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.
My dog (a 2 year old yellow lab/white shepard mix) gets along great with other dogs in the park or field across from our home but lately if we meet up with another dog and it’s on a leash or if the dog comes into the yard with its master this is when he will eventually attack.
This behaviour is relatively new and I’m having difficulty understanding what has changed to cause this.
Hi there my male Perkinise keeps on attacking my other make Perkinise for no reason. How do I stop this as it is becoming unbearable.
Get both boys neutered it will stop them attacking each other as they both will not have any hormones
Hello my dog (Lola) girl staffy age2 nearly 3 has become very aggressive towards other people and dogs whilst walking her any suggestions? Thanks
Hello,
I don’t know if Cesar’s team is still taking inquiries. However, I have a Siberian Husky that I feel we’ve tried multiple things with. We knew that he was going to be a special case in the first couple months we had him. We brought him home from the breeder too early. This isn’t something we were aware of and in any case you’re holding a month old puppy and the breeder gives you the choice to leave him with them for another couple weeks or take him home – you’d take him home. He was too young then to show signs; however, we quickly realized we had a different breed than myself or my fiancé ever dealt with. He had a Corgi prior and my family had raised a pit bull and a yorkie. We noticed he was very primal and almost acted like a wild animal. He was attracted to dead birds on the ground when we’d walk, his first instinct was to chase smaller creatures like birds and lizards, and he was also very food aggressive. He bit my fiancé and punctured his palm, while feeding him as a younger pup, because he had his hand in his food bowl. Disciplining him was like trying to teach a hard headed child that was too smart for his own good. He learned commands, crate training, and tricks all within the first week that we brought him home, but his behavior with other dogs/animals was off.
After having a dog trainer visit our home, she mentioned that we took him home at too young an age (1 month old). She said she could tell because dogs like that are either very dominant and aggressive or they are very skiddish, which he’s not. He was too confident, would go to a dog park and run right up to strange dogs and put his head over theirs, then lunge at them and try to play, which aggravated them. The trainer said he hadn’t learned social cues from the mother, so even his play was rough and he was very mouthy. We tried to teach him bite inhibition, screaming out and yelping when he bit us. He was kicked out of two doggie day care schools – one because he bit one of the facilitators when they attempted to grab him by the collar. The other school said he would not be allowed because he showed signs that he was going to bite out of fear. When they approached him, he’d lick his lips, and didn’t like people trying to grab him or corral him into a corner, so he’d act out and that was unacceptable if they couldn’t take control of him in the heat of the situation. We then hired a dog man to pick him up twice a week, take him out to the dog park with a pack, and walk him for several hours. This worked, he became well-socialized and better behaved with other dogs; however, he end up biting the dog man on two separate occasions. What happened was he was at the dog park and the dog man saw a potential fight was about to breakout with our pup and some others. He jumped in and grabbed the aggressive dog and said that the other dogs reaction to him jumping in is to back down, but my dog was still growling and had a wild look in his eye, disregarding any commands and showing teeth. He reached in to grab him and was bitten really hard. It was hard enough to break the skin and require medical attention. He bit the dog man’s wife recently as well! The same thing happened, a dog fight broke out and he thought he had it under control, grabbed another dog and proceeded to walk with him away, thinking everything was taken care of. My dog still remained, growling, and two smaller dogs ran in and got him going again. The wife stepped in and tried to grab my dog and she was bitten. Immediately after, she said my dog got affectionate with her and almost seemed sorry because he weaved in and out of her legs and bowed his head to her.
Our puppy is now approaching 3 years old and still showing aggressive behavior and biting people. The problem is that although other dogs understand not to bite humans, our dog man has said on multiple occasions that my dog bites people. He didn’t want to muzzle him because he said the times when he has bitten are unpredictable and my dog has been so fast to react that he can’t catch him. However, I’d hate to have him do it again and end up being put to sleep. At this point we don’t know where to turn, how to correct the behavior and help him. He’s the sweetest dog and never means any harm, I just feel he’s misunderstood and needs to be around people who are watching him at all times and know how to deal with him. Please advise!
Dont call caesars team, they train the old fashioned way and there are better methods that will help the dog in the long run look up victoria stillwell she is a very good trainer with reward based training.
My husky Nitika keeps attacking my other husky Nika for no reason. She never used to be like that. Until my family and I moved into with my grandpa but now she constantly is acting up on my other dog and we don’t know why. My mom keeps getting stressed out because it mainly happens at bed time and she has to make sure, She doesn’t attack nika and she doesn’t do anything she just walks into the living room to lay down or she is sleeping and Nitika just attacks her and nika gets pinned most times. Why does my dog do that is it stress or a dominance thing?
Get both girls neutered this will stop them fighting as there trying to prove who’s more dominent
I rescued a female what I was told was part blue heeled retriever and two other things, I can’t remember. She definitely has Rottweiler markings. I’m 64, live alone with her and she is very loved and spoiled. We didn’t get much exercise over the winter, I live in South Dakota and detest the cold. But as the weather broke and got warmer, we have been walking around town every day. About a mile and a half. I carry water for her to drink 1/2way. I use a choke chain because I need to be in control. If a dog is on a chain, in a fenced yard or walking on a leash, she stares and pulls hard on the leash. She usually stops and walks away when I tell her they are very good puppy dogs. There are about 8 houses that allow their dogs to run loose. It is against town ordinance, but apparently they don’t care. If a dog is running loose, there is almost 0 control over my dog, if the other charges her – and most of them do. I suspect she killed one dog, it ran away crying and I haven’t seen it since. One idiot was waking his dog the other day with no leash. As they approached, I warned the guy that she would go after dogs that are running loose. He says, oh, they’ll be fine, they are both female. His dog charged mine and within 30 seconds, mine had his pinned to the ground on its back and was going for her neck when I got her away. He told me he never better see my dog off it’s leash or he would shoot her. She has a chain that allows her to go 30 feet on the side of my apartment. Never had any trouble with her trying to take off. She’s a very loving dog, loves adults and adores kids. She has a bunch of kids that she always stops at their house to see if they are going to come out and play. It’s just dogs that are running loose. City Hall has assured me that if there is trouble or hurt caused, the other dogs owner is and will be held responsible. I’m getting tired of being exhausted from trying to control her because they want to let their dog run loose. I have ordered police strength pepper spray and it should arrive in two days. I don’t even know if it is legal for me to use, but Social Security sure doesn’t leave me money to approach a professional trainer. I think if they didn’t charge her, there would not be fights. My dog is 4 years old, I’ve had her for 9 months and I’m not looking forward to an entire summer of this. I’ve read to put myself in between the dogs – which I admit, I am terrified to do. I’ve read to just keep walking and ignore the other dog, but it usually happens very fast and they are fighting before I even know they are there. I had one incident last fall where a dog running loose that she went after, caused me to fall backwards, knock myself out for a few minutes , somehow walked myself two blocks home and my grandson came and took me to the ER because there was so much blood. I had a concussion and 6 stitches. And I AM the horrible person because my dog was on a leash????? This is a very rural town is SD, I’ve only lived here since I retired 4 years ago and do not have one single friend in the entire town. Any suggestions?
I have a 13 lb, 6 year old rat terrier. On four occasion she has been attacked by much larger dogs — twice by two dogs attacking together. Once at a dog park, once on a hiking trail, twice dog walking in the neighborhood. The attcks are not playful; they are fast and quiet, the way a dog would attack a squirrel or rabbit.
After the last neighborhood attack, the owner explained to me that his dogs “just don’t like small dogs.”
I don’t know what to do. On one occasion I picked up my dog, thinking that would prevent her from being attacked. Wrong — the attacking dog jumped on me and bit my dog on the abdomen. I could report the neighborhood attacks to the police, although that might start a neighborhood feud. Or maybe I should carry bear spray. Suggestions?
If I were you I’d get a small dog that I could pick up if necessary, move to a warmer climate and be with people with like interests so I could make acquaintances and some day friends. Life’s too short.
Hi! I have read a lot of your articles and your advice is on point.
I had a question about seeing/passing other dogs on the walk. I have a 1 year old bull terrier who is really headstrong, but I have managed to curb that with highly structured walk (heeling) and leadership. He walks pretty well and walks.
Anyways. He is very friendly with other dogs, but I usually don’t let him stop and sniff while on our structured walk because he is usually over excited (and dangerous with the leashes, collars etc.) and wants to engage in play, which I usually do solely off leash.
He never lunged/barks when he sees other dogs or pass by, but sometimes he will hit the breaks completely while passing or seeing other dogs and in my head stopping is not an option. I don’t think it’s out of fearfulness, since he’s highly socialized, but he stalls when he wants to get his way. Another example of this is when we are stopped and he sniffs the ground for example (it just happened) and he saw another dog coming (he gets alert when he hears the metallic sounds a dog makes when walking because of his tags) he would stop and stare very intensely at him (he did that with cats and people before; cats were because he was predatorial, people because of interest, he loves everyone). When he was smaller I did not think much of it and I may have let him stare too much. Over time, it helped just to get moving. But when I try to do that with other dogs, he won’t nudge, I tried to ”break” his attention with a high value treat earlier and he did not even want to sniff and did not care for it. It seems obsessive to a point i’m afraid it will one day shift to aggression. Since he won’t move at all, last resort is to kind of drag him (he seriously stalls and does not move), and i’m afraid he will associate dogs with negative experiences since dragging him is unpleasant and kind of chokes him (I use a martingale collar with a little choke chain to have more control on walks- his neck is so strong that he ignores completely my corrections on a regular flat buckle).
Also, he can be somewhat of an obsessive dog (which goes with the intense stare). If you could give me some advice on how to break him out of that state and get moving again. I just want to make sure that the experience of him walking or seeing other dogs stay neutral, and not ending up by me dragging him bc I don’t know what to do anymore.
Thank you so much for your help, and keep on the great articles coming 🙂
Stéphanie
My 11 month old neutered lab has become extremely aggressive in play situations. I used to be able to take him to daycare once a week and to a local dog park once or twice a week for some good play time. Four times in the last 3 days he has attacked other dogs, totally unprovoked. I will not be putting him in either situation for a while and he will have to do with walks and chasing a tennis ball in the yard for exercise. I need advice on what to do so that I can let him play with other dogs at some point. FYI, he lives with a 6 yr old yorkiepoo that is the boss at home. Could this be part of the issue? I feel that he sees me as alpha most of the time but he is rambunctious to say the least. Do you think it’s mainly that he get overstimulated by so many other dogs?
I have a husky labrador x male =-5,1/2 years old ,helping a frend that relokated with no space i took over their 2 dogs a rodwieler =-4 years old and german sheppard x smaller dog also =-4 years old. both female.smaller dog and male seem to get on.how ever the rottie growels at him when he gets close the 2 females are outside dogs and the male a inside dog.im to scared to put them togetter,what to do please help.the male use to have 2 frends 1 male and 1 female labradors who sadly past away last year from old age they where olso outdoor dogs.no problem exept for the 2 males now and then for dominance. the rottie is also verry insecure ,she snaps at you when you playing with her and the smaller female wants your attention.The rottie is also a lot bigger than the male.
I have 1 small and 3 middle size dogs. The small dog, we found in a box next to the garbage when he was only 8 weeks old. One middle sized dog, we took in to foster from the local shelter as she was scared of her own shadow, and would have not survived in the shelter. After 6 months fostering her, no new owner had been found and we decided to keep her, as we had fallen in love with her and saw a huge progress towards being a normal dog without fear of humans, barking, wigging the tale etc. Just a happy dog. I had been told that she has been sterilized and had no health problems. Well, she has leishmania and she gave birth to 2 puppies. I couldn’t find any home for them and kept them. All was fine walking all our 4 dogs together, being in contact with other dogs, playing with our cats and amongst them etc. The young male now 1 and a half year old, is very agressive towards other dogs (not ours) and humans, barking non stop when walking him. I can barely hold him on the leash. The other dogs are ok, but I am very afraid that he will bite somebody one day. He might not, but I can’t take the risk to let them come close. When we have friends coming over he is barking and showing his teeth and after a while he calms down and some of my friends can then even touch him. I don’t know what to do, as in our garden he listens to me, but as soon we are out, he is not listening at all. I’ve read one comment about the dog feeling my fear. Yes as soon I see another dog or person coming our way from a distance my heart starts to beat very fast, when I am not close to our house, so that I can escape. Does anybody have a good advise to calm down my dog?
We have taken on the care of a 6 year old border collie named Hazard. His owner has mental health problems and he was brought up in the city, initially in a large backyard, then a smaller yard, then a courtyard (as his owner’s ability to work and afford accommodation was reducing). The owner is now in a one bedroom upstairs apartment, which is why he came to us. We had thought that being raised in the city he would be used to people and dogs. However he behaves quite aggressively towards other dogs and recently lunged at someone who wanted to pat him, drawing blood.
We have a very busy life, working pretty long hours, and although he has a lot more space in our large back yard, we haven’t made time to exercise him as much as he needs. Additionally he loves playing with reptiles including venomous snakes so during summer we can’t let him off the lead when on walks except at the local oval, but we can only let him off if no-one else is around. He also won’t come if he sees anything interesting, like a rabbit – and we have plenty of those around here. On the lead he pulls constantly, and if he sees something will not focus on our commands. I’ve wondered if he became aggressive because his owner was unable to be decisive and in control?
Until we get the aggression under control, should we use a muzzle on him? Because of the recent episode with a person being hurt, we have committed to making sure he gets more exercise, and will make a start with your advice on managing his aggressive behaviour.