Question: I have a five year old male German Wire-haired Pointer. He is my first hunting dog and I know I have made some mistakes in training him. My problem is that since he was about four years old, he has steadily become more aggressive towards strangers and other dogs . Last week, he snapped at my wife while she was trying to crate him. She now fears him and will have nothing to do with the dog. She would like to move him outside. Will this help his aggression? He did bite a delivery man last year who entered our yard. The bite was not serious.
Alan K., Royal Oak.
Answer: Alan, I am afraid I do not have good news for you. I cannot tell you exactly why your dog is getting more aggressive with age. There is not enough background information here to go into why, but I do know that from what you have described, you have a dangerous animal on your hands.
First, let's look at the breed. I should qualify my statements by saying I have owned German Wire-haired Pointers for many years and currently have three. The Drahthaar and the German Wire-haired Pointer were originally bred to guard as well as hunt.
Many of the early imports were too aggressive to be allowed around strangers. The breeds were also used to hunt big game in Germany and had to be tough enough to handle animals such as wild boar.
The American breeders have focused on the pointing and bird hunting abilities of the breed and have been breeding for softer temperament. Aggression is not unheard of in the breed.
Now. with that said, some of the German Wire-haired Pointers need to be chastised when aggression arises. If this is not done, especially early in the dog's life, mixed signals are sent to the dog and the aggressive behavior can escalate. If you have an Alpha or dominate dog you need to maintain the Alpha position with him to maintain control.
I see more aggression problems with males than females, so therefore I recommend females over males for first time owners.
I have seen this problems in Weimaraners, German Short-hairs, Large Munsterlanders, and Chesapeake Bay Retrievers also. My experience has been that if a dog attacks and or bites someone, unless it is defending itself or master, it will never be the same dog.
There is a mental barrier that is crossed when a dog bites a human. It is my belief that when a dog crosses that barrier, it can never be trusted with strangers again.
If the dog snaps at a family member, it is showing a lack of respect for humans that is dangerous. If it bites a family member, it is my opinion it should be put down.
It sounds to me that the aggression problem you are having escalated after the dog bit the delivery man last year. I would put this dog down for trying to bite my wife and putting him outside in a kennel will probably only make things worse.
Charlie Linblade
Mighigan Wing Shooters Hunt Club
Michigan Pheasant Hunting
Michigan Bird Dog Training