It can mean anything from staring, jumping, showing teeth, lunging, growling, barking, or the terrible B-word – biting.

Usually, aggression is used to describe dogs that overact to a stimuli (e.g. another dog, a stranger, food).

Reactivity is a new, perhaps less negative term, coined to describe the same behavior. Some trainers use aggression to describe dogs that overact as a result of dominance and reactivity to describe dogs that overact as a result of fear.

These terms, however, are just labels, and it is not useful to overly focus on which label to use.

The important thing is to recognize extreme behavior in our dogs, which causes us to lose control.

Dog Aggression - What Does it Mean?

Mouthing and showing teeth in one context may just be play, while in another, it may be dangerous.

What constitutes extreme behavior varies from person to person, and is dependent on context. Mouthing and showing teeth in one context may just be play (top and right), while in another, it may be dangerous.

A problem only arises when the human/owner is not in control of the situation.

If your dog is biting you and causing puncture wounds, it is best to seek help from a professional dog trainer.

My Experiences with Dog Aggression

Don't let that cute face fool you - He is a terror that flaps in the night!

I was very embarrassed, shocked, and worried when my Shiba first showed signs of aggression. It happened four days after we brought him home (at 10 weeks old), when we took him to the vet.

The vet was very afraid of him and had to muzzle him to do an examination. She later recommended that we return him to the breeder. I never visited with this poor vet again, but at the time it was very difficult not to be embarrassed, and try to show that we were good dog parents by scolding and punishing our Shiba.

Many of my neighbors also gave us the ‘you are such a bad dog parent‘ look.

Because I was so embarrassed I made some very bad mistakes. The worst was using alpha rolls and other aversive techniques including leash jerks with him. My embarrassment also caused me to get angry, and frustrated with my dog.

I was jealous and hurt when my dog would behave better with other people. After all, I feed him and take care of him most of the time, why should he misbehave most with me?

Although it is very natural to have such feelings, they are very detrimental to helping a dog with his reactivity or aggression issues.

With proper reward training, Shiba Sephy is now less of a terror and more of a lover.

Dog Aggression and Love

Remember that your dog’s behavior is a result of behavior conditioning, and not from lack of love

It is natural for us to place our own, very human values and expectations upon our dogs but that is not the way they think.

Dogs respond to conditioning (classical and operant). Dogs will repeat behaviors that have good results and reduce behaviors that have bad results.

What constitutes a good or bad result can sometimes vary from dog to dog. If your dog is showing aggressive behaviors that are continuing to escalate, then he is inadvertently being rewarded for that bad behavior.

• Does he get to go on a walk when he jumps up on you and makes a pest of himself?
• Does he get to smell the other dog by whining loudly and lunging?
• Does nail clipping stop when he mouths or bites you?
• Do you back away when he growls and shows teeth?

If so, then your dog is getting what he wants through aggressive behaviors and will continue those behaviors.

Once we accept that our dogs are not acting out of hate, jealousy, or some other human emotion, we can move on and start reshaping their behavior by changing the consequences of their actions.

Reshaping dog behavior by rewarding desirable actions, and not rewarding aggression.

Dog Aggression and Other People

Do not worry about what strangers think. Your dog’s welfare is a lot more important.

Actively watch out for feelings of embarrassment, anger and frustration and try to redirect yourself to a more positive frame of mind. Rather than focus on the judgment of strangers –

• Think about the fun you had with your dog just this morning and how cute he looked with cheese bits all over his muzzle and his tongue hanging out in a goofy smile.
• Carry some happy pictures of your dog with you to help redirect your negative feelings.
• Remove yourself and your dog from the unpleasant stimulus as soon as possible.

Dog Aggression and Breed

Some dog breeds may be more prone to reactive or aggressive behaviors. Breeds that are strong-willed, stubborn, and independent will have a higher propensity for challenging you, and displaying aggression in that process.

Breeds that have a strong prey drive may easily become over-excited when they spot prey (e.g. squirrels, cats) and redirect that energy onto you if you thwart their instinct to chase.

Similarly, a strong protective drive may result in using aggression to guard territory, food, toys, or other resources.

More primitive dog breeds often have a lower reactivity threshold. I.e., they may easily go rear-brained when excited, stressed, or fearful.

Make sure to take your dog’s temperament and natural breed instinct into account while retraining his aggressive behaviors.

Breeds that are strong-willed, stubborn, and independent will have a higher propensity for challenging you, and displaying aggression in that process.

Dog Aggression – What to Expect

Dealing with dog aggression can be difficult, and may take a long time to fix, but …

• The rewards are well worth the trouble.
  The journey will reveal many things not just about your dog, but also about youself. In the process, you will develop a special relationship and strong bond with your dog – and that in itself is priceless.
• Things will get better.
  Many dog owners are going through the same thing, and their dog’s behavior has and continue to improve.

When the world says, "Give up,"
Hope whispers, "Try it one more time."
~~[ Author Unknown ]

• Your dog will challenge you less as he matures.
  … but he may keep challenging you. That is one of the joys of dog ownership 😀

If you are having aggression issues with your dog, know that you are not alone. I had many aggression issues with my Shiba Inu.

There are also many touching stories from the Toronto Shiba Meetup and Dogster about dealing with dog aggression.

More on Aggression

• Aggression: The Humane Society of the United States
• Behavioral View on Dog Aggression
• Desensitizing your Dog with Clicker Training

Canine Body Language

• Calming Signals: An article about Turid Rugaas.
• How to Interpret Your Dog’s Body Language, Facial Expressions and Vocalizations

My Shiba Inu used to have the worst bouts of aggressive leash biting. He would jump up on me, grab my jacket sleeve, and shake his head very rigorously, in what I call the kill-move (the shaking, head tossing motion that animals make to kill prey).

Pack Leader To An Aggressive Dog.

The more fearful I got of my dog, the more aggressive he became. He started humping my leg, and attacked the leash whenever I held it. Thankfully, he never broke skin, because of bite inhibition training. Nevertheless, I dreaded walking my dog, or even just being with him.

Here are some techniques that helped me conquer my fear, and become pack leader to my aggressive dog.

The more fearful I got of my dog, the more aggressive he became.

1. Practice calm energy

Cesar Milan, The Dog Whisperer always emphasizes the importance of projecting calm energy, especially when interacting with an aggressive dog. If we interact with a dog using nervous, submissive, fearful, or otherwise unbalanced energy, the dog may pick up on that, get stressed himself, and behave badly or start showing aggression.

Some techniques that helped me remain calm include:

• Taking deep breaths and focusing on breathing to remain calm.
• Actively thinking of something else, whenever I start to get stressed about what my dog might do.
• Using the “tsch” from Cesar Millan. No, it is not a magical sound for calming dogs, but it helps to remind me to stay calm.
• Walking with an assertive posture (shoulders back, head up).

In addition, make sure that we are not putting undue tension on the leash.

The thing that helped me most was to imagine the worst that my dog could do. In the leash biting case, it was a bite to my hand or arm. I decided that for my Shiba Inu, I could deal with some bites. If he did that, I would hold firm, get him home as quickly as possible, and thus end the fun walk. If he continued to bite at me or the leash once we are home, I can put him directly in a time-out area. In this way, he learns that –

Biting on leash = End of walk or temporary loss of freedom,
No biting on leash = Fun walk and exploration continues.

Once I had a plan for dealing with the worst, I became less fearful.

Once my energy improved, my dog’s bad behavior also improved significantly.

2. Have a drag-lead on our dog and keep him on a schedule

Have a drag-lead on our dog and keep him on a schedule.

When our dog does something undesirable, it is always our reflex to chase after him. However, we will quickly realize that our dog can run much faster than we can!

To get better control of my dog and avoid chasing games, I usually put a drag-lead on him. Initially, I use a longer leash so that I can control him without being close to his mouth.

Only use a flat collar with the drag lead and NOT an aversive collar. Some example aversive collars include the prong collar and choke chain.

Also remember that while dealing with an aggressive dog, safety is of the utmost importance. If necessary, I muzzle my dog with a basket muzzle. A dog can still chew with a basket muzzle, and it is less restraining. To make the muzzling process less stressful, we may want to desensitize our dog to the muzzle, by pairing it with food and fun.

Both Siberian Husky puppy Shania and Shiba Inu Sephy have drag leads on in case play gets out of control.

3. Have clear and consistent rules for our dog at all times

Have clear and consistent rules for our dog at all times.

Fun scratch session continues as long as there is no biting on hands.

In the beginning, we want to be more strict with our dog. Institute more rules so that we have many opportunities to show our dog, that we are the boss.

If my dog does not follow the rules, then he does not get his most desired resources, for example, access of the backyard, walks, yummy dog treats, fun dog toys, play time, and access to pack members.

One of the best ways to become pack leader is to control his resources by following the Nothing in Life is Free (NILIF) program.

This just means that our dog does not get anything, until he does something for us first.

I do not give my dog all of his food on a silver platter. Instead, I use it for dog training, grooming, and other activities. I don’t leave food or high priority resources (e.g. food toys) out for him to use whenever he wants. Being the boss means that I control the key resources, and I decide when, where, and for how long he gets access to those resources. Of course, I also make sure that my dog has many opportunities to work for all the things that he wants.

Some useful rules to establish and maintain pack leadership include:

• No getting on furniture.
• Sit calmly before going through doorways, and only go through on command.
• No jumping on people.
• No leash biting.
• No food aggression. Must release resource (food, toys, or other items) on command.
• Absolutely no growling, barring of teeth, mouthing, or biting of people.

Once we gain some confidence and our dog is behaving better, we may relax some of these rules.

Must work and lie calmly for food.

4. More walks of shorter duration

More walks of shorter duration.

Most aggressive behaviors occur on neighborhood walks because that is when our dog is exposed to the most interesting stimuli (e.g. other dogs, cats, squirrels, people). On walks, we also have less control over the environment, and may not easily and quickly get our dog under control.

When I had troubles with my Shiba Inu, I shortened our walks but increased their frequency.

First, I would walk him in a heel position inside the house. Doing the heel exercise helps to put me in a pack leader mindset, and enforces my leadership status. In addition, if my dog starts any aggressive behaviors, I can more effectively stop him.

Once we are ready to go, we practice manners at the door. This helps to further secure my leadership role. My dog has to sit calmly while I open and close the door. If he remains calm, we can leave and start the walk.

Initially, I walked my dog close to the house, so that I can quickly end the walk, get him home, and put him on a time-out if he shows any aggression. As we started to have more and more successful short walks, I was able to gain more confidence, and control my fear. When things started improving, I slowly increased the distance and duration of the walk.

When I had troubles with my Shiba Inu, I shortened our walks but increased their frequency

5. Address aggressive behaviors as soon as possible

Address aggressive behaviors as soon as possible.

No food aggression or food guarding.

A good pack leader is a vigilant pack leader. Watch our dog closely, especially when he is young (< 1 year old). Stop any aggressive behaviors as soon as we see them.

If we do not address aggression issues early, our dog will likely escalate his behavior, and start practicing aggression in a broader range of contexts. Once this occurs, it will be harder to break him of the habit.

I do not let my dog leash bite, show teeth, growl, or mouth at me. Any of these offenses will get him a warning (ack ack). If he continues, he gets a time-out. I carefully manage the everyday details of our time together, so that I set both of us up for success.

Proper management can significantly increase the number of successes, reduce the number of aggressive episodes, and help us  become a good pack leader.

For aggression issues between two family dogs, please refer to Introducing a Second Dog into the Home.

Proper management can significantly increase the number of successes, reduce the number of aggressive episodes, and help us become a good pack leader