First and foremost, the best way to solve issues of fear, reactivity, or aggression is to contact a trainer as soon as possible! This page is not meant to replace a trainer, but merely to supplement and remind Paw In Hand clients of what they’ve been learning.
It’s not a bad idea to start off with Conditioned Relaxation, even if you’re unsure of exactly what type of aggression you’re dealing with. As long as you know the triggers and can read your dog’s body language, Conditioned Relaxation can help a ton even without the proper terminology.
Types of Aggression (definitions):
(this is not an exhaustive list)
intrahousehold aggression — aggression within the household (could be any species)
interhousehold aggression — aggression directed toward a non-member of the household
reactivity — the dog is no longer thinking, they’re simply reacting. Often fear/anxiety based
redirected aggression — the dog is frustrated or aggressive toward one being, but when they can’t get at that being, they “redirect” someone else they’re usually friendly with (usually whoever is right next to them)
resource guarding/possessive aggression — the dog shows aggression when they feel their access to a resource (which could be a thing, person, or place) is threatened.
fear aggression — the dog is afraid, so is displaying aggression in an attempt to get the “scary thing” to go away or the scary event to end. This could be a person/another dog/etc or it could be nail trimmers, a brush, being handled, restrained, or picked up, etc.
frustration aggression — the dog shows aggressive displays when they are frustrated. This is similar to a temper tantrum. Dogs can also show aggressive displays when over-excited, especially if they lack self-control or alternative behaviors.
territorial aggression — the dog displays aggression when people enter their territory (their yard/a vehicle/the house) but not outside of their territory. Can be combined with other types of aggression.
protective aggression — the dog displays aggression in an attempt to get the trigger to leave another person/dog/etc alone. This is very often misidentified, and often is fear aggression or possessive aggression instead.
To gain access to the information (if you’ve lost your password), please contact Mel!
Management and Appropriate Goals
Body Language, including calming signals and the Alert-Target-Attack sequence
Equipment and Tools
Triggers, Thresholds, and Scaling Difficulty Levels with Layered Stress
Severity — the Ian Dunbar Fight/Bite Ratio and the Ian Dunbar Bite Scale
Management and Appropriate Goals
The first step to treating aggression is appropriate management. This begins before you even meet with a trainer, usually, and continues sometimes for the lifetime of the dog. This may include leashes, gates, closed doors, kennels, muzzles and more. If you are using a muzzle for management, choose a basket muzzle that is secure and still comfortable for your dog to wear for long periods of time, and be sure to accustom your dog to the muzzle so it doesn’t add additional stress.
It’s also essential to set appropriate goals. A reactive dog who is fearful of other dogs may never really want to play with strange dogs. They can live a full and rewarding life regardless. Meanwhile, a reactive dog who is frustrated by not being able to get to see other dogs may be rewarded for their self-control with play (depending on how their social skills are).
Very often when my clients have a failure, it’s a failure in management, often relaxing management too quickly.
Body Language, including calming signals and the Alert-Target-Attack sequence
A sample of calming signals (in approximate order of severity)
- Eye blinks,
- head turns, shake offs,
- Sniffing (out of context)
- lip licks, tongue flicks,
- paw lifts, yawning, whale eye
Also pay attention to tension in your dog’s body, as well as whether their posture is held forward, backward, or evenly spaced.
See Body Language page with videos for calming signals and for the Alert-Target-Attack sequence.
Equipment and Tools
Equipment – Head halters, harnesses, buckle collars, treats. No choke chains/prong collars/electronic collars (to limit corrections!)
Tools – Counter-conditioning and Desensitization
Triggers, Thresholds, and Scaling Difficulty Levels with Layered Stress
The importance of identifying your dog’s triggers. Some days you may see more than others, because of threshold and layered stress.
Bite threshold and growl threshold
Layered Stress Model
Establishing self-control and new, alternative, healthy behavior over the old habit (but old habits can die hard, so remember your management).
Zones of concern — watch out for any areas with limited space, such as stairways, doorways, entryways, under or between furniture, at the end of hallways, and anywhere a dog’s fight/flight instinct might be triggered.