Managing Dog Aggression

The main reason for your dog’s aggression is not because they are naturally ‘bad’ or ‘mean’, they’re most likely scared or insecure with a particular environment or stimulus (event, smell, noise). You will usually find that aggression and fear come hand in hand. This is why Managing Dog Aggression is so important.

Common causes of dog aggression

A traumatic event or series of traumatic experiences with people or other dogs.

A lack of socialization with certain environments or types of individuals.

A history of having important resources such as food or comfort removed or denied.

Other factors like genetics, hormones and chemical imbalances may also contribute to aggression.

Illness, pain or dementia in a senior dog can cause him to exhibit aggressive behaviour, as well.

Why Punishment Doesn’t Work

Even though dog aggression is generally due to anxiety or uncertainty, it’s not uncommon to find under-educated dog owners and trainers managing dog aggression by acting aggressively themselves. Unfortunately, this approach which punishes a dog for their aggressive behaviour, is far more likely to make a dog quick to lash out.

Punishing a dog for their fear is likely to create more anxiety around frightening or unfamiliar situations. Remember: more fear = more aggression. It’s a vicious cycle and will not solve the issue. Think about it in terms of children. If your child is afraid of the dark, you wouldn’t punish them by forcing them to sit in a dark room for hours. Rather, you could help them adjust to the dark by installing a night light, leaving the door open to a lighted hallway, letting them sleep with the family dog so they feel protected, and so on.

Helping an aggressive dog to heal requires the same kind of compassion, understanding, and confidence-building.

Triggers for Canine Aggression

The first things to work out are: What does your dog do when they are acting aggressively (i.e., growl, bite, lunge)? and When do you see this aggression occur?

Most dogs are not aggressive toward everything; they have a particular trigger (say, men or, more specifically, men that enter the home). Responding to that trigger by snapping or biting is your dog’s attempt to defend or intimidate, to ensure their personal safety and sometimes that of their loved ones or “valuable” resources such as toys, food, treats.

In many cases a dog may be satisfied with the display of an aggressive behaviour (growl, bark, snarl) if it results in the perceived threat moving farther away. At other times, a dog may feel that they have no other option but to fight (actually bite, attack) to resolve the threat.

Some of the most common triggers for dog aggression include:

• Interaction with other dogs
• Interaction with people or a specific category of people (children and men are two common ones)
• Interaction with people or dogs while on leash
• Outsiders that approach or try to enter a dog’s territory (especially when the dog is chained or fenced)
• Perceived threats to important resources such as food, toys or sleeping places (this one we can totally relate to!)

Helping a dog to overcome their aggression is a difficult task; changing a negative emotional response to a positive one always is. A Certified Professional Dog Trainer (CPDT-KA) trained in positive-reinforcement techniques can help you to establish realistic goals and reach them via a process of gradual desensitisation and counter-conditioning.

Without putting a downer on things after all of this positive talk, the truth is; A dog park will probably never be the right place for a dog-aggressive dog, and lead-reactive dogs will probably always require some management on walks. Your dog may never live up to your expectations, and part of working with or loving an aggressive dog is accepting that fact.

Ho to Manage Dog Aggression in a Public Place

If your dog is aggressive in public, it’s important to determine what their aggression is directed toward, and what “triggers” them to be aggressive. Once you’ve identified it, your first goal should be to prevent your dog from getting close enough to their trigger to elicit aggression in the first place. Space is key to keeping a dog from feeling threatened or uncertain. Once you’ve figured out how much space is needed, you can begin to gradually help your dog to build positive association with their trigger—ironically, by ensuring that, wonderful things happen. This is called desensitisation-counter-conditioning. One example of this is: one of our customers dogs can be lead aggressive towards other dogs whom he doesn’t know. However with plenty of reassurance and a soothing voice he is getting much better, but we always ask any other dog owners to keep their dogs at a distance to be safe. The dog in question is more about the display than the fight, but one can never be completely sure so its better to be safe than sorry.

If getting the space necessary from the trigger isn’t possible (for example, if your dog is aggressive toward men and you live in a city), to safely walk your dog and slowly improve their aggression, you will need to transport your dog to quieter locations for walks or play.

You should also consider desensitising your dog to a muzzle to assure that they will not hurt another person or dog if they should suddenly lash out. Though muzzles look scary and restrictive, they’re essential tools to providing an uncertain or unpredictable dog with additional freedom. A dog properly desensitised to a muzzle shouldn’t have any trouble wearing it as long as you select the right style. Look for a Baskerville or basket-style muzzle, not the nylon muzzles that fit tightly around a dog’s nose. Nylon muzzles are meant for grooming, not outdoor activity, and because they prevent a dog from panting, can cause a dog to quickly overheat.

Managing Dog Aggression in The Home

Aggression in the home may, in some ways, present a bigger challenge than aggression in public, in part because the corners and angles of a home can prevent us from providing an aggressive dog with enough space from their trigger to feel safe. In a home in which a dog is aggressive toward children or other dogs, re-homing your dog might be your best option. Putting a dog in a situation in which they must exhibit daily control while under great stress is only setting them up for failure and, with an aggressive dog, that often means biting. It will be far easier to find your dog a new home before he has been pushed to that point.

If the issue of aggression revolves around something that only occasionally happens in the home, such as guests coming over, it may be helpful to set up specific “rituals” to comfort your dog and, in the long run, make some improvements in their aggression. Though you may want your dog to be present when you have visitors, your dog is likely to feel safer out of the way. Setting up a standard procedure will help you both to better manage your emotions. For example:

Before your guests arrive, prepare several delicious puzzle toys with high-value foods like chicken, or the infamous Kong full of yummy peanut butter!

When the doorbell rings, bring the goodies and your dog with you into a back room where you’ve set up a comfortable bed and turned on some relaxing noise type diversions (the radio is great, we opt for classical or LBC!)

Close the door (or baby gate) and greet your guests in another area.

Only free your dog from their quiet zone when all your guests have gone. Falling more under the ‘Management’ header as opposed to ‘Training’, it may well help your dog to associate the door bell with yummy treats and a good interview with Jeremy Paxman and give you a good foundation on which to start the training.

What to do if Your Dog has Bitten Someone

If your dog has bitten a person or another dog, the situation may be more serious than you think. Even a low-level bite can cause authorities to intervene. Aggression is an issue not to be taken lightly. If your dog has bitten someone, it’s important to get help immediately from a qualified positive-reinforcement trainer, never someone that uses punitive methods or techniques rooted in outdated and unproven “dominance” theory.

Thanks for reading (if you’ve managed to get this far!!) and we hope you’ve enjoyed this weeks article about Managing Dog Aggression

If you would like to know more about positive training, take a look at this website Positive Pet Training

If you would like to know more about canine body language, Here’s our a link to one of our previous blogs that you might find interesting