A German Shepherd Named Torque!
This week’s blog question was another good…what is the scariest dog I have ever faced? I’ve never feared the look of any dog…matter fact I kind of like a big dog with a strong determined look BUT I have feared behavior. The behavior I fear the most is the one that requires zero interaction with the dog but will still land you a big nasty bite or two…or three. What do I mean by that?
Any dog that will charge you with vicious intent just for being in any of its zones. This can often be the worst situation any trainer will face. This is the type of dog I am about to share a story about AND this dog was another one that had a name that fit him perfectly. Enter Torque the German Shepherd!
Sometimes the owners of these type of dogs are a little overly forgiving which can make this behavior worse and worse with time. Torque’s owner was the exact opposite. He was a no-nonsense guy who practiced martial arts for over 20 years. He was in great shape and had five other German Shepherds throughout his life. He explained that none of the others were this aggressive.
During the assessment I had found out Torque was an incredible dog 99.9 percent of the time. But that .1 percent was enough to get ANY dog and human in serious trouble. Especially when you are dealing with a dog that has an extremely powerful bite. Torque had bitten three people by the time I met him…all three had to get stiches…
Each person who had been bit was in the residence of Torque and each person was bit by surprise. All three didn’t even see the bite coming and all three didn’t even see the dog until they got charged and bit. Another interesting tidbit was that Torque never bit anyone until he was over 2 years old, and Torque allowed many strangers into the residence nearly every day, as the wife owned an in-home salon and did haircuts out of the residence.
I decided my best course of action was to take Torque to my home for a few days. I needed to see what this dog acted like AWAY from what it was guarding. This would also allow me to develop a trust with the dog that I could not get from initiating in Torques residence. The owner warned me that one other trainer had attempted to take Torque from the residence, and it did not go well.
The owner helped me load Torque in the car due to his level of aggression. Muzzle/leash on and into the crate behind me Torque went. Normally, once I drive off most dogs settle down, but Torque was built different…once I drove off, he started barking loudly and pushing against the crate door to escape. I ignored him and kept driving.
He got so physical in the crate that the back of the car was literally shaking as I was driving…apparently the car I was in couldn’t handle this much Torque!
And that’s when it happened…Torque had escaped the crate and was now staring me down from the backseat!!! He had the muzzle on still which made me feel slightly better. The problem was I was driving and couldn’t really do much about whatever Torques next move was. I decided to pull over and assess the situation off the main road.
As soon as I stopped the car and put it in park Torque attempted to bite me through the muzzle. The top of my right shoulder was his target. I immediately got out of the car and shut the door. By the time I shut the door Torque was in my driver’s seat, taking my space.
My adrenaline was pumping pretty good at this point, and I knew I needed to settle down before taking any more action. After a short breather I decided I would walk Torque around to burn off some of his energy AND establish some leadership before trying to drive any more with him.
Each time I went to reach for any door handle Torque would charge and guard that door. His face would be even with mine as he used the car seat to stand on. Even though he had a muzzle on I didn’t feel that good about his face being right next to mine once I opened the door. Then a small miracle happened…Torques leash had gotten wrapped around the center console in the front of the car and limited his distance to the other side of the car.
I went over to the other side of the car and took the leash. He did his best to get to me as I reached for the leash. Finally, I got him out of the car. Knowing he was going to charge me; I decided to ignore him and walk fast. As he lunged, I used the leash to keep him away…not easy to do with a big powerful dog that weighed nearly 100lbs.
He lunged for several minutes and then finally he ran out of gas and Torque started to lose torque. I was sweating profusely myself at this point. The last 15 minutes felt like an eternity!
I walked Torque for another 20-30 minutes and toward the end of the walk I started giving him some discipline (in the form of a firm no with negative tone) when he would show any sign of aggression, toward me or anything we went near. He was now allowing me to correct him. Once we got to the car, he got in willingly and off we went. This time he hung out in the backseat (no crate) and just watched the cars go by without barking or trying to eat me through the muzzle.
Torque ended up doing GREAT after camp, but he was a dog that several other trainers turned their back on when they thought he was not trainable.
Want to find a trainer who can control a dog with lots of torque and not spin your tires? Contact your local Always Faithful Dog Trainer today and find a certified trainer that will give you real training and real results.