Aggression in Adult English Mastiff

[julialyle32]

Hi All-<br><br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; I have posted a few things over the last year about my furbaby Buster.&nbsp; Buster just turned 2 in October and we'd kind of given up on him ever being a friendly dog.&nbsp; Which is fine, some people don't prefer people, some dogs don't either.&nbsp; As long as he's healthy and happy around us we're totally fine with that! ...Until he started having aggression issues.&nbsp; <br><br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Around myself, my husband, my dad, my mom, and my stepdad he is a totally normal dog.&nbsp; In our home, or either of my parents' homes he's totally normal and right at home.&nbsp; Until a "stranger" enters.&nbsp; Lately he growls, barks, and even lunges at the backs of the legs of people he doesn't know or like.&nbsp; In the past he would just turn tail and run away and hide behind us.&nbsp; He's tried this on my older siblings, and a couple of my mom's friends.&nbsp; While he's small for a mastiff (around 130lbs), he's still a big dog.&nbsp; And it is TERRIFYING when he does this.<br><br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Has anyone else had issues with this?&nbsp; What can we do?&nbsp; We can't take him to a trainer because we can't even get him through the door even if we wanted to.&nbsp; And he'd probably either run or go after the trainer anyway.&nbsp; We have young nieces, nephews, and my husbands younger siblings.&nbsp; We also want to have kids in the few years here.&nbsp; We are at a loss what to do.&nbsp; We can't take him camping anymore, and we can't trust him around people at all anymore.&nbsp; I guess we're just kind of at a loss on how to help him.&nbsp; I'm thinking about asking another vet for a 2nd opinion but I'm not sure if that'd help.&nbsp; Last time we were at the vet (before these issues started) I had asked the vet about pet anxiety meds and he said he wouldn't do it because he's completely physically healthy, just small for his breed, and wasn't socialized properly. <br><br>Any advice?<br><br>Thanks-<br>Julia<br><br>&nbsp;

 

[julialyle32]

Sorry I'm not sure why the formatting is like that but it says I don't have permission to edit it either. It always signs me out every time I try to make a post so maybe that has something to do with it. Here it is in better format:

Hi All-

I have posted a few things over the last year about my furbaby Buster. Buster just turned 2 in October and we'd kind of given up on him ever being a friendly dog. Which is fine, some people don't prefer people, some dogs don't either. As long as he's healthy and happy around us we're totally fine with that! ...Until he started having aggression issues.

Around myself, my husband, my dad, my mom, and my stepdad he is a totally normal dog. In our home, or either of my parents' homes he's totally normal and right at home. Until a "stranger" enters. Lately he growls, barks, and even lunges at the backs of the legs of people he doesn't know or like. In the past he would just turn tail and run away and hide behind us. He's tried this on my older siblings, and a couple of my mom's friends. While he's small for a mastiff (around 130lbs), he's still a big dog. And it is TERRIFYING when he does this. Especially for me as it is hard to control him.

Has anyone else had issues with this? What can we do? We can't take him to a trainer because we can't even get him through the door even if we wanted to. And he'd probably either run or go after the trainer anyway. We have young nieces, nephews, and my husbands younger siblings. We also want to have kids in the few years here. We are at a loss what to do. We can't take him anywhere anymore, and we can't trust him around people at all anymore. I guess we're just kind of at a loss on how to help him. I I'm thinking about asking another vet for a 2nd opinion but I'm not sure if that'd help. Last time we were at the vet (before these issues started) I had asked the vet about pet anxiety meds and he said he wouldn't do it because he's completely physically healthy, just small for his breed, and wasn't socialized properly.

Any advice?

Thanks-
Julia

 

[Hector]

The dog sounds fear aggressive. Go back to basics and work hard on OB to control the dog.

[video=youtube;rsc2pKx3QYk]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rsc2pKx3QYk[/video]

[video=youtube;jGaeqo5BIkk]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jGaeqo5BIkk[/video]

[video=youtube;OQKjJS9rq9Y]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQKjJS9rq9Y[/video]

 

[julialyle32]

Hector,

Yes exactly! Those videos are exactly Buster's issues. It's only when he gets surprised or scared that he has issues. The problem is he's suprised or scared every time he sees another human being. I just watched the first minute of them all now but I'll definitely look them all through and do some more research. He's not really trained to begin with so I'm not really sure how to start. (He knows how to sit, lay down, shake, etc.) but that's about it. We gave up leash training because he gets too paranoid and starts pacing and tugging if we get too far from our house. So now we just play fetch in the yard and only do walks when they're absolutely necessary.

-Julia

 

[Dreadz]

There's no quick fix but you can try to work him through this.
Whenever you have a "stranger" coming round have him on a lead and if necessary muzzled.
Take Buster outside to meet the visitor but tell them to completely ignore the dog. Don't talk to him, touch him or make eye contact with him. If you can, take your dog and visitor for a walk together as it helps to create almost a pack bond between dog and visitor. Give the visitor some extra tasty treats to toss to Buster, you're not looking to reward behaviour here, you're trying to create a positive association - visitors=treats. Let the dog approach and sniff/make contact with your visitor only once they're calm but pay close attention to Buster' body language, if he shows signs of getting ready to lunge or bite increase the distance between dog and visitor and start again.
Once Buster is calm and not reacting and your all ready let the visitor enter the house first and get settled then bring buster in still on his lead and continue the same process, no talk, touch or eye contact with a steady stream of treats.
It takes time, patience and consistency but it works

 

[Hector]

Is your dog food motivated? You can play look at that game on your front porch or front yard. Somewhere that has some barriers between the dog and people walking by or you can do this at a safe distance where the dog can remain calm and the people won't get hurt. Reward the dog every time he looks at the person. You can feed for the duration that the dog sees the person or you can do rapid fire feeding to keep his focus split between you and the person. When the dog starts looking for a treat every time they see a person, you may or may not be able to ask for eye contact. Instead of eye contact, another way to raise the criteria is to decrease the distance between dog and person. Do this stationary. If you are to start moving around, then remember that is another criteria. You want to only add one criteria at a time until the dog becomes desensitized to seeing people. The game will also help counter condition him to people. Counter conditioning is just changing the dog's emotional response to a stimulus. If he feels scared, then the goal is to make him feel good when he sees people.

If you don't know where to start with OB, then work on solidifying the down as seen in those videos. Get a prong collar on him and hook it up to a backup collar that can't break off such as heavy duty 3-4 ply buckle collar. Also get him a muzzle, even a nylon muzzle vets use is better than nothing when strangers get introduced. Keep him on a leash and start using corrections when he breaks out of his downs. Watch his body language and correct him when you see the early signs of "thinking about fleeing or lunging". Teach him with rewards first before you go into using corrections. The last thing you want is for the correction to add to the intensity of his stress reactions.

If you can control his mind, you will control his body.

 

[Mag-Pie]

My CC was also very reactive when I first got him (rehomed with me at 14 months old without any previous socialization or OB training), he was "aggressive", would bark, lunge and has history of biting. For the first few months he was a high maintenance dog, who needed lots of training and constant management of his behavior. He is NOT a friendly dog when it comes to strangers, especially when they come to my house. HOWEVER these days he knows what is expected of him and he obeys my commands. I can open my front door with him at my side and deal with any solicitors, without worrying about him becoming a liability. After 6 months of consistent training, with every day desensitization and counterconditioning to distractions of the outside world (people, dogs, noises, etc.), he has learned to pay attention to me, is well behaved, and obeys commands.

As soon as I got him I hired a reputable pro trainer, one who has experience with large powerful working breeds, and works with aggressive, reactive, fearful, “problem” dogs. We did a month of individual one-on-one training at home (the trainer would come out to my house and work with us), followed by weekly group classes to work on proofing his commands, and teaching him to focus on me with all kinds of other distractions going on around us. He's enrolled in group classes and attends on weekly basis. In the beginning he had to wear a muzzle when doing training with the trainer, and group class, also for walking around the neighborhood, and when being introduced to strangers/new people. It took some time for me to learn his body language, and know when he would start getting stressed and reactive. Now I can anticipate his reactions to things/people in various situations. I do not push him beyond his limits, and I do not anthropomorphize the reasons for his behavior. He is a dog, he has his issues and I respect him, just as much as I expect him to respect me. He's still a work in progress, but I know I've done extremely well in working to rehabilitate his “issues” so far. His training will never end, as far as I am concerned it will be a lifelong process. I take his training very seriously, I am strict and consistent with him, and I don't let him get away with anything, he knows his commands, knows what is expected of him and happily he obeys. However, he is also a guard dog and he takes his job guarding my home and property VERY seriously, and will put on a display for all to see until I call him off.

I second everything that has been already mentioned above. Buster needs training. There are no magic instant fixes, just patience, time and consistency in training. Stay calm, patient, and confident. Learn his body language, and don't allow him to become reactive; always monitor proximity between him and people, etc. When introducing him to strangers tell them to ignore the dog, that means "no touch, no talk, and no eye contact." Once he is calm, reward his good behavior. AND keep him focused and paying attention to you by redirecting him back to you. As soon as you see him becoming stressed, or about to react, take him out of the situation, and try again at a later time. He needs to learn to trust you, and know that you will take care of him. I would do more structured walks around the neighborhood to get him use to everything. Use a short traffic lead, while he's wearing a muzzle (I also use a properly fit prong collar for walking my CC) which will give you better control over him. Practice just sitting and watching normal life go on from a distance; when walking, turn around and change direction as soon as he starts becoming reactive. Also practice being non-reactive yourself, don't tense up or get frustrated. This will only make your dog react more. It will take time, consistency, repetitions, etc., it's definitely not an over night thing. Structure and consistency are very important, and make for well adjusted dogs. So don't give up, stay calm and relax, work with him; with time and training Buster will get better. Good luck!