Aggressive When Cold

[fxtom.jones]

I have a Pyrenees/Anatolian/Catahoula mix who just turned a year old a few weeks ago. When he was still very young, he often exhibited playful aggression (i.e. jumping and biting, sometimes quite hard, but with playful body language) while on walks. I tried to train it out, and as summer came and he grew older the behavior stopped. Quite reasonably I think, I believed he'd simply grown out of it. Evidently I was wrong.

 

It's gotten chilly again, and he's gotten aggressive again, although he still appears to be having a great time tearing me to shreds. It's become quite a serious problem, as he's an 83lb dog. He never bites strangers or other dogs, just me and my immediate family. I've tried ignoring it on the grounds that its attention seeking behavior, but he's quite large and, to put it frankly, it hurts. A lot.

 

I have absolutely no idea how to handle "extremely painful weather based play biting." Thoughts? Resources? Please god help.

[Adrienne Farricelli]

Hello and welcome to the forums!

I will be working on a detailed answer with thoughts, resources etc. however, it would be extra helpful to first know whether you have noticed any triggers. Like, does your dog just straight out jump and bite for the entire walk? Or mostly at the beginning? or perhaps towards the end? Have you ever noticed whether the jumping and biting occurs when he sees other people and dogs? Does your dog ever exhibit the behavior at home or in other contexts?

Thanks!

[fxtom.jones]

Thank you very much! He used to do it inside, but not as intensely and not anymore. We figured he was doing it for attention, so when he'd start we'd all leave the room. Unfortunately, thats not really an option outside. It usually isn't until the second half of the walk, but it's happened in the first half as well, sometimes as soon as we get outside, sometimes later. He's very curious about people and other dogs, but he doesn't do it around or to them. He only seems to do it to people he knows.

 

It gets significantly worse if you try to hold onto him to get him to stop biting. In fact, interacting with him in any way just seems to encourage him. The problem is, he's a very large dog and sometimes waiting for him to get bored and stop isn't really an option. He isn't even biting that hard, but he jumps (like a foot in the air) and nips and doesn't let go while he falls. Sometimes, I've been able to ignore him until he got bored or distract him with a big stick to play with or something, but sometimes he just won't stop.

 

LMK if you need any more details.

[Adrienne Farricelli]

Thank you for the additional details, they are very helpful!

I hear you about not being able to ignore the behavior, also considering that, if the jumping is due to attention, that day we decide to not give it any longer, this may trigger a phenomenon known as an "extinction burst." In other words, the dog will try to increase the behavior in hopes of getting attention which mean jumping and biting with more intensity, which as you observed, it is difficult to ignore the behavior when on leash.

 

Your case brings me back to a shelter dog I fostered many years ago (who was at high risk of euthanasia) when I first gained an interest in training. I remember asking for a challenging dog and they happily assigned her to me. Her problem? The ingrained habit of jumping up like a kangaroo and biting latching on your arms like a crocodile. In her case, since she was never walked on a leash and therefore was used to chasing animals and doing all she wanted, restrain from the leash caused her deep frustration. So upon spotting people or other dogs and unable to reach them, she would redirect on me and this led to countless black and blues and scratches. Fortunately, with time, patience and consistency she got much better, but it wasn't an easy ordeal due to off-leash dogs and un-collaborative people (they would pet her while she was jumping despite my instructions not to).

 

In your case, it does sound like play behavior, also considering that this behavior seems to have made a comeback with the cooler weather as many dog owners notice surges in the energy levels in their dogs as the weather cools down. I remember my husband and I remarking several times in the summer how our dogs were slowing down due to aging, only to see them "come back to life" when fall weather was around corner.

 

Other causes of dogs jumping up and biting on walks may be due to frustration (such as barrier frustration when dogs are restrained by a leash and unable to go greet other dogs and people or frustration because they want to go sniff or chase birds or they do not want the walk to end) and anxiety and over stimulation (this latter can cause puppies to get cranky and misbehave when tired). These behaviors in general tend to occur upon the dog spotting dogs or people, things the dogs fears etc, but may also occur in the middle/end portions of the walk due to cumulative effects of over stimulation.

 

So what are some things we can do to work on this issue? As with tackling other behaviors, a multi-faceted approach is ideal so that we can approach this exuberance from a variety of angles.

 

-First and foremost, avoid punishment-based techniques such as yanking on the leash, grabbing, pushing your dog or grabbing him by the snout. These methods may potentially turn play, attention seeking behavior or excitement into defensive aggression.

-Drain your dog's energy. Consider that often, dogs who are left at home for too long due to owners working extended hours or inclement weather may develop pent-up energy. This excessive energy must go somewhere and therefore may lead to high arousal levels that may trigger dogs to act particularly boisterous. In particular, herding breeds and dogs selectively bred to work on vast acreage may need space to run. Just as with horses, it helps to have dogs run and play in a yard/corral after taking them out of the home/stables prior to walking them/riding them.

-Provide your dog with more mental stimulation when at home. Give him some puzzle toys or a frozen Kong. Invest in snuffles mats, Kong Wobblers, and engage him in a variety of brain games. Also, put his nose to work which can be quite a tiring activity. For meal times, organize fun treasure hunts. For example, when he's outside going potty in the yard, surprise him when he returns inside by preparing a treasure hunt game (scatter treats or his kibble in a variety and places) and telling him to go find them. Resource: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/brain-training/elementary/the-treasure-hunt/

-Consider that your dog is in peak adolescent stage, a time when challenges are often encountered. Resource: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/survive-dogs-adolescent-stage/

-Avoid encouraging highly arousing wrestling games or roughhousing involving mouth contact with people's clothing or skin. Use toys as an outlet for grabbing.

-Implement dog impulse control exercises. These exercises teach dogs how to cope with their frustration allowing greater tolerance levels. Resource: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/impulse-control-frustration-tolerance/

-Learn how to read your dog's body language so that you can readily recognize physical cues suggesting your dog is escalating up his arousal ladder. Perhaps you notice a certain look on your dog's face or he may twitch his ears. Knowledge is power considering that, once you recognize these cues, you may be able to redirect your dog to another activity before he has a chance of rehearsing the troublesome behavior.

-Prevent rehearsal of the problem behavior as much as possible. The more your dog rehearses the behavior, the more it puts roots considering that it gains a strong reinforcement history.

-On walks, try to redirect him before he has the opportunity to engage in the problematic behavior. One way to redirect is by offering a tug toy you have kept in your pocket. Prior to this though, get your dog to learn to really enjoy playing tug at home. Train him to "take" and "drop it" on cue. Afterward, practice playing with the tug toy in the yard. Then, try getting your dog to play with it in the yard every time a dog or person passes by. Finally, practice using it on walks upon seeing his triggers at a distance. Playing with the tug toy, in this case, provides your dog a controlled outlet that doesn't involve jumping or biting. If your dog doesn't seem interested in a regular tug toy, try using one made with rabbit fur (Etsy sells a variety and many dogs find these irresistible). Always put the tug toy away, out of the dog's reach once done using it so to keep your dog's interest for the toy alive.

-Alternatively, you can try to redirect to a flirt pole that you bring along on walks. I like to attach mine around my waist. A flirt pole is like one of those cat toys with a toy attached to a string. The canine version is a sort of pole with a fluffy toy attached.

-Start a treasure hunt game on walks. Upon noting your dog starting to get revved up, say something like "find them!" as you scatter a bunch of treats/kibble on the ground so to let your dog focus on searching on the ground rather than jumping upwards and biting you. This strategy can help de-escalate over aroused dogs quite effectively as sniffing in search of treats requires quite some concentration.

-At some point, we can try to wean the use of bringing toys along and start incorporating some training such as training a dog to heel for several steps or hand targeting rewarding the dog by tossing a treat to add a fun component.

Resources: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/brain-training/preschool/targeting/

https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/brain-training/obedience-101/heeling-attention-heeling/

- Wear old thick clothing to protect your skin and new clothes from being destroyed.

-Vary the walks so that your dog doesn't get bored in hopes that he finds the change of scenery more interesting than using you as his form of entertainment.

 

These are just a few ideas. With time, if we drain our dog's energy, provide more mental stimulation and make engaging in an alternate behavior super rewarding, we should notice the dog engaging in these behaviors more and more and the jumping up and biting less and less until it is finally outranked. If we still encounter problems despite implementing these changes, we must do some troubleshooting and find out why the dog still prefers to jump up. Let me know how it goes!

Best,

Adrienne

Edited November 10, 2019 by Adrienne Farricelli

[fxtom.jones]

Thank you so much! I'm really excited to try these out.

[Adrienne Farricelli]

You are very welcome, keep us posted on how it goes!