Dog Agression

Question
I have an Austrailian Shepherd who is 14 months old. We feed him Eukanuba. He is mostly outdoor but sleeps indoor at night. We have completed two obedience classes. My dog Riley is very smart and friendly to everyone, he is sweet and very socialized. The problem is he attacks me (he bites me, he growls, he comes at me) when I try to put him outside after being inside at night. He also will do this if I try to take something away from him that he's not supposed to have. He has never showed signs of agression to anybody else. I do not want to just put him down. What are my options? What can I do to prevent this, can I prevent this? I have already endured scars and wounds from him biting me. I've tried pinning him down to restrain him and hold him until he calms down, but it has not seemed to work.

Answer
"The problem is he attacks me (he bites me, he growls, he comes at me) when I try to put him outside after being inside at night. He also will do this if I try to take something away from him that he's not supposed to have."

Shawna, it sounds like he does not see you as the pack leader, and as a result, does not respect you as his alpha. The behavior when you go to take something from him is called resource guarding, or possessiveness. This is a common problem among dog owners. What usually works to fix this problem is teaching him to trade what he has for something you have, so that you can then take the item that he had before. When he will willingly do this, you can introduce a command like "leave it" so that he learns that when you say "leave it," he is to move away from whatever item he has and take a treat from you. Is he food/treat motivated at all - meaning, do treats and food get his attention? If so, find a treat that he absolutely goes ga-ga over (it can be anything from liver snacks to plain, boneless, cooked chicken breast cut into die-sized pieces - whatever really gets him excited). Don't give him any of these 'special' treats except for when you are teaching him to give up something he has. When he has something - anything but his daily meal - go over to him and offer him one of the treats, or a small handful of them on your open palm. Lure him away from the item and praise him for taking the treats. Then, when you've lured him away, you can go over and pick up the item he had when you started. After a day or so of this, when you approach him, you can tell him "Leave it" and he should get up, leaving the item where it is, and come to you for a treat. Remember to praise him as soon as he gets up and leaves the item!


As for the problem of him attacking you when you go to get him to take him outside - I suggest finding a local trainer/behaviorist that can work with you and Riley one-on-one to help with the problem. Without being able to see how he reacts exactly, it's very difficult, if not impossible, to provide suggestions over the internet. I would say that he does not respect you as his alpha, but as for what you should do, it's difficult to say.

I would recommend looking into the "Nothing in Life is Free (NILIF)" or "No Free Lunch" regimen. Go to www.yahoo.com or www.google.com and do a search for either and you should get lots of hits. Basically, it teaches the dog to respect you by making him 'earn' everything, from attention, to treats, to his daily meals. It is a non-confrontational way of attaining alpha status over your dog. This is just a starting point, though. I honestly think you need to get with a trainer that has experience with aggression as soon as possible, before his behavior gets worse or is redirected towards other people.

Good luck, and let me know if there's anything else I can help you with.

Kristen