Meet Kronk! We adopted him ~3 years ago, after being given up on by 2 other families. When we adopted him, it was clear he was never socialized and is very reactive to other dogs and some people (Specifically men, which makes me wonder what kind of life he had as a pup). We’ve been working with a specialized Vet and Trainer for 2 years now, and he’s on some anxiety meds. He’s improved quite a bit, but he’s also gotten quite protective of my wife. So while I can walk him with only small reactions, my wife cannot. He’s very reactive and is a bite risk when someone gets close. And since he’s a cutie black lab, everyone wants to get close to pet him even when he’s actively snapping at them since they’re “Good with dogs” 😑 Anyways, we found a place that does a 3 week board and train to work with aggression, but I’m not sure how effective they are. I don’t think he’s going to get much better with us, since we have to focus on safety instead of training. And since he’s been given up on twice, I don’t want him to think we’re abandoning him since its a long program. Does anyone have experience with these type of training programs?
We were in the same boat, but tried “boot camp” and they said they couldn’t help her. Points for honesty I guess.
We’ve also had a rescue about three years. In some ways she’s very well trained, or she’s smart and cooperative. However she’d been a year at the shelter and been abandoned before that, so definitely not socialized. She has a scar on her snout that looks suspicious, and she reacted strongly against men. Basically I sat on the floor for two weeks tossing her treats before she would approach. Now she’s the most loving and protective dog to our family, she lets the cleaner in with a warning, is generally ok with people, and loves our neighbors. She is much improved.
However we were never able to stop her from pulling when on leash, never stop her from being dog reactive, and people better not surprise her.
The biggest thing she needs is that socialization, but reacts so strongly that no one is willing to risk their pet (nor I the liability). I hope it’s posturing since the couple times an off leash dog approached, it didn’t lead to anything, but she’s awfully aggressive with it