Catahoula coonhound mix may have anxiety agression issues...

catahoulaowner

I recently adopted a catahoula coonhound mix from a shelter. I have had her about 3 weeks and she is a great loving and really smart dog. She is about 1 years so she still very much a puppy. She has never growled at me... but everyone else who is new to her she will growl or bark at initially. After a while (30 minutes) she will warm up. She really warmed up to my 3 yr old nephew the other person she has never growled at. My issue is that i have enrolled her into pet training classes at petsmart. When walking into the store she goes nuts and is barking and growling at everyone and everything. she has never tried to bite but I dont know if she will or not. The trainer says he is confident that he can help and i beleive him. But I dont know what to do to ease her nervousness (and mine) when going into this situation. I have owned labs and beagles before her and have never dealt with a dog like this before, or felt like i had trouble controlling a dog before. Does anyone have any suggestions or tips on things i can do to help her and I in these situations?

Cali

She may or may not be able to learn in that environment. She'd probably do best with some private classes, however I do encourage you to try her in the classes for a couple of weeks and see how she does. I work at PetSmart as a trainer, however I was a trainer for several years before starting there (needed the dependable hourly pay) and I will tell you that PetSmart-trained trainers are NOT always very well equipped to deal with more than puppies. On the same token, there are some such as myself who have more experience.
I suggest you take her out and about as much as possible, including to your PetSmart, and make everything a positive experience for her. Arm every guest with treats and instruct them to toss the treats to her when they enter your house.
Also, exercise your dog before you take her to class. Don't tire her out, just take the edge off of her. Bring some chew stuff to class as well and see if she will stay occupied (she may or may not have interest in food once your bring her in there- it can be overstimulating)

Criosphynx

I agree with Cali 100%

Gone2Dogs

Depending on what she is mixed with and how much Catahoula is in her (and it sounds like a bit given your issue) she could really turn out to be a handful of a dog. LCLDs are one of those breeds I personally would never reccomend as a pet and only to an owner experienced with strong, independent dogs who is gonna work it in some venue....hunting or possibly cattle. The ones I have met definitely have an edge on them.
I would recommend that you work her constantly...NILIF (nothing in life is free) from the get go and loads of stuff to help her socialize and burn off all that hunting energy. If she will learn to fetch, or swim or ANYTHING to take the edge off it will help you get a handle on her.
I am not familiar with PS training but I would go with positive marker training as much as possible, WORK with her and as was already said....have her get 'treats' and loads of interaction with everyone in and out of your home.

catahoulaowner

Thanks for the replies. I did not realize she was catahoula until i went PS and one of trainers had one. So luckily she was able to explain a little to me and I have been doing alot of research on the breed in the past few days. I like to hunt and really enjoy the outdoors so I dont think it will be a problem getting the exercise she needs. But we have had about 20 inches of snow in the past two weeks...so getting her to run off some of this nervous energy has been tough. But I will try the classes for the rest of the session and see how this goes and then maybe enlist the help of a private trainer. Thanks so much for the insight.

Cali

Good luck with her!

We want pictures!!

Mikey

I just, want to caution blaming the breed. While it is important for tendancies-don't blame it entirely .

OK so the dog is defending you =is the dog anxious at all times (ie. you need to work on phobias and anxiety) or is the dog defending you and taking a while to warm up? There is the key, in what you need to do to work on them.

As stated by others-it doesn't matter if it's a bigmart store-or a private trainer-look into who it is and what they do-and know what your dog needs.

Gone2Dogs

I don't think anyone was 'blaming' the breed. The point with a purebred dog is that they have various things that are part of their makeup.
Doxies are tenacious and tend to be very willing to bite if cornered- because they were bred originally to go down burrows and kill badgers. Bullmastiffs will guard those they love and tend to be dog aggressive - because they were estate gamekeepers dogs and needed to capture poachers and stop their Lurchers from attacking the gamekeeper. Huskies have high prey drives and tend to run- pulling sleds. Catahoula were bred to chase down and attack wild boar and cattle- not something for the faint at heart.
While it isn't written in stone for every individual of the breeds it is what makes them what they are. It is also what makes some people want, need or devote themselves to certain breeds.

Mutts tend to be more generics that may 'soften' breed tendencies. Which is why Border Collie mixes tend to be less OCD while often keeping the more easy to live with tendencies and are often better "just pets".

That was why I said....depending on what she is mixed with.

fawkese1

i totally agree with cali's advice... and NILF is good all around training in general for any dog...

i have had a similar experience with my rescue dog, and it takes a lot of persistence, but you can help her to overcome these issues...

as far as the snow, i've had similar issues with it where i live, luckily my dog absolutely loves to run and roll around in it! we do play some indoor games for exercise also....

one thing to add to what cali said... you cannot give her too many treats in these situations... i always made the mistake of backing off on the treats a bit too soon, i buy all sorts of stuff for my dog for just this reason (definitely account for it in her diet tho) and have tubs of them all over the house, my pockets almost always have something in them, and my purse (it is a little embarrassing sometimes!)

you may also want to try visiting petsmart at other times for a while, maybe ask an employee when they are the least busy... bring tons of treats, and ask everyone to give her one... that way it will hopefully be a bit less intense for her...

oh, and please keep us posted on how you are doing...

catahoulaowner

Thanks for all the suggestions. And we did find out most of her issues are not aggression based but are actually more based on anxiety and being scared. Whether in that situation or by someone she doesnt know. We went to the first training session today(as well as a private session yesterday) and she completely opened up and so did i. I realized i was increasing her anxiety because i kept expecting her to act badly. But once i became less concerned with this and learned ways to help her thru it, it completely changed the dynamic and now she is completely comfortable. She still doesnt care for people to come up to her she doesnt know, but she is getting a little less afraid all the time. And i am going to take the suggestion of taking her to as many public places as i can like petsmart and other petstores and letting her meet as many people as she can. We also found that if people do not look her in the eye she warms up much quicker. I guess in some way that makes her feel threatened. But in short...I feel so much better knowing i can help her, and this is "fixable" even if it is an ongoing process.