Rehabbing an Aggressive Australian Shepherd

I forgot to mention how much Decker weighed. The day after I first got him, he weighted a whopping 84.9 lbs. I thought that he needed to loose about 15 lbs, but now I think 10 lbs might be enough. Yesterday, Wednesday, Decker weighed in at 83.9 lbs, with 9+ pounds to go.

Yesterday was dog day again. The pack and I came and this time I brought treats! This proved successful. I handed several people some smelly treats and asked them if they would give them to Decker. He showed no problem taking them from anybody. Later I played some with a toy with him in the agility field. He acted like a normal dog at my friend's house.Later we all went to the other field and worked sheep. Decker did fine in the round pen, but cried some while being tied up awaiting his t …

Decker did reasonably well over Labor Day weekend. There was only one incident with a growl, and that was directed at Matt. He had just gone outside and saw Matt and uttered a growl. He had never growled at him before, so I told Matt that he better address it. Decker went on his side and that was that.During the weekend, I had several friends come over. Decker was good and didn't growl or act shy in any way. My neighbor came over for dinner on Sunday. He was a gentleman but as she was lea …

The rest of yesterday went fine. No problems at all.Today is going great with Decker. He has been on his best behavior all day. This morning, while I was turning out the sheep, I had the middle stall open. The sheep were heading out to the back pasture and Decker saw them. He took off through the middle stall and through the sheep pasture (where they were not) to try to get to them. Fortunately for me, Decker was stopped by a fence. I was surprised by how far he went. He basically did an …

Yesterday, being dog day, I took everyone to my friend's house to socialize. Decker was fine and in hand visiting with all of the dogs. Nancy, another friend came in the yard with her dog after us, and I herd a little growl from Decker. I promptly and literally put him down and put my knee on him biting with my hand. I waited until he relaxed, then let him up. I heard nothing out of him after that. Later, when everyone was swimming, I was able to take the leash off of him and let him relax …