Cane Corso - Separation Anxiety & Fear Aggression

[ARafe]

So to start off I just want to say that I am no stranger to this breed or big dogs in general, my first dog was a Rottweiler and after he passed a Cane Corso. The Cane Corso in particular was a dream to have, perhaps the most well behaved dog we could have wished for.

Our current pup is now 14 months old, and since the age of about 8 months he started acting out. This was manifesting in extreme separation anxiety (which was strange since he never before had a problem), and on from that it has spiralled into aggression. We are putting him through rigorous training and have been doing so for the past 6 months. We have had multiple trainers, a dog behaviourist, group sessions, you name it. Everyone has said that we're doing the right things, we just have to keep at it.

He is muzzled in public and seems to have calmed down with the aggression towards other dogs (he still acts up a little but with the muzzle and the training we think it's manageable and not too difficult to deal with).

However, now he's moved away from dog aggression he seems to be taking it out on people. He'll never behave aggressively with people in the street, the problem is when they enter our home. We put him away when people come inside but there have still been instances where he has snapped the air or even nicked at someone. In these cases the dog behaviourist could give specific reasons as to why he did it, such as one person knelt down and tried to pet him while inside the kennel (invading his space) etc.

But the culminating incident came a few days ago when a friend came over who he has seen multiple times and has always been very friendly towards (loves to play with her, pounces around and generally shows off whenever he sees her). She was at the end of the drive, and as I opened the door she called out 'Hi!', and he seemed to assess the situation for a split second before bolting towards her and physically going for her. She ran and we restrained him, thankfully she wasn't hurt, but the incident is extremely worrying as there was no reason for his behaviour, and the dog behaviourist couldn't deduce one either.

My question is after everything we've been doing with him, training for hours a day, bringing in one to one training sessions, dog behaviourists etc etc, what more is there that can be done for him? He's so young I don't want to consider the possibility of putting him down, I'll feel like I've failed him. And I've raised him exactly as my two previous dogs whom I never had a single problem with. So why the aggression, is there something I'm missing here?

My greatest fear is that one day he'll act without warning and hurt someone. But he's such a beautiful loving dog with us that I can't bear the thought of putting him down, I don't understand what we're doing wrong.

Any advice or similar experiences would be greatly appreciated. Thanks guys.

 

[Bailey's Mom]

Personally, I don't have the answers. My girl's separation anxiety was dealt with over two months, I'd leave 5 minutes and come back, 10 minutes and come back, etc., until I was up to two hours. At two hours we had our system of emotional support. When I got home I wouldn't acknowledge her until I checked the house. If everything was okay, I'd reward her with love and a bully stick: N.I.L.F. Nothing In Life Is Free. She earned the love and reward. She still doesn't like me leaving, but, there is always something for her when I return, whether it is love, a walk, a treat, a visit with a friend dog...something. So, I'm not sure why separation anxiety from 8-14 months has morphed into aggression with your dog. If he has become insecure after such a long time of being okay, perhaps you need to go back and retrain the idea that you will return: 10 minutes and back, 20 minutes and back, and so on until he feels reassured, but...I still don't understand how he went from okay to aggressive or why the two things are related.

Does your dog have any dog friends and play dates? The more socialized the dog the less likely to be dog aggressive.
Has your dog been neutered? Generally mastiffs shouldn't be neutered until 18-24 months to allow bones and brains to mature. Some believe that this reduces aggression. Do you have solid commands, "Sit", "Stay", "Hold", "Drop It", "Come." You need all of these and they have to be "rock solid."

And, finally, because we've seen it happen in one of the family dogs, does your dog see clearly? One of them had a tumor in his left eye...I kept seeing a white shadow when I was taking pictures...it was a tumor, he lost the eye. Now the other eye seems to be under performing and he overreacts when people come in and go out. He recovers quickly when he realizes who it is and all is well. Still...your friend called out to you before he went into overdrive. He knew her voice from previous interactions.

The only thing that I can suggest is the minute he charges or overreacts, stop everything and take him through every command that you have worked on. He has to connect the dots that you are in command: command of the door, of the guests, of the dog. Take him right back to school the minute he is out of control. Work him until he's calm and obedient.

You'll get lots of ideas from the people here. I'm sure some of them will be useful to you. And, please, don't consider putting your boy down, he's just confused not bad. Give him a chance to meet your expectations.

 

[ARafe]

Hi, thanks so much for the response!

In fairness to him, the separation anxiety has subsided a lot. Similar to you, we did all the aforementioned techniques and even though he still seems a little stressed when we leave he is nowhere near as bad as he used to be.

The aggression came about at the same time as the separation anxiety so I was assuming the two were interlinked. Now the anxiety is receding I thought the aggression would follow but to no avail. He walks every night with a Bourdeaux (my neighbour and I take our dogs on joint walks), and meets many others along the route. But he is unpredictable in the way he reacts to them. He could have known a dog and played with them before but on a particular day will be aggressive towards them for no reason. That same day he might meet a new dog and then proceed to lay down immediately and let them approach, sniff, maybe play etc. There is no pattern to his behaviour.

He was neutered under the advice of our vet who said it would curb the aggressiveness a few months ago. And he responds extremely well to commands in the home. Everytime he even hears us with a treat he runs to his kennel and lays down to wait for us to give it to him. Even if I point at the ground and say nothing he knows to sit or lay down. He responds to "Come", "Sit", "Bed", "Lay down", "Drop", all the usual commands. If it weren't for he issue with people coming into our home and the sometime dog aggression he'd be perfect.

I know he's confused which is why I'm so reluctant to put him down, but I'm aware of the danger he poses if it's not corrected and soon. The little nicks he's given can develop into dreadful injuries if he goes too hard which is what I'm terrified of. And it's been a solid 6 months of training and we've had all sorts of help with him. Even the Dogs Trust UK has been involved after my enquiries for help. They all keep saying to stick with it and we're doing what we should be doing, but I'm concerned that these techniques aren't working and in a dog of his size this unpredictability could be fatal one day. I'm just a bit confused and a hitting a wall here with him. But I'll try your advice and hope for the best.

 

[marke]

Don’t let the situations occur where your stressed and he's acting a fool , identify when they happen and avoid them as much as possible , put him in as many good situations as possible , and occasionally work on the bad situations , total avoidance solves nothing ….. folks come in your house should ignore the dog , if he threatens them you should correct him and let him know as clearly as possible it’s unacceptable …….. the fact you are expecting an issue , and are actually fearful of what you think may happen , I assure you the dog knows your anxiety , and it will cause the behavior to continue , it's actually a reinforcement …….. muzzle him more and relax , with repeated exposure and you relaxed he’ll most likely get past the behavior , when he approaches folks in a friendly manner let them interact , when he approaches folks in an unfriendly manner correct him immediately and remove the situation , the transition from muzzled to unmuzzled will need done gradually , intermittently , and carefully ……….. some dogs are just naturally extremely defensive and are never completely trustworthy , they require a bit more work/care for them to work out ……… a predictably defensive aggressive dog is workable , be sure whatever "techniques" you use do not create an unpredictable defensive aggressive dog ……..

 

[Bailey's Mom]

Good Words from Marke. This is not a problem dog...a little confused, and, yes, he's reading some of your anxiety. It's hard to hide how you are feeling, but you must control what he feels off you.

As for considering ending his life, please, there are good rescues in Britain and he's exceptional from all you tell us...he deserves life and consistent training. In the end, you will find that you have a jewel of a dog.

Our Super Moderator in Britain is Glen. I'll alert her to your post, she's already helping another lady with a much more troubled dog, so, you'll be reassured and you'll have someone in-country to talk to and receive help.

 

[DennasMom]

Great suggestions and info from Bailey's Mom and marke, above...

I'd add in that it sounds like you're waiting for the dog to decide what to do when he meets someone... I would be proactive and TELL him what to do. Somewhere along the way he hasn't determined how to meet people and get what he wants (and/or doesn't know what he wants), and is still hunting for the appropriate action/reaction to new & different (or even repeat) stimuli...

I'd give him a LOT more guidance on what to DO, until he gets in the habit of thinking more than a split second before reacting.

For example - when Denna and I are out walking and I see someone approaching, often well before Denna sees them, or at least before she feels a need to acknowledge or 'react' to them - I pull her off to the side into a driveway and put her in a SIT. I let her 'supervise' the 'target' as they pass by, but she is not allowed to get up from the sit. If she remains sitting, she gets praise and/or a treat, and we continue on. If she moves, I return her to the sit and she has to 'Look At Me' for a good 3-5 seconds before I release her with praise and we continue on.

It doesn't take long for the dog to know what you WANT him/her to do when a 'target' approaches = sit and supervise.

I don't ask for a Down in these situations, that's too submissive of a position to be reliable. And a Stand is too easy for the dog to lunge from... a Sit is a good medium and a signal to the 'target' approaching that my dog is under control and they don't need to take action against us (although some dogs passing by ignore the Sit signal, too... in which case, we go further up the driveway to offer more safe-space).

Denna has a very solid "WAIT" command... it works in all sorts of situations... wait for food, wait for the door to open, wait before going out the already-open door, wait before approaching a human, wait before crossing a street, wait before chasing a cat, etc, etc, etc, I use "Wait" all the time, and I enforce it and reward it each and every time, too.

The other 'usual' command you didn't mention is "leave it"... if he's not solid on what that means, it would be a good one to drill on, too. So next time he bolts after something or someone, you can yell "leave it" before trying "come", and that might help get your intent through that thick skull a little faster.

I hope you keep at it, and I hope he has a "light-bulb" moment soon!

Oh, talking of light-bulb moments.... our bully of a rescue, who was very UNmotivated when we adopted him at 1yr old, had his light-bulb moment when we took a class on agility together, and he got really REALLY good treats for following commands... the hope of a taste of fresh cooked chicken woke his brain up to doing as asked.

 

[Hector]

Are you using a prong collar? This dog needs to be corrected way before he acts out. Correct early and it won't manifest into something ugly. This was poor management on your part that he acted that way to the friend. This dog has a history of "unpredicatable" behavior, but you were way too trusting with him. This dog should never be off leash around people not living at your house. Always muzzled around people if you can, but never given the chance to make his own decisions and should never be allowed to escalate. This dog should always be on leash with training tools when you are expecting people, always.

This dog just sounds like he is maturing into his temperament but because he has a lot of fear and anxiety and not enough direction, you get stuff like this. It is very common, but I strongly feel that need to be proactive. You know what this dog does, you know what he is capable of, now the goal is to have control in all situations through continued socialization, management, and training set ups. I recently worked with a maturing catahoula that had the same problems you did with people coming into the house. It even spilled over to lunging and nipping at people off leash on their walks and my lovely neighbor was ready to rehome. We used prong collar/e collar corrections, structured walking, place command in the house, multiple training setups where new people are brought into the house so the owner understands/knows what to do how to do it, attention to body language, leash skills, early corrections.

Your dog can always benefit with more structure. I am against on leash dog meetings and greetings. Dogs should be trained to ignore other dogs, be responsive to handler, be calm and non reactive, be able to coexist and mind their own business. Those are the things you want to strive towards - a dog that ignores everything around it but you. Foundation skills need to be great - heeling, recall, basic obedience, duration obedience, impulse control, etc. etc.

Can you please tell us more on the tools and methods you are doing/using? This dog can be turned around. It's not hard, but requires a lot of sweat and tears and understand what kind of dog you have.

 

[glen]

Hi ya im from the uk. Iv pm you. If i can help in any way i will. I have 3 male ccs