[jmerati64]

My family and I rescued a Doberman 1 year ago and have fallen live love with him. He is great with us and with our small dog. We have spent Thousands on him between medical expenses, training, and on things to control him and make his life as enjoyable and loving as possible. The issue is that he goes from loving to attack instantly. We have a friends he that can be loving to one minute and with a preseived wrong move from the dogs prospective and he is after them. We cannot have company over or take him camping without us holding onto him in his harness at all times or place him in his kennel. The vet says he has a lot of scars on his face from fighting, thr trainer we paid 3 grand for told us to keep him away from other dogs and if we introduced him to other people to let him deside when he wants to make a new friend.
Or feelings are that he was trained as a guard dog, which is OK since I travel for for work, but can he be trained to not go off on my friends and let us take him on trips. I have a new grand baby and when she gets older I don't want to worry that him might hurt her. My family has had Doberman's forever, in fact both my wife and I had them year's before we met. Neither of us have had this issue before with any we have rescued. Any suggestions?

 

[Shadowfox]

When you say percieved wrong, is it something specific? Like someone suddenly standing up? Touching a specific spot? How is he when he sees people on walks? Nearby? Across the street?

Is he jumping up the ladder from a subtle, "back off" like a tight mouth or furrowed brow to lunging?

Or is it from relaxed, open mouth to lunging?

 

[jmerati64]

When you say percieved wrong, is it something specific? Like someone suddenly standing up? Touching a specific spot? How is he when he sees people on walks? Nearby? Across the street?

Is he jumping up the ladder from a subtle, "back off" like a tight mouth or furrowed brow to lunging?

Or is it from relaxed, open mouth to lunging?

When I say precieved it can be a quick movement, someone walking nearby or another dog walking by. When he switches mode it's very visious and aggressive.
It's not always a prolonged aggression sometimes it can go for 30 seconds at full on trying to get at what ever set him off. I garentee that if we did not have him in his harness and ahold of his leash it would be a very bad situation.

 

[JoanneF]

If he was a guard dog, it doesn't sound like he was trained well. A guard dog is controlled, restrained - it doesn't decide itself who or what is a threat. This dog is trying to protect himself, not someone or something else.

Either way, this is a potentially high risk and possibly dangerous dog - without actually seeing him, it is hard to give meaningful advice.

Your trainer's advice to keep him away from triggers was good. Distance is important, you find the distance he is aware of the trigger but not kicking off, and create a positive conditioned emotional response by pairing the trigger with something good, to change his perception. What else did they suggest, how has that been working out? How long have you been working on this?

 

[Shadowfox]

Starting with this should help build a foundation of you, looking to you, and ignoring things as what you want. It might seem silky, bit creating a snowball.of you're.ok, leave.that alone, do this can be quite helpful. LAT, BAT, and/or pattern games might be helpful with fearful responses and unpredictability.

Is he generally hypervigilient? Nervous?

 

[agility collie mom]

How old is he? Is he muzzle trained? Does he go after men more than women or visa -versa?

 

[jmerati64]

Not sure of his age as he's a rescue but guess 5-7. He goes after both, and we have put him in a muzzle when friends are over by he doesn't like it. We only put it on with special friends at out house and we let him out of his kennel trying to socialize him.

 

[jmerati64]

Starting with this should help build a foundation of you, looking to you, and ignoring things as what you want. It might seem silky, bit creating a snowball.of you're.ok, leave.that alone, do this can be quite helpful. LAT, BAT, and/or pattern games might be helpful with fearful responses and unpredictability.

Is he generally hypervigilient? Nervous?

Thanks for the video. I wouldn't say hypervigilient, he's pretty calm until something triggers him. Nervous, a few times we tried to introduce a group of 4 friends with their dogs and he just started shaking uncontrollably so we never tried that again.

 

[JoanneF]

we have put him in a muzzle when friends are over by he doesn't like it.

A muzzle, introduced slowly and with rewards, is like any other piece of kit like a collar or harness.

This might help.

 

[BigBlackDog]

Not sure of his age as he's a rescue but guess 5-7. He goes after both, and we have put him in a muzzle when friends are over by he doesn't like it. We only put it on with special friends at out house and we let him out of his kennel trying to socialize him.

This is quite likely not something you will be able to handle without extensive work, if at all. Are there any good trainers near you that could help?

Quickly introducing a muzzle and having your dog out and around people - at 5-7 yrs old - without some prior training and practice is not socialization! He needs to understand that they are not a threat. You know that, and your friends know that, but clearly the dog believes otherwise! It will take careful conditioning to help him understand as well.

 

[agility collie mom]

I agree BigBlackDog. If he is already 5-7 years old the behavior has existed for some time. You need a behaviorist help to make him feel safe. The vet I work for wife ran Doberman Rescue in Kentucky for several years. If not done with care, you can have a lawsuit on your hands.