"dangerous dog" breed guy here

Hey people, im a "dangerous dog" kinda guy. not intimidated by any dog on the planet. and i am fully accustomed to the most dangerous breeds and i love them. There is no such thing as a "bad dog" or a "dangerous dog" only dangerous owners and bad owners. I know full well that any dog can be rehabilitated with the right time and effort.

I have a very large doberman named Maverick and a large pitbull named Tank. I prefer larger, "problematic" dogs, that require large amounts of attention. I can teach your large dog anything in time.

I am by no means an expert of all things, and i realize that time and effort trumph all, but i am aware of that, and i am willing to take on any problem.

Hey, I know you like the "dangerous breeds" but how about the smallest, MOST dangerous dog out there? lol. I'm talking about a chihuahua. I've got to say, if they were 60lbs bigger, I'm sure they would be outlawed!

My guy has had aggression issues since day 1. I should have never gotten him from where I did, but we all make mistakes and I took him and all of his issues as well. He's a wonderful dog, but is very aggressive towards any strangers that are on his turf. Sometimes he feels the need to protect me too, but not always.

Did you have any suggestions for me? I know it's not anywhere near what you were thinking of, but still a dog in need of MAJOR rehab!

yeah i do have some advice and suggestions for you. anywhere from mild to wild. ok not really wild, but i do have some suggestions for you.

The first thing that strikes me, is socialization. the vast majority of people make this same mistake, and its easy to overlook by varying degrees.

side note: i also do very much agree with you about your small dog comment. Many small dogs are much worse for biting and agressive/territorial behaviour, but due to their small size, do not normally inflict serious damage to any person or dog. the "dangerous dogs" are simply just bigger and more powerful, therefore they inflict more serious damage. Its unfortunate, but there are a lot of people who have them but do not know how to responsibly manage and train them. But i could go on for hours about BSL... so ill leave it at that lol


first of all i would try several things. Bring your dog out to meet new people in a neutral territory, somewhere the dog hasnt really been or at least doesnt feel defensive about. let it meet other dogs, and people. (if it still acts agressive at this time, be very sure you correct him, but do not just take him away. keep trying) when you see he starts to relax and backs off witht he agression, then give him some love. tell him good boy, pet him, belly scratches. etc.

another probably more important thing.... (may not seem related but it very much is). ON LEASH training. You need the dog to have the confidence that you are spending time with and training HIM, not the other way around. Make sure you do heel, (i use halt, but you may just say sit while heeling to make him stop), sit, down, stay, etc. congratulate him when he listens. You want him to be confident in his surroundings, plus on top of being better behaved, on leash training, reinforces to him that YOU are in control. this is almost like laying the foundation.

once you see that he is becoming more relaxed. you can have someone you know come in to the mix and see how he reacts. he will almost undoubtedly react with his usual show, but if you have someone come down to his level, and just sit there saying soothing reassuring things to him, and hold out the hand (be ready to take a couple nips possibly), but stay close to him, and move into his space if he backs off. all the while telling him to shush if he keeps barking. He will eventually calm down enough to come sniff their hand.

while doing this, you should also have people walk in and take his food while hes eating, take his toys while hes playing with them (better if he is comfortable with YOU doing this first before having a stranger try it). this is definetly showing your and any other humans dominance.


bottom line is the dog is acting in this way because YOU as a family have not proven absolute dominance over him. he NEEDS to know that you are the boss but also that you love him at the same time.

dogs are pack animals and if they do not respect you as a leader, they will most certainly try to assume that role.

hope some of this helps. I have more advuce and suggestions as well, but this should be a good starting point.

how old is the dog too? the age will make a difference as to how easy it will be to remedy the problem. etc.

oh and ps. I highly recommend a small choker collar for training. A small dog especially will not react to being pulled (side from heeling) as a correction because their typical nylon collars do not give them any sort of pressure. a small choker (whether you like them or not) are pretty well a necessity. you dont have to reef his head off with it, just a quick sharp pull will give them enough of a shock to make them realize they are doing something wrong. This reinforces your control.

Another MAJOR piece of advice for his obedience would be consistantly giving ONE command only,followed by correction.
you say come once and he doesnt come, go get him and make him come to where you want, etc. that makes them very responsive to your commands. you may also use the counting method where if you say it, and he doesnt listen, count to three like you would with a kid, and if they still dont listen, correction, then make them do it. but dont congratulate him unless he does it without a correction.

Welcome.

I agree with you %100. Bad dogs aren't born, they're made. I believe that most dogs are reflective of their owners. Of course you get the occasional odd ball dog that is aggressive and hardly trainable but how quick can we condemn these dogs when we in fact have these members of society in our realm?

Every pitbull that I've met that has been in the hands of good owners has always been extremely friendly and smart. I just wish that they didn't get the rep that they did because now it's scaring off people from owning them because of the fees imposed on the owners for having them.

And I know pitbulls aren't the only breeds that are viewed as aggressive and "killer" dogs; I was only using them in a general sense since they seemed to be the most outlawed and stereotypical cases.

Good for you for breaking the barrier and trying to prove the brainwashed ways of society. Get some pics up of them!

Thanks for the reply! For training, he heels very well. All the time. I can drape the leash around my neck and walk and he'll stay by my side for the most part.

I use a martingale collar on him (don't know if you're familiar with that style, it is a correction collar though. He has a collapsing trachea so I've been wary with using the choker collars, but so far it doesn't seem to bother him.

I can easily take anything away from him (food, toys, etc.) without him getting defensive. He eats after us. The biggest problem is I've lived with my parents the whole time I've owned him (he's 2 as of yesterday by the way) and my parents DO NOT want to help co-operate with training. We all agreed BEFORE I got him that we'd all pitch in. Well that didn't happen!

I'm moving to Red Deer ON MY OWN! in October, so it will be a lot easier for ME to work with Triton and abide by my house rules, not "whoevers in the house at the times rules."

When I got him, he had issues. He was just over 3 months old, and fearful of everything. He was removed from the litter WAY too early so he lost major life skills learnt from his litter mate and mother.

I've worked with him to boost confidence since day 1, but the rest of the family is making him regress. I cannot wait to get out of the house and have my own rules.

I'll update everyone on the situation once we're on our own!

The other crappy thing is, I live in a really small town and nobody does anything with their dogs, so I have nowhere to socialize anymore. He was socialized with many dogs as a puppy though, so he is good with most dogs.

ah, so he was most likely imprinted with a fear during a very sensitive development stage. it would seem from your description that he is a bit more of a fear biter/defensive dog. I would take puppy training classes, it is a very good way to socialize the dog (i know you said youre in a small town, but if you move to red deer, you will absolutely be able to find training classes there.) I highly recommend them, even if your dog is excellent at obedience, having other dogs around them and whatnot will make for great experience.

also if fear is the factor. lol then i would recommend suprising him with sudden loud noises and things of the like relatively often, things he most likely hasnt heard before, being exposed to unfamiliar sights and sounds relatiovely oftenm often help boost the dogs confidence in his surroundings. Just a side note, he may appear to be quite frightened when you start to do it, but you should keep doing it, because he will become accustomed to it, and it should help reduce his fear. but definetly socialize him as best you can.

You bet! I'm really excited about getting to the city and be around "my kind" of people lol. Money is very tight, but I'll see about maybe an intermediate obedience class. He aced the begginer obedience.

I'm sure he'll be spooked TONS when we first get to the new place! New smells (old tenant has a cat and a german shepherd pup) and tenants upstairs that may make noise? (Mom and her 21 year old son and 11 year old daughter live upstairs)

lol yeah new environments are a bit stressful for dogs, ie moving homes, but it can work out to a good benefit.

my girlfriend of a year just broke up with me and kicked me out because "she couldnt handle the dogs and the baby". so i took my dogs and im moving to an acreage. I told her, I had my dogs before you, and with all the problems weve been having, ill have my dogs after you as well.

lol

it sucks and it hurts, but my dogs will never turn their backs on me. and i love them as much as they love me.

Sorry to hear about your girlfriend and you. But, you're very right. The dogs will never, ever get into arguements and disagreements with us. They're always there for us. Even when you've got noone else

Good luck on the acerage! Thats my dream one day! Have an acerage with a boarding kennel/store and maybe even incorporate a rescue/ shelter. Thats still very iffy though. Probably start off with just cats. So many out there that are abandoned..

Like I said though, I'll update you all when I'm settled in the new place with my boys!

I agree, an acrage would be great. I always said if I didn't have to work for a living, I'd love to be a foster mom to rescued dogs. And I've always wanted a pet potbellied pig too!

After I'm done school, I'm looking at moving a little closer to home hopefully and getting an acreage as well. You can put a boy in the country but you can't take the country out of a boy.