How Owners Inadvertently Promote Aggression in Their Dogs
Roy from Ry dogs and member of the Canine and Feline Behaviour Association, gives more useful thoughts from his day to day findings when dealing with dog behavioural isssues.
Exerts taken from Aggression in Dogs: Practical Management Prevention and Behaviour Modification: 2002 Brenda Aloff
During my time dealing with dog aggression cases, I have recognised some common threads. Some cases are because of poor, or no, early socialisation, or from a negative experience. However, an increasing number of cases are those where an owner inadvertently promotes aggression. It is rarely done on purpose but is often as a result of a lack of understanding of how the dogs mind works.
Some of the common themes are:
Lack of Supervision
Leaving dogs unattended, especially young ones, at the front of houses, can mean that barking, lunging, or snarling at passers-by or delivery personnel, allows your dog to practice or learn unsavoury behaviours. These behaviours are often as a result of fear towards the pending ‘danger’ but left unchecked it soon becomes a learnt behaviour and can very easily escalate, especially if the threat draws closer.
Lack of Structure
Many of the owners I meet are unaware of the importance of placing limits on their dog’s behaviour. Placing limits to some seems unkind but trust me it is the opposite, especially if you have a dog that struggles to cope with living in a home with humans. Learning lessons like:
· Everything you see isn’t available for the taking.
· You will be crated or be given alone time, even if you don’t want to sometimes.
· People are going to restrain you, even on a lead or by the collar.
· Sometimes you need to lie down and be quiet.
The advantage to teaching your dog about structure and rules is that your relationship with your dog becomes much more co-operative and you reduce conflict. Lack of structure can promote insecurity which can lead to anxiety and reactivity.
Lack of Knowledge
Nearly everyone who comes to me with dog aggression issues have a lack of understanding of a dog’s communication signals and why should they. To make up for the lack of knowledge (notwithstanding the countless Google searches until they find what they want to hear!), owners tend to anthropomorphise, which leads to many wrong assumptions, instead of facts and therefore a misdiagnosis and more confusion for the already confused and anxious dog.
Lack of Management
Dogs and especially puppies, are allowed way too much freedom and allowed to make far too many decisions without the owner giving them timely feedback. A lot of the early period of your puppies life (first 6 months) should be spent establishing rules and setting limits on behaviour. Too many owners create long term problems in the early days of owning a puppy. Good management is directly related to planning ahead. Setting the dog up to succeed and then reinforcing the desired behaviour, is significantly easier when they are young.
People and events need to be managed around your dog and this is the area people seem to struggle with the most. Avoid practising rough play, or over handling an anxious pup. Children and many, many adults, seem to struggle in this area and show no constraint when engaging with the puppy. An overzealous approach to an anxious pup can have long term implications. Poking at the pup, constantly offering food or a toy, and never allowing the pup to ever get possession of it may frustrate the pup to the point of frenzy and be the start of resource guarding actions.
Allowing pup to bark at passers- by (or even acknowledging it with kind words) or when people come to the door, can promote aggression, especially in dogs of certain breeds. Allowing the environment to train your dog guarantees that your dog will learn undesirable behaviours whilst leaving the owner out of the equation.
Lack of Exercise
Once again a common trait and it isn’t always the amount of time spent on a walk but the quality of that walk. A dog constantly asked to fetch a ball, follow the same route, is never allowed off lead and rarely given any metal stimulation on a walk, is a dog that isn’t getting adequate or appropriate exercise.
If you feel it unsafe to take your dog off a lead, take it to one of the increasing number of secure dog fields, failing this keep them on a long line and harness. As you gain control over your dog’s behaviour, you will find walks so much more fulfilling for both you and your dog.
Inadvertent Reinforcement of Fearful Behaviour
Always the controversial one and the one I find most difficulty convincing people about. It is a common human reaction to comfort and reassure a dog (or any animal) who is unsure of the circumstances or is frightened. This only leads to validate the dog’s fearful state at that particular time. The dog will interpret this as their owner’s reassurance as approval of how he/she is behaving at that moment. The owner is in fact, conditioning the dog to remain in a fearful state and behave in a fearful manner, which oftens manifests as aggression towards the stimulus creating the fear. Not all cautious or fearful dogs will definitely display defensive aggression in the future but it does increase the likelihood.
In General
· Stop inadvertently reinforcing aggression
· Stop inadvertently reinforcing fearful behaviour
· Stop punishing aggression- show the dog at a young age, what you want and how to behave. Avoid punishing random aggression without teaching the do the right way to behave, this is unfair and will only make your dog mistrustful of you
· Reinforce appropriate behaviour- seems obvious but I am constantly reminding people to praise their dog when the dog is exhibiting appropriate behaviour
· Do not assume your dog, at social maturity (18-24 months) and beyond, is going to be friendly with every dog they meet. Adult dogs have very different agendas to puppies, so control all of these meetings.