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Severe Human Agression Help Needed

taisa899

taisa899

Well-Known Member
I've got a 3 year old Cane Corso who I rescued 1 1/2 years ago. She's agressive (highly wants to bite everyone new she sees) towards all humans except myself and my landlord when off leash. When I put her on leash she also becomes agressive with my landlord. This all started when I had a friend coming over who she hadn't met yet and I told him to text me when he got to my driveway so I could bring her down to meet him. he texted me but when I brought her down and opened the door he was standing in my entranceway, shocked both myself and her, she took a step back and launched herself at him biting him in the stomach. She's a good dog with me and is completely submissive to me and all I want is to be able to trust her not to bite anybody. Problem is that when on leash she is more agressive than off leash but I can't have her off leash to train her with people. I've tried a couple of trainers and after 1 go with her they all say they are unwilling to work with her. Anybody got any tips for training her to at least tolerate people?


Jim
 
ruthcatrin

ruthcatrin

Well-Known Member
Other than that once incident, describe, in as much detail as possible, some other incidents. And I really do mean as much detail as possible. Everything you can remember about the location, the person, her body language, her vocalizations, what you did....
 
taisa899

taisa899

Well-Known Member
ruthcatrin said:
Other than that once incident, describe, in as much detail as possible, some other incidents. And I really do mean as much detail as possible. Everything you can remember about the location, the person, her body language, her vocalizations, what you did....
Click to expand...

All incidents were either on my property or at my mothers house inside. The only time she has actually bitten somebody was thaqt one time because now I am very very careful when opening my door. Every time somebody comes onto the property she starts pulling hard on the leash to get at them. Her tail is wagging but as soon as we get within 10 feet of the person she changes and wants to go at them (snarling,barking,growling,baring teeth). At my Mom's house it's exactly the same, when I first introduced her to my Mom she was on leash and walked up wagging her tail, she sniffed at my Mom for a little bit and then I could see her tense up and knew what she was about to do next so I pulled her back and told her to sit. With my Mom there were no vocalizations from Baby at all and she continued to wag her tail the whole time. With everybody new she's wagging her tail while snarling growling or baring teeth.

---------- Post added at 05:21 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:20 PM ----------
chuckorlando said:
I would say invest in a muzzle in the mean time
Click to expand...

Already have
 
Kelly

Kelly

Well-Known Member
A wagging tail is not necessarily a happy puppy, that is a myth. That is an excited dog.
 
ruthcatrin

ruthcatrin

Well-Known Member
taisa899 said:
She wants to attack them whether they are sitting, standing, facing or not facing her
Click to expand...

Does she continue for extended periods or does she relax a bit if nothing happens?

How close are people able to be before she reacts? 6ft, 10ft, other side of the street, or complete freakout at visual?
 
taisa899

taisa899

Well-Known Member
ruthcatrin said:
Does she continue for extended periods or does she relax a bit if nothing happens? How close are people able to be before she reacts? 6ft, 10ft, other side of the street, or complete freakout at visual?
Click to expand...

attack mode at visual. She continues for extended periods> If I tell her to sit with a tug on the leash she will sit and watch the person for about 1 minute then she goes into attack mode again
 
taisa899

taisa899

Well-Known Member
only people I saw her with before that was myself and my landlord. With me when I met her she was tied up, I walked up to her and stuck out my hand, she nipped at my hand but not hard at all, with my landlord she was fine, walked up sniffed her and all was good. I have no history on her at all other than her previous owner died of cancer and she was locked in a crate for up to 16hrs a day. she is scared of anything new that makes noise and my landlord tells me that my girl has alot more confidence when I'm around her
 
ruthcatrin

ruthcatrin

Well-Known Member
Urg

I'm thinking its fear-agression, lack of socialization type problem. Leash reactivity....

How are her leash manners if you don't have to deal with other people? And how is she with other dogs?

Did any of the trainers you've worked with have large, reactive, dog experience? I'm assuming not, but....
 
taisa899

taisa899

Well-Known Member
ruthcatrin said:
Urg

I'm thinking its fear-agression, lack of socialization type problem. Leash reactivity....

How are her leash manners if you don't have to deal with other people? And how is she with other dogs?

Did any of the trainers you've worked with have large, reactive, dog experience? I'm assuming not, but....
Click to expand...

She's fairly good but not perfect on leash with me. She needs to be reminded evry once in awhile that she is not the leader. She's good with my landlords Shepherd but terrified of my landlords 2 toy dogs. She canbe either passive or agressive with new dogs and the cats on the property. If they show any sign of agression she reacts to it with agression herself.

They said they have experience with them but I'm thinking they didn't. The one tried to tell me she does it cause she's worried about me/
 
ruthcatrin

ruthcatrin

Well-Known Member
Well, her protection drive isn't helping.

Alright, bits and pieces as they work through my brain. Which is why your getting questions in bits and peices, sorry, my brain's a bit fried right at the moment. Others will wander through too and add their input.

You NEED a trainer with large, protective and reactive, dog experience. Lacking that, at least a trainer with highly reactive dog experience. They can be hard to find, hopefully one of our Canadian members can suggest someone.

You need to understand that this dog may never be happy dealing with 'not family' people. That the best you can honestly hope for is a lack of overt aggression. It sounds like you already understand that, but I want to be sure. Yah, it'd be great if you can work her to be accepting of people, or even better, but I think, based on what you're saying that its entirely possible the best you can hope for is lack of aggression.

Is she food driven? Praise driven?

When you walk her down the road are you able to do so comfortably or is it a constant struggle to keep her from lunging?

Can you take her to the vet as she is?

How much exercise does she get?

Do you have an objection to using a prong collar, or other 'adversive' type training tools, assuming that training could be found for you on how to use them correctly? IF your vet determined that anti-anxiety meds may help take the edge off her would you be willing to use them, with the understanding that they are a training tool only and not a fix?
 
taisa899

taisa899

Well-Known Member
She is neither food nor praise driven. During what training I have done with her it has always been rewarded with a pat on the head or body when she does well.
Walking her down the road isn't done much because she fears sounds such as passing cars and too much activity going on around her and she tries to pull me home. I resist for awhile but then give in and take her back to where she feels safe
As for the vet I actually have to drug and muzzle her before I take her
She gets alot of exercise as I have a 100 acre farm and we go for 1 at least 1/2hr walk a day and at least 3x a day we're outside for 10mins with her off leash and running around freely
I may have found a guy here who can help me with her, he's the local dog catcher and has 2 Corso's of his own. I've talked to him a couple of times but between my schedule and his it's hard for us to meet up
I'm willing to do whatever it takes to help her with this problem. She's my girl and I'm not giving up on her
 
ruthcatrin

ruthcatrin

Well-Known Member
Alright. Yah, lack of socialization resulting in fear aggression, combined with leash reactivity and possibly her protection drive to protect you from the object of her fear.

Very glad to hear she can get exercise! I was worried we were talking an apartment in the city....

Can you watch traffic from the yard or drive? So you don't have to leave home, but just be near the road, where you can work with her on something, but be within hearing/seeing range of traffic? Don't push her CLOSE to it, just be in range of it. If that makes sense. Giving her lots of praise or rewards when she responds to you instead of the road. Short periods, maybe just a few minutes at first.
 
Kelly

Kelly

Well-Known Member
Have you heard of Tellington Touch? I would strongly recommend you learn some of the techniques. It can be very good for helping a dog to learn selfawareness and go a long way to relaxing them and giving them some self confidence. There are lots of courses out your way on a regular basis, I believe.

Also, and I know this may sound weird, but have you ever put a shirt on her? It helps them to be more selfaware of their bodies and puts them at ease to some extent. Now that the weather is cooler you should be able to get away with doing this. Of course these are just tools that might help. I have a dog that has low bitei inhibition and needs to be muzzled for the vet, nail trimming, etc etc. I dont take him out to public places, only to the dyke. but i found that using the ttouches on him made a considerable difference in his reaction to the vet. We're almost at the point I think i could maybe leave the muzzle off, but I've seen how quickly he goes from hangin out to a bite, so i will never take the muzzle off. at the vet i mean.

Oh, and my comment earlier about the wagging tail meaning an excited dog, I did mean it could be excited in a negative way, just basically not a calm dog.
 
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