by Carolyn Read, posted from DIY Dog Grooming on 26-4-08 at 20:37
Ok, so if you have read my blog titled “What I Did With My Aggressive Golden Retriever” then you will understand that if you have a similar problem with your dog and his/her aggression towards other dogs it is going to take time and effort and is going to be an ongoing process – there is no quick fix! But I am going to give you some tips to help you along the way. I know what it’s like to have a dog aggressive dog and sometimes the embarrassment that goes with it, especially when it’s a breed not generally associated with dog aggression. You expect this type of behaviour more from the so-called ‘aggressive’ breeds. The truth of the matter is that any breed or type of dog has the potential to be aggressive. A dog is a dog and therefore has those inherent aggression characteristics regardless of breed.
So, where to start? I can only give you information about my experience and what worked for me and Elliott. What worked for us may not necessarily work for you. Over time you will need to listen to what people say and take on the information that helps you the best. We went to see a dog behaviourist who gave me a bunch of notes which I did my best to adhere to. They included actions I could take so my dog would be clear about where his place was in the pack. A couple of examples were when out walking to allow Elliott to walk slightly in front of Sophie; when feeding them both giving Elliott his dinner first; making him sit and wait at the door – I was the first one to enter in the house and exit the house. I might add here that having two dogs is a completely different ball game than just having one. If you are having problems of any sort, including aggression, then get some professional one-on-one help. They will be able to make a qualified assessment of what is going on in the whole relationship.
After that, down the track when Elliott showed that aggression to the other dog at the agility training, the President of the Club offered me some help on a one-to-one basis. One exercise we did was I stood with Elliott sitting at my side. I will digress here just for a minute. A very important thing for you to keep in mind is to – STAY CALM! There are now some natural herbal remedies available to help calm your dog also (and you also, if you need them!). Your dog will pick up your vibes and if you are uptight and stressed then he will pick up on that. When you speak to your dog use a firm calm low voice and speak as though you are in control. Screaming and shouting will get you nowhere.
Anyway, Barry walked around us in a fairly wide circle with his dog and my job was to keep Elliott focussed on me. Now, most trainers will tell you to use food, toys, ball or whatever. If that works for you – great! None of those things had any distraction value for Elliott. If your dog is so worked up that he is not interested in any yummies you might have in your hand then you might like to try what I did. With my hands on either side of his face I had to steer his face to look at me. Now, I noticed that even though his face was pointing at me his eyes were darting from side to side – so I used my hands also to blinker his eyes and try to prevent him from looking at what was happening and focus on me. At the same time I was doing this I kept repeating the word “watch”. As I got more proficient if I saw his eyes dart outwards I would say “ah-ah” and when his eyes were looking at me “good boy” (he wasn’t interested in any treats). We swapped over so that I was walking Elliott around and once again trying to keep his focus on me. We did the same exercise in a line both walking past each other. When you do these types of exercises make sure that both owners are between the dogs, eg walking up and down have the dog on your left and make sure that the dogs are on the outside so that you both can prevent any aggression incidents.
Every weekend in summer was an outing to the beach and when Elliott was off lead swimming or running he actually wasn’t so much of a problem as when he was on lead. If a dog came too close he would growl as warning but was really focussed on swimming and fetching his ball so all I would have to do would be to throw his ball into the ocean and he would be after it. On our walks along the path back to the car park he would be back on lead. Well, we had the same old problem if anyone was approaching. I found that by stopping before the oncoming person and dog got to me, sitting Elliott beside me and repeating the exercise of steering his head and blinkering his eyes as best I could as well as talking to him in a calm firm voice we would avoid any sort of aggression. I would also let people know that he was not sociable. I later read a book on Dog Calming Signals and found that sitting, for a dog, is one of the communication calming signals they use in the pack.
As I said this was definitely not a quick fix. As I got training with him, three nights per week at one stage and with different dog clubs and as many breeds of dogs as possible, after a period of time I actually learnt to read him down to a tee. When there were other dogs around I could never have a chat to someone face to face – I always had to chat with my eyes on Elliott. Having said all of this, Elliott has never shown any aggression to people, it has always been dogs only. For him, missing out on socialisation during the critical period between 8-16 weeks (as that was when we did start our training) really made the contribution towards his dog aggression, I believe. Every dog is different – my Sophie had exactly the same upbringing and she was fine. Every dog is an individual and you have to treat them as such – that is why I say to try different things and whatever works best for you and your dog to prevent any type of dog aggression then use it.
Ok, so if you have read my blog titled “What I Did With My Aggressive Golden Retriever” then you will understand that if you have a similar problem with your dog and his/her aggression towards other dogs it is going to take time and effort and is going to be an ongoing process – there is no quick fix! But I am going to give you some tips to help you along the way. I know what it’s like to have a dog aggressive dog and sometimes the embarrassment that goes with it, especially when it’s a breed not generally associated with dog aggression. You expect this type of behaviour more from the so-called ‘aggressive’ breeds. The truth of the matter is that any breed or type of dog has the potential to be aggressive. A dog is a dog and therefore has those inherent aggression characteristics regardless of breed.
So, where to start? I can only give you information about my experience and what worked for me and Elliott. What worked for us may not necessarily work for you. Over time you will need to listen to what people say and take on the information that helps you the best. We went to see a dog behaviourist who gave me a bunch of notes which I did my best to adhere to. They included actions I could take so my dog would be clear about where his place was in the pack. A couple of examples were when out walking to allow Elliott to walk slightly in front of Sophie; when feeding them both giving Elliott his dinner first; making him sit and wait at the door – I was the first one to enter in the house and exit the house. I might add here that having two dogs is a completely different ball game than just having one. If you are having problems of any sort, including aggression, then get some professional one-on-one help. They will be able to make a qualified assessment of what is going on in the whole relationship.
After that, down the track when Elliott showed that aggression to the other dog at the agility training, the President of the Club offered me some help on a one-to-one basis. One exercise we did was I stood with Elliott sitting at my side. I will digress here just for a minute. A very important thing for you to keep in mind is to – STAY CALM! There are now some natural herbal remedies available to help calm your dog also (and you also, if you need them!). Your dog will pick up your vibes and if you are uptight and stressed then he will pick up on that. When you speak to your dog use a firm calm low voice and speak as though you are in control. Screaming and shouting will get you nowhere.
Anyway, Barry walked around us in a fairly wide circle with his dog and my job was to keep Elliott focussed on me. Now, most trainers will tell you to use food, toys, ball or whatever. If that works for you – great! None of those things had any distraction value for Elliott. If your dog is so worked up that he is not interested in any yummies you might have in your hand then you might like to try what I did. With my hands on either side of his face I had to steer his face to look at me. Now, I noticed that even though his face was pointing at me his eyes were darting from side to side – so I used my hands also to blinker his eyes and try to prevent him from looking at what was happening and focus on me. At the same time I was doing this I kept repeating the word “watch”. As I got more proficient if I saw his eyes dart outwards I would say “ah-ah” and when his eyes were looking at me “good boy” (he wasn’t interested in any treats). We swapped over so that I was walking Elliott around and once again trying to keep his focus on me. We did the same exercise in a line both walking past each other. When you do these types of exercises make sure that both owners are between the dogs, eg walking up and down have the dog on your left and make sure that the dogs are on the outside so that you both can prevent any aggression incidents.
Every weekend in summer was an outing to the beach and when Elliott was off lead swimming or running he actually wasn’t so much of a problem as when he was on lead. If a dog came too close he would growl as warning but was really focussed on swimming and fetching his ball so all I would have to do would be to throw his ball into the ocean and he would be after it. On our walks along the path back to the car park he would be back on lead. Well, we had the same old problem if anyone was approaching. I found that by stopping before the oncoming person and dog got to me, sitting Elliott beside me and repeating the exercise of steering his head and blinkering his eyes as best I could as well as talking to him in a calm firm voice we would avoid any sort of aggression. I would also let people know that he was not sociable. I later read a book on Dog Calming Signals and found that sitting, for a dog, is one of the communication calming signals they use in the pack.
As I said this was definitely not a quick fix. As I got training with him, three nights per week at one stage and with different dog clubs and as many breeds of dogs as possible, after a period of time I actually learnt to read him down to a tee. When there were other dogs around I could never have a chat to someone face to face – I always had to chat with my eyes on Elliott. Having said all of this, Elliott has never shown any aggression to people, it has always been dogs only. For him, missing out on socialisation during the critical period between 8-16 weeks (as that was when we did start our training) really made the contribution towards his dog aggression, I believe. Every dog is different – my Sophie had exactly the same upbringing and she was fine. Every dog is an individual and you have to treat them as such – that is why I say to try different things and whatever works best for you and your dog to prevent any type of dog aggression then use it.
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