Aggression toward other dogs

[FrancesPlaten]

Hi Adrienne, so far I have loved your program and learned much from it although I am an experienced dog trainer. I have, however, a situation that I have not had to deal with before because I have mainly only trained from puppy school up and, as you know, socialising is one of the first stages.     I have adopted a 7 yr old English Staffi called Shadow.  I have very little information about her previous life so not sure whether her behaviour is natural to her or a defence mechanism  triggered by previous experience.  I can see the value of the desensitising process but, at this time, do not have much opportunity to practice it.  We live in Victoria in Australia where we have serious social distancing at present.  I have been trialing a head stall  when out where we might encounter other dogs but we live in a very small community where everyone already knows of Shadow's aggression so stay a long way away from us. I don't blame them really, she is very fast and , even though on a tight lead, has almost managed to bite one of the most gentle natured dogs I know.  She really does not like the head stall so I believe it might act as a deterent for her if we get the chance to test it out.  Shadow is super friendly with people but I am afraid to let her near any children as I cannot yet determine what triggers this aggression, although, so far, it only seems to apply to other dogs.  I am not yet certain but suspect the aggression applies mainly to other female dogs but have not been able to expose her to enough numbers to be sure.  I have spent quite a lot of time browsing through the course but have not found anything I can use for this that does not involve exposure to other dogs.  I may be missing something and would really appreciate your guidance on this.  Thank you,  Regards Fran

[JMFS]

Hi Fran,

I sometimes watch aggression modification videos and in the most severe, or uncertain, cases they use a "stand in" dog.  It's a stuffed animal that they use at a distance.  Throwing that out there as an idea.  What about barriers?  Windows / gates.  Is there a place you could work with those for the protection of other dogs and to give Shadow a fair chance to acclimate to their presence?  Adrienne can weigh in on this one - maybe items scented with other dogs?  Without knowing her specific trigger and coupling that with dogs' sense of smell I'll put that one up for discussion, too.  Sounds of other dogs?  I'm trying to think of anything that may be useful.

As the companion of a grouchy pup (his is food-related) I understand well the nerves and stress involved with taking on this personality.  The best advice I can give is patience and determination.  You'll have set backs, oooooh, curse those set backs!  We had one, so very minor but a set back nonetheless, when it was pouring rain a couple months ago and I had to feed the medium dogs inside (Momo usually gets fed outside).  Mo did not mind his manners and air nipped towards Gertie (he was a foot away) while I was preparing their food.  I guess he didn't like her being closer to me than he was.  Please don't be discouraged by steps back you may experience - it Does get better!  It seems to me each stumble seemed to reinforce the training, though, because our communication is better and we know how to get back on solid ground faster now.  I reinforce the training daily and every time I think we've made it to our best possible "agreement," he surprises me by calming a little bit more while I'm around his food.  No way will I reach for his toys just yet without a solid, "leave," "back," and trade for something more valuable, but maybe one day we'll get there.  We just have to go at their pace.

[Adrienne]

Hello Frances,

Welcome to the forums,

The fact other people keep distance with their dogs is a good thing considering that, usually when we have reactive dogs we struggle with the opposite problem: too many dog owners letting their dogs come too close to ours with the excuse "my dog is friendly!"  How is your dog doing with such distances? Have you found so far a distance from which she is less likely to react? Are you having difficulty in keeping Shadow under threshold?

From what I understand, you would like to work on behavior modification but in a way that your dog is not over threshold? If so, we can work on this on many levels and Jennifer has pointed several out. We call the "stand dog" a stimulus dog, and we use it to start behavior modification as a beginning point for complex cases or for evaluations. There is a bit of controversy to their use, but I think they can provide a good starting point. I used to have one big stuffed Rottweiler stimulus dog I exposed reactive dogs to before introducing them to my Rotties from a distance.  

If you have dogs passing by your home that your dog can see from a window or screen door, you can also practice "look at that"as outlined here:  https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/brain-training/university/look-at-that/

If you have some visual barriers you can use, you can also try open/bar closed/bar. I have used parked cars to my advantage for reactive dogs in doing this exercise. Here's a read on this method: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/open-bar-closed-bar/

On top of desensitization, which aims to present triggers in less intimidating forms, for reactive dogs it's important to also add counterconditioning, which aims to create positive associations. Same goes for getting your dog used to the head halter, if that is what you are planning to use (and your dog doesn't seem to struggle too much with). Baby steps to get her used to wearing it, while also creating positive associations, to the point of obtaining a positive conditioned emotional response. The process is similar to conditioning a dog to wear a muzzle:

https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/video-archive/train-your-dog-to-wear-a-muzzle/

Here is a case study on a reactive dog that uses desensitization and counterconditioning with Look at That. 

https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/case-studies/03-homer-homers-reactivity/

Very important to to keep the dog as under threshold as possible. The more we allow a dog to rehearse a problem behavior, the more likely it is put roots and become entrenched. On top of this, we allow stress hormones to circulate through the body which can lead to dogs being more on edge. In some severe cases, dogs may not be taken on walks until the dog is more relaxed (e.g. cortisol vacation by Leslie McDevitt) ad then a solid response is obtained in the home through small, minimally stressful exposures.  

If you have a dog trainer friend who has a dog who is calm, knows how to give out the right calming signals and is resilient to any possible threatening body language your dog emits, you can also organize very systematic set-ups in an organized setting. 

I hope this helps, 

Please let me know if you have any other questions,

Best,

Adrienne

Disclaimer: behavior modification comes with risks. If your dog is aggressive, please use caution and consult with a dog behavior professional for in-person coaching, safety and correct implementation.