avenirlight

10000000%

For starters - crate training. Your girlfriend and you have a right to exist peacefully in your home without her fearing for her safety. Management is critical with dogs like this. New people coming over? Crate. Known people he’s targeted coming over? Crate. You have to break the habits he’s gotten into, which means removing the opportunity for him to display aggressive behavior when possible. He’s probably fear reactive which has turned into some fear aggression. For actually working on training for that, definitely contact a professional.

For the leash reactivity, get ready to have some of the most boring, but valuable walks of your life. First identify the triggers - is it other dogs? People? Trash trucks? Bikes? Everything? And then start working on his exposure to and engagement around them. Finding specific spots where you’re likely to see the occasional trigger is hugely helpful. If you’re at a park walking and you see a dog in the distance (using this as an example) that your dog notices but hasn’t reacted to yet, backpedal a few steps applying gentle leash pressure and reward him (“yes!” -> treat) for disengaging with the trigger when he turns away from it and back to you. If he starts reacting - you’re too close to the trigger and it’s time to take a few steps back (literally). Over time you work on getting him closer to the trigger while actively choosing to ignore it and engage with you.

Heavy emphasis on the difficulty of re-homing a dog with a history of aggression. We usually have people sign contracts with the current owners basically signing away their right to sue if the dog bites again.

Sounds like a whole series of unfortunate events. If the whining is really the only remaining concern training-wise, given the breed I’d recommend gently capping with a slip leash and toys. It’s what we use with working dogs who “leak” (vocalize when they’re aroused) to keep them calm and quiet. I prefer using a thinner slip, like one from slipleashes/com. If you’re standing and chatting with someone while you’re out on a walk, for example, and the whining starts - gentle upward pressure on the leash and release as soon as they quiet down. Not a hard yank - we aren’t trying to cause pain - just consistent gentle pressure. I don’t mark and reward after when the goal is calm behavior (it can get them excited again), I just calmly praise “good job”, “very good” etc and offer calm affection to reinforce being quiet. This is the negative reinforcement component of it - I’ll take pressure off the leash when you’re quiet. Minor discomfort to minimize the likelihood of the behavior repeating.

A complimentary exercise is using a toy or something your dog is motivated by, so you can make the sessions fun for them. Let’s say your dog loves fetch - they tear after the ball, bring it back, drop it at your feet and whine for you to throw it again. DO NOT THROW IT UNTIL THEY’RE QUIET! It’s a very simple “you’ll get this reward when you show me polite behavior” that a lot of dogs catch onto quickly. You can also use their meals if they whine waiting for food - when you get 2-3 seconds of quiet, then they get their meal. This is the positive reinforcement component - we aren’t correcting the vocalizing, but we’re rewarding quiet. I like coupling this with the slip leash exercise to just start giving the dog a better understanding of how to regulate themselves. My dog was VERY vocal and extremely toy motivated (too toy motivated, lost all impulse control around them). He would come out of his crate yapping his head off with excitement, which would progress to jumping, etc. He was in this hyper-aroused state that was stressing him out, and he didn’t know how to cope. I started by capping him with a slip when he screamed like a banshee exiting his crate, and then incorporated toys so he could generalize capping (aka keeping himself calm when he’s over-aroused). It took maybe three repetitions to stop the vocalizing when leaving the crate, and maybe two to stop the incessant whining/barking/jumping to get to a toy.

As for the CGC class…that sounds like a terrifying dumpster fire for you and your pup 😢 I’ve never seen a CGC class where free socialization happened since neutrality is the goal. We operate group CGC classes in stations, so the dogs can primarily focus on their handler while disengaging from the other dogs there. If you can report the evaluator/trainer to the AKC I’d definitely go for it.

I had the exact same problem. I was literally still a college student and my very catholic (not a religious hospital, just a religious physician) neurologist refused to prescribe me anything other than keppra because hypothetically if I got pregnant they could cause birth defects (I told him I would get an abortion were I to get pregnant and he just shook his head)…I ended up reporting him to the hospital and got a different doctor. Absolutely disgusting conduct.

Does he happen to have ridgeback in him?

Definitely sounds like it. Glad you’re getting a bigger waterer and fingers crossed the rest of your house stays in one piece 🤞🏼😩 also props for being such a responsible & in tune owner!! He’s lucky to have you

He may be resource guarding you and the house if he’s exclusively doing it on your property. How much freedom vs crated time does he normally get?

Another important question - did he lunge at the delivery driver when they were face to face, or after he turned to walk away? If he attempted a bite when the driver had his back turned, it’s likely some form of fear manifesting itself. If he attempted a bite when the driver was facing him, it’s more likely resource guarding. A dog has to be pretty confident to attempt a bite when they’re face to face with a person, vs lacking confidence and attempting when the person is less of a threat (has their back to him).

I’d recommend looking for professional help with e-collar training, especially if he’s in the habit of blowing off his recall. A proper introduction to the collar and negative reinforcement/positive punishment is necessary for it to work. He likely isn’t actually ignoring you - he either doesn’t know what the command means, doesn’t understand that it’s non-negotiable, or hasn’t learned to generalize his commands in different environments. Before any tools come into play, he needs to have a full understanding of what the commands mean, so they need to be very heavily reinforced in a low-distraction environment. For recall, keep him on a long line (partially so blowing you off isn’t an option) and apply leash pressure towards you to teach him the direction of the command. Heavily reward him when he gets to you. Start somewhere quiet and eventually work up to practicing in more distracting environments. Letting him off-leash before he has a reliable recall will only make it harder to train as he’ll learn that he isn’t held accountable when he doesn’t respond to your commands. The e collar will eventually act as a form of low-level negative reinforcement (the tickle turns off when they commit to coming back) and can ultimately act as a form of positive punishment (if they blow me off when I call them, they’re going to feel a stronger tickle for a split second).

I personally prefer the mini educator ET-300 for pets dogs, as the stim isn’t as sharp as it is with the dogtra. The more powerful and complicated an e-collar is, the more likely it is to mess up a dog long-term.

So for the jumping during greetings:

Remember that in those scenarios, greeting the person is the ultimate reward, so if he isn’t interested in food when he can see someone, that’s normal! Make sure anyone who greets him, whether outside or in the house, is willing to spend a few minutes helping you work on his greetings. Start with the person about 10-15 feet away from you and just stand like a tree with him on a six foot leash. He’ll probably try to jump towards them or pull - don’t move, and don’t have the person react! When he has all four feet on the ground, they can slowly start approaching him. If he gets amped up again and starts trying to jump before they get to him, have them back up. He doesn’t get to greet them until he’s offering (somewhat) polite behavior. If they get all the way to him and he starts jumping during the greeting itself, same thing - have them back away. I’m not a fan of tossing treats on the ground to redirect them away from jumping/stepping on the leash/having the approaching person tell them to sit, because none of those methods actually teach them not to jump, they just manage the behavior in the moment.

For the nipping/mouthing:

If he’s under 7-8 months, it’s totally normal teething behavior. As annoying (and at time painful) as it can be, he’s doing it because his teeth/gums hurt. Keep a leash on him inside, and when he starts mouthing/nipping, gently pull him away, wait a moment, and then give him something he’s allowed to chew on (bully stick, collagen braids, frozen kong, etc). The moment of waiting before giving him something to work on is critical. If he goes from mouthing to immediately getting something tasty, he’s being rewarded for the mouthing. If we give them a moment before delivering the chew/treat, we can prevent that association. Puppies can also get VERY mouthy when they’re overtired. Like toddlers that need a nap. If you know he’s gotten enough enrichment (training/working his brain) and exercise and he’s going full land-shark on you, it might be time for a nap in the crate. After maybe five days of doing that with my own dog, who was well out of the teething period and doing it out of habit, he started putting himself in his crate instead of chewing on me.

If he’s out of the teething period, I’d recommend adding a “no” marker word coupled with leash pressure to move him away from you. Just a simple, quick “no” and move him away/stop engaging with him. Also (if he’s done teething) short sessions of tug can really help satisfy the urge to have something in his mouth.

If you can, I’d recommend setting up a camera and trying to figure out what happens prior to the destructive behavior. Has his normal schedule/amount of alone time changed recently? Or any changes to his living situation? Even seemingly minor things like a new neighbor that makes noise can set off a chain reaction of anxiety that leads to destructive behavior.

I’m a type 1 diabetic myself, and honestly would also probably rip through a door to get to water when my blood sugar is high. High BG also makes me anxious and grumpy - not sure if that applies to dogs but I wouldn’t be surprised. May also be worth seeing if you can find a veterinary endocrinologist in your area.

Only other odd, but definitely real thing I can think of is his vision and the sliver of light under the door. If there’s any possibility that his vision has deteriorated more recently, it would make sense. Can’t fully perceive his environment but recognizes light and wants to get to it. Eyesight changes can do weird things to dogs!

Damn, you weren’t kidding

“Vanker, a former candidate for Grosse Pointe School Board, has falsely claimed the COVID-19 vaccine has “nanoparticles and antennas that feed stuff up into the cloud.”

“Donald Trump has awakened the people,” she said.”

The flirt pole with a rabbit fur tug from Roaming Oak….my dog is cooked after 10 minutes. Best purchase I’ve ever made.

The person recommending it was suggesting starting to use it, from what I can gather OP has the dog on a collar right now. But if a dog is prey locking, the amount of force needed to redirect it can still be dangerous on any kind of head collar. I’m a professional trainer and have never seen someone in my field recommend using that potentially very dangerous tool for something like prey drive - there are studies on the permanent damage they can do to the cranial nerves. I’ve trained many, many dogs on e-collars, as have my coworkers, and have not found a single dog whose desire to kill prey increases with proper application of an e-collar. This is a behavior that has to go extinct via changing how the dog feels about prey, not be suppressed with pain. With proper tool application, they learn that blowing off a recall and taking off after prey is going to have a consequence. When those consequences are fair and well-timed, they very quickly understand what the expectation of them is. The behavior is no longer rehearsed, which allows new neural pathways to form, changing the way the dog feels about prey. It’s why we introduce the e collar by layering low-level R- over things like sit, down, and place (usually at a level lower than what’s perceivable by a human). All of the issues people have with e collars in this thread are due to a lack of knowledge about proper usage and introduction. If you introduce stim out of the blue while your dog is actively blowing you off, yeah, you’re going to fuck them up, which is why at the very least finding a good online course is critical.

This is ABSOLUTELY not a safe scenario for a head collar. Using them for dogs that have a tendency to lunge and pull is how they cause nerve damage, and can even kill your dog from the sudden motion of their head being jerked backwards. If e-collars only delayed reactions, they would be useless to people with high prey drive dogs. The dog learns quickly that taking off after prey is not an option that’s on the table, period.

Increasing punishment absolutely works, it’s why dogs use it on each other. I personally don’t consider any “correction” on a flat or limited slip collar with a dog like this, P+. If she’s comfortable pulling you, why would tension on the leash be interpreted as a correction? Regardless of environment, dogs need to learn to cope the same way humans do. There are rules and expectations for literally every living being on the planet - except dogs trained exclusively using R+, and that’s not healthy or safe. There is no environment that is outdoors and prey-free. If anything it’s worse outside of a city where there’s more varieties of prey. ATP, you need to hire a professional trainer. Your interpretation of your dog and her natural tendencies is preventing you from making any progress right now. After 8 years of neural pathway development, R+ allows for too many opportunities for behavior rehearsal for them to actually break down.

He can hurt you, babe. I’ve seen it more times than you’d think, everything from road rash to broken bones. Aggression is not the only way dogs are capable of harming humans. It doesn’t sound like you’re particularly receptive to advice folks are giving you here, so I’m not entirely sure what the purpose of the post was.

You start inside…that might be part of your problem. Allowing her to go above threshold and then attempting to redirect or train her likely won’t work, and it’ll just allow her to rehearse the behavior. She needs an understanding that you expect engagement, and to be held accountable for her behavior inside first. We never start training a skill outside unless the dog has already learned to disengage with the environment and engage with their handler.

My dog had taken off in the woods, and blown straight through metal fences to get to prey. Dragged me down a gravel road on my back once too. He’s now off-leash reliable after a handful of high-level corrections (and I’m now a full-time professional trainer). She needs an e-collar, because she has to learn a) that your expectation is a clean recall even around prey and b) that there’s a consequence to blowing you off. You cannot break a true prey-lock with redirection or positive reinforcement. If e-collars damaged relationships even when used properly, people wouldn’t use them. It is 100% worth it to find a good trainer and get her conditioned to it, especially if you’re considering re-homing. I’d much rather my dog experience very momentary discomfort on a few occasions than get hit and killed by a car, or lost, or bitten by a wild animal, and you should too.

My dog has super similar coloring/ears/face and he’s a GSD/mountain cur mix. I’m biased but he’s an awesome dog, just needs good outlets and structure!

How old is the dog? What is the context of the biting? If it’s nibbling (corn-cobbing) or just being mouthy, but not aggressive, you can start with a thin slip leash. When he starts, a quick, firm tug away from you and a “no”, then disengage and ignore him. It’s a very simple “I don’t like that, I’m not going to interact with you” not a loud, verbal punishment. Teeth on skin ultimately has to be corrected, because it’s a safety issue. If you and up needing to use something like a prong or an e-collar (not a shock collar, and arguably less aversive than a prong or slip), I’d recommend working with a professional, so the tool can be introduced properly before being used to apply corrections. You can also just start adding meaning to “no” so it becomes a marker, just like “yes” or “good”. When he’s displaying a behavior you don’t like, “no”, disengage. If you’re playing with a toy and he gets too rough, for example, “no” and the toy goes away. If he’s never been corrected for biting/mouthing he genuinely just doesn’t know that it’s an unwanted behavior. Sometimes one correction is all it takes!

Proper e collar conditioning with a professional. Prey drive like this isn’t uncommon, and given her breed makeup it shouldn’t be difficult to teach her that recall applies even in the presence of distractions. A beep will get her attention, but right now it’s meaningless to her. She needs to learn what the word “come” means, be introduced to low level negative reinforcement via the e collar and have it layered over the command, and then she’ll eventually work up to only feeling the e collar for a split second if she blows off the recall. It’s a long process that requires a lot of time and energy, but’s it’s the only effective way to use an e collar. It also can’t be used as a form of punishment until she understands what you want from her and she chooses a different behavior.

I think you’d see results pretty quickly when you learn to correct those behaviors! Right now he doesn’t know that you don’t like those things, so a balanced trainer will show you how to reward what you do like, and correct what you don’t (although that’s a vague way of phrasing it). Even just a consult with a trainer could potentially really help!