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Posted by PitBullsRSweet on January 25, 2003 at 10:34:06:
In Reply to: Re: Amstaff Aggressive toward puppies posted by phtasha on January 18, 2003 at 12:41:55:
::No he isn't intact, and it appears to be towards both male and female puppies
:Good, though neutering doesn't solve all problems, it does eliminate the testosterone of an intact male and tone down obsessing over intact females. Is it possible that you tense when he spots a pup and he is "getting" your tension and therefore guarding you from them? Suzanne Clothier has a wonderful on-line site (Flying Dog Press) which has some great free articles about training, dog language and aggression. I don't approve of spanking a dog; seems like monkey language to me, i.e., the dog does not understand what the spanking means. That's what used to be advised for soiling in the house (as well as pushing a dog's nose in the accident) and it really doesn't help the situation. You need to divert your dog from behavior you don't want to see and promote behavior you do want to see. It is really setting your dog up for success, rather than failure. And it must be done at home until you are certain that you have your dog firmly trained when "solo". Then you add distractions. I think that the first step towards this is getting your dog to focus most of all on you. And make certain you have a solid recall. So, then you can call him, he looks to you, comes to you and you get him to do a sit/stay or something else (maybe play with a ball or stick) and avoid the conflict without giving him signals of tension.
:Input http://www.flyingdogpress.com/ (paste) into your browser and look for the free articles. They are MOST informative!
:Tasha
:
Further, your AmStaff should NOT be going to dog parks. Asking your dog not to be dog aggressive is like asking a Lab not to love water or a Pointer not to obsess over birds. Dog parks aren't good places for dogs for several reasons. First, the average Joe has NO idea what his dog's body language is saying. A wagging tail isn't always friendly. If you can't tell what prelude to aggression looks like, you shouldn't be in an off leash park. Second, every time your dog acts like a jerk, he's tarnishing the reputation of bull breeds. And lastly, everytime he acts like a jerk, he's getting positive reinforcement for his behavior. The behavior will continue to escalate. Eventually he may kill a dog.
Do you own and know how to use a breaking stick? Do you bring it to the park with you? I am not meaning to come across as harsh, but from what you describe, he's dangerous to other dogs already and you keep bringing him there. This will end tragically. And as for your trainer, I like clicker training too, but it's totally inappropriate for negative behavior. If you try to use clicker training to keep your dog from following his instincts, it's going to take YEARS to train him out of it, and that's only if it's sucessful. This kind of thing is not a good problem for clicker training.
I have an APBT and an AmStaff. I know what they can do, and I never lose sight of that. My AmStaff is very stable around all dogs of any age, but my mantra that I tell people is "My dog won't start a fight, but he'll finish it." I know what Tank is capapble of doing, and I certainly don't introduce him to situations that I know will light him up and in which I have no control.
It is your responsibility to keep that dog safe and keep him from hurting other dogs. Taking him to the dog park is a bad idea and you are opening yourself up to lawsuits. Find a traditional correction based trainer. Make sure they do not use pain and abuse to train the dog. Shock collars and ear pinching are not called for here, but some time on a chain training collar for correction and mountains of enthusiastic praise will work wonders.
Karen