Old(ish) Dog, new tricks?

Hello all!

Here's the background, like many on here it seems we have inherited a dog, George, in our case from our daughter. She had originally rescued him from someone who had got him as a puppy with the intention of having a status/intimidation dog. Our girl took him over when the erm… gentleman who originally had him, decided he couldn't be arsed with all walking, attention, feeding and stuff that goes with having a dog. The girl is a natural with animals and George became her devoted and obedient companion. Unfortunately circumstances changed and after what was a supposed to be a temporary situation of us looking after George, now 4 years old, has now become something more permanent.

I don't need to tell people here what a lovely personality and gentle nature he has. He doesn't chew anything except his toys, ignores cats (unless they run and he's off the lead), he loves nothing more than cuddles and strokes and is generally a big softie.

Most of the time.

And that's the problem. He is a nightmare when around some (not all) dogs and has got into a number of scraps, none of which has resulted in bloodshed, but the owners of the other dogs were, understandably horrified. Although George's microchip papers say he is a Staffie, a number of people have said he is an American Staffie because of his size and with the reputation of his breed there is a worry that he's going to get slapped with a dog ASBO.

We are reluctantly looking at getting him neutered and have looked into seeing a dog behaviourist but have been unable to find one locally from recommendations. The only option seems to be getting a bark buster guy down from Devon (we are in the far west of Cornwall). We are also on a really low income and can't really afford the £300.

So, we are also looking to get a muzzle but have no idea which one to go for or how to measure for one. We are also getting the garden fenced in because the other day he jumped the wall after a dog who was growling through the gate was eventually called away by its owner and we had to physically separate the two dogs.

George will come when called but only if he wants to which means we are anxious about having him off the lead where there are other dogs around because he will not come back. He gets about an hour and a half of exercise in the morning and then ball throwing and fetch in the evening, usually about 20 mins or until he gets tired.

So, input or suggestions on the following:

Advice about how we can train him to come back every time
How to fit and train him to wear a muzzle
What to expect after he has been neutered (indeed, if it will actually help with aggression to other dogs at his age)
How we can effectively reduce aggression towards other dogs
Is it worth doing the bark busters training?

Sorry this has been such a long first post but I figured the more people know, the better.

Thanks, Liz

Hello! I will send a proper reply later but please contact Ruth at Devon Dog Behaviour. Half the price of the bark busters guy and has a house full of bull breeds (staffies, American bull dogs, EBT's, mastiffs) she's brilliant, I have worked with her for years. http://www.devondogbehaviour.co.uk/about-ruth-owen.html

Thanks for that Rachel,

Unfortunately Ruth is a 3 hour drive away from us, making a round trip of at least 6 hours, so probably not doable, at least not until early next year when we might be able to get up to Devon.

We have someone closer who has the following qualifications: ChMIACE MFBDR and is a member of APDT, but not sure what they are or what you have to do to get them. There seem to be so many behaviourists and trainers out there with so many diverse qualifications, it's hard to know what is a proper qualification and what is just a bit of paper bought off the internet (I know, I'm cynical!)

Hi Liz,

Just to explain some of the qualifications of the person you found as described above,

Charter Member of the Institute for Animal Care Education (ChMIACE)

The Association of Pet Dog Trainers (APDT)

Thanks Kathy,

Yes, I googled the qualifications, but it wasn't clear what actual knowledge someone with these qualifications has because looking at both websites, membership seems to be, what I would call less than stringent. So I don't know if someone has done say a City and Guilds or Edexel accredited course with close supervision, practical elements and accreditation or one which is done over the internet.

I've worked in education for a long time which is possibly why I'm a tad suspicious. So I'm unsure of the actual value of the membership because it does appear that one could get an online diploma in dog grooming (picking the lowest level course on offer) and be a member.

The person Rachel suggested is someone in whom I would have complete confidence, but because of distance, like I said, probably not really practical.

Anyway, I have the Baskerville ultra muzzle on order and a super-long lead so we can hopefully get him used to the muzzle.

One thing about muzzles though, a few people I mentioned it to said that they thought it would make people more fearful and think he had actually done something wrong. Has anyone had adverse reactions to walking their staffies with a muzzle? Logic says people would be less worried if he's muzzled, so I was curious about those comments.

Hello. Sorry for the late reply - I've been working very long hours! I think you're right to be concerned about qualifications - SO many people have watched the Dog Whisperer and decided that they're suitably trained to work with people and their dogs, which of course is not the case.

You could always just give Ruth a call - she does travel to clients in Cornwall regularly and if she can't, she will be able to recommend somebody close to you and advise on some management techniques for the time being until you can work with a behaviourist.

I too have a DA/HA dog and have worked with her extensively since she got out of the shelter, but I have 5 years of handling experience and advice on tap from professionals that I work alongside. I wouldn't recommend to anybody to attempt to tackle aggression on their own - especially if he has already had numerous incidents with other dogs where is was more than likely hard to read his behaviour/predict how he is going to react.

For now, I would say that he shouldn't be off lead. You can begin muzzle training him, here's a great video from the Blue Cross
http://www.bluecross.org.uk/99144-109679/muzzle-training.html

Thanks Rachel,

Will give Ruth a call though might wait until after christmas when we're a bit more sure of finances (the economic recovery hasn't hit us yet )

The video is great. I feel much more confident about muzzle training him. One thing about it though is it doesn't give any time scale. I'm assuming that all that isn't done in the space of a day, so how do you know when to move onto the next step, when the dog is showing signs of being bored with the game?

I practise twice a day for 3 days for each section so 3 days of nose in, 3 days of loose buckle etc.. Took me just over two weeks to muzzle train my girly effectively! If the dog looks bored, I up the treat to something of higher value

awesome, thank you!

I also meant to ask, what's a DA/HA dog?

No problem Oh, sorry, forum abbreviations! DA is dog aggressive, HA is human aggressive.

I wrote a (very long) post about Biscuit's behaviour here;
https://staffy-bull-terrier.niceboard.com/t52127-biscuit-s-rehab-journey

If you fancy a read with a cuppa! She's doing much better now - it can happen