# Territorial Aggression



## caddis8 (Sep 10, 2007)

I've got my 4 year old lab that I neutered about 4 months ago. He has been showing some territorial aggression of late. I was shoveling the neighbor's walks in a snowstorm last week and he came up to the neighbor girl and barked relatively aggressively at her. He then barked at a family on the sidewalk yesterday. He snapped at a friend's dog that I let in the back yard and also in the goose field. 

I'm not ok with the aggression, but I'm trying to figure out where it's coming from and how to correct/train it. 

I won't have a mean dog or one I can't trust with other people. He's a family dog first and hunting dog second. 

Any advice? I'm thinking socialization, but I'm not sure how to approach it. Any help would be much appreciated. 

He's a very pleasant dog with the family, but he's been pushing boundaries with me of late with basic obedience stuff also.


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## Deacon92 (Jun 6, 2017)

Socialization is a must when the dogs are young and continue through out their age cycle.

It seems as if this dog is having a tough time recognizing you are the alpha of the pack.

*this may not work for all dogs. Especially high drive working dogs like German shepherds and Malinois

I assume that you have family and kids at home. Something we try to do regularly with our dogs is have them submit quite regularly. Which involves pinning them on their back. And holding their throat with your hand until their back legs relax to the floor.

then have your kids come over and hold him in that position and make him submit for them as well. Letting him know where he is at in the pack. 

Then you rough house/play with them and do it again.
Another more subliminal way to get them to submit is to just randomly walk up to them and place your chin on their skull. And sit there till they are uncomfortable and wait for them to move away from you. 

Rinse and repeat

Reinforcing the alpha.

A dog should have a healthy respect for the alpha (you in the pack) and corrective behavior immediately when poor behavior is displayed.

obviously not to the point of abuse. But when you raise your voice to correct the behavior they know the effed up.
If you watch dogs naturally play they will establish a hierarchy amoungst themselves and display similar behavior to what I have mentioned above.

A tune up in obedience training might be in order too.
I know I suffer from a normalization of deviance with my dogs and training and it takes sentinel events like the one you described to get back into gear.
It also could be something just as simple as lack of stimulation during the off season.

even with training him you have two scenarios you can now introduce him to with corrective behavior to ensure he doesn’t do that again. Maybe start with adults in a role play scenario to see what the dog will do and then work on behavior correction during the simulation and do it over and over again till someone on a bike is normal or not worth aggression.

good luck!


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## caddis8 (Sep 10, 2007)

I work from home so the walks he is on is hardly ever around people. He knows i'm the alpha, but I think I need to remind him the others are also lower than him. 

Thanks for the advice.


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## taxidermist (Sep 11, 2007)

If you cut my balls I'd be pissed and show aggression as well. Good luck in your altering the behavior, and keep us posted on the results.


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## caddis8 (Sep 10, 2007)

taxidermist said:


> If you cut my balls I'd be pissed and show aggression as well. Good luck in your altering the behavior, and keep us posted on the results.


I did it because he was showing some aggression with his balls. I was on a walking trail and he got grumpy with another dog. This is my first male, it may be my last.


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## Fowlmouth (Oct 4, 2008)

Just curious, how many weeks old was your pup when you brought him home? I’m sorry you are having aggression issues, and I hope it’s an easy fix.

I have always had male dogs, but never experienced them exhibiting aggressive behavior towards people. My 2 male labs would duke it out with each other once in a while, but they would resolve it quickly. I too won’t have an aggressive dog at my house. I wish you the best in handling this issue. I also wish I could offer you a solution. Has your dog been force fetched? E collar conditioned?


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## caddis8 (Sep 10, 2007)

Fowlmouth said:


> Just curious, how many weeks old was your pup when you brought him home? I’m sorry you are having aggression issues, and I hope it’s an easy fix.
> 
> I have always had male dogs, but never experienced them exhibiting aggressive behavior towards people. My 2 male labs would duke it out with each other once in a while, but they would resolve it quickly. I too won’t have an aggressive dog at my house. I wish you the best in handling this issue. I also wish I could offer you a solution. Has your dog been force fetched? E collar conditioned?


He was 10 weeks when we brought him home. He's 4 now. I think part of it is socialization. Here's the part that I'm struggling on- how to recreate it to train out of it. He's in a kennel during the day when he's not out. He gets exercised regularly (at least an hour a day) off leash. We go on the same path every day and I think he does think that's his place too. 

He's not growling and showing teeth, but the neighbor girl incident he went up to her and barked with his hackles up a little. It wasn't a menacing bark, but he also didn't want to listen when I called "come." Some neighbor family was on the sidewalk walking on Sunday in the nice weather and he did something similar. I wasn't there, my boys were outside playing basketball. I need to figure out how to introduce people he doesn't know to walk by the kennel, down the sidewalk, etc. and actually be there. 

He is collar conditioned. I haven't force fetched because I haven't needed to. He'll retrieve anything. But I know that force fetch isn't just about the retrieve. He's a little hard headed, but soft hearted. If I come down hard on him he pouts a little. But I also don't put up with crap from him. I'm not above the submission move and I do that when necessary. Maybe I need to do it more. 

He really is good around me. I pheasant hunted a field with a friend and his dog, no problem. We went to the goose field and he got grumpy with that dog. I was ready for it and zapped him good when I saw it. He did the same thing in the yard when we came home. 

So I'm trying to figure out the cause or issue so I can figure out how to train out of it. I watched some Robert Cabral stuff, and he had some good points, but it wasn't super related to the issue at hand. Scenario training is great for dogs, but I'm trying to figure out the scenario.


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## NDAR15MAN (Sep 10, 2020)

With the dog being 4 years don’t be surprised if you cannot correct his behavior. If you cannot you know what will need to be done. Taking a big risk if he bites someone. Good way to loose a big lawsuit. MD


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