I have recently moved in with my girlfriend. She has a 6 year old golden retriever-collie mix named Cobe.
Cobe has MANY problems its hard to know where to start with him.
He is generally a VERY friendly dog to humans. He is terrified and generally uninterested in any dogs bigger than a dachsund. But with smaller dogs he will socializeHe lives in a 2 story condiminium with a small patio in the back. He is allowed anywhere in the house including upstairs (before I moved in he slept in my girlfriends room). Because of our jobs Cobe does spend most of the day inside the house or patio (roaming freely as we leave the backdoor open for him). If he is left outside with the door closed he goes bizerk barking and jumping on the doors. If we leave our bedroom door open while out, Cobe always gets onto it messing it up and attempting to mate with our pillows. He also gets into the trash frequently and will jump onto the counters during the night to eat certain things. And we know CObe knows what he is doing is wrong because sometimes we will come home and he will be cowering somewhere and then we will find something he has done after that. And when his master, my girlfriend, punishes him he growls at her and refuses to back down.
Since I have moved in he has biten my girlfriend and I.
Circumstances:
Girlfriend-had Cobes paws on her shoulders and their faces close and totally in a loving way. Out of nowhere Cobe nipped her nose and she was left with a ER visit and a 0.5" scar.
Me-had a repairman over so in order to have the repairman relaxed I took Cobe outside on a leash. As soon as Cobe saw the man walking into the house he barked like crazy and struggled with me and eventually reared back and bit my hand wil where it bled. He got loose and barked right at the terrified repairman. I then took him by the collar to take him outside and leave him. Cobe reared back and bit me again in the hand, i fell over and he then bit my foot and shook it like he would do with a toy. This was maybe 2 months ago.
Then just recently Cobe was barking at someone outside and I got up to tell him to hush and he immediatley came at me and grabbed my foot and shook it violently. If I hadnt had shoes on it would have been very bad.
I have told my girlfriend many many times that the dog needs to be euthanized before anything else happens. Being her dog and companion for 6 years, she is in denial.
We have tried to find a farm or something for him as well, but knowing his aggresive history I dont think its a good idea.
I`m looking for ANY help I can get to resolve this situation.
Thanks so much!

Get in touch with a qualified behaviourist. Aggression is not the problem that gets fixed over the internet.

If you havent done so already then a trip to the vet is in order to rule out any medical problems, Your vet then may suggest a good canine behaviourist. Its important to try and find out where this aggression is coming from only then can something be done about it. Putting the dog to sleep IMO should be the very last resort when everything else has failed and you are unable to find a suitable home where someone is prepered to take on a dog with problems. I certainly dont think there will be a quick fix to this behaviour but nearly always something can be done.

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Has he always been like this or just since you moved in recently? I noticed that you said your girlfriend punishes him and that he cowers when he knows he has done wrong, Also that he is tense and nervous around other dogs. Does or has he ever been taken out and socialised with other dogs and walked regularly, or is he confined to the apartment and patio. Also is he an entire dog.

Obviously We only have your post to go on, If he doesnt go out and is confined to the apartment and didnt have early socialisation,together with the cowering and being nervous and anxiousness around other dogs it sounds to me like his behaviour could be a mixture of fear based aggression together with perhaps terrirorial behaviour.

The only way to find out exactly whats causing the behaviour is to get him assessed by a qualified behaviourist and be given a programme to modify the behaviour. If you contact your veterinarian they should be able to provide you with details of a behaviourist.

This is to extreme a case to be dealt with on the internet as someone else has already said. If he is walked regularly and was socialised and all this is sudden behaviour then it would also be wise to get him vet checked to find out if there is any physical or neurological causes for the behaviour, if that draws a blank then your next step would be to get the behaviourist in.

Sorry, misposted - my advice wasn't really helpful it involved a 12 gauge.. please delete this one post admin

Hi. Welcome to the forum.

First to point out.... Dogs live in the moment and good behaviour and bad behaviour is caused/solved by training and repetition. If a dog is to be corrected (bad behaviour) or rewarded (good behaviour) then you have up to 5 seconds to do so. After the 5 seconds the dog will have absolutely NO idea what it has done wrong.

If you believe your dogs looks "guilty", it is because he has read your body language as you have entered the room or approached him, and he is tense, waiting to be told off.

Punishing a dog outside of the 5 seconds is cruel because it does NOT understand what it has done wrong. This leads to distrust of the human and therefore a loss of respect.

I am assuming the dog has not been neutered? This would be my first stop. An un-neutered dog is pumped full of testorone and can worsen behaviour. An intact dog has the desire to mate. If it cannot mate, where is his frustration meant to go?

It also sounds like the dog has few boundries, by the way you describe he can go anywhere in the house/patio.

Is he walked daily? before you go off to work?

Dogs need routine and structure and consistancy. Is this lacking?

You talk about "master" and "punishing". I am all for the human being the pack leader and the dog knowing it's place. But you earn respect by understanding your dog and providing clear and consistant leadership. Your dog can not respect somebody who punishes it for what it see's as no reason. Which is what you are doing when you correct/tell it off outside of the those 5 seconds.

I sincerely hope that when you talk about punishment, you are not talking about physical punishment. If you do physically your dog, then why should he not bite you?

You clearly have a lot of work to do.

A lot of my post is assumptions which I have made.

Is your dog neutered?
What is the daily structure of the day?
How often is he walked?
How long is he left on his own for?

The above answers will help other members assist you.

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Do you own a DINOS (dogs in need of space). To find out more and to find a walking buddy follow the link!


www.dogsinneedofspace.co.uk

Take it from me explore every avenue that is open to you before putting to sleep, its a huge step with no going back. I was in a position of having an extremely aggressive, much more aggressive than yours sounds put to sleep and choose how hard he had made my life and how risky it was to keep him, its devastating and your girlfriend will always wonder "what if" so please get as much help as you can first. Mine was due to be pts sleep when his life saver came along, so have you tried to find a suitable home?

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I too would be interested to know what sort of exercise this dog is getting. You have here a cross between two working breeds; they need exercise, stimulation of the outside world, and socialisation with other dogs and people.

You cannot expect a dog that has been allowed to sleep in the bedroom all his life, to suddenly be shut out because you are there. Obviously this is going to cause resentment. I would suggest getting a baby gate across the bedroom door and a nice bed for the dog just outside so that he can still see you.

You say that if he is left on the patio he dives at the doors? Wouldn't you? Certainly he is better having the freedom of part of the inside.

When you come home, he does not know what he has done wrong. He only knows that invariably when his people come home, he gets punished for something. It is you he is afraid of, not guilty because he has ripped something up. Dogs do not feel guilt.

As said, reward based training is the only way, and has to be immediate or it is too late. Any sort of harsh punishment is going to make him aggressive eventually. If you grab a dog by its collar when it has its mind set on something, i.e. the repairman, is going to make him turn his frustration on to you. If he is getting in the bins, move them out of his way. If he is getting on the worktops, don't leave anything up there that will attract him.

As already said, vet check, neutering, and a qualified behaviourist recommended by the vet.

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Yep great post, this dog has had its whole world turned upside down and with a little persistance and loads of love and praise ime sure he will soon settle down into his new routine/boundaries.

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Sleddoghotel........ Well said and I agree to it all........ x