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When Tosti gets frustrated, he seems to turn his frustration towards me. He jumps up at me, bites me (leaves me with bruises and really hurts me). I've learned to (not harshly, but tightly) grab him behind his ears and to let go when he calms down. It works, but I have to do this 3 or 4 times before he 'gives up'. I really would like to understand where this behavior comes from. Sometimes it happens during a walk or after he ate. It's making it hard to feel connected with Tosti and sometimes I feel like a hostage in my own home. Because when I go upstairs, he'll bite the cushions or destroy his bed.. I go on daily bike rides, I go on training walks (where he has to pay attention to me), I play with him, I challenge him with Brain Training.. But we can't seem to overcome this behavior. Any thoughts? Frustration is a negative emotional state that has been associated with behavior problems in dogs including aggression. This negative emotional reaction is seen when a dog’s expectation is violated (such as when access to a reward is prevented, reduced or delayed), in presence of barriers that prevent access to a resource and in face of intrusions into their personal space/territory. Frustration may accompany fear when a dog’s escape option is thwarted. Frustration may also arise when dogs become overstimulated. Some dogs can cope well with increased levels of stimulation, while others may become stressed and frustrated especially when they haven’t attained sufficient coping skills. We may therefore expect dogs to act frustrated in these particular circumstances/contexts: ⦁ When they are on leash and unable to explore/meet other dogs or people ⦁ When they see something behind a fence and can’t reach it ⦁ When they see a squirrel they cannot chase ⦁ When they play fetch and the owner doesn't toss the ball ⦁ When they are being trained and don’t understand what’s expected from them ⦁ When they don’t receive enough exercise/mental stimulation or they receive too much of it and not enough rest ⦁ When they are playing and are interrupted ⦁ When their personal space is invaded by people/other animals ⦁ When their access to safety/autonomy is thwarted ⦁ When they’re undergoing behavior modification involving extinction protocols with too abrupt removal of reinforcement ⦁ When they can’t reunite with their owners ⦁ When they are not given owner attention (and will vent by engaging in undesirable behaviors, which are often reinforced by attention-even if the negative type) ⦁ When their routines are disrupted (dog is not walked at usual after coming back from work) ⦁ When they fail to “get things their way” (like seeing another dog or person on a walk and not being allowed to greet) In dogs who have little frustration tolerance, frustration can lead to displacement behaviors, repetitive behaviors (stereotypies) and may even morph into aggression, including redirected aggression. When dealing with frustration, it’s important to determine whether a dog struggles with it in a specific situation, or whether it's a more general behavior trait that needs a generalized training plan to help the dog learn how to manage his/her frustration in different situations (impulse control training). Signs of Frustration in Dogs When dogs undergo frustration, they may often whine, bark, growl and lunge as they try to make an effort to reach their goal. When the goal cannot be achieved, affected dogs may engage in displacement behaviors (sniffing, scratching, licking, tail chasing, mounting, chewing) which may lead to repetitive and sometimes even compulsive behaviors. Sometimes predisposed dogs may also redirect their frustration on something else (biting the leash, biting an owner, attacking another dog). Stopping the Biting In order to stop these attacks, a multi-modal and integrative approach will be needed, tackling the dog’s excess arousal, preventing exposure to full intensity frustration-inducing events, teaching alternative behaviors and coping skills, and mastering the art of better self-control and relaxation. The Power of Prevention If you can predict when your dog is likely to get frustrated and bite, you should take steps to prevent this occurrence because as it happens with humans, practice makes perfect. In other words, the more your dog gets to practice the biting behavior, the more this behavior will establish. Dogs are always in a learning state. With every undesirable interaction, your dog is learning to vent his frustration more and more, while you are likely learning to become more and more unhappy about being around your dog. You can prevent Tosti from biting by carefully managing his environment. You already seem to know some triggers. Here are some general management options: ⦁ Let your dog out in the yard after he eats. Many dogs get a bout of zoomies after they eat (stay behind a door to watch him). ⦁ Use an exercise pen to keep him away from you after he eats ⦁ Using baby gates to keep him away from you after he eats ⦁ Keeping an eye on what triggers his biting on walks and avoiding those situations. If a trigger is approaching, you can do an emergency U-turn before your dog gets aroused. https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/emergency-u-turn/ Pay Attention to When Your Dog Gets Frustrated on Walks The biting may often appear when a dog wants to go in a certain direction and is prevented The dog is trying to access some food on the ground and is prevented The dog sees an animal he would like to chase and is prevented The dog wants to meet another dog or person and is prevented The dog doesn't want the walk to end The dog is bored from the walk The dog is overstimulated In these cases, it's important to find ways to preempt the behavior before it occurs and providing alternate behaviors to engage in. Implementation of Behavior Modification Behavior problems in dogs can be tackled passively (by using management to prevent the problem behavior from surfacing) and both passively and actively by working directly on the problem. To work on this type of problem, the goal would be increasing your dog’s tolerance level of frustration by starting exposures to minimally arousing/frustrating situations and giving your dog an alternative behavior to engage before the frustration sets in. Let’s take a closer look at some examples of the process (these are just examples of behavior modification, every case may need an individualized approach based on triggers, level of training, discretion of the professional you are working with). Systematic Reintroduction of Triggers If the triggers that evoke your older dog’s attacks are clear, a first step after using management would be gradually reintroducing them in an attenuated, low-intensity version. This low intensity version must be attenuated enough so as to not provoke the undesirable behavior. Once the dog is fine with the lowest version, the intensity of the trigger can be gradually increased, always in a way that the undesired behavior is never fully evoked. For example, if seeing other people on walks is a trigger, it is best to avoid areas with people at first and then presenting them from a distance that doesn't evoke the nipping response. It's important to keep the dog under threshold as much as possible. https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/threshold-levels/ To maximize the effectiveness of behavior modification, on top of avoiding triggers, and then presenting in a lower intensity version, it helps to train an alternate response (response substitution) using positive reinforcement training. Response Substitution Response substitution consists of substituting the undesirable behavior with a desirable one. The desirable behavior should first be trained in a distraction-free area, around no stimuli first (quiet room) and then around stimuli of low enough intensity. Then, gradually more and more distractions can be added. Once trained at a proficient level, the behavior can be cued when in presence of locations or contexts where the problem is most likely to arise. Some Examples of Response Substitution If your dog gets into a nippy state after eating, consider that many dogs are prone to getting zoomies after they eat, (they're called post-prandial zoomies) you can make a routine of letting him eat by the porch area and then scattering several treats or kibbles around the yard for a fun treasure hunt or you can put a portion of his meal in a bottle so that he has some alternate productive activities to engage in to replace the nipping. https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/brain-training/elementary/the-treasure-hunt/ https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/brain-training/high-school/the-bottle-game/ Alternatively, you can drain some energy by playing a structured game such as the kibble-toss game. Have him sit and toss a treat to reset him, then again sit and toss a treat. Rinse and repeat to drain that frustrated energy and replace it with desirable behaviors. Or you can try engaging him with a flirt pole and using that to engage him and polish his leave it, drop and take skills. https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/brain-training/obedience-101/take-leave-it/ With his mouth busy in trying to catch the toy, he should think less about nipping. For biting on walks, as soon as you notice a trigger, you can do a U-turn and then toss a handful of treats mixed with kibble to the ground and tell your dog to "go find them!" as you point at them. The redirection needs to be long and valuable enough so that the dog doesn't think about nipping as the trigger passes by or you walk past it. Sometimes, one may have to do several reps in a row to get the dog back to baseline level. It's crucial to interrupt the behavior before it escalates into biting. If one interrupts the behavior once the dog is biting, it will be more difficult to redirect him, and on to of that, one risks establishing a behavior chain (dog bites on purpose to get treats) which can be difficult to eradicate once stablished. Learn Body Language 101 Another important step when working with frustrated dogs is to learn as much as possible about a dog’s body language. Prior to nipping, you may notice in your dog some precursor signs such as a wild look on his face, a high-held tail and the body position leaning forward. Recognizing early precursors is important as it can help you predict when he is about to bite and use swift intervention by redirecting him the earliest signs. It’s important to note that quick intervention may become difficult in those cases where triggers that evoke problematic behaviors are random and unpredictable or when the biting take place quickly with very few warning signs. Interruption at the Earliest Signs In the best situations, through management and a carefully implemented behavior modification plan, the dog is prevented from engaging in the problematic behavior or it takes place in a minimal form, however, even in the best plans, an occasional exhibition of the problem behavior may still unexpectedly occur, what to do in such a case? In such a case, it’s important to intervene at the earliest signs (like just the mere crazy look ). Physical intervention needs to be avoided as much as possible as this can cause increased arousal and eventually even defensive biting. Determining the safest and most efficient plan to achieve this is something that may vary on an individual basis. Options to prevent escalation may consist of a sound like a whistle, smacking noise https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/the-airplane-game/the-smacking-sound/or a verbal cue (such as a sit followed by a tossed treat toss as explained in the treat toss game) delivered in a neutral tone. Always keep kibble or treats in your pocket so that you're ready to reinforce these alternate behaviors. It’s important to therefore have a plan in place for quick redirection at the earliest signs of arousal moving forward by training responsiveness out of the frustration-inducing context at a fluent level and then gradually working around more and more distractions. If you dog gets to engage in problematic behavior, it’s important to evaluate what went wrong and take future steps to prevent such setbacks from reoccurring. Impulse Control Training Impulse control refers to a dog’s ability to manage their impulses and restrain themselves when it comes to their desires and reactions. A lack of impulse control leads to dogs who react with impulsivity. Their struggle to regulate their emotions leads to potentially problematic and even aggressive reactions in certain circumstances. Lack of impulse control is often seen in untrained puppies and young, adolescent dogs. It’s therefore important to teach dogs better impulse control which is achieved for the most part through training. Impulse control exercises can help dogs learn the virtue of delayed gratification and that “patient pays.” Here are important reads: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/impulse-control-frustration-tolerance/ https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/10-impulse-control-games-for-dogs/ Acclimate to a Muzzle Dogs who bite out of frustration are often in a hyper-aroused state and this often means that they'll bite harder than if they were calmer. You will need to take steps to prevent your dog from potentially hurting you and others around you. Muzzle training your dog is therefore important so that you have a back-up in case your dog happens to be exposed to a trigger that causes him to go over threshold. Here is a guide: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/video-archive/train-your-dog-to-wear-a-muzzle/ In your case, a strong basket muzzle will be needed as this allows your dog to pant and take treats. Please note: Just because your dog wears a muzzle, doesn't mean you are free to expose him to his triggers. You still will need to avoid full intensity exposures as if he wasn't wearing it. Capture the Calmness Teaching frustrated, over aroused dogs the art of calmness is paramount. Many dogs who are overstimulated and quick to become overly aroused, are dogs who don’t receive enough sleep, especially sleep of the most restorative type (deep REM sleep). This is vitally important. Too much of exercise and overstimulation (busy places, barking at triggers) without breaks and opportunities to wind down and sleep, can backfire. It's important to create an environment that is conducive to relaxation and prevent your dog from rehearsing overly aroused, excited/reactive behaviors. Praise your dog in a calm tone when you notice he is calm and relaxed. Work With a Professional Some cases can be complex to treat. It may be difficult for you to interrupt your dog's behavior, or maybe he bites too hard and you are starting to fear him or feel frustrated which makes him more likely to bite (when in fear or frustrated we may move a lot and dogs can sense these negative emotions). You need to make your safety and the safety of others around you your top priority. If your dog shows signs of aggression, dog's hesitate to consult with a behavior professional. This is for safety and for correct implementation of behavior modification. Look for a reputable dog behavior professional (like a board-certified veterinary behaviorist) or a dog trainer with years of behavior consulting under the belt and using force-free methods. Sometimes, dogs may need medications to be under threshold enough to allow them the opportunity to learn better coping skills and better frustration tolerance. I hope this helps! Let me know if you have any questions and feel free to post updates. Happy training, Adrienne