Leash Fighting

Question
Hi Karen,

I adopted my 9 month retriever-mix Sydney about 2 months ago, amazing addition to my family. I take him for long walks since he is a big dog (about 80 lbs now)but the last couple of times he has started to fight with his leash. At first he would just turn around and bit the leash just once or twice, nothing big. But the other night he was fighting so hard that we both got tangled and he got me to the ground...I'm not a big person though (I'm just 115 lbs)...but still it was awful, he kept getting more and more aggressive.

When we finally got back into our yard and I started walking towards the house, he did it again. But this time he actually growled at me and jumped at my face, barking and biting (not hard but hard enough to leave teeth bruises) at one point I actually had to hit him away from me. This was the first time I have been seriously afraid of Sydney and he does not act like this with my boyfriend at all. I couldn't even get him into his run, he kept dropping to the ground and rolling around, biting at my legs...it was awful, I didn't know what to do. I tried to just hold him so he would calm down but nothing, I even tried pulling out his treats...nope, nothing, just more thrashing and pawing and biting.

What am I doing wrong? I think its that Sydney thinks that I'm just a joke and he thinks that he is the dominate one. What should I be doing differently so Sydney knows I'm the dominate one? This just started so I would like to stop it before it goes any further. This is the only time that he acts aggressively towards me and it's making our walks really frustrating. HELP!

Answer
Well probably the best way to deal with this problem is to take him to obedience school,as they will show you how to be the leader and they will also work one on one with you as they can see the problems you are having with this dog-it's always a good idea to call a number of trainers up and tell them the problems you are having,and pick the trainer that you like best

Also,for now you can try something called a 'prong collar' and it looks scary but it doesn't hurt the dog,it helps you gain control over him-which is a must for a dog of his size,they can be bought at any petstore