Oh and the lab incident with Cesar Milan was just retarded. I'd have never handled that like that. But Holly got really terrible food aggression because her owners feared her and never r tried to train it away in any form. Bottom line imo, regardless of anything else, you can't be afraid of your own dog. It will always end with trouble. Cesar was not bitten until he tried being nice to a dog he just threatened. Try to pet and be nice to a dog you just scared away from her food was stupid. She took advantage and got her revenge. But she did not dare bite while he was facing her and looking. Not saying that is the way to go, but just trying to make a point of the real reasons he was bitten.

mjfromga I think the only sensible part of your above two posts are when you say , if you are afraid of your dog , move it on, I agree otherwise its a recipe for disaster .

You do not teach a dog not to be food aggressive by taking its food away,

You don`t teach a dog not to growl by coming down on it with a heavy hand when it does....

The above posts are from a mindset of total misunderstanding of canine behaviour.

All you are doing is forcing a dog to shut down with fear, but that fear will surface one day and end up biting.......but then if it does you can always do as mjfromga suggests thrash it to within an inch of its life ( my words but we get her meaning)., to re-enforce the fear .

The dog with CM did NOT wait to take revenge, it acted on instinct, an instinct born out of fear.

You really do NOT understand dog behaviour at all do you, not apologizing for being blunt. growling is NOT aggression, it is NOT a threat that the dog is about to bite, it is an instinctive behaviour from the dog showing that the dog is not comfortable in the situation it is in.

A snarling dog is not always aggressive, snarling again is an instinctive behaviour showing that the dog is not comfortable in the situation.

Dogs can be taught to growl, snarl, bark & bite on command(in protection work for example)this does NOT make the dog aggressive, it does not make the dog a danger. I've trained dogs for protection work retrained dogs that have learnt that to show instinctive behaviour is punishable(by previous owners), it ain't rocket science.

Do you know that dogs bark for a whole myriad of reasons not simply "aggression" as you seem to believe ?

It may have worked for you because your dogs have mentally shut down & in essence are subdued by your attitude & what you have taught them. I feel quite sorry for dogs that are not allowed to show their feelings by instinctive behaviour & despair for humans who fail to even consider understanding dog behaviour

Well, my "recipe for disaster" has kept things pretty peaceful regarding dog aggression around here. Train your dogs how you want, but my dogs do not fear me and would never growl at me for any reason. But if the dogs did fear me too much to ever bite me, that is fine too. As long as I don't get bitten, I hardly care what causes that. Dogs who bite me or growl at me don't last long here so it's great it has not really happened.

Nothing is more important than making sure my dogs do not threaten my family or other pets. If I had to scare my dogs into totally withdrawn, unhappy dogs to do it, I'd not even bother keeping dogs. What is the point of a dog that hates you?

Anyway, around here, my methods are nicer than most people's and you don't hear too much about dogs biting their owners. Actually, this only happens with pit bulls, and I'll reserve my thoughts on why only that breed does that here. When I was little, a chow mix we had named chip growled at me. Dad went over him with a 2x4 and made the dog carry me on his back with his head down. Now that is cruel and happens often here to dogs who threaten their families. That dog never did that again. Positive reinforcement for aggression towards family members is moderately new, not always used, and not the only thing that is effective, regardless of what anybody says. I can personally attest to that, and to say it'll lead any dog to bite is simply absurd and untrue.

First of all, you need to start from scratch with your Golden. Pretend that he is a dog you have never met before and don't know its history. Doing this will remind you to tread lightly until you can figure out what is triggering his responses.

You mentioned he has a history of growling and biting. Can you elaborate on this further?

Malka, I think the OP meant that she hit the dog so he would let go of her arm. I don't think she hit the dog then got bit because of it. Also, with the "unlock" word, the OP is from another continent so English may not be the fist language spoken, maybe just the wrong word used in translation.

Imo, people who refer to animal intelligence as only instinct are often missing out on a lot. Dogs are not stupid, can be clever, have emotions and in no way is every reaction or behavior in unnatural indoor setting "instinct". A dog that bites might not have done it instinctively. Some dogs can be fought, tortured, etc all their lives and still love people and never be aggressive, and you can have dogs that are nothing but coddled who are wicked to people. Or there are dogs who will bite certain people, but not others. Selective aggression, if you must. Aggression is far more than mere instinct in many cases.

why is it on here yet another one owns an aggressive dog that bites or attacks for no reason.

For me there is only one sure way of dealing with it when there are so many other dogs of good nature looking for a nice home.

I have posted on another thread about it so won't repeat here, other than to say one does not have to put up with it and have a worry for the next 10 years more or less.

I agree here big time. Any dog that bites me will be headed to the shelter as fast as I can get there, regardless of how long I've had the dog. It's not too much to ask that I not be bitten by my own dog. Her dog will likely not live another ten years since he is old, but to me, professional help is needed if shoe wants to keep him, but she said the dog would not let go and that bite wound is ugly, so I personally recommend getting rid of him.

I did not say that the dog bit her because she hit it. She said in her first post that the dog bit her because she was holding his collar and he tried to run, she did not let go of his collar so he might have felt he was being choked, then he bit her. And then she "had to slap him in the head pretty hard" to make him let go.

Message #21

The dog would not let go so she hit his head. He did not bite because she hit him, she hit him because he bit her and "wouldn't let go". "Unlock" in the same sentence as "wouldn't let go" does not sound like a bad translation to me.

Dogs jaws do not lock therefore they do not need to be slapped on the head to make then unlock. They can bite and hold on, but their jaws do not lock, although possibly a certain dog whisperer might have you believe otherwise.

http://blog.sfgate.com/pets/2010/09/...-locking-jaws/