[Dailydrool] Aggressive dog

[dpmcquade at verizon.net]

<< The big dog owner was apologetic, explaining 
that their dog had just finished a "rehabilitation" course for "red zone 
aggressive dogs", and passed, and this was his first outing with regular dogs. 
(He flunked).>>

I thought Dawn's response to this issue was very good. Long story short, when a dog has a history of aggression, you do NOT trust it. You are always protective of both your dog and the people/other dogs around. I can only say that the people who brought this dog to a dog park were highly irresponsible, though perhaps well-meaning towards their own dog.

If they had any sense at all, they would not have taken a dog who was just finished the course into such a tense situation. Trying him with dogs one at a time would have been much more sensible. Leaving him off leash so that he could attack others in the park was just plain foolish. You don't take an aggressive dog and "fix" him overnight, any more than you take a fearful person, send him to a psychologist a few times, and assume he will never fear again. Evidently these folks thought there dog was fixed, when they were just at the beginning of the work that's needed to make him confident.

Who knows what caused the attack. It doesn't matter--the dog should not have been in that situation. The people whose dog attacked yours should pay any vet bills. I hope they at least offered to do so.

After our Abner became aggressive, I tried some of Cesar Milan's techniques with him. They did not work well. His confrontative methods just made nervous Abner more nervous and therefore more aggressive. What  really worked was the gentle methods that are used by behavioral trainers. But whether a dog is trained by Cesar's methods or the ones I used with Abner, I would never trust an aggressive dog without very close supervision. Dawn is right that it just makes sense to protect both your hound and humans/other dogs.

I am amazed that whoever trained this dog did not warn the people not to immediately confront him with all his fears. When another person trains your dog for you, you do not have the control that the trainer had. It takes time to build it up, as you follow up that training with your own. And if these owners are gentle folks who canot bully a dog, they are not likely to be successful with such methods anyway.

However it happened, it was not your fault or your dog's fault. I hope these people will now have more sense in dealing with their dog--and perhaps will use more gentle methods that will not fuel a dog's fears and that they may use  more successfullly.

I'm sorry Bo had to go through all this, and that you have been saddled with the trouble too. May he heal up fine, and may both your hearts be secure again.
Pam, food slave to the Dashing Bassets