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" We have a three-year-old Great Dane who is wonderful in every way except for his habit of nipping people he doesn&amp;#039;t like at our home, office, or camper. He has always been somewhat protective, especially of me. However, in the last few weeks he has been nipping progressively harder and actually drew blood \u2014 twice! Once he bit an acquaintance of ours who was walking down our back lawn toward us. The other was an older woman at our front door, whom he had only met once. Our vet, who said our dog was &amp;quot;dominant/territorially aggressive,&amp;quot; prescribed a low-protein diet and a hormone called Ovaban. I have two questions: Have you ever heard of this treatment to prevent dogs from biting? Do you have any behavior-modification methods we could try instead of or in addition to the hormone treatment? Yes, I&amp;#039;ve seen the use of pharmacologicals and a lower-protein diet used for treatment of aggression, in conjunction with a behavior-modification and dominance-management program (especially for aggression that is deemed territorial). Drugs alone won&amp;#039;t solve this problem \u2014 a behavior-modification program must be set in motion, too. In regard to your second question, I do have behavior-modification methods that would be in addition to, not instead of, the treatment prescribed by your vet. Since he&amp;#039;s your vet, and has seen the dog in person, he has a better handle on how to approach this medically. Behavior modification is in order here, but you really need to find a behaviorist to diagnose what the specific problem is. The only way that can be done is with a face-to-face consultation. However, I&amp;#039;ll give you my &amp;quot;theoretical&amp;quot; diagnosis and plan. For a dominant dog, I would immediately instill a &amp;quot;no work, no reward&amp;quot; program. The dog would learn to recognize that I am in control of everything in his life \u2014 feeding, playing, walking, etc. \u2014 and that those things come with a price attached, whether it is a &amp;quot;sit&amp;quot; or &amp;quot;down.&amp;quot; Refusal to obey a command results in no payoff. If your dog doesn&amp;#039;t know commands, now is the time to start teaching him! My book, Kathy Santo&amp;#039;s Dog Sense, will help you do that. I would also have him drag a leash around when you are supervising him, so if he loses control and gets dominant and/or aggressive, you can control him. Next, no more eye-level encounters. That is to say that there will be no jumping up allowed \u2014 not on couches, people, beds, nada. Dominant dogs that are at your eye line feel much more powerful and, subsequently, dominant. This is a good way to get you started, but you have a long road ahead of you. Finding a good behaviorist in your area is key! "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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