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.
I need some help. I live in Germany and it is an off leash culture here. When owners take their dogs on walks they are off leash and run through open parks or on the street. The dogs will in turn come up to my Shih Tzu mix. She does not like it when they sniff her bottom and she will lunge forward and go after the other dog, sometimes viciously. She does have some ‘friends’ that we see on a regular basis and enjoys those encounters. What do I do, when a dog comes bounding up to my dog??? She gets nervous and there are situations when I can’t just walk quickly by the other dog.
Thanks!
Adele posted an interesting suggestion that may be helpful –
I also did a lot of dog-to-dog desensitization exercises with my Shiba Inu to help raise his dog reactivity threshold.
Here is an article on some of my experiences with off-leash dogs.
I have a staffy cross, we recently got her from a rescue shelter. She has only ever lived in kennels feom 2 months of age and is now 7months old. They told us that she shares a kennel happily with another dog and is great with other dogs whilst being out for walks. We brought her home and all was well until her first encounter with another dog. I thought she would be fine with another dog so i was nervous or worried in any way as i knew the other dog to. Well every time she has greeted another dog she has litterally gone for the other dog. Now when we pass a dog we keep moving. Any suggestions on what may be causing this? Im baffled as they said how great she is with other dogs but it doesnt seem to be the case.
Does she show this behavior with all dogs, or just certain dogs? Talking with the people at the rescue will probably be helpful, to understand what kinds of dogs she prefers and what types of dogs that she may be reactive to.
Where was she rescued from? What circumstances was she in before she was rescued?
Understanding her past, will likely also help us understand her current behavior.
Hi there! I have a wire fox/jack russell mix. Naturally being this breed, I am aware of my dog’s high energy needs. He likes to play with dogs who know who they are, usually older than he and bigger. TOday at the dog park, Waldo (my dog) encountered another dog who was bigger than he and I figured the two would get along great (i later learned the dog was only 5 months old). Waldo was met with alot of barking dogs at the park, all pushing their way up against the fence until Waldo came in. Waldo is familiar with most of the dogs and they all know him to be the fastest and quickest of them all. Granted dogs all barking at one dog makes it hard for the one (which was Waldo but he can more than stand his own) The owner was overly protective from the get-go and proceeded to separate the two. This made Waldo upset and as she proceeded to do so, Waldo lunged at the dog. (I am still unsure why this seems to rile him up even more). I never engage myself in the middle but also redirect myself to pull Waldo from behind. I have to re-instate my position in the pack and Waldo is pinned on his back. After the altercation ended, the dog owner came back to the park and proceeded to have me force my dog to stand in a submissive position with his but to her dog. If the dominant structure has been established, how would this be beneficial? The owner proceeded to ask me if I was afraid of my dog or did not have control of him which was very offensive. Telling me her dog was traumatized and that this was going to help, I initially went along. Her final comments asking me if I know anything about dog psychology pushed me over the edge. Even still, her dog did not want to sniff Waldo’s private but sat in a very submissive position behind the owner. Seeing as this was 10 min after the fact, would this have even mattered?
Here is what I think of dog dominance and dog psychology.
Here is a short but useful article on dominance and dog aggression from UC Davis.
Hello, our dog is a lab/boxer/coon hound that turned 2 earlier this year, we rescued her and she seems to get along well with dogs her size and larger but has a very high aggression to small dogs or slightly smaller dogs then her. Every time we go on a walk in our neighborhood we seem to encounter one and I think I do end up tightening and tensing up cause I know how she’ll react. She growls, lunges, jumps against me, barks and does everything to get to the other dog. And all of the owners are all elderly! I feel terrible cause I can’t control her and she’s well behaved for most of the time at home and when we’re walking. I’m starting to see some aggression towards other dogs as well, just random ones. Where should I start to break her of this?
When my Shiba Inu, Sephy, was young, he was pretty reactive towards other dogs. I did a lot of dog-to-dog desensitization exercises with him to get him to be more calm and relaxed around other dogs. With desensitization, it is important to always start with a weak version of the problem stimulus.
With other dogs, I use distance to weaken the stimulus, and then train Sephy to associate other dogs with being calm and with positive outcomes. I talk more about it in the article above.
During the retraining process, I also try to set Sephy up for success, and only expose him to situations that I know he can handle, during our walks. I make sure to create positive, or at worst neutral experiences by using distance and barriers. The less Sephy practices his reactive lunging behavior, the less it will become a habit.
Hello, I have a Australian Shepard mix, turning one tomorrow. The biggest issue he has is his reacting to my significant others French bull dog. I understand he feels the need to defend himself, but ideally I want him to ignore the bull dog when it stats to bark. How do I train my dog to not react to the bull dogs reactions????
With Sephy, I used dog-to-dog desensitization exercises. The key is to first weaken the strength of the stimulus by using distance. Then, I slowly build up his tolerance and teach him alternate behaviors for dealing with the stressful stimulus.
Hi, I have a rescue 11mnth old border collie, he has been very good socially with 99% of the dogs he has been introduced to. He has however taken a dislike to a boxer and black lab for reasons I cannot explain. The boxer he used to run about with, but now tries to nip everytime he sees him, and the boxer is now scared to move when he is around. He can be obsessive about dogs and people who he feels he must greet if he is off the lead. I keep him on the lead when I am in areas where he is more likely to encounter these stimuli so I can control him and move on, but he does get exercise off the lead at other time which I feel is very important. I would like to know your suggestions as to the first steps to take to get him over his issue with the boxer. I have with the black lab tried walking together a distance apart, and when calmer reducing the distance, he walked perfectly alongside her whilst moving, but as soon as the walk was over he reverted to not liking her. Any comments or suggestions would be great. Thanks
Sounds like he may be trying to herd them. Where does he try to nip?
What does he do when the walk is over? How does the Lab respond? Does he do the nipping behavior as well or something else? Is there anything else that he does to indicate “not liking her”?
Border Collies are very high energy and they can be very intense about their “job”. Since they are bred to herd, they may try to herd people and other dogs, unless redirected into doing something else.
What helps with my Huskies is to have a variety of structured activities that I can use to redirect their energy.
1. I make them work for all of their food, for example through obedience sessions, grooming, play-time, walks, etc. What is left over, I put in interactive food toys. I also follow the Nothing in Life is Free program with all of my dogs.
2. They like to dig, so when we go on walks I take them to places where they get to dig and hunt for earth critters. We also left a large section of the backyard un-landscaped so that they can dig and have fun.
3. They also like playing chasing games so I play the flirt pole with them – but with clear play-rules. None of my dogs are into Fetch, but several people have told me that their Border Collies really enjoy it.
4. Recall training and joint activity. Many work dogs enjoy doing cooperative activities with their people. Agility and various dog sports can help to refocus a dog’s attention into working together with us. There are also places that do herding training.
In terms of helping my dogs get along while at home, here are some of the things that I do.
Hi thanks for your reply it was helpful. In response to your questions. He normally mouths/nips around the face and chest area.
With the lab when we had finished walking he lunged at her with vocalisation attached. she responded with a similar reaction which then cause a small fight which did stop when I shouted at them. He now barks and put his hackles up everytime he see’s her.
Ahhh, ok. With herding, a dog will usually nip at the heels of another dog so it doesn’t sound like it.
With Sephy, doing dog-to-dog desensitization exercises was helpful to get him to be more calm and comfortable around other dogs. I start with a weakened version of the stimulus, in a quiet, enclosed training environment. I have Sephy on-leash a far distance away from the other dog, who is also calm, on-leash, and focused on her trainer.
Then, I get Sephy’s attention, do very simple obedience commands with him, and reward him very well. With desensitization, we try to teach our dog’s to re-associate the problem stimulus with positive experiences and outcomes. We also teach him to use alternative behaviors when under stress.
I describe more of our desensitization experiences in the last section above.
I have a 3 year offs Lab/Pit/Beagle. She is literally the best dog I have ever owned. She does not bark at anyone – not even people who come to the door – she has never growled, nipped or anything. I have 3 kids who have rough housed with her and she could care less. She even gets along with our cat. However, get her outside and she does not get along with any other animals. My daughters can’t take her on a walk because if another dog walks by they can’t handle her. People in our neighbourhood complained to our HOA about her and I really believe that it’s because you can see the Pit in her and the ridiculous way she acts when other dogs are around. I always ignore other people and dogs when we are walking and Ellee does continue to walk with me but, for instance, if a dog gets too close she tries to attack. It’s getting so embarrassing. Is there anything I can do or do we need professional help. I was even considering a shock collar to discourage her behaviour. Thanks!
Hello Laurie,
With my Shiba Inu, Sephy, I did a lot of desensitization exercises with him to raise his comfort level around other dogs. The nice thing about desensitization is that we start off with a very weak version of the stimulus, and then slowly work our way up.
As you have observed, distance is very important when it comes to reactivity to other dogs. Therefore, when we first started training Sephy, I had him far away from the other “training dog”. The other dog was leashed and with her trainer, and Sephy is leashed and with me. I get Sephy to focus on me, we do commands, and he gets rewarded well for staying calm and working with me. If he is relaxed and doing well, I move one step closer to the other dog and so on. I describe more of our experiences in the desensitization section above.
During walks, I am very careful with Sephy and do not expose him to more than he can handle. In the beginning, he could not handle dogs being too close, so we made sure to stay a safe distance away. I walked him in more quiet parts of the neighborhood and also at non-popular hours. As his tolerance level grew, I could try a bit more, but I always take his preferences into account. For example, he does not like dominant dogs and he does not like new dogs sniffing his butt.
With Sephy, we worked with a trainer at our nearby SPCA. It was great because she had access to many different friendly and not-so-friendly dogs that we could work with, in a structured way. Trainers associated with good dog daycare centers usually also have access to many dogs that they can use in their sessions.
I have an extremely dog-aggressive German Shepherd and I want to know what the FIRST step I should take is. He is 6 years old and was never socialized very well when he came into my care. The second he sees another dog, he will try to attack it, and I don’t know if there’s anything I can do to change this behavior because he becomes obsessive over the dog the second he sees it.
I am never fearful before these encounters and I don’t immediately tighten his leash, so I don’t think my attitude is his trigger.
Any tips?
Thank you. C:
I did a lot of dog-to-dog desensitization and counter conditioning exercises with Sephy to help with his dog reactivity issues. The key with desensitization is to only expose Sephy to a very weak version of the stimulus initially, weak enough that he can tolerate it and still focus on me.
In the case of other dogs, we first practiced with very calm dogs from a far distance away. We did the exercises in a quiet, enclosed space, at our nearby SPCA, with a trainer there. Both dogs are leashed and with their respective trainers. Both calmness of the dog and especially distance helps to weaken the stimulus, so that Sephy is still able to focus and listen to me. In this way, I can slowly raise his reactivity threshold and teach him new behaviors to deal with his stress.
I describe more of our desensitization experiences above.
The first step I took, was to look for a good trainer with some nice dogs that she can use to work with Sephy.
HI. I have a female border collie who is just under 6 months old. She gets on very well and shows no aggression at all to our 4 year old Jack Russel or to any member of our family. However when out walking she barks excessively and growls at any dog we meet.
What would you advise to be the best way to right this?
Some things that helped with my Shiba Inu’s dog reactivity issues-
1. Controlling my own energy. The more calm and decisive I am with Sephy, the more calm he is as well.
2. Create neutral experiences. I create space, we ignore other dogs, and move along.
3. Dog-to-dog desensitization exercises.
I took in my neighbors dog, Oliver, when they lost their home. He is a german Shepard, blue healer, coyote mix – 4years old. Extremely people friendly but very dog aggressive. He came from a home with 3 other dogs and was familiar with my own small dog. He bit my small dog the first week, but I haven’t seen any aggressive behaviors since. My cousins came to visit and brought their 3 month old brown Lab and my dog freaked out. I mean barring teeth, growling and snap biting. It was scary and I guarantee if he wasn’t on a leash he would of attacked their dog. I found out that our neighbors used to have a pit bull and Oliver and him would fight when he was younger. Can this behavior be fixed? Or is it too late? I love this dog. He jumps in bed with my 4 year old and is as sweet as can be even when the house has tons of yelling kids for a party.
Please help!!!
Dogs may get aggressive over resources, e.g. food, toys, space, etc. Dogs may also guard their house/den and try to protect their family from strangers. Dogs may also get aggressive when they feel threatened. A common method of retraining is through desensitization and counter-conditioning. With desensitization we try to raise the dog’s instinct threshold and also teach him to deal with stress through alternative behaviors.
This article gives a nice general description of desensitization and counter-conditioning-
http://www.peninsulahumanesociety.org/resource/pdf/dog/DesensitizationCounterconditioning.pdf
Given the degree of aggression and his history, it is probably best to get help from a professional trainer. A good trainer will be able to observe the dog’s body language, identify his aggression triggers, and help develop an effective and safe plan for retraining.
Here is how I went about finding a trainer for my Shiba Inu.