# Aggressive Weimaraner



## Suvone (Nov 4, 2019)

Our weimaraner, KB, is about 2 years old now. I had no experience with a weim, but my husband grew up with them and decided to get himself one for my birthday from a very good breeder. We got him when he was already a bit older, maybe about 3 months, he was the last one in the litter because he had problem hips (due to a small spinal injury as a puppy, we don't know what happened.). He doesn't have any pain but his back side is a bit lazy, especially in winter when he stands up from his bed. He has a massive chest and front quarters because of this. He is also a very big dog. Much bigger than most weimaraners we've seen. But, a beautiful dog! Really really beautiful. He lives with our 3 other dogs, a very mixed stray, a Labrador x Chow and a jack russel. He is the only male. The labadorX is definitely alfa. She's not aggressive but she let's the others know who's is charge by growling and standing over them when she feels she has to and they all submit to her. He is best friends with the stray. They sleep next to each other, play together and chew everything together. Our dogs have never fought with each other. We also live on a big piece of land so they have a lot of space to run around in, but they do tend to chill most of the day and play at night (evidence from the plants and bedding all over the yard). He doesn't destroy so many things like others that I've heard of. He likes one plant in particular and enjoys pulling the wool out of his bedding. But that only happens sometimes. Some days we take them for a walk in the bush so they can hunt rats and things.
Okay, so the problem...He has a strange personality, he's very sweet and loves licking you when he sees you. My husband plays with him by tackling him or running around the couch while KB chases him. He loves it for about a minute and then he gets really aggressive. He growls and bites. Not hard, he's never drawn blood when playing but it leaves a mark. This was the first sign. When this happens my husband usually pins him down and talks hard to him. He doesn't hit him. KB submits and calms down immediately. That was at the beginning. Then he started chasing anyone who runs. He came at me once for running through the gate before it closed on me, he went for our garden guy when we was running to fetch something, but aggressively. Barking and growling and running at full speed. He always stops when you shout. When that happens my husband will pin him down by the neck and hit him on the but. So, we've warned everyone who works here not to run. He stopped with that and then started to chase cars and anyone on a bicycle. Also very aggressively. He doesn't chase our cars anymore because he knows by now but he chases my mother-in-law's car and any other strange car. Then, and the worst of all, he started being aggressive with children. When they run or scream. This had me very very worried. He bit one of our friend's kids once, not hard, but it was still a bite. So again, my husband pinned him down and hit him. We immediately decided to have him fixed. It actually worked. He is so chilled with kids now. We still warn them not to touch him and keep an eye but they can run around and he doesn't even look at them. And so we thought our troubles were over. We killed something bad before it got out of hand...
My mother-in-law stays with us in a flat above the garages. She has stairs leading up to the flat. I also need to add that she never disciplines him herself. We don't know if that might be a reason for what happened. Yesterday her friend came to visit. She got out of the car, greeted the dogs and all was well. Went up, stayed for a while and then had to go down to her car to fetch something. As she walked down the stairs KB bit her on her leg, very badly! (bad enough that I'm writing this post). She is old and old skin tears more easily, but he pulled a big chunk of flesh off. She had to go to the hospital and might even need surgery to clean the wound. We did not expect this. He was only aggressive with fast movements. We and many other people have been up and down those stairs with him by our side. It was so unlike him that it makes us very worried. We're planning on starting a family soon and need to get this sorted out before that happens. We love him so much and he's my husband's whole world. The only thing we can think of now is to take him to classes...any advice would be much appreciated! I tried to give as much background as possible.


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## DaySleepers (Apr 9, 2011)

I'll be honest, you're describing a _severe_ bite, with a history of others. I'm not sure it's safe for you or ethical for us to try to fix this by offering our largely unqualified advice without even having seen your dog in person, let alone having the training and experience needed to work with high bite-risk cases.

I urge you to find a professional. Ask your vet if there's any veterinary behaviorists in the area - these are fully trained vets who have further specialized in behavior modification. Check out the Certification Council for Professional Dog Trainer's website (ccpdt.org), and see if there are any certified CBCC-KA consultants in your area - these trainers have passed a comprehensive exam on dog behavior and put in at least 300 hours working specifically behavior consultation cases. Most regular trainers do not have the experience or knowledge to work with bite cases, which is why I'm suggesting behaviorists that have been through an outside certification program if at all possible - remember that anyone can claim they're a trainer or behaviorist even if they've only watched an hour of a heavily edited dog training TV program, so third party certification helps weed those out.

At the very least, get him a full vet check/blood panel to see if there's any underlying pain or thyroid issues that might be contributing to his behavior. I would also urge you to do some reading on pinning or 'alpha rolling' dogs, as this technique is seen as extremely aggressive by dogs and frequently results in increased aggression in response - maybe start with this article by the late Dr Sophia Yin, doctor of veterinary medicine and a pioneer in animal behavior and science-based behavior modification techniques:

https://drsophiayin.com/blog/entry/...og_training_techniques_can_cause_more_harm_t/

But again, this is just a starting place. Bites this severe almost always need professional, in-person intervention so a program can be developed for your specific dog and your specific living situation to keep everyone involved safe.


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## LeoRose (Aug 20, 2015)

I agree with everything DaySleepers has recommended.


I will add that since he seems to be easily over-aroused and has a history of using his mouth when he is in that hyped-up state, your husband needs to _stop _playing rough with him.


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## parus (Apr 10, 2014)

Thirded: Step 1, vet check to rule out physical reasons. Step 2, real behaviorist.

I know this is not something anyone wants to discuss, but I think that after a severe unprovoked bite like that, euthanasia has to be on the table. If you do determine, after evaluation, that he's too great a risk for your household, I would encourage you to consider giving him a peaceful ending rather than passing the problem, and the danger, on to someone else.


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## Knute (Aug 10, 2019)

Yes, this is a severe bite with a history of previous bites.

Yes, training for you, husband and dog with a qualified specialist in aggressive behavior is needed.

In the USA, this dog would be on a path to be euthanized as mandated by local laws for aggressive dogs. The owner has no choice, likely be fined and held responsible for medical bills.

Don't delay on this. It is a very bad path.


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## PatriciafromCO (Oct 7, 2012)

*my husband usually pins him down and talks hard to him* this is the cause of it....... That alpha rolling crap does it every time.... Hopefully you can work with a good behaviorist on how to mend your relationship with your dog.


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