Dog-aggressive cane corso
Hi everyone,
I was invited to join this form by Stephanie, who I met on another mailing list - so thanks again for the invite, Stephanie! :)
In July of last year I adopted a 3-year old spayed female cane corso from a local shelter - I named her Lola. She lived in a car with a young girl for 2 years, and was given up because the girl couldn't take care of herself or her dog. After that, she was at the shelter for 5 months before I adopted her, and from what I was told she became depressed at the shelter. When I introduced Lola to Jackie, my other dog (a senior female husky mix), they got along fine - no scuffles or snapping or anything. On a side-note, she was living with another (male) dog in the kennel, and from what I was told they got along fine, and Lola had never shown any signs of aggression to other dogs. She did really well when I brought her home, but after about a month she started attacking my other dog (when my other dog wasn't even looking at her, was lying down/sleeping, etc.), and it started happening more frequently to the point where I had to keep them separated. I was still able to walk them together, but then Lola started trying to attack Jackie even on walks, so I started walking them separately.
At first I thought it was just Jackie who Lola didn't like, but I soon found out it was also other dogs. The first incident happened when I was taking Lola out of my car, and she ran up to a guy walking a lab. She sniffed him, then started to attack (the other dog didn't fight back, just tried to run away). When I finally got her off the dog, I saw that she didn't do any damage, and the dog was ok (thank god). I knew I had a problem on my hands, so I started walking Lola with a muzzle. A couple of weeks after she attacked the lab, I was walking her and we passed a girl walking a bouvier across the street. Lola started jumping and lunging, and somehow her LEASH unclipped from her collar, and she attacked the bouvier (again, the other dog just tried to get away). In the middle of this, her muzzle came off (I realized I had a crappy quality muzzle!), although I was able to get her off the other dog pretty quickly, and again the other dog wasn't injured. The third incident happened when the fire alarm went off in my building, Lola and I were standing outside, and this time I was using a choker on her (I don't use them anymore - I just started using one because she's able to get out of a regular collar, so it was just for safety, not to correct her). So all of a sudden, she gave one pull and I realized the chokerbroke (!!) and she started attacking a pug. Again, thankfully the other dog was fine (and again, was just trying to get away). So I started walking her with a regular collar and a choker, so if one broke I would still have a back-up collar, as well as a leash with a screw-on carabiner, and I haven't had any incidents with her since then.
I saw one trainer last fall who observed her with Jackie (inside, on-leash) and said that it was an ideal situation because Jackie is so calm around Lola and completely ignores her. She suggested I have Lola out on leash for an hour a day with Jackie around just so Lola would get used to being around Jackie again. Of course, it was easier said than done because I'm usually always multi-tasking and it was a little inconvenient to be dragging my dog around with me every time I got up to do something. So of course I felt guilty that I wasn't doing what she suggested. Anyways, I ended up seeing another trainer a couple of months ago who I had heard about a while ago and wanted to see, but had forgotten about. This trainer uses positive methods and I really liked her. We talked a lot about dog body language and getting Lola to look to me for leadership instead of trying to take on that role herself. She told me to make Lola do something for me before opening the door/ giving her food, etc. - not having anything to do with "dominance" but just so Lola will pay more attention to me and start to automatically do these things before I even have to ask. We also worked on teaching Lola to come using a clicker and treats. It's been really fun teaching her, but I haven't been able to tackle her reaction when she sees another dog outside (she jumps, pulls and lunges like crazy. Doesn't bark/growl/act aggressive but sometimes whines. Another trainer told me it looks like she wants to play with the other dog!). I haven't seen the trainer again because I don't have the money right now, but I asked her what to do when we see another dog on the street. She told me to use the come command with the clicker, even if it takes Lola a few seconds to stop reacting. I haven't tried this yet becauseI'm really afraid I'll loose control of her while fumbling for the clicker and treats. During our next session, the trainer wants to bring another dog and work with Lola outside.
I think that's pretty much it - oh, something else I should mention is that every time Lola's attacked another dog, after the fight I've been able to have her sit down calmly next to me and not try to go after the other dog. I also have a friend with a very non-reative female rottweiler. We sometimes meet up with the dogs, and Lola is really good with her dog. At first she tried to lunge once in a while, but with much less intensity than she would upon seeing a strange dog. We met up with the dogs tonight and for the first time, Lola didn't lunge at her dog at all.
One other thing - the day I brought Lola home, we stopped off at a pet food store where there were 4 offleash dogs, and Lola was fine with them. After I knew she had a problem with other dogs, I started to wonder if it was something I did (or didn't do) that cause her to start reacting to dogs out of the blue. In the back of my mind I still wonder, but I think a lot of it has to do with her being depressed at the shelter, and that her true personality didn't come out until a few weeks later when she got comfortable (as is the case with a lot of rescue dogs!).
A couple of off-leash dogs have come up to her, and while she was obviously agitated, she didn't react as badly as she does when she sees a dog across the street. She also reacts worse to some dogs and not so bad to others. I really don't know what her trigger is.
Sorry for writing a book! I was just hoping someone might have some words of wisdom or suggestions for me... but keep in mind, I don't intend to use corrections on her, I'm not interested in behaviour suppression, I want her to understand why she shouldn't be reacting this way.
Thanks!
Amanda
