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AGGRESSION – SOCIAL AGGRESSION TOWARDS UNFAMILIAR DOGS

Why is my dog aggressive to other dogs?

Aggression between dogs can result in injury to dogs and/or to the people trying to separate them.  The behaviour can consist of growling, snarling, barking, lungeing, snapping and biting. It has many causes including social conflict, owner defence, fear, anxiety or inadequate communication between dogs.

Social aggression

This aggression can be elicited by dominant gestures or postures from either dog.  These can include placing head, or feet on the back of the other dog, dominant body postures such as eye contact, high tail and stiff legged approach.  Owners may inadvertently reinforce the behaviour by lead tightening and vocal cues.  These may also signal to the dog that the impending approach is problematic.  Lead restriction does not allow the dog to react with a normal repertoire of responses including body postures, approach and withdrawal.  Some extremely bold or assertive dogs will fight rather than back down when challenged.  Although dominance challenges may be a source of aggression when two dogs are meeting each other for the first time, most dominance hierarchies are established with posturing and not fights.  It is likely therefore that fear, territorial behaviour and/or learned factors contribute to an initial attack.  Dominant aggressive dogs may be over-assertive and/or overprotective if the owners do not have good control or have taken a subordinate position in relationship to the dog.

Territorial aggression toward other dogs

This aggression is primarily exhibited when unfamiliar dogs are on the resident dog’s property or what the aggressor perceives as his territory.  Some dogs get highly aroused at the sight of other dogs on their territory and may jump fences, or go through windows or doors to get to the intruder.

Fear based aggression toward unfamiliar dogs

This sort of aggression is very common in aggressive encounters between dogs.  The diagnosis is made based on the body postures and reaction of the dog when faced with another dog.  The fearful dog will often have the tail tucked, ears back and may lean against the owner or attempt to get behind them.  They may be barking at the approaching dog and backing up at the same time.  Often the dog is avoiding eye contact.  This behaviour may be precipitated by previous aggressive attacks from which the dog could not escape and sustained injury.  Owners that try and calm their aggressive dog may serve to reinforce the aggression, while those that try to punish the dog will only serve to heighten the dog’s fear and anxiety in relationship to the stimulus.  Good and effective control can help to calm the dog, while owners who have their dogs restrained on a lead (especially with a choke chain) and have poor control often have very defensive dogs.  Dogs that are restrained on a lead or tied up are more likely to display aggression when frightened, because they cannot escape.

Learned components of aggression

Learning and conditioning aggravate most forms of inter-dog aggression.  Should threats or aggression result in the retreat (or removal by the owner) of the other dog, the behaviour has been reinforced.  If the owner tries to calm the aggressive dog or distract it with food treats, this may also serve to reward the aggressive behaviour.  One of the most common mistakes is to punish the dog that is aggressive toward other dogs.  This usually serves to heighten the dog's arousal, and teaches the dog that the stimulus (other dog) is associated with unpleasant consequences.  Many owners, in an attempt to gain more control, then increase the level or type of punishment (e.g. ever more severe jerks on the lead) which further heighten the dog’s arousal and in some cases may lead to retaliation and defensive aggression directed at the owners.  If the dog to dog interaction results in pain or injury to one or both dogs, the dogs will quickly learn to become more fearful and aggressive at future meetings.  In short, if the owners cannot successfully control the dog and resolve the situation without heightening the dog’s arousal or increasing its fear, the problem will progress with each subsequent exposure.  

How can I prevent my dog from becoming aggressive with other dogs?

Prevention starts with puppy training and socialisation.  Early and frequent association with other dogs will enable your pet to learn proper interactions and reactions to other dogs.  This can be very helpful in the prevention of aggression to other dogs.

You must have good control of your dog.  Your dog will take contextual cues from you, and may be calmer and less anxious when you are relaxed but in confident control.  Moreover, the dog should reliably respond to commands to sit, stay and quiet.  If necessary, the dog may need a head halter to give you additional control.

For territorial behaviours, it is most important to prevent the dog from engaging in prolonged and out of control aggressive displays both in the home and garden.  Aggressive displays include barking, lungeing, fence running, jumping on doors, windows and fences.  These types of behaviours should be discouraged and prevented.  One important component is teaching your dog a "quiet" command for barking. 

My dog is already aggressive to other dogs.  What can I do?

First and foremost, you must have complete control over your pet.  This not only serves to calm the dog and reduce its anxiety, but also allows you to successfully deal with each encounter with other dogs.  Leads are essential and the use of head collars and/or muzzles is strongly recommended for dogs that will be in situations with multiple dogs. 

Begin by establishing reliable responses to basic obedience commands.  If the dog cannot be taught to sit, stay, come and heel, in the absence of potential problems, then there is no chance that the dog will respond obediently in problematic situations.  Reward selection can be critical in these cases, since the dog needs to be taught that obedient behaviour in the presence of the stimulus (other dog) can produce favoured rewards.  The goal is that the dog learns to associate the approach of other dogs with rewards. 

Long term treatment consists of desensitisation (gradual exposure) and counter-conditioning the dog to accept the approach and greeting of other dogs with obedience and rewards.  This must be done slowly, beginning with situations where the dog can be successfully controlled and rewarded and very slowly progressing to more difficult encounters and environments.  The first step is to perform training for its favoured rewards, in a situation where there are no dogs present and the owner is guaranteed success.  Food or toy prompts can be used at first, but soon the rewards should be hidden and the dog rewarded intermittently.  The selection of favoured food or toys is essential since the goal is that the dog will learn that receiving these favoured rewards is contingent on meeting other dogs. 

Once the dog responds quickly and is receiving rewards on an intermittent basis, training should progress to low level exposure to other dogs.  If the owner’s training and the rewards are not sufficient to control the dog in the absence of the other dogs, then using a lead and head collar, selection of more motivating rewards, and seeking further assistance and guidance from a specialist should be considered.  The next steps in desensitisation and counter conditioning rely on a stimulus gradient.  In other words your dog needs to be controlled, (preferably with lead and head halter) and respond to commands and rewards in the presence of gradually more intense stimuli. 

Begin with a calm, and well-controlled second dog, in an environment where your dog is less anxious or threatened, and at a sufficient distance that your dog will respond to your commands.  Gradually the dog is exposed to dogs at closer distances and in more familiar locations.  Using the head halter and a prompt (reward prompt, set of keys) it should be possible to keep the dog focused on the owner and sufficiently distracted.  While dogs with fear aggression may improve dramatically and learn to greet other dogs; dogs with dominance-related aggression that are trained in this manner do not usually end up greeting other dogs, but learning to walk calmly with their owners and stop initiating fights. 

Dogs that are exhibiting territorial aggression should be retrained in much the same manner, but the gradient of stimuli will need to be adjusted.  Begin in the front hall or on the front porch with no other dogs around.  Then with the dog controlled in the hall or on the porch, other dogs could be brought to the perimeter of the property.  Over subsequent training sessions, the dogs could be brought closer to your dog, or your dog could be moved closer to the other dog. 

Another way to disrupt the undesirable response and get the dog's attention is to use an air alarm or shaker can.  Once the inappropriate behaviour ceases, and you get your dog’s attention, the dog should be redirected to an appropriate behaviour such as play.  The greeting should be repeated, until no threats or aggression are observed.

Success can be achieved in a number of ways, but head collars are generally the most important tool.  Head collars provide enough physical control that the desired behaviour can be achieved (sit, heel) since pulling up and forward, turns the head toward the owner and causes the dog to retreat into a sit position.  With the dog’s head oriented toward the owner and away from the other dog, lungeing and aggression can be prevented, and the dog will usually settle down enough to see and respond to the prompt.  Rewards can and should be given immediately for a proper response (sitting, heeling), and tension reduced on the lead.  If the dog remains under control with the lead slack, the reward (toy, food, affection) should be given, but if the problem behaviour recurs, the lead should be pulled and then released as many times as is necessary to get and maintain the desired response.  The dog’s anxiety quickly diminishes as it learns that the other dog is not to be feared, that there is no opportunity to escape, that its responses will not chase away the other dog, that responding to the owner’s commands will achieve rewards, and that the owner has sufficient control to achieve the desired behaviour.  Also since there is no punishment or discomfort that might further aggravate the situation and rewards are not being given until the desired behaviour appears, fear and anxiety will be further reduced.

Are there drugs that can help the treatment programme?

Occasionally, for fear aggressive dogs in particular, certain drugs may help to calm the dog enough so that the retraining session is successful.  For situations where the problem has become highly conditioned and intense, antidepressants may be useful for regaining control.  In most cases however, the best calming influence is a head collar, good owner control and some strong rewards.