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[siderophobia]

Hello. I'm extremely new here, and mainly it's because I feel like I need to exhaust every venue possible. I have a purebred dalmatian, who is about two and a half years old. In last few months, the dog (who was previously extremely playful and loving) has almost "turned"? He's since bitten two people, luckily close friends who have no desire to

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[miss_teacher]

Ok, that makes sense then. Fear aggression often escalates and from what I hear is more likely to end in a bite than just plain aggression. I think it;s because most people under estimate a fearful animal. We misread the warning signs and keep advancing on the dog or do not think about how our actions and movement can trigger something. Unless a dog who is clearly aggressive and people tend to be very careful.

At least the dog is somewhat young. Your chances of making progress are better now then if you waited and the dog was now 7 years old and you wanted help.

As far as the prognosis, it's impossible to say, much more so for anyone online who has not worked with the dog personally. Sometimes dogs can respond well to training and the owners are good about knowing what scares the dog and how to counter condition it. Other dogs, even with proper and intensive training, will always be a bit fearful and it will be a livelong job of making sure the dog is never in the position to be so afraid he will have to lash out.

But I think you are on the right track with a positive trainer who is using clicker training. Getting the basics down will help because you will be able to communicate better with your dog and there will be a solid foundation to your relationship. If your dog has a rock solid sit, and something stats to make him nervous, you can use those basic commands to grab his attention and hopefully get his mind off of the thing upsetting him.