Hello new to the forums. (See The Doggie Door) Koda suggested I swing by Technical Forums and ask for advice on breaking my Husky’s Aggression towards other animals.

“I haven’t figured out how to calm him down around other dogs and an innocent sniff quickly turns into growls and lunges. A privacy fence for home and a gentle leader for parks have mostly contained this aggressive behavior though.”

That’s pretty much it. Any and every male dog that gets with in sniffing distance warrants aggressive behavior. With the gentle leader I can turn him away from the dog he is attacking, but we will kinda dance around until the other animal is removed. With the other aggressions (food, guarding, dominance) he showed when I first got him an alpha roll would quickly subdue him. With another dog around an alpha roll panics him. I have alpha and pinned him for 15 minutes with him crying, growling, whining, snarling, kicking and biting (ie not submitting) the whole time. Before I just picked him up and carried him away. Positive reinforcement (treats, encouraging tones, pats) do not slow him in attempts to attack other dogs, nor do verbal commands. Any suggestions?

I wish I could help, kind of going through the same thing with our girl Sierra, after she got bit on the nose a few weeks ago she seems to have gotten worse. She seems more aggressive towards smaller dogs and females. she was abused before we got her by a man and we are working with her and interacting with my husband and has gotten better in the last few months, she does not guard food but will some times guard me from our other dog Jack and also if she has a raw hide and Jack gets close even if he is not going for it she will jump up and bark at him, we do tell her no and she stops sometimes. Would love to hear what some people have to say.

Sinatra has been enrolled in SitMeansSit training. It has worked wonders with his aggression so far. I'll keep the group posted as we progress the course work.

im having a slight problem with roxy disliking other dogs that come near me mainly females. We have been working with her on this with little progress

we only have a problem when it comes to feeding both our girls. we have to do it in separate rooms which is not a problem but getting them separated before preparing their meals is a battle! once i open up the door where the food is 'sniper' goes madly insane! she loves her kibble!! they have only got into one fight over food where there was blood involved and ever since then i try and keep them apart before i even open the pantry door where the food is housed! no aggression towards other dogs because we have not introduced her to any yet...gonna try that after christmas with my sisters pitt-bull who is a doll baby

BONFIRE HUSKIES wrote:

im having a slight problem with roxy disliking other dogs that come near me mainly females. We have been working with her on this with little progress

How we have gotten improvement with Sinatra is by making sure he introduces himself properly to other dogs. Keep both the animals separated/controlled (Fence, kennel, both leashed, however) Allow the aggressive animal to slowly approach the other one, and at the first sign of aggression (hair raising, ears/tail lowering, growling, etc.) pull him away away and give a corrective command (Off, No) Keep doing it till he greets in a non aggressive way.

The first time with Sinatra it took about 15 introductions with a pit-bull mix locked in a kennel, to get a non aggressive greeting. (He pretty much just ignored the other dog after.) Then with the neighbors dogs it took 8-10 tries, he now plays with them on a daily basis. And about 4-5 intros with other dogs we have been allowed to introduce this way.

Proper training will help immensely.

Our Roxy doesn't like any other female dogs. She will start to growl when she is within sniffing distance. She's totally fine with most of the male dogs in our apartment complex, though (about 1 of 5 people in our complex has a dog, so there's been plenty of interaction opportunities). I don't know what her past was like because she was about a year old when we got her, but she definitely doesn't know the proper way to greet other dogs.

TyphonInc's method will definitely help for introductions. If you really want some advice, post another thread about introductions and I will take some time to respond (as will others).

firefighterchik04 wrote:

we only have a problem when it comes to feeding both our girls. we have to do it in separate rooms which is not a problem but getting them separated before preparing their meals is a battle! once i open up the door where the food is 'sniper' goes madly insane! she loves her kibble!! they have only got into one fight over food where there was blood involved and ever since then i try and keep them apart before i even open the pantry door where the food is housed! no aggression towards other dogs because we have not introduced her to any yet...gonna try that after christmas with my sisters pitt-bull who is a doll baby

Again, I think training can help here. I think I would place a lead on the aggressive 'sniper', and make her stay in a sit or down position till you are ready for her to calmly eat her meal. She has learned that it is ok for her to go crazy when it is feeding times, you will have to work (hard) to teach her that she needs to behave in a different manner. Also, it's helpful to change up patterns you have created. Store the kibble in different areas, switch up the feeding times, move the feeding area, things that will help your dog to break bad behavior patterns.

Our Roxy hates other females aswell, where working on that

Sinatra,
Thanks a lot! I will try that tonight..just leash her and make her calm down before eating...check! she loves to eat! Hard to move locations of foods in our house since its so small. we are building a new house in january and will work on the location of feeding places. thanks again for the advice!

Our Nanuk will make friends wherever he goes, but if he is on leash and a loose dog comes up to him, he doesn't like it (bad experiences with the yokels who let their dogs run the neighborhood)
In my experience, it is always best for two new dogs to meet on leash first. AND I also believe that if YOU are fearful of a coming confrontation, they sense that and respond accordingly.

I have been lucky in that the woman from whom we adopted Isis was very informative and accessible (a phone call away). She runs a private rescue and has a lot of experience in introductions, since almost all of her rescues end up in the dog run with her own dogs.