On a early blog, I read what to do when a charging dog comes at you. I watch the show regularly and have picked up some good tips, but the one thing I need to know is ....what do you do when you get charged by another dog when you are walking your dog. Or when the other dog wants to confront your dog. I was in a situation when a stray pit confronted and bit my dog paying no attention to me. I was able to subdue the pit by staying calm but not after the fact of getting bit. Can anyone out there give me advice how to prevent or act differently when I am faced with the situation again. Your help will be greatly appreciated.

hi john,
when dogs have charged at my dog at the dog park, i get in front of my dog & block the charging dog by saying "no" & motioning him to go away, so far this has worked. i read that it's important to protect our dogs from others, otherwise they won't trust you, fortunatly, i haven't had a bad experience doing this. one particular dog that would charge and "attack" other dogs would come with this dog trainer, who brings about 10 dogs with her, i did this very thing & she left us alone, as i kept repeating this, eventually, she made friends with my dogs, on walks, the loose dogs, so far have been friendly.
hope this helps.

I have a 1 year old shitz shu and for the past 3 weeks she has been biting eveyone. The bites are very vicious and for no reason at all. The other day she bit my mother, who the dog loves more than anyone one on the nose so badly that she had to get 7 stiches. Everyone is saying that we have to put her to sleep but I love my dog too much, she is like my child. I do not know what to do. I can't let someone kill her and I can't let her deform someone for the rest of their life. So if anyone can help me with this problem, your opinons would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Brooke

Brooke, To start I would keep a lead on her when people come over so you will have some control. I also saw that you wrote that she is your baby! NO NO NO she owns you now, you need to treat her like a dog. I have just worked with another small breed that was treated like a baby so I suggested to the people to treat the dog like a large breed. It did help them and I also told them when people come into their house pretend the dog is not there, they need to pat the dog when they want not when the dog demands it. Doing that teaches the dog they have control. Cesar also shows alot of this on his shows. I have been training for years and do rescue for large breeds but I did at one time have a little dog come into my house a Chihuahua (Mijilly). I treated her just like the dogs over 100lbs and I had the vet tell me she was the only Chihuahua they didn't have to muzzle there. Good Luck, Jen

I have 3 dogs, all which I took in as rescues so I'm unsure of their background. One rott mix, a lab mix and a pit mix. I have never had many problems with them until recently. My rott mix broke her chain and attacked a loose neighbors dog. This has created problems for me being able to walk my dog down our road because there are many dogs that run loose. More recently, my lab went after my pit. I went to get my lab and my rott followed me and jumped on my lab. I ended up getting my arm tore open in a fight between them and my dad got his hands bit up. I now have them separated. I realize that is not helping the problem but I find that when I even think of trying to work with them together, I get fearful as I do not want one of my dogs killing the other. I'm afraid my negative energy will just create a larger problem. I've never felt this way around my dogs in the past & I need help with advice as now noone wants to come visit for fear of my dogs. I have asked around about dog trainers in the area, but noone knows of anyone who will work with aggressive dogs. When I work with the dogs singularly, I feel we make progress. Any advice on working with them together???

Hi, Eric-

I would suggest creating an environment where all food and treats are given on a reward basis only, to establish you as being in control over when and where the dog recieves any food. All meals should be planned for a dog that has this problem, no "endless" bowl of food should be accessable. Make the dog perform some form of obedience for you prior to recieving any food, even a simple sit or lay down will help establish you as the provider and controller of the food and treat supply.

If the problem is severe I would suggest feeding the dog on lead and interrupting mealtimes with a brisk lead around the house and then a return to the food area, allowing the dog to resume eating after it has again sat or layed down for you. Keep repeating this until the dog displays no aggressive behaviors at feeding time, even when you reach for the food or food dish.

Spending some time every day playing with a toy the dog likes to mouth but isn't aggressive over can help as well, I would encourage every dog owner to teach the "drop" or "leave" command, as once the dog learns this command it can be extended to items that the dog is more protective over.

I have a 1 year old pit bull named Dee Dee. She has been a great dog but recently started acting agressive towards me when I correct her. She will lie down and bark and bare her teeth at me when I tell her "no". She has never bitten me and the odd thing is she doesn't act this way towards anyone but me and my wife. We have two small children and the dog has never given us a reason to believe that she would hurt the kids. However, I don't want this behavior to go any further or for it to start involving my children. I have tried hard to project a more calm-assertive energy to my dog and establish leadership, but I know I am still not doing something right. When we first got Dee Dee, we did not know the things we do now about a dog needing to be balanced. I feel like there is something I'm missing about what my dog needs. We take her for long walks every day, so she is walking for at least 2 hours of every day. Anyone ever had a similar problem? If so, any tips on how to correct this behavior? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Nic

Mandy, did you say you had your Rott on a chain? This is not good. Chained dogs become aggressive, very territorial. It would be extremely beneficial if you could change that situation. I don't have time this morning to go into this, but perhaps someone else can offer advice.

Peace ~ Out

My son has 4 pitbulls. The oldest male(3) & female(3) have been together since they were almost 6 weeks old, the younger male(Moab, approx.16months) & female(AubreyAun, 10months) are sibblings from two seprate litters. They have all lived together in harmony until about 2 months ago. There was a bad fight between the older three, the baby was there, but was not involved. I was affraid it was because AubreyAun was coming into season, so I took her & Lady and had them spayed, but only a month after this the older two Lady(mom) & Malachi(dad) got into another fight. Any info will help.