Fear Aggression

Wow! What a day. Today, I was working with a dog named Chico. He was the worst case of fear aggression I have ever seen. On our first visit, he did everything in his power to kill me. I found that when submitting the dog, he tended to become more afraid, and that triggered his aggression.

So, on my next visit I changed my tactics. I invited some people over to their house that had not had any real dealings with the dog. I asked the mom to step outside, and put the muzzle, leash, and the collar on the dog. Then I asked her to put the dog on a sit, and stay about ten feet back from the door. I ask the others in the house to come up one at a time and get a piece of ham (I asked the men to take several pieces of ham since the dog showed more aggression towards men than women). Then I asked them to walk up to the dog with confidence (no touch, no talk, and no eye contact), and kneel straight down, and put the treat on the ground in front of the dog. As soon as the dog took the treat they were to go back inside the house. We did this with all the guests in the house. Then we went through some training. I had different members of the house take turns walking the dog. We ended the exercise the same way, by having each person walk up, kneel down, and then offer the treat. Then they stood up, and went back into the house.

This worked out very well, and at the very end, I was able to get the dog to accept the treats from my hand. This left the dog with a positive experience when dealing with strangers, instead of growling, and then being submitted. His first sight of us was positive with food reward, and last thing we did was positive with food reward.

Thanks to the cooperation of their entire family, I now believe Chico is well on his way to having a well balanced life.