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.
Hi, so this is my question. I have a six year old Lab/Rottweiler mix although she is pretty small. So where to start? She has always been socialized and in the beginning she never cared what dog passed her on the street. Then a few years ago I noticed she stands her ground with her ears up and a stiff posture and may whine when another dog passes her. When she meets another dog on her leash (mostly this happens on her leash although it does happen sometimes at the dog park) she will try to tower over them. Last year she got into her first fight. Another dog attacked her at the dog park. I was able to get the dog off of her quickly but since then she has been even more standoffish with dogs on the street. I should note that when she was a puppy (I got her at 3 months from the shelter) and people approached her she used to stand in front of me and bark. I taught her she didn’t need to do that and she doesn’t bark at people when we walk. I don’t know if she’s just getting old or what but it is difficult to take her for a walk when we pass dogs behind fences she will rise up on her feet and whine. i try to distract her but she will look around me. I hope I provided enough info for you to give me some advice. Thanks!
Yeah, I am not a big fan of dog parks for the reasons you describe above. I used to take my Shiba very regularly, but he was picking up bad habits, got too excited during play, and redirected his excitement onto us when we tried to stop and calm him down.
Here is more of our dog park experiences.
Shiba Sephy was also reactive to other dogs. Here are some things that helped with him.
hi, i would love some advice if you could help me! I got a pup american bulldog bitch about 10 weeks ago at 10 weeks old, she was a little bit shy for the first week or so but has now come out of her shell. I also have two chow chows the bitch is 6 years old and my male is 2 years old, my problem is the pup likes to hump my male dog and when playing she attacks my older bitch, when i say attack i mean she plays rough and then it turns to her grabbing my bitch an shaking her, growling and lunging at her. She is also food aggressive toward the other dogs and will eat all of her food and then try to take my other dogs food from them, she isn’t food aggressive towards people though. I would be greatful for any advice about this as i wont be able to stop this behaviour when she is fully grown.
Hello Louise,
What do you do currently and what is the puppy’s response?
With my dogs, I set up very clear dog-to-dog interaction rules and play rules. Two of my most important rules are absolutely no-stealing and absolutely no-humping.
Stealing usually occurs during meal time. When meal time comes around, I get them all to do a Down and then they wait calmly. If they do not do this, then I do not prepare their food. When they are all calm, then I prepare their interactive food toys and hand them out. Then, I supervise them all closely and make sure that they give each other a comfortable amount of space to work on their interactive toys in peace. I body block them away if they get too close to each other.
I find that preventing any kind of stealing is the best way to go.
If there are any conflicts, then I will step in and resolve matters as early as possible – before it escalates into aggression. If something gets stolen, then I usually replace whatever is stolen and more to the victim. In this way, she does not need to use aggression to get back what was lost.
The thief goes to timeout and loses access to whatever is left on her interactive toy. In this way, they learn that stealing = lose food toy and lose freedom. They also learn that I will take care of any conflicts in a consistent manner, so they don’t need to correct each other or use aggression.
During play-time, I find that it is very helpful to control their level of excitement. I do this by throwing in many play-breaks. I just call them over and we do some simple obedience commands. They get rewarded well for taking an obedience break, so they are happy to come.
Here is more on what I do at home with my dogs.
OK – here is my problem which I am not hopeful can change. I hope I am wrong. I just have to be on my toes! I have 3 Yorkies – one I have had since a baby – she is almost 9 and my alpha, very respectful and confident. She is the best. Then I have an elderly retired breeding dog who is 13 and arthritic, with tumors. She is one of those dogs you start to think nothing will give up her resolve. She is tough! Had huge litters (5-6 pups each time), had a serious surgery 2 years ago, walking not easy, few teeth left but God Bless her – she doesn’t seem unhappy and will eat like a pig if I let her so we will see how she does. She is with me since she was 5. Then there is my 3rd little terror – oops! I mean terrier! She is my smallest – 5 lbs (the others 7-8 lbs), youngest at 4, from a different breeder and is technically a foster but she is a foster that never left. She isn’t spayed yet because she isn’t officially mine yet and not officially retired yet but she had very small litters, didn’t get pregnant easy so I am pretty sure she is here for good. She is different in that she will try to hump me, whine too much for attention, she isn’t that smart, has blood sugar issues so if she skips meals will occasionally seize, and can be a brat. I also love this brat! She has great qualities too – a great cuddler, never has an accident and is cute cute cute!
When my intercom buzzes or a friend shows up unexpectedly at my door it is like her brain short circuits. In a split second she turns from the sweet little brat to a vicious attack dog specifically to my elderly girl. She does the terrier thing in which she clamps her jaw down on the old ones ear and rips. It is brutal. Of course they are never together unsupervised so I break it up fast with the help of my alpha. I grab the little one and my alpha girl sits on the old girl. Its amazing she thinks to do that.
As of now I dont do anything but throw the little one immediately in her crate after each incident and once all is forgotten I let her out and again things are peaceful. They get along beautifully except for these occasional unavoidable incidents in which she gets over stimulated and freaks out. How can I get her to come back to reality before this happens, If the intercom goes off and I cant pick one up to avoid the fight is there a way to get her attention off the grandma dog of mine, I hear her scream and yell which breaks my heart not to mention what the person at the door must think. No one would believe how beautifully they get along otherwise.
Any suggestions? My poor old lady doesn’t deserve this in her golden years.
Some things that help with my own dogs-
1. Being calm
Dogs are really good at picking up on the energy of the people around them. For example, my dogs used to get really excited when the doorbell rings and I rush to the door. On the other hand, I find that if I stay calm and don’t rush, they are a lot more calm as well. Nowadays, I try to stay very calm, don’t rush, and only answer the door when there are people I am expecting. Since it is an expected visit, I can leash up puppy Lara beforehand (she is the most excitable). In this way, I have better control of the general level of excitement.
2. Desensitization exercises
Lara used to get really excited and stressed when she hears the coyotes singing at night. Doing sound desensitization exercises really helped with that. Sound desensitization can also help with excitement in response to the doorbell.
With desensitization we start with a weak version of the stimulus, e.g. a very soft doorbell sound. We want the stimulus to be weak enough that our dog will be comfortable with it. When I was training Lara, I got a recording of the coyote sounds and played it really softly. I had her on-leash and rewarded her for being calm. I also did obedience commands to get her engaged in an alternate activity. Once she was comfortable with all this, I *very slowly* increased the volume. I keep sessions short, fun, rewarding, and I always try to set Lara up for success.
http://shibashake.com/dog/how-to-calm-a-fearful-reactive-dog#noise
3. Crates and Timeouts
With the crate, a dog can still see outside, and may develop barrier frustration if they cannot get to what they see. In addition, my dogs sleep in their crates and they go into their crates for car rides. Therefore, I try to make it into a positive space, that they associate with safety, eating, and sleeping. For timeouts, I use a quiet, very low stimulus room in the house, e.g. the laundry room. I make sure it is safe, but very boring.
In reading your articles I find none that really fit our problem. We have 2 alaskan malamutes. 8 years old & almost 3 years old. We have had both since pups, both females & both dominate. I am the alpha in th pack. The younger has learned to be submisive to the older one rolling to her back when the older puts her in her place. But lately as the yonger approches 3, when Malamutes mature she is starting to stand her ground. It is over her food. They both have there seperate eating places and they know that. But now when the younger one sees the older one staring at her and approching her food she will give out a low warning growl. The older one will not stand for it and charges and I am pulling apart 2 dogs that sound like they are going to kill each other. Please help.
What has helped with my dogs is to establish some clear rules of interaction. I teach them rules of interaction with people and also rules of interaction with other dogs. For example, they are not allowed to hump, and they are also not allowed to steal.
During meal-times, I give each of them their own food toy. I make them work for all of their food either by following house rules, doing obedience commands, grooming, etc. Whatever is left over, I put in food toys. Each of them works on their own food toy and I supervise to make sure there is no stealing. I don’t allow them to stare down one-another, or otherwise challenge one another over resources. If I see anyone starting any of these behaviors, I no-mark (No or Ack-Ack) and I get them to do something else.
In general, I find that it works out best to prevent stealing before it occurs. If there are conflicts, I will step in and deal with it ~before~ it escalates into something more. If a dog manages to steal something, I make sure that the other dog gets back whatever is stolen and more. The one who steals loses her freedom temporarily with a brief timeout.
In this way they learn the following-
Stealing = lose freedom and resources.
They also learn that if there are conflicts, I will handle it. Furthermore, they will get back their stuff and more, so there is no need to use aggression to protect their belongings. I will protect their belongings, and make sure everything is fair and everybody follows the rules.
Here is more on what I do to keep the peace at home.
In cases of aggression, it is always important to keep safety as a top priority. Dogs who are in the middle of a fight, may sometimes redirect their aggression onto us if we try to restrain them. In most aggression cases, it is usually best to get help from a professional trainer and to always use proper safety measures so that nobody gets hurt.
A professional can observe a dog’s body language, identify triggers that are causing the aggression, and come up with a safe re-training plan. Desensitization exercises, for example, can be used to help a dog re-associate negative events (e.g. a dog approaching during meal time) with something positive. It can also be used to teach the dog alternative behaviors for dealing with stress and threats.
i have a 2 yr old lab and when she was a puppy i lived with my in laws that had 2 other dog that were very aggressive towards her. now she is very aggressive towards dogs. i have tried to get other dogs and had to find them new home because she would attack them. is there anything that i can do to try and break her of this. i would love to get her a companion but if i dont break her of this i cant
With Sephy, we did a lot of dog-to-dog desensitization exercises. Desensitization exercises helps the dog to re-associate a previously negative stimulus with something positive. It also teaches him alternative behaviors for dealing with stressful events.
http://shibashake.com/dog/dog-to-dog-aggression#desensitize
Sephy did a lot of desensitization exercises with friendly dogs at a nearby SPCA. The SPCA trainer would initially have the other dog engaged (on-leash), and we would practice the exercises with Sephy from a distance (also on-leash). We did the exercises in a quiet fenced-in compound at the SPCA.
It’s not really a comment but a question. I have a and a half year old unfixed male husky, no matter what I try (he wont even go for a treat while he is out for a walk) he is agressive to any male dog. I have tried distraction and nothing has worked, by chance do you have any tips to get him out of it?
Further more I got him when he was 9 months old I was his 4th home the reason his last owners couldnt keep him was from agression with their old dog that they had to take back, and the other owners were abusive, could this have started his behavior?
That is certainly a possibility. Having to go through abuse, especially at a young age, will often have a big effect on both dogs and people.
Sephy was also dog-reactive when he was younger. Two things that helped him most-
1. Dog-to-dog desensitization exercises (also called systematic desensitization).
The key to desensitization is to train the dog in a structured and controlled environment. Initially, we only expose the dog to a very small amount of the problem stimulus. Small enough that the dog is still able to stay calm and refocus on us.
For example, with Sephy, I would take him to our local SPCA for desensitization training. We start in their enclosed practice yard, with only one very calm dog, at a very far distance. Far enough that Sephy isn’t really reacting. The calm dog is engaged with her trainer, and therefore not paying any attention to Sephy. In this way, the initial “dog-stimulus” is very weak, and at a level that Sephy can cope with.
As you have observed, if the stimulus is too strong, the dog would revert to a rear-brained state, and would no longer be able to refocus or listen.
Once Sephy is able to deal with a weak version of the stimulus, I take one step close to the other dog, get Sephy’s attention, and reward him if he is calm. In this way, I also recondition him to associate other dogs with calmness and positive rewards. I describe this process in greater detail above.
http://shibashake.com/dog/dog-to-dog-aggression#desensitize
2. Neutral experiences
I carefully managed Sephy so that I set him up for success and do not expose him to situations that he cannot handle. The more neutral and positive experiences he has, the more confident he will become with other dogs. Similarly, the more he practices his reactive behavior, the more it will turn into a habit.
First, I started walking Sephy in very quiet areas in our neighborhood. I also shortened our walks but increased their frequency. In this way, most of our walks became positive and both of us started to enjoy them.
Once we were confident with our short, quiet walks, I very slowly increased the environmental challenge. With my Sibe puppies, I started leash training them in our backyard first, then we moved on to very quiet outside areas, then a bit less quiet and so on.
I have a tall 70lb rescue dog that is dog aggressive on leash. Sometimes turns into cujo when he sees another dog, sometimes only if the other dog mouths off first.
I have taken him to several group classes and he pretty much acts like and angel in those situations. Walking in the neighborhood with a dog barking behind a wood fence has gotten much better, I tell him to leave it and he ignores it. Then tonight there were two dogs barking behind the fence so he lost it. I can deal with that and I can turn and walk away or cross the street if another leashed dog comes by.
The problem is there are always loose dogs in the neighborhood. I go to parks where dogs are required to be on leash and someone almost always has one off leash. I am terrified of what will happen if large loose dog runs up to us.
Yeah, off-leash neighborhood dogs are a problem for me as well.
Here are some of my experiences and some suggestions from other dog owners-
http://shibashake.com/dog/off-leash-neighborhood-dogs#comment-16740
It is a very challenging issue to deal with because it is really a people issue, and it is much more difficult to convince people to change.
I have ready your comments on how to deal with Shiba dog aggression and to just walk away/past etc. The problem I am having is that most other dogs in parks etc are off their leads and come running over to my shiba who hasn’t been trusted off the lead after going for another dog a year and a half ago (aged 2 then). This causes a serious headache for me, so I have resulted to picking her up. I know you will tell me this is wrong but what else can I do???
Hello Laura,
Yeah, I know what you mean. I went through something similar with Sephy. Some things that we did-
1. We started going to hiking trails instead of just regular parks. I found that hiking trails have a much lower density of people and dogs, and there were even some trails that have a full on-lead requirement.
2. Adele had a great suggestion – which is to use a “Dog in training” vest. I am thinking of getting one for Lara. I think many people will stay away because they do not want to disrupt a dog in the middle of his lessons. 😀
3. Dog-to-dog desensitization exercises. We also did a lot of desensitization training so that Sephy learned to be more calm around other dogs.
All of your articles are SUPER HELPFUL AND INFORMATIVE!
I was wondering if you had any advice on my particular situation. I now live with three dogs. Mine is Zero (a one year old black Shiba Inu) and he lives with a thirteen year old Chihuahua and five year old Shitzu.
He’s very well trained and takes commands well even when overly excited. He’s also been pretty well socialized.
He’s never gotten along with the girls (the other two dogs), but I assumed that it was because he was young and wanted to play while they are older and like to lounge around.
We run around the lake every morning and he never acts out against other dogs we encounter (although I’ve noticed he’s not particularly fond of visiting the dog park anymore and likes to leave after about five to ten minutes now).
When new people greet him he sometimes jumps up to lick them, but that’s about the only behavioral issue I’ve had with him outdoors.
However, he now will sometimes pin the other two smaller dogs down and has once bit and shook the Chihuahua. The biting incident – I understand to a point as it looked like he was protecting a raw hide.
The pinning concerns me as I assume it’s unprovoked and is causing a bit of tension around the house.
Prior, the girls would nip or bark for him to stay away, but for a while they just kind of stayed very neutral.
I don’t know what’s triggering the pinnings and worry it may progress to full on attacks. Do you have any advice to help solve the issue?
Thank you in advance!
In terms of keeping the peace at home, here are some things that help with my dogs-
1. I set up consistent “interaction rules” for all my dogs and teach them those rules. For example, there is no stealing and no humping. I supervise them during meal-times and play to ensure that the rules are being followed and nobody is getting overwhelmed.
2. I try to prevent conflicts before they occur, and if there are conflicts, I resolve them. In this way, the dogs don’t feel the need to resolve conflicts themselves or escalate to the next level.
3. I try to associate group-time with positive events and do group obedience training sessions. Dogs within a family may sometimes compete for resources, so I try to teach my dogs that they get more “stuff” when they are working together cooperatively with me.
4. I do not give them valuable resources that will encourage stealing/guarding unless they are well supervised. Usually when I give them bully sticks, I separate them so that they can enjoy it in a calm and relaxing environment.
Here are more of the things that I do to keep the peace at home-
http://shibashake.com/dog/second-dog-introducing-a-second-dog
I desperately need some advice. My sheba, Kani, has become very aggressive with other dogs since she was hurt in February. her and I live downstairs and my parents and their two little dogs live upstairs with a child gate keeping the dogs separated. I accidentally left the gate open when getting Kani and she ran straight upstairs and attacked my parents yorkie pin. she grabbed him and shook him and didn’t let go until I grabbed her and pulled her up by her belly. this isn’t the first time it’s happened and I’m at a loss as to why such a change from my girl who used to play at the dog park with 30 dogs and only snarked occassionally when one wouldn’t get away from her back end! I know she hasn’t had any socialization since we moved up with my parents (i’m in nursing school) because there is no dog parks ANYWHERE here and that is my fault but I can’t have her around any dog when she is so aggressive now! It’s not like i expect this to not be a concern, I just don’t want her attacking other dogs like that. and before you ask, the other dog was upstairs in the front room and she ran up the stairs and straight at him and grabbed him (he’s extremely wimpy and just cried). any advice on helping Kani would be GREATLY appreciated!
How was she hurt in February? Did it involve another dog?
Also, Sephy really likes his routine and does not do very well with change. When we moved, I made sure to quickly re-establish his routine and rules at the new house. This helped to calm him down and reduce stress. When did you and Kani move? How was Kani right after the move? How did she react to your parent’s dogs then?
How does Kani react to other dogs during walks?
In terms of retraining, here are some things that helped with Sephy’s reactivity issues-
1. Dog-to-dog desensitization exercises.
This helps him to re-associate meeting and greeting other dogs with calmness and positive outcomes. I first start a far distance away from the other dog, in a quiet and controlled environment. Far enough that Sephy is calm and able to focus on me. Then, I get Sephy’s attention and treat. If all is well, I move one step closer and repeat. I describe more of this above.
2. Neutral experiences and calmness.
I try to stay calm at all times and create neutral experiences during our walks, i.e., we just ignore other dogs and move along. I usually use distance and barriers to help with this process.
3. NILIF and other activities at home.
I try to give Sephy many structured activities to drain his energy. For example, he works for all of his food, he has play sessions in the mornings and evenings, he has a walk in the morning, etc. In this way, he has many positive outlets for his Shiba energy. I also follow the NILIF program.