I have a 5 year old lob collie cross with fear aggression. at least thats what my vet told me when he was a puppy of 6 months and this all started. He used to be afraid of anything alive even a hamster. and when he got scared he would act out with hackles, growling and nipping. Today he only is afraid of hights and new people. we have also gotten to the point were if i have him on the leash he wont act up and when we are out even that i dont need (except when meeting new dogs). But im having lots of trouble getting over the meeting of new people in my home. Im currently in an apartment so its a real concern about being able to stay. We used to live on a farm so it wasnt as obvious to me. He is now 50 pounds so it really scares people when he lunges at them. He has never bitten anyone yet and otherwise he is practically perfect. Also children dont count in this because he LOVES kids. he is worst if they are men and the bigger the worse he acts for longer. Im getting pretty desperate for help. i have never had to deal with this kind of problems before with any of are family dogs.
I completely sympathise with you, you've done a great amount of work already to get him as far as you have. I can only suggest asking friends to help you desensitise him slowly and carefully, but I'm sure you've done all this already. Finding friends will can get tricky unless you know a willing football/rugby team.
I think you should call in professional help. A Behaviourist or even just a good trainer. Someone new, obviously, who can observe this reaction and suggest and help you with exercises to work on this. One of these days he WILL miss and bite someone and you and he both will be in a world of trouble. You note I said "miss". Often such dogs do not intend to bite. It's a defensive move they present in order to keep other dogs or people away from them but it can escalate to a bite or they can bite by mistake. Sometimes, a Behaviourist could help determine if this is the case. Leslie McDevitt's book, "Control Unleashed" is meant for fearful and reactive dogs but me, I think I'd want help with this. I have used her book with great success but my dog is one of the others she targets, the ones who have a hard time paying attention.
I sympathise, Kona is a lot like this too. I would also suggest a book BAT 2.0 by Grisha Stewart and The Cautious Canine by Patricia McConnell.
