# Fearful aggression in rescue.



## loudtisa (Jan 10, 2013)

We just rescued an 80lb German Shepher/Rottweiler mix, Louie. He's a great dog, or at least he wants to be. He is trying to learn to trust us but we have a few issues:
1. He's no longer allowed back to the vet until he gets used to a muzzle. It only took one trip for that rule to come into effect.
2. Afraid of men (except my fiance, Louie loves him).
3. Dislikes children.
4. Submits and nips and does "dead weight" when we reach for his collar. 
5. Knows his name but doesn't really want to come to it, however he will come when we call my Presa's name. Yes, he really does know his name, he comes to it when he wants to.

Any other people dealt with fear aggression in a big dog? He's a sweet boy, we just can't trust him around other people or my cats.


----------



## Big Black Dog Mom (Oct 31, 2011)

Floyd had a lot of those issues when I adopted him. An animal behaviorist is a huge help and can prevent things from escalating.

Floyd was actually worse but now, 1.5 years later he's made a lot of progress. The muzzle is great. When I don't have to worry about him biting, I'm calmer and my reactions don't escalate his. Do you know how to train a dog to a muzzle? It's surprisingly easy if the dog is treat motivated. I use a basket muzzle and I've cut a small hole in it. Too small for him to bite through but big enough I can feed him treats (messily).

Clicker training is also a huge help. The idea is to reward the dog before he reacts for known triggers. I saw the training succeed today. A male jogger was approaching and floyd looked at me. That's because I, with the help of the animal behaviorist, have been rewarding him to look at me when he sees triggers. I clicked and gave him a treat. I then kept clicking and treating Floyd as the jogger went by.

You might want to look into BAT training. Those techniques can really work. Good luck.


----------



## loudtisa (Jan 10, 2013)

Thank you so much for your advice B. I really appreciate it. He is highly treat motivated, and he's developing his personality while testing his boundaries. He's become much more comfortable with us too. It's wonderful.
We bought him a muzzle, the canvas kind. He didn't mind a bit. I am going to look into BAT training, thank you so incredibly much for the suggestion!


----------

