In despair

Dashall is an 8 year Staffie who has developed dog aggression over the years (although that includes cats, pigeons etc - in fact anything that moves except people!). We walk him on lead and never let him off if there's the remotest chance of him seeing other animals, and since moving to a house with a bigger garden that has therefore tended to become his main area of exercise.

Unfortunately our neighbours have 2 small yappy dogs which he has already tried to get to by tearing holes in the dividing 4 foot close-boarded fence. It's an old fence, quite brittle and warped, so he can easily see the other dogs on the other side. I've temporarily fixed dog mesh along it but am shortly getting it replaced with a sturdy 6ft close-boarded fence which should help regarding visibility and security.

HOWEVER, Dashall becomes totally focussed and out of control in such situations (he saw what we assume was a cat in our front garden last year and went after it by removing an old cat flap in a UPVC double-glazed door and then tearing apart the lower door panel with his teeth!).

My concern therefore is that even this new fence will not be secure enough, the trouble with securing mesh in front being that this just gives him something to attach his jaws onto. He's heavily bent parts of it already.

I'm really asking if anyone can give ideas how to make this boundary secure (saying build a 6' wall instead or train him not to do these things will not be considered helpful!). We would like to be able to let him have some freedom without continually supervising him, but it can only take a few seconds for an incident to occur. As responsible dog owners we're also very aware of how neighbours can view a snarling dog trying to get at their pampered pooches.

I'm sufficiently concerned to even be contemplating getting an electric collar (shock, horror) or erecting a low cattle-type electric wire, as we had a Rottweiler some years ago who inadvertently touched such a fence protecting some cattle and who then avoided that area ever after. I'm sure I'll get castigated by everyone for even thinking about such things, but if its that or having him put down because we can't guarantee the safety of other dogs ....

Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated!

Hey! All sounds very stressful.. Can you distract him at all when he's in this head space? You say that this aggression has only begun in the last few years, was there any trigger for it? Sounds like you may need to build a wall lol!

Blimey sounds like you have your hands full there. Not sure what to suggest really as you've pretty much covered all angles. The shock collars are truly nasty. I've seen them in use and it doesn't teach anything but can cause extreme pain.

The electric fence is a novel idea, not sure how practical it would be though. They don't actually hurt much, just give a zing. I've had personal experience   

I guess the only way forward is a new fence and try to keep it in good condition so he can't pick at it and get through.

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No, once he's in "the zone" you have to get pretty close to him before he even begins to notice your voice. As for a trigger, he's been attacked himself a couple of times but to be honest I think it's more the genes coming to the surface which makes it a case of handling situations rather than just training.

Okay, my girl is dog aggressive and has a huge prey drive too.. I exercise her on a 50ft long line and she was muzzled initially until I got her commands full trained into her, she's still dog aggressive but she's now under control! Which commands does he know? And what motivates him? When my girl first came out of kennels she would gun for any dog/cat/cyclist/scooter that she saw, lunging, barking and snapping.. she was out of control.. over time I've taught her to "focus" and use operant conditioning.. gradually building up distractions. Only yesterday, she sat perfectly and focused on me (and the food in my hand) whilst a Terrier across the road was barking and lunging at her. It may be a case of just managing it, but you need to give him an alternative action when he sees another dog, it seems like he's learnt that this feels good and so it's become self rewarding and a way to relieve tension. If it is due to him attacked it may be fear, but of course he's a staffie and he's going to have a big personality and I doubt he's scared of a scrap. There are plenty of ways to reign it in though, it'll be different for every dog, but I worked with various aggressive breeds of dogs in kennels and never had to use a shock collar.

My dad has lurchers and keeps livestock.. they did put up an electric fence and after one zing they kept away, but all dogs will react differently. I think your best bet is to train some strong commands into him and figure out a decent distraction. You say that his main exercise is in the garden, is he walked away from the house at all? He sounds a little manic?

Thanks Rachel. Yes, distractions and strong commands are the ideal, and they work with him to an extent. Partly this is our fault through not now walking him every day due to time constraints and the fact he much prefers to bomb around our large garden after a ball (so no, he's not under-exercised, although it could be argued his chase reflex is continually being strengthened!).

The real issue however is the old problem of when distance/attraction to another dog becomes greater than the power of your commands, and like many Staffie owners we have understandably resorted to avoiding such situations rather than risk him attacking another dog and all its current consequences (he doesn't just snarl, its full-on attack mode with jaws locked around the dogs neck).

Our garden situation doesn't always lend itself to distraction/reward I'm afraid - we manage 95% of such potential incidents in that way but you can't oversee every eventuality, and its that 5% I'm trying to manage at the moment!

We will however keep reinforcing the commands etc.

Do you know who has responsibility of the fencing ?, maybe your neighbour could help with the costs of renewing it ?

Maybe a high concrete gravel board installed before the fencing goes into place maybe a good idea as this will provide a little extra height to the fencing without the need of higher fence panels over the standard 6 foot.

Thanks Kathy. It's our fence, hence we're about to replace it with something hopefully more secure. A more solid base is a good idea, although you can't make it taller than 2m or you get into planning issues.

No solution is perfect, we just have a bit of a hooligan I'm afraid - gorgeous and loveable (and fine with our other dog) but just a nightmare with others!