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Old 02-20-2008, 04:13 PM
debdod debdod is offline
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Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: Denver, CO
Posts: 1
Default loves people -- has to boss other dogs

I have a 100+lb mixed breed (border collie we were told with maybe Great Pyrenees or some such large dog) neutered male who we got from the shelter at 12 weeks. He grew up going to the dog park regularly and we had another dog living in the home with him for about a year. When he turned about 2-1/2 it became impossible to bring him to the dog park any longer. He lunges, challenges, and picks fights with dogs around his size or larger. Generally speaking he's very tolerant of smaller dogs. He loves people -- I've never seen him be aggressive around a person. He's been taught not to be food aggressive. Its just dog-on-dog! We've done group obedience and off-lead obedience and he does fine in a class setting, but off leash in the dog park he misbehaves. On our walks he tries to lunge or challenge as we pass another dog and I'm able to instantly bring him to heel and correct and for the rest of the walk he's fine, but off leash at the park it's just not happenin'. I would like to eliminate this behavior because I just don't want an incident where somebody else's dog gets hurt. This is just about the only problem we've ever had with this big sweetie -- he's easily trained and compliant with everything else. Am I on the right track by bringing him into the dog park on his lead and basically desensitizing? I really don't know what else to try.
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