When dealing with dog-to-dog aggression, it is important to listen to our dog.
There are many reasons why a dog may act aggressively toward another.
- He may be afraid.
- He may be stressed because his space is being violated.
- He may feel the need to dominate.
- He may be protective of us.
- He may be very curious.
- He may just be over-excited.
Sometimes, what we perceive to be aggression may be the result of hyper energy, eagerness, or natural inquisitiveness. Therefore, in dog-to-dog aggression cases, it is important to understand what our dog is feeling, and what he is trying to say.
When my dog meets a new dog, I observe both of them carefully. As soon as my dog starts to get stressed, I step in and interrupt before the situation escalates.
For dog aggression issues, it is best to take a dog’s age, health, temperament, and preferences into account, while coming up with appropriate solutions.
1. Be Calm and Decisive
Dogs are very sensitive to what their human is feeling. My dog picks up on my emotions and reflects them, except with much more intensity. Sometimes, I am not even conscious of feeling nervous or stressed, but my dog notices it and starts to act up. Once I consciously calm myself down, his behavior also improves.
A common mistake when meeting other dogs is to tense up, and get fearful of what our dog may do. If we are afraid, our dog will pick up on that fearful energy, and that will likely trigger an aggressive reaction.
Be careful not to put undue or continuous tension on the leash. Also, do not pull the dog straight back, as that will likely cause a lunge forward response. To remove my dog, I pull him to the side and quickly walk him past the other dog.
2. Teach Our Dog Avoidance
When I see another dog, I usually just ignore him and move along.
I have found that avoidance is most effective when I avert my eyes from both dog, as well as owner. I keep my eyes forward, and keep walking at a natural pace. In this way, my dog learns that when we see other dogs, we avoid rather than confront.
Be careful not to crowd our dog while walking. If he feels trapped between us and the other dog, he may think he has no choice but to react aggressively. Do not stand still while trying to tug our dog away. Move away, and he will come along with us. At the same time, we are creating space so that he will not feel trapped.
I do not let my dog obsess or stare intensely at other dogs. Sometimes, my Shiba Inu will drop into a stalking-down-position, stare, and wait for the other dog to pass. Some people think that he is such a good boy for doing a Down, when other dogs are coming toward him, but he is actually just waiting to pounce.
Do not allow this bad behavior, do not let our dog practice it, do not even let him think about it. Just move him along, and ignore. If the other dog is somehow blocking us (e.g. if the owner is unable to control his dog), then walk away in a different direction. Do not stare the other dog down and do not confront him, either through posture or by physically engaging him.
Challenging unknown dogs is a good way to get bitten.
3. Create Space or Block the Other Dog
We can do this by moving across the road or into a driveway, and waiting for the other dog to pass.
We may also move our dog behind a barrier, for example a car. If there are no barriers available, we can try blocking the dog’s view with our body.
By doing this, we avoid a head-on, more confrontational passing.
I have tried all of these blocking techniques, but what works best for me is to create space, and quickly move past the other dog. Whenever I wait for the other dog to pass, my Shiba uses that time to start obsessing.
Dog treats and trying to get his attention do not work at this point, because the other dog is too close, and Shiba Sephy is no longer listening. The advantage of walking Sephy briskly past the other dog, is that he has less time to stare. In addition, he cannot fully obsess, because he must partly focus on walking.
However, using barriers and blocking may work better for a fearful dog.
Some trainers suggest turning and walking away when we see another dog, rather than passing him or waiting for him to pass.
There are two problems with this method:
- If we turn away, the other dog will be following us. This may cause some dogs to keep looking back, to make sure that the follower is not a threat. I have tried this, and indeed my Shiba keeps looking back.
- If we keep turning away, we may meet other dogs and get boxed in; especially if there are many dogs in our neighborhood.
4. Create Neutral Experiences
I try to create as many neutral dog-to-dog meeting experiences as possible. If every time my dog sees another dog, we just pass by and nothing interesting happens, it will become a non-event.
Being consistent with neutral greetings will build our dog’s confidence. Through repetition, we are teaching him how to behave (just avoid and move along), and how not to behave (get over-excited, frustrated, lunge, and pull). He will be more calm because he is not waiting in anticipation of a highly charged encounter, either for play or for confrontation.
I try to set my dog up for success, and do not let him practice aggressive behaviors when meeting other dogs. The more he practices, the more aggressive he will be.
If my dog becomes agitated during a walk, I try to end the outing as soon as possible. Once in this mode, his adrenaline levels will be high for a fair duration, and he will likely react aggressively to all the dogs that we meet. In this state, he will no longer be capable of learning, and will only be practicing dog aggressive behaviors.
5. Protect our Dog
I usually keep my dog away from people and dogs with weak energy (e.g. fearful, excited, or frustrated energy). In addition, I also try to keep other dogs and owners from coming into my dog’s space. I say a quick ‘hi’ to the people I meet, and move on.
If people with weak energy stop and want to meet my dog, I ask them nicely to please move on, because my dog is easily excitable.
It is fine and good to let a dog meet people with calm energy, but make sure to let them know how to best meet our dog. In particular, turn away when he jumps, no quick movements, and no petting from above.
6. Keep Greetings Short and Sweet
While greeting another dog, we want to positively interrupt our dog every so often, and get him to refocus on us. Do this as many times as necessary, so that our dog does not get over-excited, and lose control of himself.
Whenever my dog is meeting a new dog, I interrupt him after a very short duration (2-3 seconds). I quickly move or jog away from the other dog, while giving the positive interrupt command, e.g. Hey, hey. Initially, I may have to lightly tug at my dog while moving away. I make sure to treat him well for moving toward me on a loose leash.
If our dog is too obsessed to move away and is strongly standing his ground, then we have waited too long to initiate the interrupt. Positive interrupts are also useful for dealing with human greetings, and getting our dog away from a dirty or unsuitable area.
The key to successful positive interrupts is to catch a dog early, before he starts to obsess on another dog or object.
7. Be Aware of Aggressive Triggers
Some dogs, for example Spitz-type dogs, have a natural look that may appear dominant (ears up, hair out, tail up). This dominant look may instigate other dogs to respond in kind, and start posturing as well. Conflicts may occur, and if neither dog is willing to back down, this may lead to a dog fight.
If I am unsure about a dog greeting, I just move on. Better to be safe than sorry.
8. Desensitize our Dog to Other Dogs
The problem with dog-to-dog aggression issues, is that in regular situations the “other dog” stimulus is too strong, and environment is too unstructured for any learning to occur. Often, our dog overloads quickly and becomes reactive, because the other dog is too close, is staring, is hyper, or is charging toward us.
In the desensitization process, we do training in a quiet, enclosed environment, and start with a very weak version of the problem stimulus. In terms of reactivity toward other dogs, we can use distance to weaken its effect.
In this way, we also weaken the strength of our dog’s reaction, so that he will be calm enough to listen and learn. This is necessary, to create opportunities where we can begin to teach our dog to be calm and relaxed, while in the presence of another dog.
I did quite a lot of dog-to-dog desensitization sessions with Sephy, when he was young, at our local SPCA. The trainers there had many balanced, friendly dogs, that we could do training with.
First, the trainer would engage the other dog in training exercises, so that he stays in a fixed position, and is not focused on Sephy (i.e., no eye-contact). Both dogs are on-leash.
I take Sephy a far distance away, far enough away that he is still calm and able to listen to me. Then, I get his attention by calling his name. If he looks at me, I praise, and treat him for behaving well. Sometimes, I also ask him to do very simple commands, e.g. Sit.
I let Sephy sit and watch the other dog as long as he is calm, and willing to give me his attention when I ask for it. Once we are both comfortable with this, I move one step toward the other dog and repeat the Focus and Sit exercises above.
Do not move too close to the other dog, too quickly. If we move forward too fast, our dog may become reactive, and will no longer be able to give us his attention. At this point, I no-mark Sephy (uh-oh) and move back a few steps. Once we are far enough away, I try to get his attention again. When he gives it to me, I stop, praise, and treat.
Note – for desensitization to be successful, we want to keep our dog below his instinct threshold as much as possible.
I always try to make sessions short, fun, and rewarding. This helps our dog associate other dogs with being calm, and with positive experiences. I make sure to stop before my dog shows any obsessive behavior, and long before he becomes aggressive. Once a dog becomes reactive or aggressive, it is usually best to end the session soon after.
As we make progress, we can slowly increase the strength of the problem stimulus. For example, we may allow the target dog to start moving around, or we may allow him to play with his handler.
The desensitization process can be long and difficult. Dogs with lower instinct thresholds (the point at which they lose control and switch to instinct) will be harder to desensitize. However, consistent practice will also help to raise this threshold.
What to Expect from Dog-to-Dog Aggression Training
Do not expect too much, too quickly, from our dog. Make sure to treat and praise him very well, if he voluntarily engages in avoidance maneuvers, when there are other dogs around. This includes looking away from the direction of the other dog, smelling and exploring the environment, or looking at us for direction.
Initially, treat and praise even small avoidance moves, for example looking away for just 1 second. If a dog will not accept treats from us, then he is too far gone and it is best to lead him away. Treats are only effective for shaping behavior when our dog is still thinking, and not operating on instinct.
If we keep practicing desensitization exercises, and teach our dog how to behave with other dogs, he will improve. As he matures, he will become more confident, be less dog aggressive, and be more comfortable around new experiences.
For aggression issues between two family dogs, here is more on how I help my dogs get along.
Hello shibashake,
i seem to be having problems whenever i walk my two shibas and i was wondering if you have any advice for training them…
Whenever i walk them they always fight when a person or dog comes into veiw. They dont try to attack the people or dog, its just like they see something and they just start fighting. Having this problem makes it vary difficult because i have to walk the dogs to get them to pee but then theres always complications.
Hello Kay,
For now, it may be best to walk your dogs separately. This will give you better control and simplify initial training.
Dogs usually get excited when meeting new dogs or new people. This makes then want to go towards the new dog or person. When they can’t, they may get frustrated and redirect that energy onto the leash, or onto another nearby dog.
What worked well on my Shiba is to create as many neutral experiences as possible using the techniques I described above. Because nothing happens when new dogs or people are about, he learns to be more calm, and to just move on.
At the same time you can also work on dog-to-people desensitization exercises and then dog-to-dog desensitization exercises (Step 8 above).
Once they get more calm around people and dogs, you can put them together again and see how they behave.
We have a 10 month old shiba inu mix. She is very hyper and and excited dog. She pulls on the leash when we give her walks and always barks and growls when there are people or another dog nearby. She also will not go outside when we tell her to we have to physically pick her up and put her outside everyday. And when we do this she growls and bites. We do not know how to help her become a well balanced dog, we have seeked training at a retail store but it did not work. Any suggestions??
Yeah Shibas are usually stubborn, feisty dogs. What worked best for my Shiba is to teach him that all his resources come from me and if he wants anything – food, toys, going outside, going for walks – he first has to do what I want first.
Re: leash pulling – The technique that worked best for my Shiba is to turn around and walk in the opposite direction. Once I started doing that, he quickly learned that the best way to get where he wanted is not to pull. You have to be very consistent with it though – especially in the beginning. So you might not get very far in your walks. But that is ok because Shiba will be learning a lot and exercising her mind.
Re: putting her outside – Persuasion usually works a lot better on my Shiba. He is happy to go outside when there is food, toys, or games to be had. I also leave a very short drag lead on my Shiba (only with a flat collar) so that I can more easily control him when I need to.
It is generally not a good idea to pick her up and put her outside because then she will start to associate picking her up with something negative and being outside as also something negative.
How you deal with this issue would also depend somewhat on why you are putting her outside. To stop begging during dinner? She makes too much noise? Chews furniture?
Here are some techniques that helped me a lot when my Shiba was a puppy –
http://shibashake.com/dog/puppy-obedience-training
Hi!
I had emailed you recently about the Siberian I adopted and I really appreciate the tips. The leash training techniques have been working great :). But she is very on edge whenever she sees other dogs or animals like cats or squirrels,I can see that she instantly tenses up and points straight in their direction. If other dogs get too close she will automatically either growl, bark or even nip at them. Which is the complete opposite of when she is in the house, she is so well behaved it is unbelievable.
Another question I have is that since we just got her yesterday, I think she misses her old home a lot which I figured would be the case. Since she came from a very loving home, but they just couldn’t keep her anymore. As I said before she is extremely well behaved indoors, but it is kind of hard to get her attention and she seems bored a lot while we are inside. I was wondering if you have any suggestions for this? Maybe some games or techniques that might grab her attention.
Thanks 🙂
Hello Ricardo,
My Siberian also has very high prey drive so she gets really obsessed with cats and squirrels. Whenever I see such things, I will try and get her attention. If she gives it to me, she gets rewarded, and she gets to stay and watch – as long as she gives me her attention when I ask for it. If she is too obsessed, I move her farther away from the trigger object and try again. If she is just too amped up, we leave the area.
For dog-to-dog aggression, the techniques above helped with my reactive Shiba Inu. For now, you want to make seeing dogs be a neutral experience (i.e. nothing happens) so that she doesn’t always wait in anticipation for an explosive greeting. For now, it may be best not to let her meet and greet random dogs.
At the same time, you want to try and desensitize her to other dogs in a controlled environment. Get a friend with a calm dog to help you with desensitization exercises.
Note though that dog-to-dog reactivity training can be a lot of work and can take a long time. The important first step is to just get her to ignore other dogs.
As for getting her attention and forming a bond – that will take time. I would just leave her be for a bit, and let her come to you rather than the other way around. Make sure she gets rewarded well when she comes to you and chooses to interact with you on her own. She will come around once she has some time to adapt to the big changes in her life.
She sounds like a real sweetie and I am glad she found a great new home 🙂
Hi Shiba,
So it has been a full week so we adopted our new Siberian Sasha. I feel like she has finally relaxed and started to enjoy her new home. We have been able to minimize her pulling which I am very surprised with, I thought that it would take longer. Her Dog aggression is still there but we are slowly working on that.
But the thing that worries me the most is that she is SO lazy, it is unbelievable. She will not work for anything and only gives you her attention when she wants. It is next to impossible to get her attention, she barely responds to her name or when we try to call her. Especially when we are outside, she has the worst case of selective hearing. Which leads me to believe that she was VERY spoiled in her old home and got whatever she wanted when SHE wanted.
Any ideas on how to break this habit? Squeak toys are the one thing that grab her attention, but they don’t work when we are outside. She also barely takes treats while we are outside and try to reward her for good behavior.
Any suggestions?
Thanks
Glad to hear that things are going so well!
lol – sounds like my Shiba. He is also not very food motivated. But he truly loves his freedom to explore, and he really likes new things. Therefore, I make him work for those things that he likes best.
There are also certain foods that he likes more than others, and that can motivate him to work as well – especially when he is hungry.
When I need him to do something(e.g. teeth brushing), I make sure he is more on the hungry side, then I bring out one of his favorite foods and he is usually very willing to work in those times.
You have only had Sasha for a week, and already you have done so much. It will take some time to build a bond and for her to start looking to you for direction. It will take some time to observe her and see what she likes best, then use those things to motivate her.
Siberians are an independent breed though, so they will always think for themselves – but with time and a good relationship, they will take what you have to say into account.
Here are some games I play with my dogs –
http://shibashake.com/dog/dog-play-fun-games-to-play-with-your-dog-or-puppy
My Sibe also has great fun playing with interactive food toys and she loves to dig 🙂
We have a three year old female shiba, Sophie. Today, we rescued another female shiba (age unknown). The new female is very aggressive toward Sophie and attacks her if she gets close. Sophie cowers and shakes when she just sees the new dog. I would like to overcome this aggressive behavior. Any suggestions? For now, we are keeping the two dogs apart. The new dog is very loving and gentle, except when she is around other dogs. Thanks.
Hi Karen,
The new dog probably sees Sophie as competition for resources – (your attention, food, etc.)
I would try to desensitize the new dog to the presence of Sophie so that she re-associates Sophie with something positive, rather than as competition.
Engage the new Shiba and be in the room with her (have her on leash and hold the leash to keep things safe. Just with a flat-collar.). Then have someone else bring in Sophie (also on leash).
As soon as Sophie enters the room, engage the new Shiba in doing commands and play and make sure to treat her well for staying calm and ignoring Sophie. Then have Sophie leave, and stop the food and attention.
This will help the new Shiba learn that when Sophie is around, good, positive things happen. If the new shiba obsesses on Sophie, and will not engage with you, then take Sophie away and, try bringing her in from farther away. Make sure Sophie has fun too during these exercises so that she becomes less fearful of the other Shiba.
As things improve, you can slowly (very slowly) bring Sophie closer and closer. If the new Shiba becomes reactive – then you have moved forward too quickly so just move Sophie back and repeat the exercise.
I think what you are doing with separating the dogs is already a good step because it reduces the number of aggressive episodes. By reducing the number of negative encounters and increasing the number of positive experiences, things can only improve.
Good luck and two big paws up to you for rescuing a Shiba.
I really enjoyed reading your tips and have been trying to apply them where I can. We’ve had a boxer/border collie mix that is the sweetest dog we could have ever asked for. He was adopted from the SPCA after being there for 6 months and is clearly well socialized. He never fights with any of the dogs at our local dog park which we take him there very often.
We recently adopted a shepard mix puppy so he would have a friend at the house. She couldn’t be more the opposite. At the park she seems to bark at everything, but usually plays pretty well. However, in the house, she is very aggresive to our resident dog. Jackson, our first dog is 1 1/2 years ago, full of energy and loves to play. The puppy was the first and only dog i’ve ever seen to get jackson riled up to the point of snarling and snapping.
We are trying to have the two play together at the park, and give them treats when they are being nice around each other. I know this is quite the story, but we’re really worried jackson and molly wont be able to play nice. Any situation specific tips?
Hi Myke,
Puppies can sometimes be too much on the more adult dog. When I got my Sibe puppy she just wanted to play all the time and kept bugging my other dog. She would pull on his legs, ears, etc.
Sometimes the other dog just needs some quiet time away from puppy. It is important to provide some quiet time for Jackson so that he can rest and do whatever he wants away from the puppy’s super energy. 🙂
Also, make sure that Molly understands her limits. If she is bugging Jackson too much, then non-mark her (ack-ack) and step in and stop her. Then make sure she gives Jackson some space for a certain period of time. Body block her if she approaches and get her to do something else. If she keeps going back then give her a short timeout. This will show Jackson that he does not need to discipline Molly, because that is your role.
Also, set aside some one-on-one play time in the house with just the two of them. Usually things are too busy at the park and it is difficult to observe what is happening. In the house, everything is controlled by you, and you can carefully observe what exactly is making Jackson uncomfortable. Is it just too much play? Biting too hard? Biting at a particular spot? etc.
Make sure that play doesn’t get too uncontrolled. When my dogs get too crazy, I step in and stop play briefly so that they can both calm down. During the break you can do obedience and reward them for it. Then once they are calm, they can get back to it.
They can play as long as they play nice. 🙂
Hope this helps. Let me know how it goes.
Thank you very much for your advice. I think it was finally starting to pay off. Molly seemed to have been trying to challenge Jackson, but after constant cage timeouts and sepeartion at each transgression, they seemed to be getting along. So well in fact, me and my fiance were watching a movie and looked down to see both of them sleeping together. They are still bickering over toys, but as far as being together they are tolerating each other very well.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hY9EKHAqUUI
I have bull mastiff mix, Sahara, and a mutt, Tuna. They have grown up since they were puppies together. There has never been an issue of Sahara showing agression towards me or my boyfriend, but she often (approx 1x per week lately) attacks Tuna. I can not see any precursers to her attacks and they are often quite agressive, leaving Tuna bloody and shook up. Tuna is nothing but a submissive dog who immediately rolls over and urinates when Sahara attacks. So far we’ve tried doing nothing – not scolding Sahara or coddling Tuna and tying Sahara up for a time out after wards. Even though we know Sahara knows what she has done is wrong as she hangs her head and walks to place we chain her, this does not seem to deter her from doing it again. What can we do?
Hello Angela,
It sounds quite serious, so it may be best to get a professional trainer who can observe them in real time, and identify the root of the issue.
In general you want to manage Sahara so that you reduce these aggressive episodes. The more she does it, the more it will become a habit, which you want to prevent at all costs. You want to set her up for success, and teach her alternate behaviors when the trigger event occurs (a trainer can help identify what the trigger event is).
For now, it may be best to keep them separated when they are not closely supervised.
You can also start to desensitize Sahara to Tuna. Engage Sahara and be in the room with her (have her on leash and hold the leash to keep things safe. Just with a flat-collar.). Then have your bf bring in Tuna (also on leash). As soon as Tuna enters the room, engage Sahara in doing commands and play and make sure to treat her well for staying calm and ignoring Tuna. Then have Tuna leave, and stop treating.
This will start in helping her re-associate Tuna with positive things. If Sahara obsesses on Tuna, and will not engage with you, then take Tuna out, and the next time, try bringing him in from farther away.
Try repeating this many times every day, while at the same time keeping them separated so that no negative encounters occur.
Let us know how things go.
Thanks for your help. We will definitely try this desensitizing exercise, although except during the actual attacks, the 2 are best friends – running around, kissing, sleeping, and playing together. However, Sahara can get quite jealous if you’re calling Tuna’s name or only petting Tuna – she always nudges her way between.
Sahara is also sometimes aggressive towards our gardener. She has never bit him or pushed him over, but she nips and jumps around him. To see it, you might think she was going to attack him, but she has never actually hurt him. He is scared of her and I think she senses that.
Again, thanks for your fast response and your guidance. We’re looking for a trainer to see if we can’t get this sorted.
Getting a ‘professional’ to observe is a good idea, but finding a good dog professional is every bit as hard as finding a good plumber, a good lawyer, a good painter, etc.
It’s very catch-22-like, in that if you are good at spotting a qualified dog trainer then you probably don’t Need one. The universe has a weird sense of humor.
If you could post a video of the behavior it would be most helpful. Short of that, in what you wrote you said 3 things that are possible clues: you chain Sahara, he nudges between you and Tuna, and you do nothing to correct the behaviors. The chaining makes me think Sahara gets insufficient exercise, building up frustrated energy seeking an outlet. The nudging in between is a dominant behavior, as is the nipping of the gardener, and your failure to correct these behaviors just reinforces in the dog’s mind that the pack is His to lead.
The dogs know each other well and for a long time, so the desensitization advice makes no sense to me (sorry Shibashake). Sahara is asserting himself over Tuna when he nudges, and with the gardener, because you are not taking that role. You must get the dogs to think of themselves as team members, with you as the coach, not Separate them but Unite them. Separating them just creates two competing packs. You want One pack, with you as the leader.
Asserting your leadership role is a life-long job. Cesar Millan’s Dog Whisperer show has lots of useful examples of specifics. He always says to begin each day by taking them both for a long disciplined walk, together, with you in the lead. It gives them needed exercise both physically, and if done right, mentally. When Sahara nudges between you and Tuna, correct it immediately. MUse feeding time to again assert your leadership role. When Sahara tries to dominate the gardener, correct it — pretend the gardener is a baby, not a grown adult, and act to protect it, not leave it to defend itself. Give the gardener some treats to give to the dog and help the gardener become another pack leader himself — all the humans need to be seen as top dogs, not just you.
Buy one of Cesar’s books, or even his new magazine, for much more helpful information. He’s an Expert on misbehavior in dogs and the training of their owners. If you decide to use a professional, asking what he/she thinks of Cesar is an excellent predictor of how much the person will be able to help you.
Thanks for your comment. Having the gardener spend time with Sahara using treats and commands is definitely a great idea. As far as chaining and exercise – Sahara is only chained after she attacks Tuna and only for 30 minutes. She hates being chained even for this short time as she cries and moans but she definitely associates it with her attacks on Tuna because she walks to the chain after she’s attacked Tuna without being dragged. I think she could get more exercise from walks which she currently is only getting 1-2 times a week but they do have a half acre yard that they run around in. My goal from now is to walk them everyday.
You’re right about finding a trainer as well, especially as we live in Uganda and most we have found are training guard dogs not managing behavior problems which would be the opposite thing we need for Sahara.
What is the best way to correct Sahara when she nudges between us and Tuna? Or nips at the gardener? We often say no or ah ah. Sometimes my boyfriend flicks her on the nose which from what I’ve read is not useful in correcting this behavior.
All bad behavior when spotted is repremanded vocally which Sahara responds to, but it does not seem to deter her from doing it in the future.
We will try to get some of this on video, but it’s very sporadic and usually completely unexpected by us.
Thanks again for all your help.
There are generally two schools of dog training – aversive training and reward training. I started with aversive training (collar corrections, alpha rolls, flick on muzzle, etc.) and it did not work out well for my Shiba Inu. After I switched to reward training, things got a lot better.
Here is an article about the pros-and-cons of the two types of training –
http://shibashake.com/dog/dog-obedience-training-good-and-bad
Also, there are many people who disagree with some of Cesar Millan’s dog training methods. Here is an article from the American Humane Association about Cesar Millan’s dog training –
http://beyondcesarmillan.weebly.com/aha-american-humane-assoc.html
Here are some of my articles about Cesar Millan –
http://shibashake.com/cesar-millan-the-dog-whisperer
There often are many disagreements between people who support reward training vs. aversive training. When it comes to dog training, everyone seems to be an expert and will tell you what is the ‘right’ way to bring up your dog. 🙂 It is best to go through the information and decide which most suits your dogs’ temperament and what you want from your human-dog relationship.
Personally, I think that physically correcting Sahara would be a bad idea. Desensitization is a better way to go because you will be teaching her to view Tuna as something positive rather than someone who competes for your attention. You are not desensitizing Sahara to Tuna, but rather to the ‘trigger event’ – i.e. the event that causes the aggression. Just as having the gardener give treats to Sahara creates a positive association, you want to create the same positive association for Sahara and Tuna for the ‘trigger’ event – which could be competition for resources (e.g. food, attention, etc.).
In terms of the nudging, I would verbally correct, and then body block her away. She has to stay away from you for a while. Then let her come back in -and just repeat. If she escalates, I would put her in time-out. But if she comes back and does not nudge, then make sure to praise her and reward her for her good behavior. Usually it is best if time-out is in a boring room, e.g. laundry room so that there is no visual stimulus to get her more excited.
In general you want to interrupt and stop Sahara before she escalates into a fight. The less she practices fighting, the less likely she will do it in the future. That is why it is important to identify what the trigger event is so that you can interrupt before things escalate.
If it is indeed competition for your affection which is the trigger event, then you can do desensitization exercises based on that. For example, start by having Sahara on a leash and have you bf hold her a distance away. Then you can give attention to Tuna. At the same time have your bf engage Sahara and treat her for being calm and not showing any aggression wrt. you giving attention to Tuna. If Sahara is acting very well, then your bf can slowly move her towards you and Tuna. If she starts to show signs of aggression, then non-mark and move her away. This teaches her that being calm gets her good rewards but showing aggression gets her no attention and no rewards.
I have a shepard/huskey mix, she is afraid of other dogs. If a dog approaches on our walks she will try to run. She has on one occassion slipped out of her collar and ran home. We have since then made sure her collar was tighter for our walks. We adopted her from the spca about a year ago, she is now approximately 3 years old. We have been trying to help her with her fear by going to the dog park and socializing from a distance, we will eventually venture closer as she feels more comfortable. When dogs approach her she gets whines, barks and gets aggressive. None of my friends own dogs for us to practice with. We did have another dog (we had to put her down because of old age) when we adopted her and she got along excellent with her. Any suggestions?
I would visit the SPCA you got her from and talk to the trainers there. I am thinking that it could be useful to enroll her in a group class so that she can focus on you and doing commands when there are other dogs around. That will be a very positive experience for her, but only if the space where they hold the classes is large enough that she doesn’t get too fearful.
Talk to the trainers at the SPCA and you could even do some tests with bringing her into the classroom and then bringing in another dog to see how she reacts.
The trainers at my SPCA were very helpful in terms of coming up with different scenarios for my dog. Given that you adopted your dog from them, they should definitely be willing to help.
If you think that a group class would be too much at this point, then consider doing some private sessions with the SPCA trainers – where it is just you, your dog, the trainer, and another dog. Both pairs start off being far from each other and doing commands. Then you can walk a bit closer, stop, and do more commands. I used to do this at my SPCA to help get my dog focus on me when there are other dogs around.
Hope this helps. Let me know how it goes.
Would love to see pictures of your girl. I love the look of both shepherds and huskies.
I have visited the SPCA where she came from and they did not have her very long, maybe two weeks before we adopted her. She was found wondering on a major highway, a concerned person stopped and coaxed her into his vehicle and brought her to the SPCA. We only have one trainer in town and there is a waiting list to get into any class. They recently moved from the space they were holding classes and have not found new space yet. We live a 5 hour drive from the nearest city. I am kinda on my own with this one. I appreciate any advice you can give me. I will definately post a picture, she is beautiful.
Hello Tammy,
Btw, what is your dog’s name?
Is she afraid of dog noises as well? What about if she sees a dog on television?
I was thinking that you could start by doing desensitization exercises with soft dog noises that you play from your computer. Then you can slowly increase the volume as she gets more comfortable with it. Then you can move on to a dog on television.
If she is already unafraid of both these scenarios, then the next stage is to practice with other dogs. Are there a lot of dogs that pass by your house?
My Sibe used to be really afraid of the garbage truck. She would get really wild, and want to rush home. So I started desensitizing her to the garbage truck from inside the house. Every garbage day morning I would sit with her and do desensitization when the garbage truck came.
Then I moved on to having her on leash, and sitting with her by the door. Then we progressed to sitting on our lawn and so on.
If there are a fair number of dogs that pass by your house, perhaps you could try something similar? Dogs are usually a lot more confident on their home turf so it is easier for them to face their fears when doing it close to home.
The goal is just to get her to focus on you and ignore the other dogs. At this point, do not do any greetings.
In terms of dogs you see on the street, try to always create as much space as possible. Go far into driveways if you have to, cross the street, etc. But you want to keep random encounters to a minimum while you are desensitizing her so that she never has to go into full flight mode.
Try to meet and make friends with the calm and balanced dogs in your neighborhood (when you are alone). Calm dogs are usually pretty rare in most neighborhoods – but if there are some, they can be a great resource.
Hello! Her name is Tika. Dog noises don’t bother her, when I have to leave her in her kennel we have the Animal Channel on for her. lol I know it is more my comfort than hers, but she is not startled by outside noise then. When she is in the vehicle and sees another dog outside she gets excited and very interested to go to it. Open the door and she will not leave the vehicle. Our friends that live in our town do not have dogs. I have on one occasion had a person walking a dog on our street and asked them if I could bring Tika out to see their dog. When I did, Tika was normal not afraid when she was in her own yard. The dog was a small dog and seemed balance and calm. I have not seen them since. Normally on our walks we do avoid any contact with other dogs. I really worry because while we were on holidays this summer, we were walking her and another dog (small one) ran up to her then just before it approached her it turned and ran from her. As soon as it ran from her, she chased it. She caught it and pinned it down, she seemed to be acting on instinct for as soon as she seemed to realize what she had, she let go of it and ran back to us. She didn’t hurt it not even a scratch. She is a tall and strong we were lucky that the she did not harm the small dog. We also have a cat who shares our household. Tika gets along great with JD. In fact JD will tackle Tika and take her to the floor. JD is about the same size of Tikas head! The odd time that Tika has caused JD to squeal, because she has been too rough, Tika stops playing immediately with her. I have been going for long walks with her that end with us at the dog park. She is usually a little tired by the time we get there. There is also dog jumps and tubes and slides there that I have been introducing her to. Mainly to distract her from the other dogs. We stop at at spot away from the other dogs and rest, she has started relaxing and wanting her belly rubbed. She is still very stressed and aggressive when we leave as we are ultimately approached by a dog. She is fine with the owners! Should I continue with the dog park visits? Is there anything else I can do? I am interested in adopting another dog but I don’t want her anxieties to rub off. Her and I need to deal with this first. We are not in a hurry to adopt but purhaps in the next year or so.
lol Tammy, cats really rule don’t they? 🙂
Yeah, my Husky has really strong prey instinct as well. She gets tense when she sees stray cats about, so I have been slowly desensitizing her to them. Cats are easier though because most of the time they are lying about sunning themselves – so they are a nice stationary target that I can use for desensitization.
The only issue with dog parks is that they tend to be overly busy with too many dogs and it may be too much stimulus for a dog. However, it sounds like you have done a lot of research on this, know what you are doing, and are staying far enough away, so it sounds pretty good.
Getting her relaxed in a spot away with tummy rubs is really good. You can also do some training exercises with her – mostly involving movement to keep her distracted.
Once she is totally ok with being a certain distance away, you can slowly reduce that distance. Bring her a few steps closer the next day etc. Make sure not to push her too fast, too quickly. You want to do it at her pace.
Another thing that would be useful, is to train her to focus on you when she gets fearful. So bring her one step closer, call her name, and treat her for giving you her attention. And then just keep repeating so that in the future, when she sees dogs, that will be her cue to look at you.
Don’t move her too close to the other dogs before she is ready. It is ok to let her sit and watch as long as she is calm and willing to give you her attention. If it looks like she is starting to get stressed, move her back a few steps.
If other dogs approach, you could try to body block the other dog from getting too close. In this way, Tika learns that you do the protecting, so she doesn’t have to herself.
The toughest part in this process I think, is controlling our own energy. It is difficult not to tense up a bit when dogs approach my Shiba because he can get somewhat reactive to certain dogs. He also does not like strange dogs sniffing his butt so I protect him from that. But I am still working on staying totally calm because if I get tense, this will transfer to my Shiba.
Hope this helps. Let me know how it goes and what works well for Tika. This is a difficult issue that I am also helping my Shiba with.
My dog is very good on walks with other dogs and gets a lot of exercise. He follows commands well, but whenever meeting a dog face on, he has about 3 seconds before he lunges and bites it. This is a new behavior that I have been dealing with for a few months and it eliminates a lot of possibilities when it comes to dog sitting/boarding/playtime. He is a pitbull so I very much want to have a balanced dog so the stereotypes don’t continue on. I am just asking if there is anyway to help him meet other dogs and play/avoid without attacking them.
Hi Alexandra,
The best thing to do is to practice desensitization exercises with other dogs. It is probably a good idea to use a basket muzzle during these exercises so that you will be more relaxed, and so that nothing really bad will happen.
I have listed out the general steps to take in desensitizing a dog to other dogs in Tip 8 above. You will need someone else with a very calm dog to work with you initially.
I would also look into getting a positive reinforcement professional trainer. A trainer will be able to observe your dog in real time and be able to accurately diagnose what the source of the aggression is – dominance, fear, or something else. This will help you come up with a better training plan for your dog.
For example, my Shiba Inu does not like it when new dogs sniff his butt because it is a dominance move. So when he meets dogs, I don’t let them go there until he is more familiar with them.
The more you know about the aggression triggers, the better it will be and a professional trainer will be able to help you with that.
I have black lab mixed with a chow and she is always very friendly. Often times I will be walking her and other dogs will start barking at her so then she wants to go see them and of course they just keep barking. It seems like so many of the dogs in my neighborhood are pretty territorial. They seem fine when they are on a leash and walking with their owner, but when they are in their yard they bark at everything that goes by.
You are definitely right on here Jim. My neighborhood is the same way and maybe even a bit worse because there are dogs that get really barky and growly when on walks with their owners. Mine used to be that way too 🙂 I suppose many of the dogs bark because 1. the have too much energy and have barrier frustration; 2. they are trying to protect their den. It is something that is difficult to stop unless owners are home most of the time, which is rarely the case. Doggie day care or getting a dog walker can be helpful in these situations.
Your dog sounds wonderful 🙂 She must be a beauty too – I really love the way chow mixes look.