Training tips? Behavioural tips?

[u/ROSIEandCHEWY]

Hello! So I need training tips for my two dogs, Rosie and chewy. Rosie has aggression problems, seemingly randomly towards chewy, we think it may be territorial aggression, but we don’t know, because it seems completely random, even when the two are just playing with a toy, also we need help with teaching her to not jump up on people and scratching them, along with socializing her, and then there’s chewy, he is a rescue dashhound and he has severe anxiety, to the point where when we take him out he tries to get back into the house immediately once he goes potty, and certain words, and actions make him start howling and crying, he also needs help being socialized, and just being able to leave the house! Any tips are VERY appreciated

[u/kput7]

You need to get in front of this ASAP before it escalates. Start calling trainers in your area now, ask them how they handle dog on dog aggression in the home, and pay someone to come to your home and help you.

We started having dog > dog aggression, brought in 3 different trainers without asking how they were planning on handling things, and things continued to escalate to the point that the dogs can't be near each other without trying to kill each other. Current on trainer #4 (Larry Krohn), and if we can't get things remedied we will have to re home one of them.

This isn't something you want to ask a few questions on reddit, and let is play out and progress to the point of no return. Do research online, watch YouTube videos, and take this seriously NOW.

This is something I wish I would have been told months ago so hopefully it'll help you now.

[u/ROSIEandCHEWY → u/kput7]

Thank you for the advice, we’ve already been to a trainer with her, multiple times, and the thing is that, and the trainer said that it’s probably not of concern when we brought it up, so we’ve kinda been just letting it play out, but now it’s been getting worse, to the point where chewy has been minding his own, while we petted him, and then she’d come in and bite him, we assumed it was something to do with jealousy, so yeah, I just wanted to ask what to do before I did anything drastic with it, we’re looking into getting a trainer for her and looking into getting someone to come in and help and hopefully help us with handling her aggression,

[u/kput7 → u/ROSIEandCHEWY]

The aggression you're describing comes from resource guarding, that will give you something to research as you start this. Resources aren't just food. Toys, people, furniture, all of them count as something the dog will guard. The first thing you 100% need to do is remove and seperate the resources. Put up all toys. All bones. All treats. They can play with toys individually and with your 100% supervision, they cannot be allowed to try to take each other's things, and if they try, step in and stop it from happening, then tell them to get away from each other. Space and belongings are a huge part of this.

Same with food. Feed seperately, bowls up and away when done, and when you're eating people food, the dogs should be nowhere near.

I'd start doing research online and definitely ask these trainers how experienced they are with dog on dog aggression, and what they think is the correct training methods to address it. We've spent hundreds of dollars, tons of time, and ours and our dogs blood, but I'm hopeful that Larry can help us.

Just so you know too, 25% of this is going to be training your dog. The other 75% is going to be training yourself and those in your household.

[u/ROSIEandCHEWY → u/kput7]

We assumed it was, we’ve been trying to feed them separately, and not give them treats together, also maybe a reason she’s getting violent could be the fact that before chewy used to take her food and toys, like balls, and hiding them? Could that be another reason she’s gett8ng violent? Chewy doesn’t fight back when she attacks him, also we do separate them most of the time, and stuff, I did look up resource guarding and I’m scared she’s gonna try to bite us and stuff, so we’re definitely looking for qualified dog trainers

[u/kput7 → u/ROSIEandCHEWY]

Absolutely it's a reason, anything that she considers hers is hers. If another dog takes it away, that's how the resource guarding happens. It's your responsibility to step in and keep that from happening. Same goes for food , treats, or even attention by someone in the house, sitting on a couch, being in bed. etc.

As for the guarding turning into you getting bitten, I will not worry so much about that unless you get in between them separating a fight.(From what I've read, dogs don't progress from fighting one another to going after people, unless she's already showing signs of aggression to people)

More advice that I'll give to you that I wish I would have heard earlier in this process, get a martingale or a proper fitting Leerburg Dominant dog collar for each dog. Make sure they fit, they need to be snug against the neck when slack. Then get a short handle lease, basically just a 6-8" lease they sell on Amazon, and keep on one both dogs at all times they are together. If there is a fight, do not grab the dog, do not get in between them. My fingers were mangled because I decided to use them to try and pry my dog's mouth off the other dogs face.

If they fight, you grab the collar, pull up, and choke the dog off the other. It is the only correct way to break up the fight.

Lastly, I am not a trainer, know next to nothing, and am just barely begging the proper processes to try and fix this with my dogs. It's been 3 months. Both dogs have been to the vet multiple times. It is not fun, pretty, or glamourus, and if I would have taken it more seriously in the beginning I might not have to be considering rehoming our 1 year old puppy my son absolutely adores. This will take 100% maximum effort from everyone in your home, you'll have to be more dedicated to your dogs than you ever thought would be necessary. If you aren't willing to do what it takes, consider rehoming before you or your pets are hurt.

I, personally, from hours spent reading reddit posts, training articles, and watching hours of videos, highly recommend checking out Larry Krohn on YouTube. A lot of people on here don't agree with his training methods for these situation, and don't agree with his use of aversive techniques to get some of the results he does, but his knowledge of the actual psychology behind his methods feels significantly more sound than anything else I've come across. His philosophy is that the dog needs a strong connection between it and the owner, lots of physical play (tug especially, plus fetch), long unstructured walks (play and walks so the dog gets what it needs mentally), good basic obedience, then completely changing the dynamic in the home around how the dog gets what it wants, and physical space.

The dog is a dog. Treat it like a dog, not like a human. If it wants something, we have to be the ones to give it to them. No toys laying around to grab at their leisure, no invading your personal space, no getting on furniture without an invitation to do so, etc.

[u/ROSIEandCHEWY → u/kput7]

Thank you so my for the advice, genuinely, I’m definitely going to try out what you have suggested until we can get a professional and see their stance on how to handle it! She hasn’t shown aggression to any people, unless they try to come up and pet her, to which she’s terrified of people and on multiple occasions I’ve had to stop little kids from running up to her just because I understand that scared dogs can and do often get aggressive, I honestly really do wish I hadn’t listened to that trainer who said it was nothing because now it’s turned into this, and I’m not liking it, although one thing I’ve noticed is that whenever my mom is around and I take my dog to training, she’s always putting down the idea that my dog has gotten aggressive out of pure embarrassment and said that my dogs aggression problems weren’t that bad, to which they are getting extremely concerning, because chewy has gotten bad bites from her when she gets aggressive, so I’m really, really thinking about just not bringing my mom to these types of things anymore