Info, opinions and experiences wanted

[Twyla]

Woolf, a 13 month pup, has fear aggression with dogs and car aggression. His previous homes were not good situations period so we inherited issues when we got him and brought him home to his forever home. The progress he has made is amazing, however it feels like we've hit a wall with the aggression issues.

He is in training, while he does great with basic commands he isn't 100% and with the aggression training, it's 2 inches at a time and fall back an inch. The idea of using meds has been discussed, something we have resisted but now realizing for Woolf to reach his full potential may have to be considered.

For those of you with your furkids on meds or had them on in the past, what has your experience been? The good and bad of it. And any opinions of it in general.

Thanks
Twyla

[martemchik]

How bad is the fear aggression? Like what does he do? And what are you trying to do with him/get out of using the meds? It might just be an issue you have to deal with by avoiding it. Some dogs just aren't meant to be around other dogs and live perfectly happy lives (plenty of members will tell you that, although mine is a social butterfly). What kind of aggression training are you doing?

[BowWowMeow]

I agree that more information would be helpful. What is he doing and what are you doing to work on changing the behaviors?

I have had 2 dogs who were fear aggressive. One was a rescue (Basu) who I adopted at age 4.5 and his fear aggression came from past abuse. His temperament was solid but he had had 4.5 years of bad experiences with people. The other was also a rescue (Kai) but his fear aggression came from imprinting from a fearful, semi-feral mother.


Unlike Basu, who was predictable in his reactions, Kai was unpredictable and I had to be aware of his every nuance of movement. I had to use VERY different approaches to training and counter-conditioning them. I did not use meds for either dog but did use some herbal calming remedies often for Kai and occasionally Basu.

[Twyla]

Woolf's history - We got Woolf at 19 weeks. Basically wild, it took some time and work before he was able to trust us enough to touch or handle him. In his previous home there was also an adult female GSD who, in the previous owners words 'beat him up and wouldn't let him eat'. He was placed in the backyard and left there because 'they just couldn't deal with it'. Their words again. He is completely different now in that aspect of it. Now he'd let us scratch his belly all day if we would.

What makes it confusing is we do have another dog, a lab 15 mth old, and there has been no issues other then the occasional wanting to play with the same toy type thing. We also have a couple of dogs next door that for the most part he is able to ignore. So we know he is able to be around some dogs. But other dogs.... forget it. The fear aggression presents itself as the barking, growling, hackling, backing up, eyes dilated, whites showing. He has redirected on me once, and that time I was in the way.

Woolf is in training with a trainer specializing in aggressive dogs using the LAT method. See the dog, don't react, be rewarded, any tension build up, walk him back and do again from a further distance working closer again. Passive training is having videos of dogs playing, barking and so on. Sound recordings of the same. He no longer tries to attack the TV. Before this I never thought You Tube would come in handy for dog training.

From where we started the progress made has been huge but it seems we have hit a line we can't seem to cross. What we would like to achieve is to be able to at least walk down the street on the opposite side from another dog and he have the coping skills to remain in control.

Probably a whole lot more info then you were looking for but a background of what we are working with.

Picture is a couple of months old so he has grown a bit

[nitemares]

Can i just say he is gorgeous!!! and it seems your going about it the correct way. i'm sure more experienced members will give you more helpful advice. Good luck.

[Duke-2009]

I would use medication as a very last resort and if you do go this route be prepared for a personality change that you may not like.

Beautiful dog ! Best of luck.

[PaddyD]

He seems to be OK with that Lab in the picture. Can you arrange play dates with one dog that he likes? Then maybe 2, and so on? Is there a place where he can be exposed to other dogs that you can have him sit and watch them from a safe distance?
My dog is dog-shy (non-aggressive) and we were lucky to find other dogs with a similar temperament that quickly became friends because they know the other dogs won't hurt them. Your dog needs to learn to trust you, trust himself and trust (conditionally) some other dogs. But you knew that.

[GSDElsa]

Teach him to wear a muzzle!

[wolfstraum]

Play dates???? NO...he has a foundation of fearfulness - conditioning to make him confident enough to walk down the street is the goal. I would not do the group play thing with him, it is not fair to him to try this.

I would not medicate a dog for fear issues. I would adjust his exercise regime to accomodate his comfort zone and continue to condition him as you are doing.

Lee

[RubyTuesday]

I would not medicate a dog for fear issues.

Lee, why is that? I'm not in any way disagreeing. I've not had a fearful dog & my worst aggression issues have been mild, limited in scope & easily managed. This is certainly good for me, (I'm not complaining), but as strictly a pet owner it leaves me with little personal experience on temperament & behavior problems.