I adopted a Rotti/Dobie mix. Got stuck with him kinda by accident. We got him at 9mo old and up to that point he had spent most of his life tied up in the back of a truck used to haul scrap metal.

He was abused, neglected and mean as a snake. He would try to bite anyone who got near him and especially males. I couldn't even leave him alone in the house with the wife because he would just snap and attack her.

Took me a year of training just to get him out figure out the pack dynamics. I would take him out every morning at 6am and work him for at least an hour and then at night.

Socialized the hell out of him too. I would muzzle him and take him through town on busy days and walk him through crowds. If he snapped I would pin him down. After a while he learned it was unacceptable.

In two years he was one of the best dogs I'd ever had. Great with kids, cats and other dogs and pretty much stable as can be. The only thing that I couldn't fix was his fear of metal. Clanging metal would make him a little nasty.

Dog pack dynamics are not different than wolf dynamics. If there isn't a clear pecking order you're going to have problems.

rescue + 1

Feyd is exactly right, especially about how to handle snapping / biting. I learned this the hard way. A lot of books (and trainers) claim you should hit the dog on the nose in reaction to a snap. That's completely wrong and instead teaches the dog not to trust you which only makes the situation worse. If my Mal snapped at anyone, I'd pin him to the ground and hold him there until he settled down. In the beginning he'd put up a big fuss, but after a couple times he'd get the idea. After about a year of hard work (mostly because it took me a while to figure out what I was doing wrong) he became very relaxed and gentle with everyone, especially babies. Another thing that I learned was how "nasally" oriented dogs are. Certain smells triggered certain reactions. Male pee would get him excited ("Hey, who's messing in my turf?"), while the scent of women and babies caused him to be very gentle and sedate. I also learned that the smell of cedar bark chips was very relaxing / soothing to him. As soon as he laid on his cedar filled bed he'd chill out. Good to know as sometimes "kids" need a "time out"!

The last thing I'll share is what I feel makes dogs such wonderful companions: No matter how mistreated a dog is or how badly you might have messed up as a dog's owner, it's never too late to turn things around. They don't hold grudges, and in spite of what some people (and insurance companies) think, there is no such thing as a bad dog or bad breed. I think Feyd's story is perfect proof of that.

Nicely said guys...working with the dog's pack instincts and natural drives and language is definitely the way to go and it works..(i agree that you want to weed out the old-school trainers and classes)....we were lucky and found a trainer who was good at this and her classes were more about teaching us than teaching the dog...helped us along a lot, as well as doing lots of reading

I have two aussies. My older one is 5 and he travels everywhere with me. We just got back from a weekend in Galveston. Beau is the official buggy dog.

Assies are great family dogs and fun to be with. Very smart and active.

Susan (npw goddess)

Turns out our neighbors dog is an Aussie mix..... he is always coming over to play with the boys when they are outside..... very friendly dog.

We have been really enjoying all the great information everyone has been sharing here.

My boys saw mukluks dog in his avatar and now want one like that....... I told them we need to start up a list of duties everyone will need to share responsibility for when it comes to taking care of our future new family member.