Update On Anton, The Fear Aggressive GSD

Some of you may remember my threads a few months ago about my rescue Shepherd, Anton, being aggressive towards both dogs AND people.

I am happy to say that he is making good progress.

Walks are becoming much more enjoyable as he is now far more inclined to watch me and get a tasty tidbit than mouth off at other dogs. Off lead, the news is even better! Depending on what we are doing, he will either focus totally on his ball and ignore other dogs, or, if we meet a friendly dog, he'll go and play (provided I give him the go ahead)! He's made friends with a local Rottie who walks at a similar time to us, a Jack Russel and a little Beagle cross.

I'm so pleased - we had never really had any trouble with him offlead, but because of how he behaved onlead (barking, etc.), we were terrified that he might hurt another person's dog. Thanks to some of the advice given on here, we were able to arrange a meeting between him and a friends dog, and found out that really, it had all been in our heads.

We're still careful - I don't think he would take kindly to a not-so-friendly dog, for example - but it has certainly taken a weight off our shoulders.

His aggression towards some people is still puzzling, but due to careful management, we have had no further incidents.

What we have found is that he has no problem meeting people outside of the house - people are able to approach us when we have him, even have a little stroke if they introduce themselves correctly to him and he complies. This may be down to us doing a little exercise with him where we would take him for a walk, then have a friend who was aware of his history approach us and talk. Anton never reacted badly to any of them and got treated throughout the chat by the friend.

My nan and grandad took him on a boating holiday recently and he allowed people to come in and out of the boat with no fuss whatsoever - he ignored them more than anything, which is what he used to be like in the house when we first got him.

In the house, if we have visitors, he is muzzled at all times and confined to one room. Visitors are told to totally ignore him. Despite this, he is usually very tense and restless when visitors are in the house - he likes to see what's going on at all times and doesn't like visitors making unexpected movements (this is why he is muzzled, as he is inclined to snap when visitors move unexpectedly). We have also had visitors giving him treats through his muzzle, but this, so far, hasn't had any great effect on him (we will continue doing it regardless, it may gradually start to help).

This has led me to wonder if it's more of a territorial thing in the house than a fear thing. Does anyone else think it may be down to this? And does anyone have any advice on helping him keep calm whilst we have visitors?

Just a quickie and re the visitors/treats - if he is feaful, it is usually best to allow visitors to drop treats on the floor without looking at the dog, as otherwise you may have a dog in conflict - one who will want the treats, but who will be nervous if a person makes a "wrong" move. Some dogs will nip or bite in this scenario, as they may not have the flight option

So it may be best to get people to ignore him, drop treats, and over time (it may be months rather than days) they can graduate to throwing them near to him, then end up giving them via the muzzle .....

You can tell when he is ready because he will start to look kind of expectant, maybe a little happy, when he sees visitors.

Wys
x

Hi
have not been on Dogsey very long but sounds like you and Anton are making great progress. Am sorry don't have any advice but sometimes people are nervous/apprehensive? of dogs if they know the dog has a behaviour problem(sorry that sound awful but don't know how better to say it), which makes them tense and passes to the dog. I remember a programme where visitors gave the dog a treat as they walked up to the house and if the dog relaxed went further. They were told to ignore the dog when in the house, not make any sudden movements and do things very gradually. Sorry this not much help but hope things continue to get better.

Thank you very much for this, we'll try this next time instead of them giving them to him. Might relax him a little more, sounds like a very good idea.

Some people are unconfident, whereas other visitors (mainly men ) are overconfident and try too hard, which we have to tell them not to, because it freaks Anton out. However, the muzzle gives most people a bit of confidence - every little helps, I guess.

The bit about only progressing when the dog relaxes sounds like another good thing to try out. Will have to get some volunteers together and try this out.

Does anyone have any idea as to why he is less confident with strangers in the house than outside the house?

Also, what is normal and what is not normal when dogs play? We met a big Labradoodle dog tonight, they greeted each other by sniffing each others muzzles, then zoomed around in circles with Anton chasing. Occasionally they'd stop and rear up at each other, then they'd run about again, then stop and have a sniff, then zoom again. This is how he plays with most dogs, but tonight he went completely deaf while doing it, so it's back to the drawing board with 'recall away from a distraction'!

The Labradoodles owners stopped to watch and were smiling, unconcerned, but I'm still not entirely sure what is and isn't acceptable?

Its all sounding positive. Well done.

I agree with Wys on the visitors dropping treats on the floor and no eye contact. The other one I have heard but not tried myself is when visitor is sitting down place treats close too where they are sitting and then eventually place on the arm of the chair but it still has too be no eye contact or interaction at all until the dog is ready.

You could be right about the territorial thing Ollie is far worse in the house than out.

We have a no eye-contact rule with him and visitors as it is, eye-contact is possibly his worst trigger. Thanks for the advice, may try the sitting one once he's mellowed out with visitors a bit. Also, interesting to hear that your Ollie is similar, how does Ollie react when you have visitors over and what is your 'routine' for when they're there, if you don't mind me asking? Just wondering what works for other people.

Personally I think that depends on the individual dogs and how they like to play. My rottie mix would play bitey face, chase, wrestling and pretty much any game another dog wanted to play. My border collie mix would play chase with dogs who had the honor of not being completely ignored. Any contact got a firm warning to back off. Rupert thinks body slamming a running dog and knocking them off their feet is great fun, needless to say the victim usually does NOT and it could really hurt them so I have to really control his play with the few dogs he's friendly with.

As long as both dogs were happy with the way the play was going, one wasn't bullying the other and it didn't get too rough I always just left them to it.

Ahh, thanks for this! It looked a bit rough because they were both leaping all over each other, but the other dog seemed quite happy to keep playing and neither dog seemed distressed, plus the other owners were smiling, so I guess it was just me being a worrier as usual! I'll keep monitoring him carefully to make sure he doesn't play too rough or get on the wrong side of any dogs that aren't up for chasey games.

Well done to you and Anton. He`s a lucky boy. I`d say just keep doing what you`re doing. He`s made so much progress and sometimes you forget just how far they`ve come.
After 3 years, Daisy still has her moments. But now they`re more for effect than anything. But I still shut her away before opening the door - and probably always will. There`s no reason for her to meet casual visitors. If it`s friend, they ignore her till she gets to know them then I usually suggest they chuck a ball for her, and she`s their friend for life.

Haha, yes, Anton still has his moments, and no doubt always will every now and again, just to keep us on our toes.

Anton goes to mum's house when we have workman coming in (when the washing machines dies or whatever else), we don't see the point in putting either him or the workman through it, but we don't want to do that when friends/family come over because it's not always possible or fair on mum - luckily, we're making steady progress, and with the advice on here, we should be able to further it more and more.

With the ball would work for Anton - but he's just not interested inside. Outside, he won't take his eyes off it, inside he just doesn't care that much. Maybe we'll fill Kongs for people to give him instead, he does loooove those.