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 and well done on this website – some great tips and also allowing people to see their not the only one with some difficulties occasionally. I wonder if you could please give me a couple of tips to deal with a beautiful boxer lady i kind of rescued 10 days ago. She is 3 years old and has seemingly spent the majority of her life locked in a back garden / house. In the short time we have spent together she has learnt to walk to heel (most of the time), stay and lie down – the only basic command she knew was sit so i started from the beginning with her. The only issue is when outdoors, i live near a beach and obviously during holiday time the area is full of visitors and their canine companions. When Rox sees another dog in the distance she drops to a crouch (almost like a big cat stalking or a border collie herding) then as they get nearer she luncges up and becomes quite a handful. I dont think there is any aggression as she seems frustrated at not being able to play, however when she is looming up i guess she could look pretty scary from the other side, she is quite strong too being a boxer. I have got her a harness and this has settled her a little but if we see more than 1 dog on a walk then her mind completely goes off and each one after that she just cant seem to handle. I know some people say that the dog is feeling your emotional response through the lead and reacting to that, however when i first walked her i had no idea she did this, i have also seen dogs she has not spotted and up to the point she sees them she ignored it so i feel that my response is not altogether causing her response, more that she has been pre-programmed to act in this aggresive way. I wonder if the other people started this and then when she was too big to control they were afriad to walk her – therefore she thinks she is doing the right thing. If you have any tips or if there is something i have done which has not helped the situation we would be grateful to hear from you. She actually looked at me this morning as if to say “what do you want me to do” – which made me feel bad for seeming to confuse her without meaning to. I am ordering a dog vest which says “dog in training” to help us as some people seem to think its normal practice to allow yorkies to meander over on an extendable lead, to a boxer dog standing on 2 legs and trying to lunge at them. Hopefully this will help with other peoples responses – paws crossed 🙂 thank you Adele
What a great idea! I may get one for Lara as well.
With Sephy, the emotional response was a contributing factor to his dog reactivity behavior. Sephy would get excited when he sees another dog, and would start to pull and act crazy. I got stressed by his crazy behavior. He would pick up on my stress and fear, and become even more crazy.
Later on, I would get stressed as soon as I see another dog, especially an excitable dog. This made Sephy react sooner, and much more strongly.
Some things that helped Sephy with his dog reactivity behavior-
1. Dog-to-dog desensitization exercises.
One problem was that I was exposing Sephy to a high level environment, with a lot of interesting dog stimulus that he was not capable of handling. This caused Sephy to always lose control of himself (go rear-brained) at which point, it was no longer possible for me to teach him anything because he was no longer capable of listening to me or anyone else.
With dog-to-dog desensitization exercises, I only expose Sephy to a limited amount of the “dog-stimulus” – small enough that he can handle it. In this way, I can help him reassociate the stimulus with positive outcomes and also teach him alternate behaviors for dealing with his excitement and stress.
http://shibashake.com/dog/dog-to-dog-aggression#desensitize
2. Set him up for success.
During our regular neighborhood walks, I would first start by leash training him in our backyard or inside the house. If Sephy walks properly, then we would go to a quiet part of the neighborhood and practice there.
I try to start small, and then slowly build up the environmental challenge. In this way, we have successful walks and both of us build confidence in walking together.
3. Create neutral experiences.
Whenever we see other dogs, I stay calm, ignore them, and keep walking at a natural pace. This teaches Sephy that most of the time, other dogs = nothing happens. This helped him to stay more calm when he sees other dogs because most of the time, nothing happens.
Now, Sephy is a lot more calm so we will sometimes stop to meet friendly dogs that are calm and relaxed. I still continue to ignore excitable dogs, tense dogs, excitable people, fearful people, etc.
Big hugs to Rox! It is always so good to hear of a rescue dog finding such a good home – and near a beach to boot. Lucky girl! 😀
Hello, I love your site, i have reading up just about everything. I have a big problem with my two pit bulls.
Well first off, I just moved across town into a way bigger yard and house for my dogs…i thought they would be happy but my 3yr old neutered male pit mix just started attacking my full pit bull spayed female shes about 8 months old. I recused her when she was 9 weeks old.. Kai my 3 old year boy has always loved her since the very beginning.. walks everyday .. long hikes every 2 weeks.. he s a beach boy.. loves swimming and running. anyways i well exercise my dogs. After we moved into our new place idk if the stress triggered an attack or if my female dog is reaching maturity.. but within two weeks barley i had to break up 3 really bad dog fights the third one my bf was at work and it was awful. Kai just stalked her.. i saw his tense stance and grabbed him.. it was to late he pulled me across the room. My female pit is full pit.. shes a razor edge pit.. she is super calm.. totally submissive..low to the ground.. mainly a couch potato she absolutely loves kai. she licks him through the kennel. After the fights kai tried to lick her wounds.. i know deep down he loves her i just dont know why all of sudden he is super aggressive toward her.we have to keep a muzzle on him when iam home alone.. im working on getting his trust back.. after he almost bite my hand. My bf and i we take them on evening walks, kai is muzzled he tore through his fabric muzzle so now i have to purchase a metal and leather one. He has not snapped at her yet, i feel his stress, i try to spend as much time with him, i make him follow commands.. sit, shake, high five, stay…hugs and kissies.. he listens well.. i just hope we can get them to get along again, i’d seriously hate to re-home one of them :/ since the 3rd fight i have kept them totally separate, besides our walks. i rescued kai from long beach they couldn’t give me any info really, i beleive he is ridge back and pit he is red and white but way taller than pit, and his hind legs are very tall but he has this big bulging chest and head!! thank you i would love your input and if you have any pointers. like i said before before the move which took place, Aug 1st, my dogs have loved each other layed together every night… never a fight.. NEVER! i did take him to the vet and he wanted me to put kai to “sleep”.
Hello Kristy,
What was happening in the environment when the fights occurred? What were the dogs doing? Were all the fights inside the house? Were they near any particular objects?
When there are conflicts between my dogs, there is usually something that triggers it. For example, Sephy does not like other dogs sniffing his butt without his permission. Usually, his posture is relaxed, until the other dog goes to his rear region, then I can see him tensing up.
Another common area of conflict is over resources – e.g. food, toys, space, access to people.
What I try to do with my dogs is to identify all the “triggers” that they are sensitive to. Once I do this, I can-
1. Better predict their behavior.
2. Better manage them and prevent such conflicts from occurring. The more aggressive behavior a dog practices the more likely he is to repeat it.
3. Desensitize them to a negative trigger by pairing it with positive events. I also teach them alternate behaviors for dealing with stress.
How long have you had Kai? It could be that the aggression trigger is something from his past.
A good professional trainer can be helpful in such situations. When Sephy was going through his difficult period, we visited with a fair number of professional trainers and some of them were quite helpful. I always try to observe Sephy very closely, but it really helps to have a new set of trained eyes, that is familiar with dog body language.
Another thing that helps with Sephy is to have him on a very fixed routine. When we moved to a new place several years ago, Sephy got pretty stressed out from all the changes. He did not know how to act in his new environment. He wasn’t sure what were the new rules, what things are ok, and what things are dangerous.
I quickly set up a very fixed routine for him, and also established a very consistent set of rules. This helped to reduce his stress, because then he knew what was expected of him, and what he could expect from us in return.
Hope this helps and big hugs to your furry ones.
Hi
I have a american bulldog 20 months old bitch i got her from a family where she was kept in a cage in the kitchen and from the way she looked was on steroids. I have had her for 9 months now she has toned down vets are happy with her and i am shes great with kids and adults but has dog on dog aggression. She was attacked at a few months old my another dog so this could be the cause of it. i am currently trying a harsh stop command when she growls and barks at other dogs and its going ok but very slowly sometimes it works and sometimes she just goes mad. I am going to continue with this but is their anything else i can try
With Sephy, I did dog-to-dog desensitization exercises. These exercises helped Sephy to reassociate the problem stimulus with positive experiences and outcomes, and helps to lower his level of stress. At the same time, I also teach him alternative behaviors for dealing with stressful situations.
http://shibashake.com/dog/dog-to-dog-aggression#desensitize
Other things that helped with Sephy-
1. Creating neutral experiences – We just ignore other dogs.
2. Being calm – I try to be very calm when we see other dogs. Otherwise Sephy will pick up on my energy and become even more stressed.
I describe more of what I did with Sephy in the article above.
Hi, I have a 3 and a half year old Lhasa Apso. She is a really pleasant dog, great around kids. About 2 months ago a dog attacked her. Now when I walk her and she comes across another dog she becomes really aggressive – lunges, barks, growls. I know this is most likely because she’s scared. How do I stop this? I have been taking her more walks lately to places that I know there will be dogs to try to get her used to them again. I am aware that I tend to shorten her lease when other dogs approach which isn’t a good thing. I have even tried crouching to her level, holding her by the chest(rather than tugging her leash)and talking to her to calm her down. Nothing helps! Do you have any advice?
With Sephy, I started small and only very slowly increased the challenge. In the beginning, I started my desensitization exercises with one calm dog that is on-leash with his owner. I would have Sephy a certain distance away, far enough that he is not reacting. Then, I engage him in obedience commands and reward him well for staying calm and working with me. If all goes well, then I walk one step closer and repeat.
http://shibashake.com/dog/dog-to-dog-aggression#desensitize
The key with Sephy was to make sure that he has positive and calm experiences with other dogs. In this way, he learns not to get overly excited or stressed. The more successful encounters we had, the more confident we both became, and Sephy’s behavior improved.
I try my best to set Sephy up for success and only expose him to situations where I am pretty sure he can handle. Then as he grows in confidence, I very slowly increase the environmental challenge.
Hey so i have a 10 year old german shephard and we recently moved into a very dog friendly neighborhood. Before we never had encounters with other dogs besides her sibling (which her sister was very dominant). She is sweet to all human beings but to another dog she always lunges and zeroes in on them, she will not listen when outside and calling her, and has lunged for a bite to several dogs(she tends to act sweet with other dogs then lunge for the kill). I was wondering if it is too late to train her to be non-aggressive or what are methods to do. We do walk past other dogs or go in different directions and i never know if she is being friendly or violent, most of the time she is violent. What should we do?
Some things that helped with my Shiba Sephy-
1. Dog-to-dog desensitization exercises. We did a lot of training with calm dogs at our local SPCA (under trainer direction). By doing exercises in a controlled and safe environment with many different dogs, Sephy learned how to interact and be successful with a variety of dogs. Today, Sephy still does not get along with dominant dogs, and/or rude dogs that try to sniff his butt without permission. In those situations we avoid and ignore.
http://shibashake.com/dog/dog-to-dog-aggression#desensitize
2. Neutral experiences. We ignore most of the unknown dogs that we see on our walks. I try to set Sephy up for success, so we only meet dogs that I am pretty sure he will get along with.
3. Distance. I always cross the street when I see another dog and create enough distance for Sephy so that he doesn’t become reactive.
Working with a trainer that has many calm dogs, that Sephy could train with, was very helpful. More of what I do is described in the article above.
Hi I have an ex racing greyhound who came to us eighteen months ago incredibly nervous of everything, people, traffic, dogs, wind, noises etc. He is now confident with all of these things apart from certain dogs. He is fine with other greyhounds as this is the only breed he would have ever encountered in the first three and a half years of his life whilst he was worked. We have had a behaviorist and have practiced all the techniques in this article focusing on his aggression towards dogs. We always keep meet and greet to a minimum and I restrict them to low energy dogs, and avoid un neutered males where possible. We also began treating him for every single dog we passed and he looked at and did not react to. This proved to work and after just two days straight of doing this he would see a dog and look at us for the treat. All was going well and then a few months ago he started this stalking behaviour. I have no idea where this stalking behaviour has come from. Sometimes i can get his attention by saying ‘look at me’ and I’ll praise as he’s look away but then sometimes he’ll take the treat and just lunge at the dog snapping anyway. Just to let you know he is ALWAYS muzzled and onlead. The muzzling is good because I have the confidence that I can pass a dog and if he does react no harm will be done. I am not nervous or anxious when we pass a dog so this can’t be why he reacts. We’ve had him eighteen months and the stalking behaviour only started a few months back. If you had any advice I’d really appreciate it as I feel like i’ve used up all the tricks in the book.
With Sephy, he started with his obsessive staring/stalking behavior after he got a bit older and gained some confidence. He would first stare at a dog, and then get into a down/crouching position. From there, he would pounce if the dog got close.
I stop him as soon as I notice the “stare”. I would break his focus by making an unusual sound, e.g. kicking bushes or rustling leaves, and then we move away.
During walks in the neighborhood, I make sure to cross the street when I see other dogs, especially when they are not calm. Distance helps a lot with reducing the effect of the trigger. We ignore most dogs. There are several that we stop to meet regularly – but only if Sephy is calm.
Desensitization exercises can be helpful. We also invited some of his neighborhood friends over for supervised play sessions. In this way, he had a structured outlet for his dog-wrestling energy. I do a lot of obedience-breaks during a play session. This helps teach Sephy to refocus on me, even when he is playing with another dog. We also did training+play sessions with calm dogs at our local SPCA (under trainer direction).
Hello,
I purchased a silver lab almost three years ago and have noticed that he is not very lab like. He tends to be very excitable & high energy during external interactions, calm when there isn’t any stimulus. I noticed when he was a pup that when we were walking him he has fearful of a neighbor when we where speaking with him. We have people over every two weeks and he wouldn’t hang out like our other labs, he would go into the living room and stay away from the guests. A year ago I had a party in the back yard and in the beginning when people were starting to come over he scared my nephew and chased him & nipped his hamstring.
To make matters worse he freaks out when he sees someone walking down the street towards us. He has trigger spots (where previous freakouts took place) where he starts to panic &/or if someone is walking down the street on the opposite side. Everyday is a different day, when I walk him today he might be in a high stressed mood right from the beginning of the walk & freak out every time I pass something & sometimes he has very little reactions to anything. He almost always freaks out when someone is approaching him. He is worse at night. His eye sight seems to be fine, he sees things at night I would never notice.
I have already brought up two labs & buried them after almost 11 years a piece. I’ve read multiple books on training & trial error through experience had two of the best dogs I’ve been around and now this third one is killing me because of the experiences with the two previous dogs.
We have worked with a trainer and she gave a counseling session and had walked with our dog through the neighborhood to see how he reacts to different triggers. The two methods she wanted us to use was settle (the dog has reacted to the trigger), (sit & block & give a treat (meat) slowly) & start walking again. She wanted me to use the treat as a lead in front of his nose & stand between the trigger and dog as we walked by. The second method was leave it command to pull the dog towards me when I see him start to react to a trigger and try to get him to not get into a state of craziness. If he does freak out I’m suppose to settle the dog. We practice the leave it command in the house with treats in both hands, open one, close it, say leave it & when the dog looks at you give him a treat with the other hand (this is also done with treats under my foot).
I have been doing this for about two months and he has improved a little. But he still freaks out when someone is passing him, especially kids & other dogs. Could you please give me some more strategies to help me and let me know what you think of our trainer’s strategies? Thanks, Joe.
Shiba Sephy used to be very reactive towards other dogs. The blocking did not work very well with him. When I tried to do that, he would not focus on me and would use that time to obsess on the other dog. Some things that helped with Sephy-
1. Dog-to-dog desensitization exercises.
The nice thing with desensitization exercises is that they are done in a controlled situation. I used to take Sephy to our local SPCA for desensitization exercises with their more calm and friendly dogs. It was done under the direction of a trainer and we always had a plan for the session. In this way, the sessions are positive and rewarding to everyone.
http://shibashake.com/dog/dog-to-dog-aggression#desensitize
We can also run desensitization exercises with people, and with a wide range of other fear triggers-
http://shibashake.com/dog/how-to-calm-a-fearful-reactive-dog#people
2. Neutral experiences.
During walks, what worked best with Sephy is to just move him along. If I stopped and tried to block or do anything else, he will just obsess even more on the other dog. Instead, I just moved along calmly. It is important that I stay calm, or Sephy would start reacting to my energy.
By getting him to move along, he had to focus some on his walking, could not really obsess (as much) on the other dog, and could get rid of some of his excited energy. We would just ignore and move along. However, Sephy is a small dog so it is easier to get him to move along compared to a larger dog.
On the other hand, sitting and watching works much better with my Sibe Shania. I still always create distance by crossing the street and/or go into driveways. Distance helps to reduce the effect of the trigger stimulus. However, I let Shania sit and watch as long as she is calm and willing to briefly focus on me when I ask her to. If she breaks from her sit, ignores me, or starts to vocalize, then I no-mark and move her away. Moving behind barriers (e.g. cars) can also help. Blocking with our body is difficult to do properly, especially with a larger dog.
There are also different kinds of reactivity. Shania, for example, is very reactive towards running cats and deer. In that case, her prey drive takes over and she wants to give chase. She also used to be reactive towards the garbage truck, however, this was because of fear rather than excitement. With the garbage truck, she would get afraid and want to run away. In the fear case, sitting and blocking does not work well unless we do it from a far enough distance. What constitutes “far enough” changes based on the level of fear. Desensitization exercises can help to raise confidence and lessen the fear so that with time, less and less distance is needed.
Some things that I observed with my dogs and their various reactivity issues-
1. It was important to set them up for success.
For example I would create distance as soon as I saw the trigger stimulus and get them to focus on me; rather than wait for them to react first. Preventing a reaction is better than trying to stop one. At the very least, creating distance right away will lessen the reaction even when it does occur.
Once my dog “loses-it” (goes rear-brain), giving commands, food, or whatever else doesn’t do anything. The best thing at that point is to remove them from the trigger. They usually calm down some when enough distance is established.
2. Start small and very slowly increase the challenge.
I managed our walks by first visiting more quiet and less challenging areas. In this way, we mostly had positive walk experiences that everybody enjoyed. This helps to build confidence. Once that happens, I very slowly increase the environmental challenge.
More of my experiences are outlined in the article above.
Hi, my name is Eleanor and I recently adopted a 3 year old French/English Bull dog mix with issues so bad, she was going to be euthanized, because she was “unadoptable”. She has a history of biting and aggression towards people and other dogs. She was living in a garage with very little human contact and absolutely no exercise, primarily because nobody could handle her. Prior to that, she was found at a shelter, where she had been for some time. She was living with a family with a few kids and after biting one of them, they took her to the shelter. Since taking her in, her behavior towards people and other dogs, has improved a lot, but she is still completely unapproachable and only 4 of my friends have been able to interact with her. Today, she bit me and drew blood, and a few weeks ago, she tried to bite my mom, but head butted her in the face, giving my mom a cut above her lip and a bloody nose. She is so unpredictable, that I just don’t trust her around anyone. I walk or run her two to three times a day for about 30 minutes. My mom also adopted a dog and hired us an in home “dog trainer” that she used in the past, however after four sessions and after she bit him in the first session, he has not worked with her or handled her at all, in fact he talks to me at a distance, which is really not helping our situations at all. He also told me, that I should seriously consider getting a different dog, because she is a liability and will probably never be approachable or trainable. I am reading and watching dog training videos, as well as looking for help on the internet, but I do not know what I am doing wrong and I am getting frustrated. I really want to make this work for her and for me, but I am at a point where I may have to make a decision and it is just tearing me to pieces. I have worked at a Veterinary Hospital for 20 years, so I have some knowledge in regards to dog behavior, and basic training. I raised two Rottweiler’s who were great with other animals and people, especially kids. But, I have never dealt with a dog quite like this. We will have good days and then we have bad days. I did print out your dog to dog aggression tips and learned a couple of new things that I can’t wait to try tomorrow, but I need more help.
Could you please help me, help her, soon? I would truly appreciate your input and any further advice you can give me.
Thank you,
E. Gifford
Dog aggression is often triggered by something, e.g. people approaching them, a hand approaching them, a face approaching them, guarding food and toys, guarding a sleeping area, etc. Dogs often use aggression to deal with what they perceive to be threats.
Are there triggers to her aggression? Does she only get aggressive when people approach? When people reach out to pet her? Or put in another way, does she ever approach people and then bite them? or does she only bite when people approach her? Can you describe in detail the surrounding context when she bit you? What were you doing? What was she doing? What was her posture? Did she growl first? What was the surrounding context when she showed aggression with the trainer and with your mother?
What techniques are you using to deal with her aggression? What type of techniques is your trainer using?
What is the dog’s daily routine like? Is she around people a lot? Does she have her own safe area away from people and dogs? What does she do during walks – does she try to pull towards people and other dogs?
Hello Shiba Shake,
You have such beautiful dogs and thank you for all the information that you share on this site. My husband and I adopted a 10 year old dog (Misty) who was a home surrender about 2 months ago. We do not know her breed or her history but she might be a lapponian herder or a german shepherd and shiba inu mix. When we first got her, she didn’t know any commands except for “sit” and was 10 pounds overweight. Now she’s at a great weight, is looking her best, and she’s learned so many commands at such a short time.
Misty is a really great dog and we’re so happy to have her but we’ve noticed that she doesn’t seem to like other dogs. She tenses up and stares especially if they’re younger than her. She doesn’t like dogs that are bigger and she sometimes growls even from a distance. We noticed that she ignores older dogs that are smaller than her but goes crazy if the dog is younger than her. We tried body blocking, turning the other way, and giving her treats when she’s calm from afar.
Our vet said that she might be a dog that just doesn’t like other dogs or wasn’t socialized when she was a puppy. We think that it could also be the fact that she’s older and doesn’t want to deal with younger and hyper dogs since she’s on hip and joint meds. Other than the dog to dog agression she is our perfect dog. We would love to know what you think about her and some ideas to help her with her aggression issue. Thanks! 🙂
Hello Hannah,
Yeah, that sounds very plausible to me.
Shania is also more tense around larger dogs, especially if they are not under control. Shania is a three-legged dog, so she is a bit more vulnerable, and can get overwhelmed by overly energetic large dogs.
We only greet dogs that she wants to greet. Other times we cross the street or go in driveways to create distance. Then, we do some simple obedience exercises. I also try to stay very calm and try to show her that I will protect her from other dogs.
With my Shiba Inu, I did a lot of dog-to-dog desensitization exercises with him. That, together with ignoring and creating neutral experiences were very helpful in teaching him to stay calm around other dogs. Much of it, I think, depends on why the dog is showing the reactive behavior and on the temperament of the dog. Getting a good trainer to come and observe the dog can be very helpful.
Suzanne Clothier has a fun article about dog greetings titled “He Just Wants to say Hi”. I also very much enjoyed her book Bones Would Rain from the Sky.
I have a 5 year old male russell/austrailian shepard mix (guessing, he was a rescue). We have had him since 3 months old and he has been difficult to train. He has come a long way but he still jumps on visitors. But what worries me the most is we got a new addition in December, a 5 month old female beagle/bassett mix (also a rescue). They play well, most of the time it is wrestling around and very loud, they don’t really hurt each other it just sounds aggressive. The other day I had taken them to the park to sit and wait while my daughter was at swim practice, Another dog approached and my boy got very vocal and seemed aggressive toward the other dog and lunged toward it. Before our girl came home with us he used to be very friendly and played very well with other dogs, but after the event the other day I am not so sure what has happened and very embarresed to say the least, and the woman and children with the other dog were frightened. I had no idea he would have ever acted like that. Is there something i can do, because in the future he is going to have to be around other dogs for a long period of time. I appreciate any advice you have for me.
Hmmm, perhaps he was trying to protect puppy from the approaching dog.
Shiba Sephy is pretty protective of Shania. If he sees that she is uncomfortable or nervous with another dog, he will try and warn the other dog away. He will also alert us when she gets hurt.
How was the body language of the other dog when he approached? How was the body language for the new puppy?
Is he going to dog daycare? If he going to be together with puppy?
With Sephy, he acts differently when he is by himself vs. when Shania is around. He is fine if Shania is having fun, but if she shows signs of distress, he will come to her and help her out. I think it is his natural instinct to protect his family/pack. He will stop when we tell him to, because he knows that we are there to protect them both.
Usually, I do dog greetings only when I am walking one dog, when the approaching dog is relaxed, and non-dominant, and when my dog is relatively calm and interested in meeting the new dog.
I also did a fair amount of dog-to-dog desensitization exercises with Sephy. We did this at our local SPCA with their calm and friendly dogs. We also did some training at a nearby dog daycare + training center.