Franklin927
Member
"Aggressive" towards others while on walks
Hello, my wife and I have a 15 month old named Franklin. He is our first mastiff and we are realizing just how much of a handful these "little" guys can be.
Franklin has recently in the last month or so has changed a little for us. Before this change when we would take him on walks he was always VERY friendly towards everyone he would pull (but that is a whole other issue for a thread in the future) with excitement and no bark eager to meet the person or other dog(s).
In the end of October my wife and I got married and went on a honeymoon, while we were away Franklin stayed with my parents. When we got him back Franklin was completely different, we originally thought he was just angry at us for leaving him and we hoped it would go away. He was beginning to be, what we considered aggressive towards other people and other dogs, even little Fofo dogs 90 times smaller than him. Now while on walks Franklin is now barking, pulling and lurching toward other dogs and people especially if he has never met then before, I think it is worst for my wife than I but it could have something to do with a strength thing where I can get him under control more easily.
We decided to get a personal trainer when this did not seem to get better. We have had the trainer now for about 6 weeks coming every 10 days or so to check up on progress in between sessions. She has been great but we still have not been able to right this "aggressive" behavior to a point where he broke away from my wife the other day and jumped on a jogger, who thank god was alright and understood what we were going through.
We are starting to get stumped as to what is going on with our boy and if there is anything that we could be or should be doing to fix it. It is odd to us because this only seems to happen when we are on walks (Is it a leash thing?). Franklin has no issue with people he has never met before coming into the house, which I thought he would have more issue with because it would be his territory.
I have read some threads mentioning a fear stage. Could he be going through this? And if so any guidance on what we should be preparing for?
Thanks so much for any help you can provide!
-Mike
Hello, my wife and I have a 15 month old named Franklin. He is our first mastiff and we are realizing just how much of a handful these "little" guys can be.
Franklin has recently in the last month or so has changed a little for us. Before this change when we would take him on walks he was always VERY friendly towards everyone he would pull (but that is a whole other issue for a thread in the future) with excitement and no bark eager to meet the person or other dog(s).
In the end of October my wife and I got married and went on a honeymoon, while we were away Franklin stayed with my parents. When we got him back Franklin was completely different, we originally thought he was just angry at us for leaving him and we hoped it would go away. He was beginning to be, what we considered aggressive towards other people and other dogs, even little Fofo dogs 90 times smaller than him. Now while on walks Franklin is now barking, pulling and lurching toward other dogs and people especially if he has never met then before, I think it is worst for my wife than I but it could have something to do with a strength thing where I can get him under control more easily.
We decided to get a personal trainer when this did not seem to get better. We have had the trainer now for about 6 weeks coming every 10 days or so to check up on progress in between sessions. She has been great but we still have not been able to right this "aggressive" behavior to a point where he broke away from my wife the other day and jumped on a jogger, who thank god was alright and understood what we were going through.
We are starting to get stumped as to what is going on with our boy and if there is anything that we could be or should be doing to fix it. It is odd to us because this only seems to happen when we are on walks (Is it a leash thing?). Franklin has no issue with people he has never met before coming into the house, which I thought he would have more issue with because it would be his territory.
I have read some threads mentioning a fear stage. Could he be going through this? And if so any guidance on what we should be preparing for?
Thanks so much for any help you can provide!
-Mike