Facing a Territorial Dog

Dear Cesar,

I would like to know how to properly handle a situation in which a territorial dog came after me when I was walking in my neighborhood. This situation arose yesterday when my cousin and I were walking. A dog who is usually confined behind a fence suddenly charged across the yard at us.

He nipped my cousin on the back of her leg and then proceeded to circle around us. The owner was nowhere in sight. I knew from watching your show that I should remain calm and assertive, but my cousin was terrified. As the dog circled around us trying to get at my cousin, I kept turning to face him and would periodically make the "shh" noise I've heard you make. I wanted to keep him in sight, but I thought I shouldn't be making eye contact either. I just imagined a bubble around me and in my mind said, "This is my space." Eventually, the dog left us alone and wandered off. Even though the dog backed off, I'm not sure I handled the situation the best way. My question is, what are the proper steps to take when faced with a territorial dog off its leash?

Thanks for your help,

Trena Cox

Dear Trena,

First of all I want to tell you what you did was exactly what I would have done in a situation like that. I couldn’t be more proud of a person who I don’t know, I’ve never seen, and to whom I’ve never given a personal consultation! And you didn’t do anything wrong. Here’s what you did right: you controlled the environment; you controlled the momentum; you controlled yourself; you controlled the dog, and you took over for your frightened cousin. You actually controlled your cousin with your stronger energy. If you had been by yourself, you would have accomplished the exercise in a much shorter period of time. Because of your cousin’s weak energy, it took a little longer for you to make this dog understand that you were not going to back away.

The great thing is that the dog did back away - and that means you won; that means you are the pack leader; that means that you should hold on to that moment for the rest of your life and feel like you just won a purple heart or some kind of medal. I am very proud and if you keep it up - keep the pack leader mentality and stay calm and assertive no matter what, which I always teach on the show - you will always succeed. I’ll say it again: I am very, very, very proud of you.

Stay calm and assertive,

Cesar Millan

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Sat, 07/17/2010 - 6:49pm — Chad

Toy/Stick Possessive With Other Dogs

Hello Cesar,

I have a 2 year old American Staffordshire Terrier/English Bull Terrier. I adopted Jack one year ago. When around other dogs he does great, except if there is a toy or stick involved. He also has bitten other dogs while I am putting his leash on(at the dog park). He does great with people and is not possessive with the other dog we have at home. When becoming possessive, he will bite or snarl at other dogs. Once he does this, I correct him, although sometimes he will run away from me and I will have to sneak up on him to catch him. What can I do to correct this? He has been to basic training, and knows the sit and stay commands. He is very polite at home, but at the dog park he becomes overly excited, and territorial. I exercise him almost daily by jogging or rollerblading. I just want to bring him to the dog park so he can remain socialized with other dogs.

Thanks,

Chad

Sat, 03/27/2010 - 11:49am — moose509

Biting Roxie

We just rescued a nine year old toy fox terrier. She is very frightened. The second day she started snapping when I tried to put on her leash. I need to take off her collar to attach her new license but she snaps, bites, yips as though I'm killing her. I try to be calm, assertive but it doesn't seem to be working.

Fri, 01/08/2010 - 6:34am — Gay

As an owner, how do I prevent an attack?

My 2-yr old Spanish Water Dog behaves exactly like the dog that attacked Trena and her cousin. Although she challeges my pack leadership skills daily, she is generally well behaved around the home and on-leash. She gets lots of daily excercise, play and appropriate discipline/affection. However, off-leash in the country she is a nightmare! Soon as she spots a walker or cyclist she immediately charges after them, barking and wagging her tail furiously, jumping, nipping and circling them... completely ignoring my commands to stop/return to me. I want to relax, ride my horse, enjoy walks with my dog running free around my (unfenced) property and surrounding country, so how do I stop this behaviour short of keeping her constantly on the lead?

Sun, 05/30/2010 - 5:18pm — rmstrickland

hope this gives you some insight

Hi...my name is Randy and I am a dog trainer who uses the techniques that Caesar encourages. Based on my past experiences with canines with this kind of behavior, it is imperative that you dedicate time to expose your dog to the "triggers" and correct at the instant. Example; take your dog to the areas that she spots these triggers while on a leash, and correct the behavior with a corrective pull on the leash and a verbal command of "no", "leave it", etc. Put your dog in the sit position 'before' the trigger summons the dog's response(once you see your dog's attention or posture change from the usual walk), and have your dog wait out the temptation to chase, thus allowing your dog to calm down with the excitement of seeing these challenging triggers, and reinforcing the fact that you are in control. You need to be alert and see the triggers before your dog does if possible. This gives you time to prepare for the encounter in the calm-assertive energy required. Once the dog learns the behavior on leash, it will transcend off leash, given the reinforcement is consistent with or without the leash. I often correct my canines with a simple tug of the collar when they are off leash, or simply step in front of my canine to divert their attention to the pack leader, ME. One of my canines is a 20 month old, 113 pound Saint Bernard and she responds to this discipline with little resistance. She understands the boundaries, even when they change on command. Caesar also reminds us to be aware of our dogs posture and body language before the incidents occur. Through patient and focused observation, you can learn your dog's signals before the behavior, and become proactive with a correction before your dog responds to the trigger. Good luck and God bless...

Randy Strickland
Genesis Canine Psychology Center

Sun, 03/14/2010 - 11:12am — Danica Alvord

about kano and curley's attack s on one another ..father and son

I have a 3 year old red/blue pit kano he is my chanp and curley kano's son he is two they hate each other because of me ahhh i am the pack leader..i have vance my boyfriedn and our two kids they are boys 5 and two they protect us to the max i love and and appreciate it lots they are a part of my life i have anxiety and pannic attacks all they time my dog help me as well as the rest of our family i woudl just love to know how to teach our pit bull boys father and son to be friends its hard to pick one over the other curley has been out side i know that is one of the problems kano think hes better and more worthy i know he feels like curley dont belong in the house and curley has to eat all the food of the other dogs before his that is not gonna happen with out a red zone kano has lock his jaw a few times in curley head and neck he had to go to the vet two time because of it its both of there faults bot mostly mine i am the leader ad i have led them wrong curley is not nice to othere out of the family kano is nice to everyone unless told other wise very good i love it but how ever he love to just red zone it all the way when seeing another animal and withh try his hardest kill it unless he gets to iit and for some reason smells a female my male dogs are nice to the female dogs kano have been nutered an curley not yet im not sure it will make a difference ad am worried they will gain weight we live in the country i take len on walks and runs they can run next to the three wheeler and go real fast or the bike or walk adn sim still working on there begavior with taht but i would have so much more time with them idf they were not out to kill only each other kano hates dogs curley does not but kano will only not attack curley if i say no but only if i say there i have left the room for one sec and they were locked on to each other right when vance kneeled down to pet ummm kano alwas starts the biting but i think curley think bad ly an dkano know that is why he triggers on curley cuz curley is so greedy with everything not sure how to do it there both around a 100 pounds im only a 100 pounds im not scared just frustraited with it i feel like putting umm on the chain and going on a relaxing day only i cant ill think of them the whole time i wish myboys would stop fighting i love them so much and they are my best friedns there so loyal they have never tried to bit us and listen very well only they will kill each other curleys mom was a pure white staffordshire with green eyes pink nose she was my girl she was deff she was a bit strange i tought her to set stay lay come go chain up and all kano was her mate they grew up togather lucy was the dominate dog she was teh master dog and she got ran over last year lucy protected curley from kano even though kano was gonna do nothing he was raised abound the pups but whne curley was left with kano and lucy was gone they hated each other and that was that a they were sad real sad tehy watched it i feel for my dogs i think they no i kno wthey no i was real mad sad about it she was my besty friendy awwwww im ok i just woner what there thinkin or if its me i kno wit is me because they are good dogs and nothing is wrong with umm what i wantto know os what did i tell tem i accident...that made taht red zone help me please figure out what i am doing wrong ..please....i have watch and listened to all the videos and shows and all i have had a very awesome relationshit with animals my whole life i was a country girl had a few cats dogs goats follow me around my farm and they all slept with each other my dogs played with the sheep and goats they were all in side an dout side animals we woudl ahve to tell our goats and sheep to get out of the house tahy would follow me in like the dogs everyone was amazed i was not i though nothing of it i had like one friedn growing up people friends andyway please help me i love an listen with my eyes there body language that is how i am with alll that is why i feel i have such a good connection with not just dogs but animals ill show them trust with alll ....and they believe so i just cant see why this would happen to me or them i had such good practice ahhhhhh i feel like wow im sorry i want ummm to be best friend dogs there not the only dogs though i have two small dogs two one that look like todo of the wizard of oz ahahh i have no cle i rescued her and like 12 other i have 6 dogs today a pit bull female blue nose she is like 5 or 6 the vet said she was a rescued one she is awesome i have a choclate lab she is such a great girl too and i have kano and curly hershe and molly too molly is a little dog too not sure look like chihuahua mix for sure my dogs love them they all get along but curleya dn kano.. please can you help they love cats too!i mean therenice its just kano and curley i need some advice please for my dogs state i hate taht i live in sunnyside there kinda know as bad around here i wanna show different i can trust my dogs as babe sitters for my family even though i dont leave they love of with out question i wish people could see it as everydog....please i need youre advice .....