# Aggression/fear aggression?



## Monika (Aug 14, 2013)

It has been a while since my last post.
Our vizsla x pup is now almost 8month and an energy bundle.
Both of our little dogs are getting on in age and we decided to take on a almost 3 year old vizsla that needed rehoming.
So this post is about asking for advice about his behaviour which puzzles us.
I will just state some facts here:
He needed rehoming out of a suburban home with 2 kids. He jumped up all the time (and i mean all the time, cause i visited him there and came home bruised all over). So he lived on the verandah except for an one hour walk a day on lead. He was never allowed off lead.
We decided to take him on as it was fairly obvious to me that he had all that energy pent up in him and he needed a lot of exercise.
So he came to us and after the first day never jumped up. He exercises with our pup a lot!!!!!!! We also take him to the dam for daily swim. So that problem is taken care off.

But now to our new problem:
He gets along well with the other dogs except one of the little ones, Patch the fox terrierx jack russel who challenges him.
First he reacted in fear but now he barks back at him with teeth showing and snarling.and this is understandable too.
When i'm trying to interfere he will do the same to me. Good thing is i can distract him with a toy and he will listen to this and let the dog fight go.
A bigger problem is that he threatened my husband last night and we are not sure why. Ginger (the dog) was asleep on the sofa and Karl walked past and he suddenly shot up and barked at him with teeth showing. He also sprayed at the same time.(he is desexed)
We were a bit at a loss to what happened and the only explanation we could find was that he got startled. 

Ginger is an absolute lovely boy. We probably will never know his full story, but the people we got him from mentioned some aggression towards one of the kids when she asked him off the sofa. 
Has anyone got any suggestions for us?
I would really like some advice on both situations. The one with the other dog and the one with us.
We had a very difficult dog before, so we are not new to that. We also know about pack leader. But i like to establish that with as little physicalness as possible.
We also thought that he might not be very well socialised and new noises threaten him. He did bark at the cows and the horses when he saw them the first time.

I decided to buy 2 crates and maybe give him time out when he is showing that behaviour. Any suggestions on that? Crates will be in the living room with us- good idea?

So anyone who has experience with aggression please give advice.

Raina, our black vizsla x pup is doing well and very happy to have a playmate that gets her exhausted.

Thanks Monika


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## Sail (Jun 18, 2013)

First of all, congrats... I'm jealous of your situation and would love to be in your shoes.

1. A Vizsla will always live on top on your head (or very close beside you all the time). 
2. If the dog was previously placed outside and had little interaction with the previous family members, it may have grown a certain distrust of children (in this case). Sometimes when small children arrive into a household that has/will have a dog, the dog is placed away and reprimanded every time it nears the child. 
Or, children are allowed to interact with the dog unsupervised. This is a big NO NO as children are often less than gentle with the dog. 
A more sensible approach is to involve the dog in everyday interactions and make it part of the family. 


Try this, give them a challenge they have to solve together in such a way the dogs work toward cooperation rather than competition. 
I have seen trainers use food puzzles (if the dogs are not food aggressive), walk them together for a long time. Even facing unknown or scary situations together may lead to better cooperation. Basically, anything that promotes cooperation and takes their mind off personal stuff.


http://fearfuldogs.wordpress.com/ta...itation-counter-conditioning-desensitization/

http://leemakennels.com/blog/dog-behaviour/dog-training-dog-behaviour/fearful-dogs-dunbar/

http://leerburg.com/webboard/printthread.php?topic_id=2818


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## Monika (Aug 14, 2013)

Thank you sail,
Will check out all the links. Would have never thought about getting them to do a job together, great idea. Have to think how to do this. Walks on leads are not on yet. He could only be walked on a choker chain after 10 minutes of pulling.
We only got him 10 days ago and i'm not pushing all the problems in one hit. At the moment his got not even a collar on.

Thanks for the reply and the links
Monika


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## redbirddog (Apr 23, 2010)

"The single most powerful tool we have for bonding with our dogs is the walk. Walking is a primal exercise that awakens all of her pack instincts. No amount of toys or treats will make her happier than a brisk, hourly walk by your side. Yet the walk is one area where dog owners seem to have the most problems. Most people have the dog out in front, pulling them forward. I’ve asked the reason for this and I usually get, “She loves her freedom.” Freedom?

A dog is a pack animal and what she really wants from the walk is leadership and structure. To me, the best role models for great dog walking technique are the homeless and the service dog-using handicapped! Why? They seem to better understand the concept of canine pack leadership. The leader is always in front during the walk. And for many homeless, their dogs often aren’t even on a leash – they choose to stay behind or beside their owners.

Of course a dog wants to sniff the ground and pee on a tree during the walk, but it is important that we as pack leaders understand that we should be making the “when and where” decisions for them. Following our rules gives the dog confidence because she’s working for every privilege she gets." - Cesar Millan

http://redbirddog.blogspot.com/2011/06/nothing-in-life-is-free-training-method.html

Good luck Monika. You have a challenge and knowledge is your best tool. Learn all you can here, with books, with trainers. You (or your husband) might want to take a obedience class soon with him.

RBD


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## MeandMy3 (Feb 27, 2013)

I'm no expert, but since he has issues with the sofa, perhaps take the sofa away from him until he "earns" it. Just a thought. 

We had aggression issues between our little papillon cross and our oldest lab. It did not end well. Our little dog would challenge the lab. The lab would respond with a growl or quick snap, and then it escalated. Unfortunately, it got to the point that for safety reasons, we had to keep them in separate rooms at almost all times. The little one was always the instigator and I couldn't blame the lab for responding, however, the size difference did lead to some pretty big damage once when they got a hold of each other, even though they were being supervised. Our little dog was going crazy - she was about 14 (not positive of her age because she was a rescue). She started attacking everything and everyone. So sad. However, I digress - just make sure you watch them closely when they are challenging each other. We always assumed they would work it out. There were other issues that we didn't know we were dealing with at the time though with the little one getting dementia. 

Good luck! What a great thing you did - giving that dog a better home.


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