Combating Aggressive Behavior in Your Dog

I recently received this comment on one of my posts:

“I rescued my dog from the Stockton shelter and she is not getting along with any other dog. Please let me know if you have any good tips for dogs with anxiety.”

I know that this can be a tricky situation for all dog owners. The question is how to deal with aggressive dog behavior, especially when you do not know what the dog has been through in its past.

While I am not an expert in the field, I do have some suggestions for how to address this behavior. After doing some reading, it appears that anxiety can be related to high energy/stress environments, previous negative experiences around other dogs (such as fighting), and protectiveness of the owner (i.e. if the dog is on a leash).

These are my suggestions on how to combat the issue:

Aggression in High Energy/Stress Environments:

The best policy is to keep your animal out of these types of environments as much as possible; however, more frequent exposure to over-stimulation, such as the frequent playing of loud music, and periodic exposure to children, will make your dog more predictable in these high-stimuli environments. I would still recommend keeping your dog away from other animals during these times, because it could be the other animals' nervous energy that is raising your own dog's anxiety and causing the aggression.  

Aggression Related to Negative Previous Experiences:

This is one of the more difficult forms of dog aggression to deal with. After consulting The Whole Dog Journal, I would recommend the following course of action:

First, introduce your dog to the other dog’s smell via a towel. Then, allow the two dogs to meet through a neutral fence, but at first do not allow the dogs to see one another, just let them smell one another through the fence, with their vision blocked by a towel. Then, keeping both dogs muzzled, allow them to be in a fenced area together. (Make sure the area is free of food, water, and toys). 

After a half hour, if the dogs are not being aggressive, you can un-muzzle them. If the aggression remains, try the introduction a few other times. After enough familiarity is built, the aggression should subside. 

Aggression While Leashed:

Rather than jerking your dog back and scolding your dog, distract him or her from the other animal. For example, talk animatedly, or stop and feed your dog treats continually until the other dog has walked out of your dog’s field of vision.

Experts say that scolding and physical punishment only reinforce the idea that being around other animals is bad. It teaches your dog to associate punishment with close proximity of other dogs. By distracting them, you begin to break this association. Eventually your dog should learn to ignore the other animals in hopes of receiving treats. After this association is established, you can start only rewarding your animal for non-aggressive behavior while around other animals.

Protective Aggression:

Take your dog somewhere that is neutral territory. I would suggest a park, such as BarkleyVille Dog Park, where there are fenced areas. Do not try to introduce animals somewhere they are familiar with, such as home.

Next, put your dog on one side of the fence and walk to the other side of the fence, so that you are standing in clear view of your dog with the fence between you. Now, have a small dog released into the area where you stand. 

Your dog will probably start barking and growling. Don’t let this discourage you. Instead, keep your voice calm and address your dog saying things like, “It’s OK.” Pet the other dog while addressing your dog for 5-10 minutes. Then, go back to the side of the fence that your animal is on and give him or her lots of love and attention. If your dog seems to have calmed down, you can try letting the two dogs sniff through the fence. 

After doing this once or twice with the same dog, you can try letting them meet without the fence. I would recommend that the person the dog is protective over be present, but removed from the first introduction by 20 feet or so. Then, once the dogs have gotten to know one another and calmed down, you can walk over to where your dog is. 

I would start with a smaller, calm dog that will not come across as threatening. Then, you can work your way up to larger dogs. After conducting the introduction with dogs of all sizes, your dog should be less aggressive and protective of you while in the presence of other dogs.