Living With Aggression

It's been a busy week and unfortunately several appointments have involved helping dog owners dealing with aggression.  It's incredibly difficult for many dog owners to face the reality of life with an aggressive dog.  Even though the majority of dogs experiencing aggression aren't aggressive all the time (in fact most aggressive dogs are seemingly fine right up until the point that they are not), the often unpredictability of the behavior makes long term management challenging. And the bottom line is this:  Whether a dog owner will be able to manage their aggressive dog's behavior depends on several factors.  Depending on how you decide to break down the different ways dogs can behave aggressively (i.e. the motivation behind the behavior), most people agree that they are at least 14 different types of aggression seen in dogs. Some of those forms of aggression may be easier to manage, while others may simply be deal breakers for the dog owners.  And no matter what anyone says, the decision regarding whether to manage a dog with aggression, and how that will work for you and your family, are decisions that only you can make.  No one should ever pass judgement on you one way or the other, whether you decide to manage the dog, give the dog up, or humanely euthanize them. Only you know whether you are in a position to make management feasible.  Let's look at a few examples that I've seen recently.  I've changed a few details to protect the privacy of my clients as that's another thing about dealing with aggressive dogs; their owners are sad, aggravated, devastated, furious, frustrated, and embarrassed, feeling singled out by their family members, neighbors, friends, etc. 

One of the young dogs I saw this week suffers from resource guarding aggression .  He guards his bed, one of his favorite toys, and real bones.  He's fine with having his food and food bowl handled, doesn't care about his body being groomed or his nails trimmed.  Occasionally he will growl if you wake him up on the sofa, but that doesn't happen all time.  I've asked the owners to take away the favored toy permanently and not give him any real bones ever again.  I've asked them to bring his crate back inside from the garage and start using it again.  He always loved his crate and used to nap in there regularly.  The humans removed the crate because it took up space in their family room.  By bringing the crate back and putting the dog's bed back in the crate, his protection of his space will be easier to accommodate and manage.  If the dog is in his crate, they can just leave him alone.  Interestingly enough, he never once guarded the bed when it was in the crate previously.  I've asked them to redirect him off of the sofa when he first jumps up there, but if he's asleep when they find him there, they need to make a noise at a distance that wakes him up and then redirect him off the sofa and to his crate to nap.  My hope is that by returning the crate to this dog, he'll feel less anxious about where he's sleeping.  He may miss his favorite toy and real bones for a while, but he'll get over it. Like many dogs, he has a ton of other toys to play with and can get his chewing time in on bully sticks, frozen Kongs, Nylabones, etc. that he never guards.  Luckily, I saw this dog before he escalated from freezing, growling, snapping to lunging and biting.  That isn't always the case, however. Sometimes I don't hear from owners until someone has been bitten.  Or a few someones have been bitten :(

Another client has a young adult dog who has now bitten four people; three of these bites occurred to gardeners, repair people, or delivery folks.  The fourth bite occurred when they took the dog to their kid's baseball tournament.  They had been advised to use an electronic/shock collar on the dog after the first bite, so that's what they've been doing.  The dog wears the electronic collar all the time and receives varying levels of shocks for any aggressive behavior.  The dog was shocked for each of the three subsequent bites after being fitted with the collar in the first place.  The dog's behavior is not improving and the last bite happened to someone who actually knows me and suggested that these dog owners seek professional help.   I sent these owner instructions on muzzle training their dog before our appointment.  When I arrived the dog was muzzled and happily trotting around in their yard.  I explained the liability involved with keeping a dog like this long term and that they need to change the way they view this dog; yes, she is a family member, but where she can go and what situations they put her in needs to be restricted.  She is crate trained, so she should be in her crate anytime they have workers in their home or yard.  When she is walked, she needs to wear her muzzle.  She should not be taken to places like ball games where people congregate and will approach without much warning.  You can't change other people's behavior, but you can change what you force your dog to deal with.  This dog has zero interest in meeting new people; she likes who she likes and she loves her family.  She has protective aggression and territorial aggression.  She and I got along fine because I pretended she didn't exist. I never made eye contact or tried to touch her.  She sniffed me several times, even choosing to sit near me once, but basically she wanted to lay near her owners and watch me from across the room.  I told the owners that muzzles can be like on/off switches for dogs such that dogs learn what they can and cannot do while wearing them.  Thus it falls on the humans to make sure that they don't put their muzzled dogs into situations where they feel triggered, over-stimulated, and anxious.  Yes, they can't bite someone with a muzzle on, but they are still anxious.  Your job as the handler of an aggressive dog wearing a muzzle is to NOT put them in situations where they feel triggered.  Luckily, most strangers won't try to approach or pet a dog wearing a muzzle, but the same goes for visitors and guests as well.  Muzzle the dog when people come over and tell people to just ignore the dog.  Most territorial and protective dogs aren't "gunning for people to bite, " rather they are responding to people invading their space, touching their people, or trying to touch them.  Leave them alone and they leave you alone. 

One last case, and this one breaks my heart.  My clients have had their dog for over five years.  They just had a baby and their dog is very anxious about this new, little human in the house.  The dog has barked at, lunged at, and actually nipped at the baby's dangling foot while the mother was nursing the baby.  They've tried giving the dog treats when the baby is around, letting the dog be in the same room in his crate or x-pen, etc.  The grandparents are furious that this dog is even still alive, let alone in the same house with their grandchild.  This is creating a huge amount of friction for everyone in this family.  Now the baby has colic and is very agitated almost all of the time.  The screaming/crying baby has caused this dog to actually bite dad when he stepped in to block the dog from getting near the baby's crib.  While I can understand this dog's anxiety (he's never been around children and is a rather anxious dog to begin with, particularly with noises), this situation is untenable long term.  This dog isn't safe in this home and neither are the humans.  This dog will bite again.  He needs to live in a quiet, child-free home.  The problem is that placing a dog that bites isn't easy and these owners don't have time to spend trying to find a home for their anxious, biting dog.  In the short term, the dog is living with a friend who has no kids and works from home, but they aren't interested in keeping the dog long term as the dog does chase cats and she has three cats in her home.  These owners need to decide whether to surrender this dog to the shelter, knowing that he may be euthanized there because he's a dog with a bite history and some existing issues in anxiety otherwise as well, or make that heart-breaking decision to have him euthanized by their own veterinarian.  They've spoken to their vet (as have I) and their vet is an understanding and compassionate soul who doesn't want to think about a dog in a home with a baby and his risk for another bite. 

These are just a few examples, but they do illustrate the wide range of ways that aggression can manifest in dogs and varying ways that dog owners can manage the behaviors they are seeing.  Management is never easy, but in some cases it is possible.  But not always.  Dogs who bite will bite again if we don't keep them from doing so, either by restricting their access to triggers, wearing a muzzle, or re-homing them into a situation where their triggers don't exist.  Each of these dog owners brushed off the first (or the first handful) of aggressive behaviors their dogs exhibited.  I know it's hard to acknowledge that your dog is aggressive as many feel like it's their fault their dogs behave this way, but ignoring or explaining away the behavior won't make it go away.  Neither will putting an electronic collar on the dog and shocking him when he behaves aggressively.  If anything, that strategy is likely to backfire, making the behavior worse as the dog gets frustrated and redirects their aggression on you.  Shocking a fearful/anxious/aggressive dog just reinforces that whatever triggered their aggression in the first place is bad and they were right to feel anxious and react.

If you are dealing with issues in aggression, please let me help you.  I just want to see that your dog, and your family, are safe, whether that's safe from a bite, or safe from liability. Whether you keep your aggressive dog, or not, is not for me to decide.  Only you know whether that is something you can do and I won't be judging you either way. 

As always, if you have questions about your pet's behavior, you know where to find me.

Would you want to reach down and take this dog's bone away?