trick i thought of to curb my malinois dog aggression

[780kennels]

hey mike and all,

just wanted to share/ask for your opinion on a trick i devised to help curb my malinois aggressive towards any other dog that isnt a member of my pack, its definately not a cure-all but i think its a handy tool or at least a start for helping with dog aggression while on walks:

i noticed that my malinois s aggression starts by staring down the dog at what ever distance he notices him, never breaking eye contact, with ears up, and a zombie state of not paying attention to anything else except that dog. as soon as hes close enough he ll lunge at the dog, baring teeth, barking, and making an all out effort to hurt that dog. oblivious to yanking his leash, snapping the choke, it was so bad that if he couldnt get the dog hed redirect on me! having adopted my guy from a shelter knowing full well of his aggression and no known history of his previous treatment, hes been my biggest challenge yet.

so what i came up with was once i noticed he was staring down a dog id simply put my hand in front of his eyes, blocking his vision of the dog. because dogs are confrontation and go head on to meet there problems, my hand is stoping that trance like state of GET HIM! no matter how much he turns his head or trys to look over/around my hand, i calmly keep blocking his eyes and ask/tell him to LEAVE IT. as soon as he turns his head away from the direction of the on-coming dog, i imediatley give him verbal/and or physical praise. sometimes he listens right away and sometimes it takes a couple hand blocks and praises, but eventually he ll totally ignore the dog and he might even SIT on his own and look right up to me for direction!

its basically the same principle as horse blinders...

what i like about this approach is that instead of employing a heavy hand (meeting his aggression with my aggression) on a rescue dog which may have abuse issues from his previous owner, i am asking him to make a decision to either listen to me or ignore me and by blocking his vision he kinda forgets what he was so fixiated on. everytime he chooses to listen to me he gets praise and i feel good about our new relationship! what a relationship builder!

of course this is only possible because i employ your pyramid techniques daily to help foster the proper pack leader/follower relationship, without that he wouldnt respect my request to LEAVE IT. i cant believe how long it took me to think outside of the box, it works so well for me that ive retired his choke!

the next step for us now is to increase the amount of times he has a good experience with various dogs and situations until he forgets his unrealistic fear of new dogs.

like i said its not the cure all and it only works on leash but i think its a handy tool. what do you think of*my idea and what can i add to his daily routine to help reduce his dog aggression even further...

[Mike D'Abruzzo]

Sounds like a good idea if it is working. I just wouldn't try it when he is "fired up" because it could cause a misdirected bite to your hand. You may be on to something.. Maybe get a stick with cutain on it that extends out past the leash range and blocks him! hmmm..

Do you have him trained to a muzzle? Getting him used to a basket muzzle may be a good idea. With dogs prone to redirecting on the handler it is a good way during training situations to not only avoid getting bit, but also to remain calm and show him that the redirection on the handler doesn't fix the situation either - using the principals of extinction you just continue with the training plan as usual.

A formal heel and controlled obedience does help with this problem as well. It makes it easier to countercondition. Where are you at with his 'heel" Have you done phase 1?

Here's the vid for teh muzzle in case you missed it:

[striano]

I took Thor to my daughters on sunday to see his brother, Boy did I make a big mistake! I was thinking oh hes going to be so excited! I forgot for a moment hes a dog!!! My husband warned me not to take him. They were both on leashes and smelling each other. Then Ares jumped on Thors head as he has done a million times before. Thor reacted like a dog and went after him he made growls that scared me!! As soon as we seperated them everything was fine. we kept them apart the rest of our visit. I was so sure they would be happy to see each other and play! I finally got it they are DOGS and will never think as I do. I learned a lesson that I wont forget! the signs were all there. Ares had the hair on his back standing up at the meeting I ignored that. Thor is rarely into other dogs as it is. After I told you so from Tony I now will stop thinking he has human thoughts. He couldnt care if he ever saw Ares again he is thriving now that Ares is at his own home. The good news is he was the perfect student and when ares was walked while thor was there he held his place and didnt move! Thanks to all of his trainers! I never thought he could be trained. Now I'm looking forward for more training on my behalf. I have sooo much to learn! thanks! Tamby

[Mike D'Abruzzo]

That is awesome! You guys are doing great with him! A little snippy snip of his manbags could help (although not a silver bullet) with the potential issues with other dogs. At the very least having those will cause other dogs to be more likely to pick fights with him. No pressure though it is a personal choice - weigh pros and cons. See you guys Saturday!