Reddit mentions of Click to Calm: Healing the Aggressive Dog

Ok. Given the information I have right now, here's how I would handle it.

Think if there's somewhere you can go for a week or two. Best friend's house? Mom's house? If so, calmly let BF know that you are going to stay there for a while in order to give him a break from the dog and work on his behavior. If not, skip this step.

Second, you need to understand fear aggression. Both of you do, but I'll leave it to your judgment when to ask BF to read up. I'd recommend Click to Calm because it's fantastic at real-life solutions.

(we should also talk about management somewhere in here if he's reacting to things he sees/hears inside the house, or reactions are >50% of the time on walks).

Third, you need to work on teaching the basic principles of self control. This can include general training like suddenly settle and it will also include counterconditioning. For example, walking around potential "triggers" at a wide distance, and feeding him treats when he looks at them. (And feeding him ALL OF THE TREATS) when you see him willfully disengage from the "threat" or he can give you a sit. (Click to Calm will teach you much more.) It will be helpful to be able to show BF a gameplan and/or some changes.

Forth, boyfriend needs to learn to relate to Ares in a way that Ares won't find threatening. I'll include some specific suggestions:

• Being aware of his body language when he's interacting with Ares. It's human nature to anticipate and prepare for what we think will happen. With an aggressive dog, this often includes clenching our fists, freezing up, drawing in a quick breath and/or holding our breath, squaring/raising our shoulders, or leaning forward. He'll need to make a conscious effort to relax.
  
  
• Being aware of the body language he directs toward YOU. It sounds like y'all are having heated arguments about Ares. You're the only human Ares has ever trusted. Even in absence of physical fighting, there's often a very clear nonverbal power dynamic. At best, both of you have arms folded across your chests and stiff bodies; at worst, BF's got clenched fists and a furious expression on his face, and you've got your arms up as if you're defending yourself. We do these things without thinking. If it gets to the point where you can't keep your tones and body language calm, make sure Ares can't see or hear.
  
  
• Cultivating positive experiences. Taking a deep breath. Relaxing his body. Tossing really good treats to Ares. Taking Ares to do fun things.
  
  If you read this and thought "there is no way in hell my boyfriend is going to do any of this," then, once again, I have to shove unsolicited relationship advice into a dog training thread. Behavior modification is work. It's going to be inconvenient. It's really, really hard to be successful if your partner isn't on your team. At that point, you have to be asking yourself how much you value your relationship with this man, and whether you believe his reaction to the situation to be reasonable or unreasonable.
  
  If I can help any more, for example with developing a specific training plan, please feel free to reply or P.M. I'll want to know whether there's any reaction to things he sees/ hears from inside the house, whether he eats well, how often and intense the reactions are (two or three times on a half hour walk, or is he Kujo for half an hour straight?) and as much detail as you can give me about the interactions between Ares and your BF. I'd also be curious to know more about the trainer. There isn't a whole lot of formal training available for aggression. There are ADPT (general reward-based) trainers I would unhesitatingly, unreservedly trust with my aggressive dog. "I'm not really qualified" may mean that she's not really qualified, or that she identifies the lack of comprehensive training programs in the area and wants to be really honest. If she's got even casual experience treating aggression with reward-based training, she's overwhelmingly more qualified than the vast majority of people who hold themselves up as trainers for aggressive dogs, who often use things like pinch/prong collars and antiquated dominance theories that make the situation worse.

It's very common in young herding dogs. And odds are you can get it to go back a bit, and not be such a big deal in his life, but it will take a great deal of work, and he may never be comfortable when on a leash, interacting with other dogs.

Because of that, own it. Once you figure out what his threshold is, and work on it, and improve it as much as you can, don't wake up one day and think he'll be the best dog in the world on a leash. Odds are he won't be and that's ok. It means that when you are in a situation where he is on a leash, and there are other dogs around, you need to 100000% manage him. Teach him to check back with you, to focus on you, to look at the other dog and then to you for a reward.


[This is a pretty good book for dealing with dogs like this] (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B008510I5S/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1). You may get some good help from it, as well as a trainer.

But again, own his behavior, and don't decide one day that he's going to be a [one of these] (https://gund.com) when he's not. And again, that's fine.


>We adopted our handsome, loving, cuddly aussie 4 months ago from a breeder.


Small nit: you bought this dog I'm guessing? Money changed hands? And that's fine, that's how many of us here acquire our dogs, but you made a financial decision, getting this dog. That's fine: again, own it.

Aussies are great dogs, and I love them. But many of them are not fond of other dogs, especially when on a leash. And that's ok.

Hi there! I foster scared and reactive dogs for my local rescue. I've found four resources that I love so much, they have become my foundation for every dog, whether they have behavioral issues or not:

1.) (Free) CARE for Reactive Dogs - careforreactivedogs.com

2.) Grisha Stewart's Behavior Adjustment Training (BAT) - https://www.amazon.com/Behavior\-Adjustment\-Training\-2\-0\-Frustration\-ebook/dp/B01BG05UAW/ref=tmm\_kin\_swatch\_0?\_encoding=UTF8&qid=1525694710&sr=8\-1

3.) (free) Relaxation Protocol - http://championofmyheart.com/relaxation\-protocol\-mp3\-files/

4.) Karen Pryor's Click to Calm - https://www.amazon.com/Click\-Calm\-Healing\-Aggressive\-Dog\-ebook/dp/B008510I5S/ref=pd\_sim\_351\_1?\_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=TYTV68ZND5W25S0ZH1XH

http://www.amazon.com/Behavior-Adjustment-Training-Frustration-ebook/dp/B005NIL5MQ
Get a trainer. Folow the book above with his or her's help. There is hope.
Consider muzzling, the kind that allow water consumption but not biting, until you have a very high confidence in your dog's behavior.

Edit: this is also an excellent book: http://www.amazon.com/Click-Calm-Healing-Aggressive-ebook/dp/B008510I5S/ref=pd_sim_kstore_3
Both books are available in paperback, just cost a little more.

Double edit: Have a vet rule out any health concerns. Dogs in pain are often aggressive.