To correct, or not to correct…thoughts on squelching aggression

Over 20 years ago I owned a big red doberman pinscher named Rusty. Rusty was my best friend, but he had a problem, he wanted to attack other dogs, and sometimes would nip at people. Looking back now, I think his biting on people had to do with redirected aggression, and he had a very low tolerance for frustration. But, he risked losing his happy home because of these tendencies. We decided he needed to be trained and since I was extremely interested in dogs and dog training, I was the one enrolled into obedience school with him. The instructor at that time was an “old school” trainer. Exercises were very military-istic and training was no-nonsense in those days. I was told to take a strip of rubber hose, and when Rusty turned to bite me I was to hit him as hard as I could over the head. Surprisingly enough, this worked. But at what cost? Could I have gotten the same results while using another method?

The Schutzhund bug!

“The Schutzhund bug – you can run, but you can’t hide!” I saw this on a t-shirt somewhere and thought, HOW TRUE IS THAT! I have been competing in schutzhund since the year 2000, a comparative newbie in some circles, though in it long enough to have gained an appreciation for the work involved and to have put some titles on a few different dogs. The day my first dog Zeppe got his Sch3 with a 274 was one of my happiest moments (he went on to get an IPO3 as well). The work of handling and training my own dog had finally paid off. I’ve worked a few dogs since then, but am now working with Zeppe’s son Phoenix, a true joy. 

I’ll never forget my initial thought about schutzhund.

Help my dog is aggressive! What do I do now?

First, let’s define aggression! The dictionary defines aggression as “hostile or violent behavior or attitudes toward another; readiness to attack or confront”. In the case of dog behavior, I define it as “the intent to do harm to another living being”. I also don’t particularly like to label dogs as “aggressive”. That is a little too “black or white” for me. I prefer to say “this dog is showing aggressive tendencies in _______ situation”. Describing behavior is much different then describing character. Sure, there are dogs that are truly “aggressive” in most if not all situations. But the majority of them simply react aggressively to various circumstances, and then turn back into the loving dogs their owners hope they will be.

Gentle Leader Head collars

I remember the first time I was introduced to a head collar. These contraptions are designed to fit over the muzzle of the dog. Based on the concept that “where the nose goes the body follows” these grew popular pretty quickly. I remember customers always commenting about how they thought it looked like a muzzle. My initial impression thought was “cool, a new device to help train dogs”. I was given a gentle leader to try on one of my own dogs, and I rushed home to work with my then 4 month old belgian malinois mix puppy Maverick.

Welcome to the blog!

There is SOOO much information out there on how to care for a dog. I’ve been in the dog training industry since 1985 and have learned a lot in my wanderings. I continue to stay on top of training techniques, and I get asked quite a bit about my opinion on various products. This blog will be a collection of thoughts!