyebolt in the bed of my truck with a leash that keeps her in the bed but as soon as she’s loose around another dog she’s got her hackles up looking to dominate.
A fishing buddy has a huge yellow lab/German Sheppard mix she didn’t dominate but he’s about the only one, and honestly she was working on wearing him out, keeping him moving by circling and nipping at his backside, when I took her home.

pfffff, i dont know man. you can cut your loss and cull the dog or get those parting sticks(make your own outta hammer handles).keep one at the house & one in the truck.
You MAY be able to break her w/ a shock collar but it will never be a 100% guarantee. This is a known willful breed, hardheaded as they come by all accounts ive heard/read.
Me i wouldnt give up on her and give her the benefit of the doubt(being as young as she is), unless she gets over the top wild or shows any kind of latent human aggresion. If she starts to get people mean (and they are known to be man biters) id cull her with a hard heart and move on.

[JD10367]

Originally Posted by tooge

Let me be less subtle. Put a bunch of peanut butter on your nuts. Dog wont want to fight. You wont hate dog so much.

And if the dog does want to fight, he's gonna play rope-tug with your nads. No thanks, I think you're safer with The Stranger. Or a cat, maybe. They have those nice rough little tongues. So I've heard.

[DJ's left nut]

Agreed.

People aggressive - "If it bites, say goodnight"

There are too many good dogs that get put down in shelters every day to waste your effort on a dog that's one more slip from massive legal liability (the 'one bite' rule isn't exactly good law anymore, but most courts still follow some reasonable facsimile of it). That's a loose cannon that you'll just never feel comfortable around.