I wish I had better news to report about how Henry and his aggression towards guests, but sadly we ended up having to put him in a kennel for the weekend. Now at least I know that his problem is territorial aggression and it isn't just a single person that he doesn't like. Boy, it sure broke my heart over the weekend to kennel him, but he was totally out of control--I've never seen a dog act like this before, so I'm pretty lost about what to do. I ended up ordering 2 books about fear and aggression (The Cautious Canine by Patricia McConnell, which is really just a short guide and Aggression in Dogs: Practical Management, Prevention, and Behavior Modification by Brenda Aloff, which is comprehensive and in depth). It's going to be a tough problem to try and rehabilitate because I'll need other people's help. I'll probably end up seeking professional help.

We did an interesting experiment before I took him to the kennel, though. I had my friend take a walk with me and Henry in our neighborhood. She stayed on the other side of the street so she would be safe. While in the immediate neighborhood, Henry was very anxious about her, occasionally barking at her and lunging towards her, but as soon as we got out of our immediate neighborhood, he forgot all about her being there, and she was able to walk right beside us. He didn't care that she was there at all. When we walked back home, as soon as we entered his "territory," he became anxious and aggressive towards her again. I think that's a sure sign that his problem is territorial aggression, don't you? Also, he's friendly towards people when we're at the park.

Sigh. My sweet, cute, little Henry turns into a monster when people come over. It just breaks my heart...I only want other people to experience Henry as we (our family) does. I will never give up on him, though. At the very worst, he'll have to go to the pet sitter's if we have guests from now on.

That would be great to see! I don't get the channel here, but I could rent it when it comes out.

Poor little guy. He's been hoarse the last couple of days. Yesterday, when he tried to bark, all that would come out is this hoarse little croak. He must have barked a lot at the kennel. He's much better today. The kennel must be pretty tiring and stressful. Henry slept most of the day yesterday, and he's usually a really high-energy dog. I usually leave him with a lady that boards dogs in her home, but on such short notice on a holiday, she couldn't take him. He loves it with her--she lets him sleep on the bed with her. She adores Henry.

My husband was joking today--he says Henry says "You can be my friend, but you can't come to my house." It was funny because he said it in this little voice like Henry was actually saying those words.

The good news I'm *hearing* from you is your unwillingness to give up and your willingness to work on the behavior. I applaud you for that, because what you are dealing with is going to require that concrete commitment and perserverance. Please know I'm only an email away if I can help you in any way...

It does indeed sound like territorial aggression to me, but of course I am not there and cannot SEE what is triggering the behavior. Something about the sight, smell, actions or sound of the stimulus is triggering this behavior in Henry. Territorial aggression varies in degrees, ranging from growling and barking to lunging, chasing, snapping and biting. It can occur outdoors or at doors or windows... or in the car.... or on walks such as you describe. The sad thing is... and something most people don't realize.... is that if a dog is physically prevented from gaining access to the stimulus (whatever it is), this causes MORE frustration for the dog and the aggression behavior may be heightened. I've seen dogs become so frustrated that they spin in circles, or bite at themselves... and one time I even witnessed a dog turn on the owner who was attempting to correct (prohibit) the behavior. It is normal for most dogs to bark at a visitor who enters your home. The problem comes when the dog doesn't settle down and accept the visitor. The dog may keep barking and get himself so worked up that they may bite. It's kinda like they feed off their own emotions and the more frustrated they become, the more aggression you witness. (make sense?) And oftentimes... the longer a visitor stays in "his" territory, the more worked up the dog becomes. It's a double edged sword, because if the visitor leaves, this reinforces the aggressive behavior as "success" to the dog, and he thinks the visitor leaving was the "reward" so to speak. So in essence... if a visitor comes in and the dog shows aggression ... and the visitor leaves... then that reinforces the bad behavior. So having the visitor leave is NOT the answer.

The books you have gotten are excellent resources. The Cautious Canine was required reading for the canine behavior course I took... although a short & sweet book... it's full of great information.

Territorial aggression can be prevented if you have a pup and begin training at an early age. But if that's not the case with Henry (I'm sorry... I can't remember his circumstances)... then you may indeed need to seek professional help. I wish I were closer... I'd be happy to help you. There are things that can be done... several things you'll need another person to help with.

First and foremost, I would suggest a prong collar (not a choke collar), but PLEASE get someone who has worked with them before to show you the proper way to use one. You can get them at petsmart. They are not expensive and are VERY effective IF used properly. It would be well worth the money to get a trainer to spend a few sessions with you (one-on-one with Henry) to show you how to use it and what can be done with it as it pertains specifically to Henry.

Sara Jo... hang in there. The behavior IS correctable... but it can't be done overnight, and I think you know this. *hugs*

I AM GLAD FOR THE NEW INFO.  TOBEY I SSTILL HAVING THE SAME PROBLEM WITH PEOPLE.  I TOOK HIM TO PETSMART.

THE VET ASSIST LOVED HIM, PETTED HIM AND EVEN PUT THE MUZZEL ON HIM.  THEN HE HE CHANGES WHEN WE WENT OUT IN THE STORE.  ONE LADY EVEN PETTED HIM BEFORE I TOLD HER NOT TO TRY TO PET.  THE LADY WITH HER HE TRIED TO JUMP AT.

I AM WORKING NOW , SO MAYBE I CAN SOON AFFORD TO GET SOME PROFESSIONAL HELP. HAVE NOT BEEN ABLE TO FIND A PROFESSIONAL TRAINER LESS THAN 500.00 A CLIP.  I JUST CANT AFFORD THIS.  I LOVE MY TOBEY AND IT TAKES SO MUCH WORK TO HAVE A DOG LIKE THIS. ANY HELP WILL BE APPRECIATED.

TO MAKE IT WORSE OUR GRANDSON MOVED IN WITH US AND WITH HIS MINI PINSHER THAT IS 6 MO OLD.  I AM HAVING MORE PROBLEMS WITH TOBEY TRYING TO KILL HIM.  HE IS JEALOUS OF MY GRANDSON.  HE WANTS ALL THE ATTENTION.

I AM GETTY MISS MOLLY SPAYED ON WED.  THEN I AM GOING TO WORK ON GETTTING THIS LITTLE PAIN( DEXTER) neutered.he is constantly marking.  it is getting unbearable now.

HE  GETS PLENTY OF LOVE AND ATTENTION BY ALL. AT LEAST I FEEL HE DOES.  I KNOW HE  GETS MINE. PLEAS ANY HELP. I LOVE TOBY SO MUCH. I WANT HIM TO BE NICE.  HE IS SO SMART.  JUST HAS A MEAN STREAK IN HIM.

PLEASE HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thank you everyone for your thoughtful responses.

Nora, I especially want to thank you for your encouraging words and support. Just to fill you in on Henry's background, I adopted him from a rescue group about a year and a half ago; he was estimated to be 4-7 years old. Henry had just undergone the removal of his right eye, which was replaced with a prosthesis. No doubt some of his problems are related to the adjustment to his visual impairment. His foster family said that Henry acted like he had never been inside a house. They had to teach him to climb stairs.

It is incredible how far Henry has come since I adopted him. When on the leash, he was frightened and aggressive towards people, other dogs, cars, bikes, etc. Now he is like any other trained dog on a leash. He has always been very well behaved off leash in the dog park; no problems there (he has a great recall, too). I work with Henry every day, and it has been a long and extremely rewarding journey to see him evolve.

Fortunately, I am very into physical exercise, so our dogs reap the rewards of long hikes and walks. Henry is so athletic that I regularly (2-3 times a week) take him to the park and skate 5 to 7 miles while he runs along with me. We do the same thing with a bike, too. I can't imagine how wild he would be without a lot of exercise!

One of the books that I ordered just arrived today (the Aloff book). From just the little bit that I glanced at it, I can already tell that there are some things I've done (neglected to do) to promote this behavior. The biggest challenge for me is that I don't have a lot of visitors (once or twice a year). That makes it so hard to actually work on the problem. My closest friend has never had a dog. That's why I really think I need professional help. I need visitors!

Henry is the most awesome dog that I've ever had. He is also the most challenging. He is smart and responsive. I know he can be rehabilitated with this problem because I've seen him do a complete turnaround with his leash aggression. It took a lot, I mean a lot, of practice, though. It has taken nearly a year and a half for him to become a normally leash-trained dog. But he's there, and it is SO COOL when people say what a great dog he is. Happened today, as a matter of fact.

Wow, if you've read this far, thank you! I really appreciate the support and the advice. Thank you Christine for the post with the information from Cesar's website. To those of you who share my problem, I wish you the best of luck. It's a challenging problem to deal with, and I feel your pain. Jekyll and Hyde is an excellent analogy, isn't it?

I will keep you all posted on Henry's progress or lack thereof. I am hopeful, though.

One more thing--Nora, I do use a prong collar with Henry. I actually watched a video on how to properly use one when we got one for our other dog. I have had great success with the prong collar. When I first got Henry, I couldn't use a head halter because of the close proximity of the strap to his newly inserted eye, and the prong was a great alternative. It works extremely well for Henry.

That's interesting, Christine. I am kind of grateful in a weird sort of way for these problems of Henry's. It has been really rewarding to work with him and see him evolve. I'm also very grateful that Henry LOVES treats and food. He is highly motivated by treats and toys. My bird dog is not, and it's really difficult to motivate her. The reason I think some of Cesar's methods are not appropriate for Henry is that I don't think his aggression is related to dominance issues. I think Henry has confidence issues stemming from when he lost his eye and became visually impaired coupled with never having been trained on a leash (referring to his prior leash aggression). I'm beginning to think that his territorial aggression is something he learned and that is positively reinforced when he barks at the mail lady, UPS person, or garbage truck. He barks, they go away, problem solved--in his mind.

Monica, Daxter sure is a handsome dog! Thanks for the congrats, too.

I have not yet taken Henry to any training classes, although I did inquire about them with my vet's office. They gave me a recommendation, and I am planning on enrolling Henry at some point in the near future, probably this fall when it's not so hot because they hold a lot of the class outside.

With Henry's leash aggression, I tried several different training aids, including a head collar. He did great with the head collar as far as adapting to it, but with the aggression issue it was a disaster--mainly because of Henry's prosthetic eye and the close proximity of the strap to his eyes. Henry would flip out and yank his head all around like a maniac. I just couldn't get good control of him. I finally resorted to a prong collar, and this has worked very well for Henry. I didn't resort to this lightly though, and I did already have experience and knowledge with using the prong collar with another dog. Prongs can be very dangerous if not used properly.

The thing that finally did it with the leash aggression is redircting Henry's attention from "scary thing" to me. Once I got the timing right with this, and I used treats and Henry's name and the command "look," which I taught him beforehand, he started to gain more confidence and become less reactive. It took a long time. I've been working on this since I got him a year and a half ago, but he's pretty solid now as long as he has his prong collar on. I don't even have to give it the slightest tug anymore to redirect him, but just having the prong on makes a difference. It is a very unconventional approach to use a prong with positive reinforcement, but I don't use the prong for corrections, just for control.

Another thing I did was "nothing in life is free"  or NILIF. I still do it to a degree and have actually stepped it up again recently. Basically, Henry has to work for everything. For his dinner he has to sit for a few moments. To go outside, he has to sit or do a down, etc. This helped a lot with both Henry's self control and establishing my relevance to him as his leader.

The only other thing I can add is that I never go for a walk with Henry without treats to use as rewards. Also, I have never shied away from taking him to places to expose him to a lot of people and dogs on leashes. It was embarrassing at first, to say the least, to have this crazy dog reacting to other dogs, but it helped him in the long run to gain confidence in himself. I would hike with him, and if another person approached with a dog, I would lead Henry off the trail so no contact could be made and then make him sit while holding a treat up. If he sat nicely he got the treat. Now Henry pretty much behaves like a normal dog on the leash unless someone else's dog is acting all crazy and lunging at us. Even then, Henry's about 50/50, which is awesome to me.

I wish you the best of luck with Daxter. Don't give up, and keep in mind that you will make mistakes (I sure did). If he did already bite someone, it might be a great idea to seek out the help of a qualified trainer. I will probably end up doing that myself with Henry's territorial aggression.

I don't like choke collars either and have not used the choke collar with any of my dogs. I use a prong collar with both Henry and Heidi and feel like it is much more humane than the choke collar, or for Henry even a regular collar. With the prong, Henry doesn't get choked at all.

I have only had one unfortunate incident with the prong on Henry that was totally because I wasn't paying attention. I had taken Henry to a park where there were a lot of Canada geese, and Henry charged one that I didn't notice had started to waddle up in our direction. The prong did break the skin on Henry's neck, and I felt soooo bad. He never charged a Canada goose again after that.

When I was volunteering at the shelter and helping out with dog walking and teaching basic obedience, we had to use choke collars. I hated it. We never popped the leash or anything like that, and the methods were based on positive reinforcement, but I hated hearing the dogs gasping for air if they pulled. I kept wondering how damaging these collars were to the dog's tracheas.