# 5 year old Male aggressive towards all dogs



## dgmama (Nov 29, 2012)

All I can suggest is going to a professional trainer. Trust me, best money you will ever spend! I'll give you my experience as an owner of what I thought was an aggressive 6 year old golden. He was like yours, when he saw a dog he would go absolutely crazy, pulling, lunging, barking, yelping. If he did go up, he'd stare at them for two seconds, then start growling and barking. It was really scary for me! I hated walking him, and being nervous if dogs came our way. Now that I've gone to a positive reinforcement trainer, Diego is completely different, a new dog. When I first went, we learned that he was not an aggressive dog, he was never socialized as a puppy, so he simply didn't have any manners. Ginger, his sister, was actually the problem the whole time. She would start the barking, but Diego would just take it to another level, he's a male and more stubborn. If we had stopped Ginger early on, their would never had been any issues.

What training have we done? I taught him heel, touch, watch me, and really got our stays pat down. I have gotten really firm with him, and not let him do anything on his terms, only on mine. I tell him what I want him to do, never ask. I bought a SENSE-ible harness to control him while in the process of teaching him heel. Heel is very important for us, I have more control, and Diego knows he better not pull or lunge. I have also given him jobs to do, I HIGHLY recommend a dog backpack. If your dog has a favorite toy, let him carry it on a walk. Get involved in agility, or nose work. Diego's new favorite game is taking toys out of his toy box, bringing it to me, and putting back. Exercise plays a big role in their behavior, the more tired he is, the more he listens and behaves.

So when we first started his training, we clicked and treated, over and over. Click treat click treat click treat. High value rewards. Start from a distance he's comfortable at, and slowly close the gap. If he is uncontrollable, use a head collar, please don't resort to a prong or choke, those can really worsen your situation.

All the training that we've done with my boy has made me such a happy owner. He loves doggy daycare, and can play with dogs off leash, which I would never ever ever ever ever think that would be possible.

Hang in there! You're not alone!


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## rusal200 (Jul 16, 2011)

Thank you so much for sharing your story and helpful feedback. We know the lack of exercise is not helping his behavior and also never having a male dog has taught us somethings. We have also been owners of female dogs who have been perfect in every way. But our golden (Echo) as a puppy he wasn't socialized at all. He was attacked when he was just a puppy, and we weren't sure if that played a factor in his attitude towards other dogs. We have been looking into training. But it always nice to hear from others who have had this problem. I'm getting tired of hearing people say " your dog can't be aggressive, he is a golden!" If I may ask just one more question about training. When I do walk him I bring tasty treats (and I mean tasty) to give him when we do see a dog or have to walk past them. I thought maybe if he associated dogs with treats it would help his want to whine, bark, and lung at dogs. Or is this something that could make him worse. If you know anything about that I would love to hear more, otherwise your input is greatly appreciated by me!


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## dgmama (Nov 29, 2012)

Yes, I always hated that too. :doh:

You are right about treating when other dogs come by, so he associates dogs with good things. He will soon turn to you when he sees them. For instance, there was this really annoying small dog that got loose just about every time on our walk. He'd chase us, growl, bark like heck, and follow us everywhere. After the third time Diego knew that paying attention to it was a no no. He realized if he focused on me instead, he'd get that yummy beef liver I had. It's hard to point at what the exact problem is, as I am only sharing what I know from my own experience. At first I thought Diego had fear aggression. Which is basically him freaking out so the other dog would go away. It's bad if you try to train a dog when you don't know the actual problem, so that's why I highly highly highly recommend seeing a professional. In just one session they can tell you what's wrong, and the training he needs.

I really like this video by the way.


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## CITIgolden (Mar 9, 2013)

One good resource - I think you should think about professional trainer as well and a backpack, the backpack helped me avoid letting my dog getting more aggressive

Leerburg | Dealing with the Aggressive Dog


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