I have an American Bulldog that we have had since he was 8 weeks old. He use to love other dogs/cats and any visitors tha we had at the house. But for the last 6 months everytime we take him for a walk he get very aggressive towards other dogs and people. We have used muzzles and even pinch collars put nothing stops him from trying to get at the other dogs and people.:confused: Any help will be appreciated.
if you are worried that he will attack other dogs, cats or people than it is a good idea to get him to wear a muzzle in the meantime until you have solved the problem.
I think the pinch collar will make things worse. Everytime he sees another dog when out for a walk you will probably tense up and pull on the leash to keep him under control, this will cause him pain and he will coneect this with the situation of meeting another dog, rather than his own behavior. In my experience methos that don't use any physical punishment are best, use positive rewards and Alpha techniques instead.
Has your behavior changed? Was there an incident where perhaps you tensed up, a dog you didn't want your dog to play with, or anything like that? Dogs are very sensitive and will pick up your mood and react accordingly. If your dog feels that you are tense he will try to protect you.
You will need to make sure that you are the Aplpha dog or the pack leader. If your dog accepts you as the pack leader he will look to you to ee how he should react in situations like this. Have you read the Alpha dog book? If not I would recommend to do that. Ask us on the forum if you have any specific questions regarding this.
A walk is often the highlight of the day for a dog, so make sure that you are in control of it as your dog will judge your leaderships skills while out for a walk.
I once had an incident where another dog attacked one of my dogs at the dog park. I could kind of see it happening, because as soon as the dogs spotted each other the owner of the other dog started calling him, running after him and generally acting tense and stressed. After we got the dogs away from each other the owner said that her dog is a bit aggressive when she sees a ball and walked away. Not long after that I saw the same dog again at the park, this time the husband was there as well. He acted very calm, called the dog to him and no fighting or growling happened. This just shows that because the lady was so tense the dog thought that she was in great danger and therefore needed protection, whereas the husband reacted calm and cool and nothing happened.
Make sure you are the pack leader. Your dog will be a lot happier if you take all the stress away from him of having to be the boss.
