vadeerkiller

Need some advice, I have a 13 month old chessie and if it ain't family she will show extremely aggresive behavior towards people and other dogs. Basically wants to attack them. I was so embarassed when I took her to get spayed, she get growling at everyone, they came up to me and said, we are gonna see you lastand just waiting on the vet to tranc you dog.I had a muzzle on her and the vet was still afraid to touch her. Can anything be done about this. As a side note, she got plenty of socialization as a pup. She has been doing this since about 8 months of age. Thanks.

Phil from Maine

Was she aggresive as a pup?, I had a vet tell me that if a dog ( any ) had a bad disposition as a pup that it would become that way later in life.. I do not know if he is right or wrong but, at just over a year old the only thing I think you can do is work some more on socializing...

redneck buck hunter

Let it be your gaurd dog.

Doc E

Chessies have been bred to be protective. Protective of their family and protective of their and their families property. One of the original duties of the Chessie was to protect the catch of fish after returning to shore.
I know of a Chessie that is a lover boy --- unless you try to touch "his" truck.


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daleh

Don't be afraid to smack the stuffing out your dog when it starts this at other people.

don_hamer

I agree with Phil. I think you should work some more on socializing.

littleriver23

Sorry, but the cold hard fact is that any dog that will growl at people has an increased tendancy to bite. It may not happen for a long time because I am sure you will be careful. The time will come and all of a sudden your kid, the neighbors or whoever, maybe your wife will be in the hospital or worse.

The cold hard fact is you can smack the stuffing out of the dog as much as you want, that threat will always be there. If it were me I would put the dog down and get another. It sounds very harsh but the reality is, it is a much better choice then getting someone seriously hurt.

You are going to spend the next 12 + years on the guard everytime you have this dog out of it's kennel. You can't possibly take it around people without being on edge that something is going to happen.

I have had to testify in several court cases now on dog bite issues. I haven't seen the situation come out good for the owner of the dog yet.

In a couple cases you wouldn't believe what it cost them. Your home owners insurance doesn't cover this kind of damage if someone gets hurt on your property.

There are too many good dogs in this world to worry about the bad ones.

I know this post will probably upset you and many that read it but it is reality and if you stop any think about it and use your mind and not your heart you will come to the same conclusion.

I am very sorry this is happening to you. Even at 8 months when the pup started doing this there really was nothing you could do. I know people say they can take aggression out of them but the fact is you can never do it and be totally confident and safe that the dog isn't going to demonstrate this at some point in it's life.

Now that the pup has shown these signs and you are aware of it, you are dead in the water if you have to go to court over a dog bite incident. Any prior knowledge and you automatically get rung up. That is what the outcome was in the cases I had to be involved in.

By the way, I didn't offer to be questioned in these cases, I had no choice. It is a big pain in the butt and all you do is make enemies without having any control over the situation.

I sincerely hope everything works out for you. If there is a way to break this I would love to know it. In 23 years I haven't found a sure fire way to do it yet. At least where I was 100% sure the dog would never be aggressive towards people again.

Aggression towards other dogs is one thing and I agree can probably be stopped in certain cases. But aggression towards people is an entirely differet situation.

Sorry.

SWOSUMike

Littleriver, I can't help but agree even though it stinks to think about. Now granted, there may be some chance that it is a socialization problem rather than genetics. In that case, you might be able to get it under control and by all means should try. If it is genetics, I believe the risk is inherent and will never go away no matter the dog's environment. In my opinion that is why some of the more irresponsibly bred pit bulls that are such nice dogs suddenly turn on some kid and do serious damage. They're are genetically inclined to do that. You hear a lot from dog trainers (not hunting dog trainers) the phrase "there are no bad dogs." That in my opinion is bogus. I think there are lots of them. To say the only reason a dog would be bad is if it had a irresponsible or "bad" owner is ludicrous.

vadeerkiller, your post seems to say your dog only does this around other people but not the family. In that case, maybe you can "rehab" her. Give it your best shot. But just don't let it get to the point that your family or a person can be hurt by the dog. Good luck to you and your dog!

kgpcr

I will not tolerate an agressive dog. i know it sucks but i would put her down and start over. its not worth someone getting chewed up over it.

Mite

I think my opinion on that is up in the air as I have yet to see a truely viscous dog in which the owner was not at fault. For instance, the infamous roommate pitbull is almost a year old but has never been aggressive to me as I have been around it now for awhile but will bark at neighborhood kids and neighbors. I think most of that is because it's been left alone for so long.

I do know that dogs when riled up, say been in a fight with another dog, will often bite the next hand that grabs it. That's just natural. It's not thinking its reacting.

In this case, the chessie is a natural protector. Anyone or anything that comes near a family member will automatically trigger the guarding effect. When it was at he vet, it wasn't use to that enviroment and was probably very uncomfortable. Get a very uncomfortable dog and a stranger approaching, you get a dog that will cower or bite.

Alot of these incidents are the most common that I've seen. The truely aggressive ones were made that way because of their owner. Truely aggressive, I mean, get loose and attack the first person, dog, etc. that they see.