Circumstances in HA dog

We seem to be getting off topic here but I'll anwser your question. A dog that flat out shows HA should be put down, no if ands or buts....But a dog that growls at you because of something you did to it, or your playing around with it got to serious and it felt scared give it a sharp NO command and have it sit or lay down. That way you are asking it to do something, thus enforcing your roll as pack leader. You have to understand that dogs, like people, sometimes don't feel like playing around. And like I said in my first post dogs can't speak english, so they growl to say "hey, not right now". Let us not be like the people who want to destroy our breed by confusing a HA dog with a dog who simply growled cause it was afraid or it wasn't in the mood for rough play. Our dogs have rights too. When we don't feel like playing or something we exspect our dogs to understand and comply. Why can't we do the same for our dogs, they do so much for us.

 

Punishment has been proven to NOT be an effective means of training.

This dog needs multiple things to correct his issue that YOU have created.

First should be a Nothing In Life Is Free program. This means that he has to do something (work) for everything that he gets. This includes going through doorways, getting on the furniture, being petted, eating, etc. This will reinforce your roll as the "pack leader". Dog THRIVE on structure.

http://k9deb.com/nilif.htm

You have confused the crap out of this dog by treating him as an equal (rough housing, letting him sleep on the bed). Then when he treats you like a dog back, you administered a correction that was far too harsh for the "crime" committed. When dogs correct other dogs (and how people should correct their dogs) it is a quick, sharp correction (snap, bite) that is then followed by things returning to normal. Dogs don't hold grudges or continue to "punish" each other after they have administered their correction.

As part of the plan where he is the dog and you are the human (and pack leader), you need to stop rough housing with him. Slapping him in the face and wrestling with him are asking for trouble. This is encouraging aggressive behavior, then when he shows it, you are punishing him- see why he is confused?

Take him to a training class instead, preferably one that is positive motivation based. At this point the dog is peeing in fear, the last thing he needs is to go to some hack trainer that wants you to swing him in circles on a prong collar. Try a clicker class, which will make training fun for the dog. Regain his trust and work on building up your relationship again. You will be surprised how hard he will work for you and what he can learn, as well as how much it will improve your relationship. I used to think clicker was fad training and hokey bullshite, but I am hooked now. I have taught my Presa Canario's all sorts of stuff, and everyone knows that they have skulls denser than concrete... I spent years trying to work my one dog in traditional (correction based) training with very little luck and a miserable dog, then switched to clicker- within a month she has added dozens of words to her repertoire and LIKES to train now. It's an amazing transformation. Don't knock it till you give it a real go.

For good exercise get him out walking and working a springpole or flirt. A tired dog is a well behaved dog.

Best of luck,

Genevieve

 

i don't believe in beating the shit out of your dog but i have popped my dogs before with a smack across the nose or butt. this gets their attention and it is only after telling them no and not having them listen or pay attention to me. yall can call me stupid but when i was younger i was really into wolves and wolfpacks and i learned a lot about the way they "speak" to each other and i use that when i am with my dogs. if i feel one is going out of line i just walk up to him/her dominantly while looking in their eyes until they drop their gaze or roll over. then i will grab their muzzle and give it a gentle shake just like a wolf does to assert his dominance. i have also been known to growl/bark at my dogs, lol. if anyone sees a problem with doing that, let me know because i have never had a problem before.

 

I was going to post a lengthy reply but Genevieve above said just about everything I was going to.

Hitting does NOT equal training.

Punishing growling (by hitting, etc), is not going to solve any aggression problems you may have - it will merely teach the dog that his warning system is fruitless. Next time he'll skip the growl and go straight for the bite.

And IMO, the OP's dog was placed in an extremely unfair position - he merely growled AFTER escape did not work. He could have just as easily seriously bitten you. If you've had this dog for 3 years with no incidents, given what you've written, I wouldn't even consider that you have a "human aggressive" dog - ALL dogs, in SOME situation CAN AND WILL growl or BITE. It's just that dogs have varying thresholds, and for some dogs that threshold may never be reached in their lifetime.

Harsh training methods can seriously ruin a dog - good dogs are put down due to bad advice given by even 'professional trainers'. Please keep this in mind.

 

great thread, a lot of info and different views

 

exactly wat i was thinking

 

My biggest regret was using physical punishment with training my first dog (still have him.) I wish I had known better, he would probably be 100 times the dog he is now. Just no need for it, IMO.

That being said, I'm sure different dogs have different reactions for it. Some pit bulls, especially once you get into ones that have been bred to be more of a generic dog in build and temperament that you would commonly see in show rings, can probably take discipline better that a game bred bulldog. Not because the bulldog has a poor temperament, but just because there's no need from the generations of breeding in that super willingness to please and drive.

 

Not to discuss for the sake of discussion, but it looks like your daddy beat your @ , as in the case of that song "my name is lucas" lol. My father corrected me without excess and moderately when had to be , the same i do training all my dogs.