Dog aggression getting worse, now vans/cars too!!

hi everyone, I think this is my 3rd post now on Dogsey and needing a bit of help again please.

I'm seeing a behaviourist who runs a GSD rehoming and dog training facility on Weds but wanted to sound you guys out too in the meantime.

As some of you know already Cap is not keen on other dogs. But I think it's getting worse and now he goes mad at cars and vans too... it's all getting a bit stressful because I can't really control it when we're out. Here's the problem;
- because he's been set upon by two small dogs and reacted previously I'm anxious it could happen again
- he is muzzled when we go out all the time, but can get out it so I'm trying to find a better one
- he fixates when out so he won't listen or take treats, when he sees a dog coming he goes back on his lead, and pretty much freezes. If I try to walk him away, he leans away from me so I can't move him.
- As the dog approaches he gets more and more tense, I try to help him relax but he is almost rigid
- when the dog gets within 6 feet or so he starts going mad, rearing up, twizzling round, growling and snarling - in fact on Sunday my fingers got caught in his harness and he twizzled with them and I felt like my hand was going to snap

I am concerned that he is getting worse because I have distanced him from dogs. But I daren't introduce him because of the aggression I've seen so it's a vicious circle.
I have had to pull him away from other dogs at times because he won't move of his own accord. I hate this as it looks like I'm being cruel when I'm not, I'm just trying to manage a situation. It has recently reduced me to tears a few times and people in the area know who he is and avoid him. He did have a friend, Maisie the Ridgeback but her owners got a Spaniel now too and Cap's least fave dog is the Spaniel as a young pup ran rings round him tormenting him last year....

I am running out of ideas. I am hoping to learn some clicker training with him - I don't want miracles, just him being calm past another dog would do! Any ideas gratefully received. I love him dearly and only want what's best for him.....
thanks guys.
Emma

Things that may help,

Switch to "Nothing In Life is Free" training with him.
This means everything he gets he must earn.
Don't feed him all at once, but use his daily food for training throughout the day, every single piece he gets he should earn by sitting, laying, waiting or whatever else.
He will start to pay more attention to you and your food rewards will become more valuable to him.

With his reaction to other dogs you need to start at a big distance from other dogs, a distance where he doesn't react. Get him training at this distance and focusing on you and give lots of rewards. You then reduce this distance over time and if he shows any sign of stress increase the distance again.

Personally I would change your behaviourist. I'm always a bit suspicious of people who run breed specific training classes...how is that good for the dogs to only train with dogs that look just like them?! If you use scientifically proven methods it doesn't matter what size or shape the dog is. Is you trainer APDT or APBC registered? If not I would google either of these and find one in your area.

Hi just to clarifythe place is a rescue for GSDs but the training is for any dog, they are with the Guild of Dog Trainers I think. I will check again but the problem is cap won't get in the car to travel so it's hard finding someone local who can come to us. Will buckle down read the stuff I've bought and try the reward and clicker stuff. Thanks for your feedback that's great. :0)

also, recommend reading "The Culture Clash" by Jean Donaldson

brilliant, thanks Shane I will try all of that. Are you a qualified dog trainer? what methods do you feel are best? I know you mentioned NILIF but is there anything else too?
thanks!
Emma

Agree with the above, but this alone will not solve his problems, but it may hopefully make him more resonsive to you.

To be honest you have to accept you may never resolve his problems, but you CAN manage it .

I have been in your shoes , so can understand the frustration an despair you feel, you should be able to enjoy your walks , but instead you dread them with a snarling lunatic on the end of the lead, feeling like you could strangle them at times for being such sh**s.... I know I have got the t-shirt. you go through emotions, you lose confidence walking your dog, you feel everyone is looking and talking about you , it can get better, but it may never be resolved, so you need to ask yourself are you up for the long haul, you are going to have to grow a thick skin too.


The most important thing is to have confidence in the ability to walk and control your dog,,, I see you use a harness, why do you do that ?, in my experience harnesses don't give you much control, it allows the dog to pull and you can`t redirect his attention due to the fact you have no head control.

if you want my advice I would invest in a "dogmatic headcollar http://www.dogmatic.org.uk/, plus a double ended lead ....halti do a good one. http://www.companyofanimals.co.uk/st...mages/logo.png

You an then attach on end to the headcollar (or even your harness if you prefer) and one end to his collar, this way it will double up on your control, you can use the bit attached to his collar when he is walking nicely then when you need it you have the added headcollar to back up what you need from him.

Using the headcollar with a muzzle may be tricky, but unless he is off lead and in danger for getting to other dogs, I would for now, leave the muzzle off and concentrate on the control.

The object is to redirect his attention from the other dog or anything he is focusing on, you need to teach him the watch me " command, but this will be no use if he has already fixed his gaze on the other dog , you HAVE to be a step in front and the minute YOU see something he gets fixated on, ask for the watch me, offer a treat , put him into a sit, offer a toy, turn and walk the the other way....any or all of these will help you redirect his attention.

ONCE HE IS FIXATED , THE BATTLE IS LOST..... you have to win it before he gets to that sage, and in my opinion (which worked for me ) this is where the double lead /headcollars come into play, it will give you more control, so that you are not on the end of a lead with a dog stuck in a stance and fixated on his prey.. you can use the headcollar to pull his head where you want him to go, if his head leads the body will follow, if you can achieve this, the battle is on its way to being won.

The most important thing for you is to be able to walk your dog with confidence, and you cant do that if he has more control over where he wants to be than you .

If a dog is coming towards you, you can`t let him dig his heels in and stare them out, waiting for them to get near, so he can throw his toys out the pram, if a dog is coming towards you, you need to be able to turn him away, walk the other way getting him focused on you, if you have to do this a 100 times throughout your walk, and you don`t get very far, then this is what you need to do... eventually you may get to the stage where you can walk past other dogs without his throwing himself around... you may also have to accept he will always be DA , but as long as you can control the situation, you will feel more confident and just get on with enjoying him for what he is.

hiya, thats great advice thank you very much
I have a Dogmatic head collar, used it for a while but he can get out of them and I found that I still couldn't control him with that on. He would just wirggle his head and writhe around trying to get out of it. the biggest problem is trying to remove him from situations, he will not budge. I will try the basic training of watch me and walking away, and changing direction in his walks and go from there I think

In my opinion you need to bond a lot more with your dog, he seems to be doing exactly what he wants to do in every given situation rather than looking to you for guidance, so he's confused.

You need to spend a LOT of time with him, one to one, play with him, get him ball focused or something so that the focus is on you and nothing else around him matters. I've had many a german shepherd, and the most important way of getting them to behave how YOU want them to behave is to get him to make you the nucleous of his whole world, it's inbuilt into these dogs it really is, they never want to take their eyes off you, but it takes time.

When you get them as puppies, it usually goes swimmingly, but when you've got one that's got baggage and issues, as Jackie has said there, sometimes you just can't fix it, so you have to learn to manage the situation rather than to change it.

My dog's puppyhood all went pete tong when she got set upon by various dogs, so it took a whole year of walking in isolation, meeting up with friends with friendly dogs, and then keeping my distance as I eventually went into areas that I would never have dared step foot in a year earlier. It worked, my dog is now friendly with every dog unless it's got an attitude, and then she'll have it, but I KNOW that and I always put her onlead when approaching any dog or any dog coming over to us, it's all manageable, just like you will have to get your life with your dog.

A behaviourist once said to me when my dog was going through a bad time, that the worst thing I could be doing with her was to force her into areas where there are lots of dogs, hence the reason we took the solitude route for a very long time, and she was right, it took the fear away, and we took it all slowly.

Your main criteria is to get your dog focused on you, and not just sitting at home with some treats either, you need to be the most exciting, loving, fun thing to be around and nothing else will ever matter to him as long as you are there and taking control. You want to aim for a nice, c-a-l-m sit next to you with his face staring up at YOU and not any other dog passing, and it IS possible, just that you've got to work on it, and PLAY is the way to do that. Good luck.

Thanks again for the great advice. We are in fact very bonded or at least I thought we were! I work from home and he sits by me all afternoon while I work. I intersperse it with taking him outside but perhaps need to introduce more play to those moments. Funnily enough we both took him awake this morning and I took lots of treats and gt him to stop and sit for a treat, which he did!! And then during the walk he actually came back when called and sat and took a treat. Good first step. I always try to walk him in solitude and most days we manage it but it's a big dog area. I would love to rent a paddock or enclosed area to run him in but unsure if they exist. Anyway your points are very fair I will try to make his life more interesting, and fun. He is generally a really lovely dog all I can think is he's so scared of other dogs he just is struggling to get past it. Plz forgive any spelling mistakes this is from my phone lol