My dog has become violent and I ..

Brief：
My black lab has become increasingly violent with strangers. He has not responded to traditional training techniques and i am afraid for my kids and c.. 

Send me an email through the above website. Tell me more about his behavior. How old is the dog?

Usually increasing aggression toward new people and situations is caused by a lack of socialization when the dog was small. It was never taught, when small, how to cope with new things. Dogs who are not well socialized often end up terrified of everything or very aggressive.

If feasible, get your dog to a socialization training class which specializes in aggressive tendancies.

If you can't afford to do that, we suggest that you have the dog put down before it harms somone. If it attacks a family member, friend, or stranger you'll be facing legal action (not to mention the trauma to the dog and the victim from such an altercation).

Taking it to the pound will not help it. Most pounds and shelters now screen for aggressive dogs and mark those that fail the assessments for elimination because they are "non-adoptable". If the pound kills your dog, they'll most likely put it in a gas chamber with a bunch of other dogs and then take its body to the dump. If you put your dog down yourself, your vet can do it more humanely, you'll have the option of being with the dog when it goes, and you can decide how you want your dogs remains to handled.

This is going to be tough on you no matter what you decide. We wish you the best. Wow that is VERY rare for blak labs to show any agression at all, except when they feel very very very threatened or if you're hurting their owners. Your dog for some reason must be feeling very threatened fo rhis safety with strangers. Have you tried a good ol prong collar? Those things are amazing. Yes, I thought they were 'mean' before, but once your dog is trained, you don't even have to use it anymore. We used one to correct all of our black lab's bad behaviors - it is a miracle. Have someone put the prong collar and leash on your dog and you talk with strangers in a calm friendly tone. If your dog begins being aggressive, have that other person pull hard on tha tprong collar. Whenever your dog acts appropriately towards strangers, praise your dog ALOT and give treats. You will have to do this multiple times with multiple strangers. You're going to have to be willing to work hard at this, or else you'll fail your dog. Your dog needs YOU to be its trainer. I wish you good luck with this. It is HIGHLY important you work on this before it's too late and your dog hurts someone. That would be your fault. Thank God you didn't say a Pit Bull! Pit bulls pass the temperament test with a 90% and all other breeds-70%. Labs are more likely to attack than a pit. I would keep the dog away from the kids and go to a reprable trainer asap!