A nasty mutt?

United States
July 12, 2008 8:23am CST
I adopted an Anatolian shepard, fox hound mix when she was 6 weeks old. She is now 10 months and has become very aggressive. As a small puppy I socialized her with people. Realizing a puppy could not be home alone all day I took her to work with me. She met all sorts of people, all of which ooed and ahhed her. SHe would meet strangers when customers came in or the UPS and FedEx guys that gave her bones everyday. The suddenly she started growl when someone she didn't know came around, and now she will actually lunge at strangers baring her teeth. Needless to say, I can't take her with me to work anymore, and I have to put her in a crate when someone she doesn't know comes to the house for fear of a lawsuit. Where did I go wrong? I thought I was doing the right thing by exposing her to people and strangers at a young age.
1 response
Ciniful
@Ciniful (1587)
• Canada
12 Jul 08
You did do the right thing, exposing her to people and public while she was young .. but it takes more than that. As well as socializing her, you have to set her boundaries as well. How do you react when she lunges at someone? What training techniques do you use to make her stop doing it? Set a keyword .. like 'stop' or 'enough'. For my dogs, I use stop. Whenever they display behavior I don't like (barking excessively, jumping towards the door when someone comes in, etc) I say stop, and they know to back off and give it a rest now. It takes time to get them to that point though. Time, consistency, and lots and lots of training. Have a lot of treats on hand at all times. Whenever she lunges at someone, pull her back and say 'stop' in a firm voice. The first time she'll ignore you, obviously. Do it again, and again and again if need be. When she's sitting calmly, then offer lots of praise AND a treat. Each time you have to go through this routine, she'll get more familiar with the 'stop' command and eventually, you'll have a dog that reacts instantly to a vocal command. Good luck :)