To all the people who say aggressive dogs shouldn`t be in their class I say... one day YOU will have an aggressive dog. What will you do?
A good trainer will manage a class well enough to accomodate one or two difficult dogs, or provide a programme for them.

I'm all for inclusive classes.

I know of one owner who was "put in the corner" at class, whilst the owner pleaded for help, the dog got worse and worse, eventually it was returned to the breeder.

Someone else was told not to go back to class by another trainer, that shattered her confidence, she keeps her dog on lead and away from everyone (now going to class with a more understanding trainer).

Anyone who owns a DA dog who goes to classes is at least showing some commitment to that dog and should be given all the support they need (imo).

I agree-last thing you want is them to have bad experiences or fears that could hinder their learning and development.

Funny thing with Cherry is that she has never ever been reactive to any puppy-even one in the vets that was the size of a horse! (Great Dane puppy). She knows they are pups and not worried they are going to have a go at her I guess.

That is a very constructive and helpful post-thank you for being so understanding!

The strange thing is dogs do not always behave how you expect them to in a class anyway. Although I had told the trainer of the class about Cherry's problems before I went she behaved perfectly in the class and never even loked wrongly at another dog! I felt like an idiot as if they were thinking I had some sort of physchological complaint that I had to pretend my dog had problems!

Trying hard to write a reply that doesn't sound mean! I do believe that DA dogs need the opportunity to learn, however only if there is no risk (physically or emotionally) to any other dog. I don't think its appropriate to put puppies in that situation as it could affect the rest of their lives if it went wrong. Its not fair to risk anyone elses dog. Any dog who is disruptive or affects the quality of the training for anyone else should be asked to leave, not just DA dogs.

There are classes where a DA dog can be sucessfully trained, but not all classes would be suitable. Why assume all the other dogs will be well behaved? Any off-lead exercise has the potential for a dog to come running over to you. Thats why its a training class

I suppose alot would depend whether you were actually trying to train your dog at the classes or whether it was entirely a behavioural excercise.

Its a difficult question and its very dependent on individual circumstances. Hard to give a black and white opinion when there are so many variables!

Its a shame when you are pushed past what you know your dog can cope with. Surely its better to wait until you are sure than go too fast and risk an incident. We did outdoor recalls once when the previous class were over-running in the hall. I refused to do it with Toby. He'd probably have been fine but I wasn't 100% sure and it wasn't a safe place if he decided to run. Its great that you had the confidence to leave classes you weren't happy with. Pushing people to try things is different when the result of failure could be injury


Btw my aunty has dog with "issues" who attends regular training and can do all kinds of tricks and dancing. She doesn't like Toby but if they are in the same room we manage the situation and I'm happy that they are safe. However when he was a puppy she did take a snap at him and he wouldn't go near another dog for weeks. If I'd known better I wouldn't have put a young pup in that situation, even a little snap can affect them so much

The first class I ever attended with Keisha was a class just for dog aggressive large breed dogs, Akitas, GSDs, A big bull breed and a husky/samoyed type?

I was dreading it. I thought it was going to be a disaster. Well, I have never been in a room with so many huge, well behaved dogs before, it was perfect. The dogs did us owners so proud our confidence, both owners and dogs shot up after 20 minutes, by the end of the 6 week course we were all as proud as punch and our relationships had really changed with our dogs.

The trainer was amazing, we were all so aware of distances between dogs, we had benches with covers up etc..recall was on a long line, we entered with our dogs one by one, left one by one in the same pattern, we all worked so hard, amazing it was .

Any well ran class, ran by good trainers should be able to have DA dogs in no problem.

Personally I find it a bit sad how many people have said that DA dogs shouldn't come to training classes

I do agree they shouldn't be in puppy classes. I also agree they need to be well handled and shouldn't compromise the safety of other dogs. Equally if they are totally disrupting the class the odds are that the DA dog is finding the aituation too much and probably shouldn't be there yet. However DA dogs probably need training even more than normal dogs as it's a safety issue if they aren't under the owners control.

Most people don't WANT a DA dog. I wish more than anything that Cain wasn't like this. Things are hard enough without people being negative towards people working hard to re-train these dogs. If they don't come to classes, how do you propose they get any better behaved?

The park is just too stimulating for Cain and he struggles to concentrate. The classes are invaluable as it teaches Cain to be calm and concentrate and behave around other dogs, an opportunity which we couldn't get anywhere else.

I keep him on his Halti in case he does lunge and my trainer is very good at arranging the class ie who works next to us and ensuring we have enough space. If I felt it necessary I would muzzle him, luckily Cain seems more dog reactive than actually aggressive.

I am lucky that we have a small class and a good trainer and a group of understanding regulars who know Cain's difficulties and support us. In return I do my best to keep Cain under control and not disrupt the class. I'd be very hurt if I felt people didn't want us there, why shouldn't Cain have the same rights to learning how to be a well mannered dog?

Of course I don't agree with dangerous dogs compromising other dogs safety but it can be managed. Some people may suggest that all DA dogs should go to a class together but I think this would make Cain worse, the other dogs being calm relaxes him.

One last thing to those who think DA dogs should not go to class - do you not think that it could actually be beneficial to your dogs to learn to ignore grumpy dogs and focus on you in any circumstance? Then if you come across a DA dog off lead in a park then hopefully your dog will remain calm and listen to you as it's not a new situation.

Being the owner of a DA dog, I am biased but I strongly feel that unless I work with Cain he'll never get better. Having a DA dog is massively stressful so please spare a thought for the owner and try and be a bit supportive. After all one of your dogs may have a bad experience and become DA...how would you feel then?

i took lola to training classes when she was a pup and (shouldve known then!!) she was barking and seemed dog agressive at the time went a few times but stopped going cos wasnt fair on the other people trying to do the class

I'm not good at quoting.. But I do think I want to address a few things that have been said in a umber of people's posts.. Dog aggression isn't necessarily down to 'a bad experience as a pup', 'not enough socialisation' or 'rescue dogs'.

I've had Kismet since she was a baby. She lives in a multi dog household and went to puppy socialisation sessions. She did have a few bad experiences with small offlead dogs attacking us and this is what caused her to start a 'bite first' attitude.. But my other two dogs have had similar attacks and it didn't make them aggressive.

There must be something in Kismet's personality that leads her to be more aggressive. She's a very assertive stroppy little thing.. Small for a Husky (a midget for a Malamute).. And seems to have a far more intense reaction to all situations than my chilled out Samoyed ever did.. I've known little dogs to be literally hanging off Selkie and she would just stand patiently and wait for their owners to prize them off her...

It is not necessarily the owners fault that their dog is aggressive towards other dogs. But it is the owners fault if they don't try anything to remedy the situation...

I took Rupert to the same class for about 2 and a half years. New people joining were warned that he is dog aggressive, he wore a muzzle and I was extremely careful when I had to have him close to other dogs. There were several DA dogs in the class and we tended to stick together when not actually training.

To be honest, Rupert being the clown he is disrupted the class far more than his aggression ever did.