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.......... I HATE TWO FACED PEOPLE...ITS SO HARD TO KNOW WHICH FACE TO SLAP FIRST!

Sounds like you are doing well already, and well done for putting the muzzle on her, so many people seem to have an aversion to using them but they are so useful esp for a dog like yours.

Might be worth trying a halti for on lead walks, I find them really good for my dog agressive bitch, gives you much more control than the collar can and seems to offer some sort of calming influence (that might just be with my dog though). Takes all the pulling and fighting away so you can conentrate on the behavioural issues.

HI. Totally agree with the previous person about reassuring a dog when they are nervous/unstable. In a dogs mind, if you show attention/fuss when they are fearful/agressive etc, then in their mind you are agreeing with the behaviour. It's very easy sometimes to treat them as you would a small child, but I can not reiterate enough, they are dogs and although our intentions are well meant we can set ourselves up for big problems. This is sometimes why dogs can develop fear of firework night. The owners try to comfort the dog and in doing so increase their fear level ten fold.


Dogs have a number of options when faced with situations, they can fight/flight/submit/avoid. When you have a dog who has problems as yours clearly has. She is obviously not going to submit or avoid because she is to unstable at present. Therefore she can only fight because being on a lead there is no option for her to take off (flight) When she is off the lead and muzzled up she knows she can;t protect herself with the muzzle on, therefore she will prob avoid or submit.

With regards to you distracting her. .. It is possible that you need to match her level of intensity. Eg, Max my dog has the same problem. When he see's another dog he can become fixated or go from calm to agressive in 2 seconds. If I don't spot the warning signs early enough nothing I could do can snap him out of it. However if I catch him whilst just looking, then I pull pretty hard on the lead to distract him. If he is at level 4 then my corrections need to be at level 5. I would suggest you need to be more authoritive, this does not mean angry or frustrated but calm and a can do it attitude.

You are clearly determined to solve this and believe me with the right knowledge you will. x

Mathew, this type of behaviour is very common in guarding breeds and in fact my young GSD is going through exactly the same thing.

I would give a word of caution though, and not slap her. When a dog is in a heightened state she could very well lash out at you.

The trick is to stop her before she reaches her red zone, just as I am doing with Luika. Taking her away from the situation would, in my opinion, further exacerbate the situation. You do need to keep calm and try not to tighten the lead.

I have upped Luika's walks and work him frequently inside and outside. We are also doing a little agility - anything to keep his mind active. These type of dogs are high maintenance dogs, and really do need to be active and have a job to do.

Best of luck

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