I am glad you are thinking about help - but I strongly advise against the course you plan
Firstly he dosent need to show agression at all - you have to teach him to be calm around other dogs
You also need an expert to help you with the reasons for his aggression
Also in a class situation (well in any situation) it is very unfare on the other dogs around for a dog to be behaiving aggressivly - it dosent take a dog actually attacking or aggressing towards them to tip an already unconfident dog over the edge - then you would have two aggressive dogs in the class - both of them getting worse as they are feeding off each other - and the rest of the dogs in the class being unnerved and behaving unnaturally
Not to mention the person running the class would struggle to watch the aggressive dog and the rest of the class as well
Honestly there comes a point when you have to admit you need some propper help from an expert
someone running a class - unless it is an actual aggressive dog class - is not an expert - they are a dog trainer

I am not losing the plot...yay me

I have no sympathy at all for the OP then, but I do feel sorry for the neighbours

Holding a grudge and being pissed off is one thing but spreading rumours, verbally abusing and attempting to hurt the OP's dog in an unprovoked incident is another.

Being pissed off is certainly understandable in the situation but behaving like a complete nutcase is just wrong.

That is nasty, malicious behaviour and NOT the behaviour of someone that is "pissed off".

If I remember correctly (sorry if I am wrong)
He is the Son of her dog who may or may not have had wolf in him
but until a couple of years ago she had lost touch with him and he had to be rescued when he was found
as I remember he has always had issues with 'big black dogs'
and issues with his recal including running into a shop and stealing food and taking food from people

BUT
most of that has nothing to do with this thread
in fareness all I can see is Gnasher feeling a bit stressed and having a rant at a mistake she knows she made and her neighoubrs reaction to that
She is as far as we can tell taking steps now to address the situation
I didnt know things had got so far as to him being muzzled from the beginning of the year, I am sorry to hear that - I beg again to please get some proffesional help as this has been getting worse clearly

Yes exactly, Gnasher has every right as well to be stressed, hurt and angry at how the neighbour is behaiving - and every right to come here and have a rant

Thanx Ben, advice accepted, you are right I think - and certainly anything is worth a try.

For those who have just joined this thread to Gnash-Bash, I will remind you of what we have gone through with Ben. Yes Rune, when I posted that quote things were a lot, lot better with ben re the DA. We have met many male big dogs out on walks and he has been perfectly OK. It really does seem to be black dogs - or black & tan dogs. Next door's GSD is exactly the same. Ben is fine with next door's golden retriever, who is a large boy. It is the black lab whom he hates. I cannot remember a male black labrador whom he has not shown aggression towards tbh. A female black lab he was fine with whom we met in the pub.

I always thought dogs were colour blind - he's fine with black and white dogs - collies for instance. It seems to be only solid black and black and tan dogs.

However, despite all the nasturtiums yourself and your cronies may hurl at me, we ARE being very responsible over this. Ben (and Tai too, although he is guiltless here) are NEVER tethered on the drive whilst we wash the cars, even muzzled. As someone has pointed out, even a muzzled, leashed dog can still be very aggressive, and I have no wish to antagonise my poor neighbours any more than they have suffered. When we transfer the dogs to the house and vice versa they are on leads and tightly under control. OH has a harness which goes round his waist with a couple of leads coming off it on bungees. Weighing in at around 13 and a half stone, even if the hooligans managed to pull him over they would not be able to drag him, were next door to walk across our drive. We have spent a fortune on making our garden like Fort Knox, I really do not know what else we can do.

And for everyone's information, the drive is OUR drive. It is not shared with our neighbours, they do not own a right of way, or a part of it, they have the right to walk across it or drive across it in a car. They have the right to walk their dogs across, of course, and they have the right to do so unmolested. Now we know the problem, such an incident will never happen again.

And yes, to whoever it was who asked me, Her next door definitely had seen us fooling around with the boys on the drive. The way the drive is designed she would have had a clear view. It was getting dusk, but it was not dark. She was hovering in the shadow of our neighbour's tree when i first spotted her, and this was at the same time as the boys spotted her. And yes, they did dash across to say hello to the lab and the GR, why shouldn't they on their drive? Having said that, if I had seen her prior to carrying the beer in my arms, I would have immediately called them to me, and they would have come. Both dogs now have a virtually perfect recall, amazing when you consider their type. Had I seen them in time, I would definitely have been able to whistle them up and grab their collars so She could have had safe passage.

As has been pointed out by those who have no interest in Gnash-bashing just for the sake of it, it is the foul and uncalled for abuse that I cannot accept or understand, and the lies that have been spread round our village about my dogs. I do not give a tinkers cuss what people say or think about me, but I care what people think and say about my dogs, my husband and my child. She has made slanderous remarks and is most fortunate that I cannot afford to issue a legal case against her.

I will attempt to respond individually when i get home later tonight, thanx everyone again for all the helpful advice, esp Ben McFuzzy xx

Sorry if I'm wrong I haven't read the whole thread, but as far as I know she smacked the fence in order to get Gnasher's dogs away from it? I don't see how this can be conceived as trying to hurt the OP's dog unless there's something I'm missing... Walloping it to get it off her own dog is perfectly understandable. And to be honest I can totally understand the verbal abuse. When Kess was attacked I called owners effing idiots because yes I was very pissed off! And we're only getting one side of the story here. There's a difference between spreading malicious rumours and telling people about a dog attack that did actually happen. Is it still a rumour if it's a true event?

I agree with both of these sensible posts. If Max was attacked, in the heat of the moment, I would do whatever it took to stop the attack..... Gnasher accepts the fact that Ben got hit at the time. In the heat of the moment, I would also have chucked several choice comments Gnasher's way.

Unfortunately, accidents do happen, we are all human. The past cannot be changed but Gnasher has made sensible steps to stop the same happening again.

I understand totally the neighbour's anger, fear and distress because I would have felt exactly the same if my dog was the target.

The neighbour has every right to walk in their garden and drive without fear of their dogs being attacked - Gnasher is not trying to say that they don't.

I think what Gnasher wanted when she came on here was to share, with other dog owners, her frustration at the situation. She totally accepts it was her fault, her OH physically intervened, they have apologised, they have paid for the vets treatment and enhanced the fencing so that the same cannot happen again. It seems as though Gnasher is trying to find a solution so that months down the line she is not still having obscenities hurled at her and her dog being walloped with a broom under the fence.

Sorry to be argumentative, but she doesn't 'totally accept it was her fault'. She has stated a few times that the other owner is to blame for not checking first, not announcing her presence before walking onto the drive, not staying in the house until Ben had gone because she 'knew' he was DA. OP is clearly only taking some of the responsibility for what happened and seeking to lay some of the blame on her neighbour, and this is the sort of attitude that is easy to read in real life and I imagine has had some impact on the way the neighbour is reacting.

Exactly. Also partially at fault in the second incident for walking past the fence instead of going the other way out of their house, apparently