I’m Laurent Gabriel Florida’s Best Dog Trainer and owner of Elite Professional Dog Training. Today I’m talking about whether you can stop dog aggression and prey drive, and dogs with dog aggression and trauma.
Jack Russell With Dog Aggression and High Prey Drive
I’m training an eight-year-old Jack Russell terrier. One of this dog’s biggest problems is that she has an extremely high prey drive, and when she sees certain dogs, she has dog aggression.
I’m her third trainer but over 90% of people who bring their dogs to me have tried two or three trainers before me.
Smart Dog Knows When You’re Not Paying Attention
This dog is very smart. The funny thing is that she’ll know if you’re watching her, and if you’re not paying attention, that’s when she’ll act out.
High-Density Dog Populations
So one of the things that I’ve done is taken her out to extremely high-density dog populations parks where the dogs are controlled because the owners don’t trust her off-leash.
Older Dog Re-Training Expectations
She’s eight years old, so there are some things that are ingrained in her and some things we can’t work out. That’s true of all dogs. I’ll find out while I’m training dogs what some of their capabilities are and what their limitations are.
Break Out of Hunting Drive
One thing I will run on her is an e-collar (electric collar). Now, the reason being is for a second line of defense. She understands her commands, but sometimes that prey instinct takes over, so I need something that’s going to catch her attention to break her out of her hunting drive.
The only thing I’ll use the e-collar for is recall and to leave things alone. The rest of the stuff, she’s fine with.
Teach The Owner
Once I’ve taught the dog, then I’ll teach the owner. Then we’ll rinse and repeat until they understand each other. It takes work and practice.
This is just the beginning of the training for this dog. I’ve only had her for two and a half weeks, so we’re undoing a lot of bad behaviors that have occurred over the years.
German Shepherds With Dog Aggression and Trauma
So Callie and Chloe are German Shepherds that I trained about five years ago in 2018. I got them a little later than their puppy years. They were about five and six years old at the time.
They both had dog aggression and a lack of socialization. One was attacked by a dog and had a little bit of trauma, and with her trauma, the other dog followed and did what she did.
The Goal Of Their Obedience Training
So the goal of their obedience training was being able to get control over them and to be able to walk them out in public without them seeing another dog and having them act out.
It was a hard task. It took about a month and a half just to get them halfway decent and then another month to fine-tune them. But it happened and it’s on their timeline.
Allow Time For Dogs To Adjust
So from there, anytime that we watch them for Daycare or Boarding (which is only for Elite Pro Trained Dogs), it usually takes them a couple of days to get back into the rhythm. Then we integrate them back with other dogs.
I do this because I really don’t know what the owners do with them while they’re home. I know they take them for walks. But as far as the integration with other dogs, I don’t think they do that. I’m very careful with them to be sure they’ll be safe and that when they integrate with the other dogs there are no issues.
Get Back Into The Routine
As a precaution, what we do is first, if they’re here for boarding and they’re here for a week or two, the first two days, it’s just getting back into the routine.
Remember, our routine is different from the home routine, so it’s back into the exercise and the socializing and the walking. They get a lot more exercise typically than they would do at the house. So after the second day, they fall back into routine and it’s all about having fun.
Integrate With Play Population
So right now, I think they’re here, this is their second day and they have another 10 days with us. So I was about to integrate them back with the whole play population.
How Long Does Training Take?
Does the change happen in a month or two? You will definitely get improvement, but through my classes, the dog will only get better because there’s always going to be constant repetition. Each dog learns at its own pace and when it’s ready to accept the training.
We’re going to place her in different areas and scenarios, so it helps the owner understand how to read their dog, when to react, and when not to react.
But once she’s done, I’ve got to train the owner so that they understand what I’ve learned about her capabilities. Together, working with your dog on their new skills, you’ll both have a different life for the better.