Originally Posted by
Lotsadogs
Seems like you had some great advice from someone! Well done for taking the time and making the effort. Any chance you could share what helped you resolved the issue so that others might learn too?
There are a variety of different reasons why a dog is aggressive and it occurs under different circumstances, so I firmly believe that the solution to this varies according to the need of the dog. What worked for me, may not work for another and in fact may not be appropriate at all - particularly a fearful dog!
My first objective was to understand why she was behaving as she was. The most common cause of aggression is fear, and although my dog trainer was convinced her behaviour was due to fear - I didn't agree.
I sought advise from 3 different behaviourists and got 3 different answers of how to deal with it. The common thread from all 3 was that she was not fear aggressive. I got her when she was 18 months old and I think the problem was due to lack of socialisation in her youth. I was told by and agree with the behaviourists that she was just cheeky Madame, who was rude to other dogs and it had just become a habit. It is possible that she had behaved like this when very young, wasn't told off for it, and got rewarded by the action, so over time it became a habit. The majority of dogs she barged at on walks were so shocked by her behaviour that she was hardly ever told off by another dog for it, which just re-enforced the habit. I also concluded that she needed something to tell her off, but the timing had to be absolutely precis, which I couldn't do when standing 200 yards away from her.
Behaviourist 1 recommended removing the unwanted behaviour through a process of illimination i.e. not to allow my dog to have access to any other dogs, apart from the teaching dogs who would not accept bad manners from another dog. I didn't persue this, primarily as it wasn't practical for me to take this path, avoiding other dogs on a daily basis was impossible for me - although I had other reservations about the suitability specifically for my dog, although it would be an appropriate method for others.
Behaviourist 2 offered classes every weekend. Attendees are taught how to use a halti correctly, particularly when walking an aggressive dog. The next lesson is to learn how to spot when the dog has eyed something and how to prevent the aggression occuring i.e. to distract the dog into doing something else. An important factor here, is that the dog must be accepting to the owner being the leader and also trust that the owner will protect it/be responsible for what is going on. It's amazing what a difference that can make. Numerous exercises are also done whereby dogs and owners walk round in a field, from different directions, so over time the dog becomes used to people and dogs approaching, walking away etc., and the owner learns how to manage the dog under these situations. I discovered that in a session initially the dogs are unsettled and need some time to adjust to it, so, over time in the same session they gradually calm down. We also did a variety of exercises of standing in circles, weaving in and out so that the dogs became used to being closer to another one, or another one is stand in rows opposite each other and the end two walk down the centre of the line and back round to the top. There are a number of different things that can be done, to keep up the variety, as well as commands, sit, stay, down etc. The whole objective is to be doing things with many other dogs around. The session were long, however I found this to be benefical as it takes a while for highly reactive dogs to calm down, and its only when they are calm that they can learn. I would return home, totally exhorsted for the rest of the day - and the first time I did it, Beth (my dog) didn't stir from her bed until the next day. As I said before this wouldn't be everyone's cup of tea, primarily as this group caters for the competitve breeds, like GSDs, so some of the dogs there have bad aggressive issues. I attended about 8 of these sessions over 4 months.
By this time, I was doing a dog behaviourial course, which I have now completed. I found the literature available on this subject confusing due to the different views and opinions, so wanted to understand the subject in more detail - and this certainly helped me to formulate my own views.
Also in parrellel with the above, my partner and I discussed what would be best for Beth and concluded that she needed to be told off when she charged in and didn't respond to a recall. We decided to get a remote control spray collar. I got one which has a setting that emits a sound. This is
NOT appropriate for a fear aggressive dog, as it could have the opposite affect of frighting the dog even more and the dog could become very confused, consequently the behaviour would become worse. My partner and I thought long and hard about this approach over several months before taking this route. The first time I used it, I made absolutely sure that she had heard the recall when she was charging at another dog, had an opportunity to respond and choose not to, then used the sound - she immediately came back to me. Though I will say at this stage, I could spot when she was likely to charge and would distract her into doing something else, however I was managing the problem, rather than illiminating the behaviour. I can tell by the position of her tail and watching her body movements, such as where she was looking as to whether she was likely to react or not. I must have had the devise on for about 6 weeks (though didn't need to use it much, less than 10 times) and now removed it completely. I was a bit hesitant in writing this on the forum as I know there are many people who are vermantly against this method, as it would be perceived as cruel, which it would be if used on a fearful dog, unlike Beth who was just being a Madame. My tutor from my dog behavourist course told me also that this is only the last resort, timing has to be very precis and the user needs to understand exactly what impact it would have on the dog, that is, know for certain that there would be no negative consequences.
Aswell as this, when ever she approached a dog slowly and politely, I gave her a huge amount of praise.
For the past 2 months or more, she has been fine when other dogs when on walks. She approaches slowly and I have noticed over time that she reponds more to calming signals and it starting to use them herself. She used to do prolonged sniffing and had reduced that to, her tail is more often in a down relaxed postion, whereas before on walks her tail was always at a horizontal, ready to go upright whenever she spotted another dog. Friends have commented on how much more relaxed and attentive to me she has become aswell - which I didn't notice initially as I have been working on this over a long period of time. It has been a delight to see her calm down, less reactive and it looks like she's alot happier.
As to what primarily solved the problem, I can't say, as I used a variety of different methods. What I can say, is that I was absolutely
determined to resolve the problem, so worked really hard to distract her from unfamilar dogs, every day, on every walk. It took a long time, 6-8 months, and at times I felt we were going backwards, rather than forwards, as there were periods when she was fine for a couple of weeks and then reverted back to her old behaviour (which happens when changing a behaviour).
For anyone who is wanting to deal with an aggressive problem, I feel that its very important to obtain help from an experienced behaviourist who specialises in dog-dog aggression and runs classes specifically for dog aggression. Also there are different views and opinions, so if you are not happy with one behaviourist, find another, as there are different methods, which suit different owners and their dogs needs. It took me a while to find a way forward - I feel its also important to gain an understanding of dog communication and to understand the aggression itself.