Aggression advice!?

Hi everyone,

ok so i have a 4yr old Airedale terrier (some might rememebr Arthur, havnt posted in ages!), absolutely beautiful dog and lovely to have around (mostly)..... hes always been very willful and a bit growly if he doesnt get his way but never went any further, we never backed down when he did it and followed through with what we asked of him.
unfortunately in the last few months he has bitten my mums partner twice scaring him on his face and grazing him on his hand... he has gone for him a third time and gone for me. my sister is scared of him to... he is quite big.

so we have had a behaviorist in and where given lots of things to work on, he has improved a huge amount in everything apart from his attitude and the growling and snapping/ biting.
i just dont know what to do, i cant rehome him realistically... i can get more trainers in but its useless when my younger sister comes home (shes at uni currently so cant be here to be involved with training). he wont let her move around the house! she either closes the door for the living room or stays upstairs... not fair to her tbh.

anyone else been in similar situation? any advice? i really dont want him pts but i dont know what else to do!

Vet check done
spoken to breeder
gets plenty of walks

thanks in advance if you managed to get the end and reply aha!

I'm sorry about all that you are going for. It can be quite unnerving to have a big dog react this way. The best thing you can do initially is find out what his triggers are. What was happening when he bit your mom's partner, has gone for you and your sister? Did you have Arthur as a puppy? What exactly did the behaviourist, vet, and breeder have to say?

we have had his from a puppy and he has always been stubborn and would occasionally grumble.
no reason for the bite to mums partner, he was fussing him as he always does and had no warning for it. got him just under the eye and its scarred.
he went for me because i was tring to get him to come back inside so i could go to work and he diddnt want to... simple as. rolled his lips up and if i got to close snapped. never gone for sister just growled, she tends to not get involved with him so hes never had the 'need' to.
he does it when you ask him to do something he doesnt want to do generally (except when he bit mums partner, no reason) it can be as simple as moving a step over to get passed (we have never never not done anything as in he has always been made to do what hes been told and we are always nice never hit him or anything like that)
vet said sometimes they can just be wired wrong? a different vet is leaning more towards the option of him being pts.
behaviorist just talked about being boss and reminding him ect... and breeder siad no other puppies nor the parents have ever had this problem and said to post on forums to get additional advice.
im stuck as to what to do!

If he was "wired wrong" like your vet suggested,surely he would have always been like this,not just in the last few months.
I really feel for you,can imagine it must be like walking on eggshells Sorry I can't advise but fingers crossed others will.Good luck(( hugs))

has he had a thorough ear examination? An ear infection could answer a lot of questions

I can't advise you because I've never an aggressive dog. I do however have a suggestion to make which has helped me in the past when I've had behavioural problems with one of my dogs.

As Timber- has said, before you can resolve the problem you need to find the cause. Go back in your memory and that of your sister, Mum and her partner to when Arthur's behaviour first started ... have a family discussion if necessary! Note everything down, then for the next two or three weeks, observe Arthur closely, and make notes of everything he does .... body language, eating habits etc, etc. At the end of the two/three week period, go through the notes.

By putting everything down in writing you should be able to see a pattern emerging. I've done it several times over the years and you'd be surprised how often the trigger and the dog's reaction is due to something so trivial (to us that is) that we've never noticed!

Hope that helps .... and makes sense.

Hello Alice I love Airedales but they can be quite stubborn..
Look at this quote..
Can you think what happened the first time the behaviour started?
I would guess there was some trigger to the behaviour and it would be helpful to find it....
.. for eg pain/fear/person did something unacceptable to the dog and the dog growled a warning and was chastised for it so the behaviour escalated from warn to bite.

I would tell your Mums partner to avoid Arthur and this includes touch/speech/not making eye contact.

You say 'vet check done' how thorough was the vet check.
It is possible for dogs to be experiencing all kinds of pain the cause of which is not immediately obvious.

Can I ask what does this mean, how did the behaviourist suggest you remind a dog who is boss ?
I would not be happy with any behaviourist who said this to me.
I am not 'the boss' of my dogs, it is a partnership based on mutual trust .

If I was consulting a behaviourist I would ask for a referral from my vet to a member of the APBC..
http://www.apbc.org.uk/
the consultation is often covered by pet insurance.

The writing down everything sounds good! I think we should try that!
The vet struggles to do much with him, he's scared of the vets and has to be muzzled... It's hard to get a proper check over as he really makes a fuss.

Apparently we should leave leads on in the house, every so often as we walk past give them a tug to ensure they know we are still in charge? The method to make them lie down is basically to force them down with the lead... Make it uncomfortable for them not to lie down I think. I just didn't like her IMO.
I want them to want to do things for me not do things because it's uncomfortable or not a nice experience not to?

oooh Nooooo that sounds like a recipe for disaster to me. What planet are these people on You're just going to get him to retaliate by doing stuff like that, you're not going to win confrontation
I don't have any experience of aggression like this at all to be honest, but I don't think I would handle it that way