Bailey tried to bite a little girl

A prong collar can ramp up aggression.

I would work on counter conditioning Bailey to have positive reactions to people. I would start by clicker training (or marker training) him. Teach focus first. Once you've got that down, start socializing him from a distance. Assign a word or command like, "Look, a person!" and click and treat. Do not let anyone approach him. Once he is more comfortable then get closer but again, don't let anyone touch him. You click and treat him for all calm, focused behavior and ignore the rest. Be careful not to flood him (get too close, do too much at once, etc.). Take it very slowly. If he is showing fear then you need to back up a step. If you keep up with this you will get to the point where you can have other people feed him treats. Be sure to make the treats very high value. For example, you might choose hot dog pieces and make it so that he only gets hot dog pieces when he is calm around people.

Keep us posted...

And yes, I have counter conditioned using this method and had total success.

I too will also say to please use a different collar than a prong. It can really increase aggression in the longrun. Maybe also find a canine behaviorist (not a trainer) who can evaluate him?

Now is a great time to begin working on focus in those nice, calm, boring, predictable situations, like say-- in you own livingroom. Then, working up to holding good long focus (for click and treat) in your quiet backyard. After a week of success there, move it the focus excersises for click and treat into the park on a q-u-i-e-t day. After many quiet-park-days of success, go to the same park and work that focus on a weekday at 4pm when the kids are out of school and there are joggers getting off of work. After a week of great focus under these distractions, move it to a Saturday at the same park. After a few Saturdays of consistant great focus, well, golly.. try any park you like for variety on a Saturday. YOU are what he needs to focus on when a dog, kid, etc. comes by when he is on lead.##Emma Parson's book, "Click to Calm" was written just for your situation. There is no quick fix, but, boy does this program work! You can also read Feisty Fido. It is about dog-dog reactivity, but, it is a great program for working on focus and improving such a volatile tendency. Wishing you the best of luck, and some great support from a caring behaviorist!

Hi All,

Thank you for the advice. I also spoke with the trainer I have been using. She works with working line GDS and is very good.

She suggested I contact my breeder to find out if any of the other littermates are having this problem.

She suggested it could be a fear period or more seriously a line issue.

I will take the advice to stop with the prong collar.

Thank you again.

Mary

Hi all,

Here is an update on Bailey. Since his aggression toward the little girl we have gone back to the basics in our training.

For walks I am using a gentle leader. I am making him do lots of sits and downs and watch me in the back yard and on walks.

He did not react to two girls walking around the lake behind my house this weekend. He did bark and growl at another dog while we were walking. I made his sit and watch me.

The trainer I am using suggested I get his breeders input, I haven't heard from her yet as she is out of the country until June 7.

I am very concerned about Bailey and his aggression, but I am more hopeful that this is a fear period that we can work through and not a genetic defect.

Thank you.

Mary