Behavioural issues with guests

[AndreaHoutby]

 

I have been working your on line program for a few weeks and we have had great success with basic skills.  The biggest issue we are experiencing at this time is what appears to be some guarding behaviour.

Our puppy is a 8 month old French Bulldog, female, spayed.  We don't know a lot about her history before she came to us.  We got her at approximately 5 months old. When we have guests over she doesn’t allow them to move around the house, she will aggressively nip at their feet and block their path.  Also when she is calm enough that I allow her to say hello to someone and they are petting her, as soon as they stop and move their hands away she will again try to lunge at their hands.

 It’s as if she become hyper focused on the person in the house.  If I can I have been moving through training skills with her when the guests arrive, once she is focused on me and calm I will allow her to say hello.

I keep her on a training lead with guests in the house and this prevents her from being able to actually nip or bite.

She will calm down and even fall asleep with guests over but as soon as they attempted to move or get up to leave, the guarding starts.  She seems to like other people but will only tolerate so much attention from them, I ask guests to simple pet her and say hello then ignore her, but I want to ensure by doing this I’m not making the issue worse.  I use lots of treats and praise when she says hello and then comes back to me when I ask her too.

When we take her to other peoples homes, she has displayed the same behaviour but not to the same extent.  

When we take her out for walks she doesn't react at all to other people or animals, I step off to the side and make her sit down while people walk by and when they are comfortable she is able to meet other dogs without issue.

Thank you for any insight into this behaviour.

Andrea Houtby

[Adrienne]

Hi there,

Welcome to the forums,

With her behavior, it would be important first of all to not allow rehearsal of the problematic behavior considering that, the more a dog rehearses the behavior, the more it puts roots. This is mostly done through management. In this case, it would therefore be important to prevent her from trying to control the movement of guests around the house and nipping at their feet and blocking their path. We have a couple of options here. One would be to erect a baby gate so she is separated from the guests, another would be enclosing her in a crate or exercise pen. 

 

Also, we should not have guests petting her until she is more comfortable around them. This is both to prevent rehearsal, but also to keep your guests safe. 

If we want to tackle this behavior directly rather than strictly managing it, we would need to employ behavior modification. This is different from training and focuses on changing the dog's emotional responses towards specific triggers or situations. 

 

For behavior modification to work, we first need to become familiar with how it works, how to prevent setbacks and how to put up a plan so to do it safely, minimizing the occurrences for incidents. For safety and correct implementation, therefore, owners of dogs who display potentially aggressive behaviors (lunging, barking, growling, nipping) should seek out the help of a dog behavior professional for an in-person assessment and guidance.

Here are some helpful reads to better understand behavior modification, how it works and to better understand why it's important to do so correctly. 

When dog are uncomfortable towards certain stimuli and/or situations, the goal is to present them in forms that are perceived as less threatening and intimidating. For example, your dog could be kept at a distance from guests (a distance where she feels more comfortable)  where she can watch them move a little, then get up briefly at first, then a little more, and then move around, then move around more and more and then get up, move around and leave etc. When we present stimuli in gradual, less threatening forms, the process is known as desensitization. You can read more about desensitization here: 

https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/desensitization/

Along with presenting stimuli and situations in less threatening/less intense forms, we should also aim to create positive associations. So in this case, every time guests move around from a distance, we would start feeding high value treats. Once guests are stationary, no more treats. The process of creating positive associations is known as counterconditioning. You can read more about counterconditioning here: 

https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/counterconditioning/

Here is an example of a counterconditioning based protocol known as open/bar closed/bar:

https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/open-bar-closed-bar/

Now, when using desensitization and counterconditioning, we need to do in controlled settings where we have control over what the guests do while always being observant, constantly scanning the dog for signs of stress. In other words, we want to keep our dog under the threshold. This takes some level of expertise and a good eye so that we are able to recognize the most subtle signs of stress in our dogs and intervene swiftly upon noticing them, modifying the plan so that the dog is once again comfortable and set for success. You can read here more about threshold levels in dogs: 

https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/threshold-levels/

Here is an example of behavior modification protocol I used with a dog who was uncomfortable around guests, (the concepts are similar regardless if the dog is uncomfortable with people entering or exiting the home or moving around, the aim after all is to present stimuli/situations under threshold and work on creating positive associations)

https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/dog-barking-someone-enters-room/

 

Once the dog is more comfortable with guests moving, walking around, exiting, at the behavior consultants' discretion (he or she will decide- if feasible- when the work can progress to getting the dog more comfortable in situation involving touch) similar behavior modification protocols may be instituted to create positive associations with hands.

 

 Now, due to the higher risks involved here due to closeness, and being that every animal is an individual, and there are several factors to consider (dog size, level of bite inhibition, whether the dog gives warnings prior to biting, how the dog does with different people etc), the behavior professional may decide  whether it would be best to 1) bypass petting altogether (some dogs may never be totally comfortable/reliable being pet ), limit the amount of petting (you instruct your guests to limit petting to just one stroke or two (many dogs do best with briefer petting with guests -keeping it short and sweet) or getting the dog used to longer petting sessions (there may be risk factors involved here though- there are never guarantees the dog may continue to like/tolerate that or may react differently based on the person petting, what if it's a child? the risks at stake may be too high based on certain dogs).

 

Because behavior modification can be quite involved, it's not unreasonable for some dog owners to decide to just carefully manage their dogs rather than actively work on these issues directly. Of course, this varies based on owner's expectations ("I want my dog to be friendly or at least tolerate certain things"), the level of commitment to work on the issue (requires time, patience, close monitoring and money when working with a behavior professional) the amount of visitors stopping by (if you have just a couple of visitors every month, it's easier to simply keep your dog away from visitors than if you have visitors every day), the risks involved (small dog, dog with good bite inhibition, versus larger dog, dog with little bite inhibition), the ability to manage situations carefully (can the dog always be safely confined? how secure is the confinement? are there kids/spouses/family members that may forget a gate open? can the dog be trained to respond quickly to a sit/stay, down/stay should he escape a barrier?) and several other factors. 

 

As seen, there are several variables to factor in and we must also account safety above all (muzzling is also an option, but we would need to look for muzzles that are safe to use in brachycephalic dog breeds- such as French bulldogs-, and we would still need to avoid putting the dog in situations that may prove stressful) so careful consideration is needed. 

 

I hope this helps, 

Let me know if you have any other questions,

Best,

Adrienne 

 

Disclaimer: behavior modification comes with risks. If your dog shows signs of potential aggression (lunging, barking, growling, snapping) for safety and correct implementation of behavior modification, please consult with a dog behavior professional who uses force-free behavior modification techniques.