aggression...

[Matina H.]

Hi everyone,

I am on a quest to help a friend of mine. We got our BB when he was 9 weeks old from what we thought a good breeder. Our dog is doing pretty well with a few issues here and there which I might address in another discussion. We are already experienced with big and also stubborn breeds as we have a Rottweiler and an American Bulldog. Our friends fell in love with our BB and decided after thinking back and forth and reading a lot about the breed that they wanted one as well. It so happened that our breeders still had one available. He was 5 months by that time, they were going to keep him for breeding purposes but decided to give him up, because they had too many dogs in the house already. They brought him over and he took to my friend right away. He kept going back to her but also acknowledged the other family members. Once the breeders left he became really insecure. He would not go up the steps, he would cling to my friend, he was good with the kids and the husband but only trusted her. We go to dog school weekly and take him and my dog out for hour long walks in the woods every day. He is starting to get more aggressive though. He was always timid with people but it is now that he is starting to charge at them and other dogs. They neutered him at the age of 8 months hoping it would make a difference. He will come storming at you in the house but if you ignore him he will back off. If he notices that you are afraid he will not back down. He started growling at the kids in the house when they would come and try to pet him. When we walk in the woods and he is off leash he is wonderful. He will leave people alone and if dogs are near he might sniff and play but walk away when called. On the leash a total different story. We have read up and tried many things. Currently she is trying to make him lay and stay in one place when a visitor is coming to the house. Outside she is trying to walk a different direction in order to distract him but that is not always possible. Any suggestions on how we can help him?

 

Greetings

 

Matina

[Lisa Tiro]

Martina, if he was socialized as a pup then it unfortunately is poor genetics as I had a dog just like this. I socialized her very well and when she hit a year old she started attacking my guests for no reason. I had to put her downstairs in my home with gates and a door in between just in case someone opened the door by accident. It was devastating when this started happening. I had to change the way I live in order to keep everyone safe. The difference with Bella was she loved all of her people that she already knew and never ever growled at us or showed aggression towards us. At a training class however a new strange dog came in and she went ballistic and as my son was trying to control her she bit him in a case of transferred aggression. The real issue here is his aggression that he displays towards his people and you. I will be honest, in my opinion he is a ticking time bomb. My Bella unfortunately passed at 2 1/2 from AIHA. Now looking back on it I think it was a blessing in disguise. I really think that one day she would have hurt someone and I would not be able to live with that.

[Jens Gunther]

It is interesting you mention the part about taking your jacket off. My mom has a Boerboel... she's about 8 now, I'd guess. She has always been extremely suspicious of people, even the ones she knows, as they enter the house. Even now she is nervous around me when I visit them and I cannot approach her. If cornered, she panics and can become quite dangerous. After a while she will approach and allow you to touch her, but only on her terms. Once we all got used to her peculiar ways, we all adapted to her. I've always thought she might have a problem with her eyes. This little story brings me to this:

Now tell me, is this dog in any way interested in smells, particularly when he is in the house? Or does he just focus on what he can see and respond? Many Boerboels forget that they have noses. I've seen highly reactive dogs calm down (if even only a bit) by reawakening their curiosity to explore the world of smells. The nose, being the dog's primary sense, should be the first sense to be engaged, but in aggressive dogs it is often totally forgotten. So the theory is if you re-engage the primary sense and teach the dog to use it, that the other senses take a lesser priority and the dog may eventually become proportionally less reactive.

[Sweet Pea]

Matina, 

He should in no way be allowed to greet visitors until he is calm and comfortable. He should not be allowed to growl, bark and carry on at visitors. The more he gets to practice his behavior (especially if it is fear-based), the better he will get at it. I think your friend has a responsibility to keep visitors safe by confining him, wether with a gate, crate or behind a closed door, as one of these days there will be an incident should his behavior be allowed to continue. He would probably feel more comfortable behind a closed door too, perhaps in a bedroom. Remember, when he is showing you these signs, barking or growling, he is telling you guys he is uncomfortable or fearful. 

As part of trying to get him used to visitors, you guys could teach him an alternative behavior. Teach him to do something instead of growling and barking. You can also have visitors toss him treats, but not get in his space. Perhaps that will make him see that they are not so bad. When all is said and done though, this should be addressed with a qualified trainer or behaviorist. 

Matina H. said:

@jens...fear aggression is what i would call as he is very insecure and often doesn't do things unless you repeat it over and over until he gets confident enough. He never went upstairs even when he was healthy...he is scared you can tell. The spiral/cycle would of course make sense but is not the case here as she is very eager to teach him and will not avoid any situation but always confront it..she has a very strong personality which i believe is one of the reasons he was drawn to her from day 1. Crating is not an option as the space for a huge crate is just not given in these houses and we believe it would not fix the problem anyway. If people are first coming to visit he will bark at them and keep growling during the duration of the visit. If you ignore him he is usually fine...if he sees you again for a second and third time he is fine also. What happened to me today is i came in and he was fine ( he sees me every day)... I walked back in to the foyer and took my jacket of and when i walked back in he growled for a short moment...as if he didn't recognize me right away...i know it is hard to get a perfect picture through a written conversation but i do appreciate all the input and different suggestions...

Matina

[Rory Neufeld]

does he go for regular walks? also, i found that my boy was Very sight oriented first and nose came in a distant second and it took a good amount of effort to have him look and lock eyes with me when i said his name or sit etc. it seemed once we got the eye contact in place it helped everything else out down the line( food time, playin with a ball). i guess its more or less a respect thing cuz when he was a young pup he couldnt care less about me or what i was doin. it took alot of practice. now he can get "jumped" at the park by a bad dog and his initial reaction is to find me\get away and i deal with the situation. it helps im 6' 210lbs but i dont want my dog hurting anyone or their dog because lets face it not too many dogs could survive an angry boerboel.

I love my dog but i will tell you it has been one of the biggest challenges of my life(all 29 years...) getting him under a reasonable amount of control where he will listen to me instead of his instinct. the retriever and german shepard i had growing up were definitely waaay different. there was a point at about 1 year old where i thought i bit off more than i could chew with my Kongo, but i just had to step back and re-evaluate how i was handling some situations. changing me helped more than anything else and just being calm and firm and practice practice practice and finishing on a good note. i hope some of these reply's are helping you find some answers for your pup.