What to do with a nervous-aggressive dog?

[ashgotti]

I have a 5 year old cockapoo who is a nervous biter (draws blood). He doesn't run up and bite people but if he doesn't know you and you reach out to pet his head, he bites without growling. He smells your hand before he does it.

I've read a lot and realize that he does it because he wasn't socialized properly as a puppy. He was a surprise and I ended up raising him incorrectly and while I was working/in school.

I have friends over and he's fine. I tell them to ignore him and don't ooooh and awww him to get him hyper. He smells them and walks away. I keep him on leash around new people and have him smell their feet/legs, and that seems to make him mellow.

Anyways, I tried to take him to a dog hotel and when the girl was inspecting his teeth, he bit her. I'm going to TO and taking him with me. Ideally, I could put him in a day care there for the days we go out but I'm always worried about his biting.

Any thoughts?

[azn_dan]

From watching/reading things about Cesar, a few words of advice:

When the dog meets someone, they should instill the no look, no touch, no talk methodolgy. That way we aren't acknowledging him when he is "hyper"/overstimulated. When he calms down then we can acknowledge him or play with him.

I wonder, but does he allow you to check his teeth? Is he ok with you checking his ears/paws also? If not, then you should make it a habit. Also showing him that you don't agree with him biting/aggression is key is stopping the behavior.

I would seriously watch some of cesar millan's videos, as i know he deals with alot of agressive dogs and that the method to rehabilitate them isn't rocket science, but more like psychology 101.

Hopefully it works out.

[ashgotti]

From watching/reading things about Cesar, a few words of advice:

When the dog meets someone, they should instill the no look, no touch, no talk methodolgy. That way we aren't acknowledging him when he is "hyper"/overstimulated. When he calms down then we can acknowledge him or play with him.

I wonder, but does he allow you to check his teeth? Is he ok with you checking his ears/paws also? If not, then you should make it a habit. Also showing him that you don't agree with him biting/aggression is key is stopping the behavior.

I would seriously watch some of cesar millan's videos, as i know he deals with alot of agressive dogs and that the method to rehabilitate them isn't rocket science, but more like psychology 101.

Hopefully it works out.
Thanks.

I read two of Cesar's books and have watched seasons of his show. We do the no look, no touch, no talk with him and it's definitely helped him calm down. I can check his teeth for hours and play with his paws. Sometimes he gets upset when I play with his paws (he's had injuries there so I think that he's associated with pain) but I keep going and punish him for getting angry. He eventually calms down and lets me do what I want.

The problem is that he tests everyone until he's dominated.