Aggressive Behaviour in a Rescued Australian Terrier

Question
Hi Beth

We have just adopted an (approx.) 8 yo male,desexed Australian Terrier named Willie.  His owner was dying of cancer and was an old friend of my partner Sandy, so he asked Sandy to take his dog as he knows Sandy loves dogs, and not long ago had to euthanase his Springer Spaniel Brodie who was 12.  Joe (the cancer victim)had got Willie from the pound about 3 yrs ago.

He is a very sweet dog - don't know if you know Aussies, they are like a giant Sydney Silky, apparently descended from Dandie Dinmonts and Cairn Terriers originally.  I have a long `doggy' history with Labradors and Spaniels, all of whom died of old age after a long and happy life.  However, terriers are an entirely different kettle of fish!

Anyway he is a very good boy in most regards, we have trained him to his own basket and that he doesn't sleep on the bed anymore, and he is very willing.

HOWEVER, if we meet a big dog out walking, he wrinkles his lip and growls and, horrifyingly on the weekend, he attacked a female Labrador in the park - she had only come over to sniff him and he got into a real rough and tumble with her, which I overreacted to and belted him with his lead.  So we moved on from that, after a good `scruff shake' and growly telling off.

Then Sandy was walking Willie today and sure enough, they passed two big dogs and W was at it again.  He bared his teeth and growled, but because Sandy had him on the lead, he could be hauled off.

Now we love this little guy and we promised his owner we would keep him - we are two mature `doggy-centric' people, and we would just like to know the best way of curing this without traumatising our dog or paying huge vet bills for other people's (bitten) dogs......!

Any advice you could give would be most appreciated.

My email address is cheldaly@xtra.co.nz.

Thank you

Cherry Daly

Answer
Cherry -

You are certainly right about terriers being a whole different story than other breeds, and many many people in the world are not conscious of that.

For a light side of that, you may enjoy reading this little thing about cairns - but it applies here as well:

http://www.cairnrescue.com/general/index.htm#toto

It's hard to tell from your description whether he has "issues" with big dogs - which is pretty common - or if he is resource guarding with you, his people, being the resource guarding.  I would make the same suggestions either way, but suspect the ultimate odds are different depending on which he is doing... and that could only be seen eyes-on.

I would strongly recommend an obedience class series with a trainer who is fully aware of the issues.  He needs more time in a controlled situation to be helped to get over this behavior.  Even if that means you sit along the wall with him at your feet while he watched the class go on for a couple of weeks.

Secondly, I would recommend starting him on a very strict regimen at home and everywhere he goes called "Nothing in Life is Free."  Here is one of the better writeups I have seen on this technique:

http://www.cairnrescue.com/docs/NILIF.pdf

I know it sounds strict, but poor Willie may be confused about what the expectations are for him, and it's best to take it back to the very basic things, and then later figure out which leniencies he can tolerate without becoming a problem again.

I still have to do this with my jack russell after all these years. Every once in a while he starts pushing his luck and we have to back up and work through it.

If these suggestions don't seem to work after a couple of weeks, you may wish to consider a visit from a behaviorist/trainer for an evaluation and recommendations.

Best wishes to you and Mr. Willie !

-Beth