I have seen there are several questions on aggression on the forum, but I am specifically after methods to train away aggression caused by fear.
Our vizla male, Slater, has just turned 12 months. As we don’t yet have children, he has taken that on role like a champ – and I believe – given us a good year of training for when the first two-legged one arrives. I believe we have been through every stage of typical Vizsla puppy behaviour, including the early-teeth biting, three/four month obstinacy, the erratic bursts of cracy energy from 19pm to 22pm, the tearing down the wall paper, the eating the sofa phase, and the list goes on… It seems like as soon as we are celebrating one victory, Slater delights us with a new “phase”
Now we are starting to see the hormones kicking in. Slater has been a very well tempered dog, socializing fine with other dogs and with people. However, more recently he has had some bursts of aggression towards certain dogs and some people. In most cases the other dog may have barked first, and Slater completely looses it. I hold him on a very close leash and correct him, but I can only calm him down when he is led away from the other dog. Most recently, with my wife walking him, he started nibbing hard (biting but controlled) at my wife´s arm when she tried to constrain him. These sudden bursts of aggression / barking can also occur with some people; usually people wearing a motorbike helmets, carrying trolleys and sometimes homeless (living in Rio that is unfortunately a very real part of the landscape).
To me it seems like he goes nuts when he senses aggression or fear in another animal or person. I would like to understand how worried we should be and how to address this.
Our veterinary and our trainer is recommending to neuter him, but I would like to avoid that if this is a question of training.
Thanks in advance for insight and advice
http://www.ultrasonicdogbark.com/