My Maremma is getting a bit aggressive.....

Q.  I am after some help.  I have a Maremma dog, she is great with our kids and grandkids.  However, I am finding that when people drop over she is getting a bit aggressive with her barking.  She goes right up to them barking and when she is in that zone she sometimes won't listen or back down.  She is very quiet by nature, even though it may not sound that way.  I am thinking of trying a training collar to get her to stand down.  When she is in that zone I thought this may help make her listen.  So any advice would be appreciated.

A.  Thank you for your enquiry.  You do have to be careful using training collars when the dog is in an aggressive state.  We always recommend consulting a professional dog trainer, particularly one that is experienced in using a training collar with an aggressive dog. The reason behind this is when your dog is in the zone and receives a correction from the collar they may associate it with the person or animal that the dog is being aggressive towards.

You do want to introduce the collar properly and get the dog used to it.  This can be achieved by doing some recall work and basic training in an area free of distractions.  The Dogtra Arc is certainly a good trainer to use for a low to medium drive dog, making it ideal for most pet dogs. However, your dog is from a working breed or shows signs of being headstrong, then you may want to look at a high output option like the Dogtra 1900S or for a longer range, you may want to look at the Dogtra Edge

If you have any further questions please don't hesitate in contacting us via email or phone.