The barking dog
But these people that you talked to hit it right on the head. the barking dog Dog poop picture. This was a dominant dog and you screwed up, not a lot just a little but with dogs like this there is very little room for error. This dog was a real rank dog, he saw himself as the pack leader. You knew that and did almost everything right, except in how you handle the toys. the barking dog Prairie-dog-hunting. This dog had intense prey drive along with dominance mixed in which made it a very dangerous dog around his toy. You made the mistake of using the toy in obedience as a reward and added force in taking the toy away. Your small mistake resulted in your attack. the barking dog Dog obediance training. When using toys with dogs like this you must use more motivation to get the dog to release the toy, rather than force. When I say force I mean either as a voice command or with a prong collar. When working a dog like this with toys it is always better to use the two-toy method to the get the dog to drop the first toy and then throw the second toy. By throwing a second toy for him to chase (after he drops the first toy) the dog is never near you when you pick up the toy he dropped, so there is no danger. Also using an electric collar (at a mid level stimulation) to reinforce the OUT is the proper way to get the dog to drop the toy - preferable not when he is standing next to you but rather when he is about 10 feet from you on the way back to you. The real mistake was using toys at all in training these types of dogs. Their prey drive and dominance are so high that it is better to use food or praise as a reward in training and not toys. Toys become a distraction because they want them so bad they become more concerned about loosing them than they are about going out to get them. Then their fight drive kicks in and they attack. My gut feeling is that the police made a mistake in not taking the dog, but there may have been other issues in his temperament that caused them to say no. Usually dogs like this can do respectable police service work, but again require an experienced handler. They do not make good obedience dogs because their dominance is too strong. The most someone can hope to accomplish with them is to make them obedient. Once you were attacked you also made a mistake (which you found out). You should have froze and used your voice and screamed as loud as you could in a strong firm voice to OUT - or NO or LEAVE IT - whatever words that you use. If this did not work you need to be very careful in how you escalate the fight. These dogs have fight drive (as you found out). The more you fight the harder they fight.
The barking dog
Commands || Crate-training-dogs || The barking dog || Dog-obedience-massachusetts