fearful or protective aggression

[mick]

I have a 16-month-old Shar Pei cross (rescue dog) who has recently (last few months) become overly fearful and/or protective when visitors come near or into our house. She will bark at them and growl and she has on a few occasions nipped at people entering our home. She has only had sporadic training but will respond to 'come' and 'sit'. I am wondering if following the Brain Training course will help with her aggression issue or if she will also need behaviour modification to deal with it.

 

I will start with the course now (as she needs the training) but should I wait and see how she responds or should I contact a behaviour specialist now as well?

[Adrienne Farricelli]

I have a 16-month-old Shar Pei cross (rescue dog) who has recently (last few months) become overly fearful and/or protective when visitors come near or into our house. She will bark at them and growl and she has on a few occasions nipped at people entering our home. She has only had sporadic training but will respond to 'come' and 'sit'. I am wondering if following the Brain Training course will help with her aggression issue or if she will also need behaviour modification to deal with it.

 

I will start with the course now (as she needs the training) but should I wait and see how she responds or should I contact a behaviour specialist now as well?

 

Hi Mick,

Welcome to the forums.

You own a breed that is notorious for being aloof towards strangers. These dogs require to be heavily socialized from a young age, especially during the critical window of socialization so to become accustomed to people at an early age and to prevent their natural territorial instincts from causing them to become suspicious of everyone. There is a rather thin line between suspicious behavior towards strangers and aggression. Even with socialization during the critical period, these dogs require ongoing socialization to "maintain" their skills in recognizing the behaviors of normal people.

 

If this happened in the last few months, then there may be a "fear period" at play. There is a second fear period taking generally place between the age of 6 and 14 months. You can read about fear periods here: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/fear-periods-8-10-weeks-6-14-months/ If this is just recent behavior, there are better chances of nipping this problem in the bud, versus a dog who has been exhibiting as behavior for many months.

 

A good exercise to start with for dogs with territorial instincts is the "look at that game" practiced by the window. Here is link to the game: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/brain-training/university/look-at-that/

This can create a foundation of positive associations with people approaching the home. If your area is not frequented much by people, it may help to enlist the help of some friends and relatives to just walk by your home. Make sure that treats happen only when the people are in sight, when they are no longer in sight and your dog can no longer see them, then you should stop giving treats.

 

If your dog is in a too aroused state, then he's over threshold and unable to focus which is sign that you need to give farther distance. The look at that game is placed in the University level of the Brain Games Course for this very reason, dogs need some level of impulse control to respond when very aroused and this level comes with training. If your dog is responsive to your recall though in especially distracting situations, then you have a promising head start. You can read about threshold levels here;https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/threshold-levels/

 

Once positive associations start taking effect, you should see what's called a 'conditioned emotional response' unfold. In other words, you may notice a change in the look in your dog's face or even a little tail wag upon your dog seeing people walk by the window. Once this response is seen, then one may be ready to move to part 2 of behavior modification which is creating a conditioned emotional response to people entering the home. Something similar to the initial "look at that" needs to take place but this time with people entering the home and then getting up and walking around, while also tackling behaviors of people your dog may find troublesome (laughing loud, coughing etc.). Here is an example of behavior modification for a dog barking at somebody entering the home: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/dog-barking-someone-enters-room/

 

Now, you mention your dog has bitten in the past. In such a case, the dog must be prevented from escalating and rehearsing this behavior. This means, keeping the dog away from the guests for safety and also preventing your dog from going over threshold. Distance is your best friend. You can keep your dog leashed next to you at the farthest spot on a sofa chair away from the couch for behavior modification and placed behind a baby gate with a stuffed Kong or other long-lasting goodie when you cannot actively work on the issue. If your dog gets too anxious, then keeping him in the farthest room of the home away from all the commotion may be the best option.

 

While this course is designed to help with training and keeping dogs mentally stimulated (which provides some foundation blocks that can potentially help a great deal dogs with behavior problems), there are several articles tackling behavior modification in the archive. It's important to point out though that behavior modification requires skill (ability to read subtle dog body language, making sure the dog is always under threshold, recognizing triggers-antecedents, knowing when to increase criteria, using management to keep everybody safe and prevent rehearsals) and this is very different from regular training.

 

In training, we are teaching the dog to sit, down, stay etc, while in behavior modification we need to do functional assessments and then decide a plan that is custom tailored for that dog. There is also a certain level of risk involved, so for safety of the dog, the owner and others and for the correct implementation of behavior modification it is always recommended to carry out the exercises with a behavior professional using force-free behavior modification, at least for the initial sessions.

 

I hope this helps,

Best wishes and happy training!

Edited August 12, 2019 by Adrienne Farricelli