How we fix Aggressive Dogs - Part Three

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Some our dogs learning to mix

DTCE - How we fix problem dogs part 3

When you introduce your dog to a muzzle it should always be a nice thing for your dog never a punishment. If you haven’t used one before you could try dabbing a small amount of cream cheese, peanut butter etc on the inside and hold it for your dog, you should find they put their own noses into it, all you need to do is add praise.

You can transfer this type of handling to the street.  When your dog sees another dog and shows aggression, put him into a sit. 

The reason for doing all of this is to promote yourself in the pack so that you become the pack leader.

If you are in charge its your job to be aggressive, I don’t know you; but I suspect you won’t be aggressive, so neither will your dog.  Get the sit right and your dog will then start to follow your rules.

Tips:-  If your dog sits next to you but puts its paw in front of your foot or on your foot, it is telling you its in charge (most aggressive dogs will do this). Move the dog back into heel and make sure their foot isn’t in front of yours.  Never take them in a circle around and back into heel, because when you walk them in front of you they could quite easily think they are being promoted in the pack.

Try not to talk nicely to your dog to calm it down I’ve found this to enhance the worst fault as it praises the aggression into the dog.

Once you have your dog sitting on a loose lead as other dogs walk past; start teaching him to walk to heel. If the dog starts to show aggression again; go back to the sit.

Watch me – A lot of trainers will suggest you teach your dog to do this to help stop aggressive behaviour; this only works when the dog wants to watch you (or food) more than he wants to watch the other dog, correcting him for staring at another dog doesn’t work because in the dogs mind he’s doing his job – He probably thinks you are interfering and that means he has to try harder to prove to the other dog that he’s in charge and is more likely to show aggression.

Muzzles are a great enabler – I find that most dogs learn to get on if they are given the chance to socialize with each other.  We couldn’t do this unless the dogs were ‘safe’.

So, here we have the Catch22; you need to socialize your dog to make him better, however, you can’t socialize him until he’s better.

The advantage we have is the training class.  Everyone that comes to it has a similar problem with their dog, so they don’t have a problem letting them off lead together.  It’s worth mentioning now that although we let dogs off lead together, the off lead part doesn’t happen until the handlers begin to gain some control over their dogs.  

As I mentioned earlier, giving your dog something else to do when its being aggressive will promote you in the pack, it also means you can praise your dog for something instead of just correcting it for misbehaving.  Sit is the easiest thing to try – keep it simple.

Take the dog to the park but take him training not for a walk or exercise; this is an important point because you will go out with a different attitude and this will produce a much calmer walk.. 

How we fix Aggressive Dogs - Part Two

Most handlers of anti-social dogs tend to tense up when they approach or are approached by another dog. This gives the wrong message to their dog. It will think there’s something wrong and react, usually with more aggression. 

The handlers would then either

1. Correct the dog (bad dog - Leave - Snatch the lead etc)

2. Reassure the dog (stroking - talking nicely - telling the dogs to calm down good dog etc)

I believe that both of the above enhance the anti-social behaviour.

1a. If I were a dog, and was told off every time another dog came near me, I’d start to tell them to keep away i.e. Growl - show aggression to make them stay away.

2a. If I was showing aggressive behaviour and my mum or dad started talking nicely to me I’d think I was doing the right thing so keep showing aggression.

How the sit works - The handlers can gently correct the bad behaviour or ignore it - Just give the dog something else to do instead i.e. Sit next to your left leg and then add the praise. This doesn’t work to begin with as the dog is used to getting its own way; in fact quite often they get worse before they get better as they usually try harder to stay as pack leader. As long as the handling remains consistent and the handler keeps working they will get better.

I’m often told that ‘my dog’ is being aggressive because its nervous.  Most of the time I don’t believe this is an accurate assessment of the dogs true nature or behaviour.  If you were nervous about something you wouldn’t run towards it; well neither would your dog!

Most aggressive dogs are just aggressive. The problem is most people would like there to be an excuse for the way their dog behaves, they don’t actually need one. If they just accept the fact their dog has a problem they can then set about curing it.  If you don’t already, I would suggest you use a muzzle, they enable you to mix and socialize your dog without worrying about it biting. Please use a basket or box type as your dog will need to pant; I wouldn’t use a cloth or nylon muzzle that holds their mouth shut for training.

Using a muzzle means you can let your dog sniff and get close to other dogs or people and if it does show aggression it cant do any damage, and all of the handlers can be more relaxed.

How we fix Aggressive Dogs - Part one

Two ex grumpy dogs playing

We have a class on Monday evenings at our Dog Training Centre in Orsett, Essex which helps to fix anti-social dog issues. 

Anti-Social behaviour is one of the most frustrating and upsetting things dog owners have to deal with. They all love their dogs, at home the dogs are usually pretty well behaved and part of the family, however, it’s very hard not to fall out with your dog if it keeps attacking people or other dogs.

We have spoken to a lot of dog owners who take their dogs for a walk at one or two O’clock in the morning so they avoid meeting people or other dogs.

This OK but doesn’t help cure the problem, in fact most owner don’t realise that their dogs can probably be re trained and learn to mix and socialise correctly.

The first thing we encourage is the use of a good basket type muzzle.  Unfortunately some people feel there is a stigma attached to using muzzles (The dogs are usually fine with it)If you use a muzzle you can be much more relaxed about the way you approach your problem areas. So to begin; have your dog on a lead and in a muzzle, this makes it much safer for the dogs to mix and the handlers can learn to be more relaxed when their dog is approached by or approaches another dog.

There are exceptions, but I’ve found that most dogs show aggression to keep other dogs or people away i.e. They are in control or in charge of their pack and will not let anything in; they usually do this because they are not good pack leaders and are worried about everything. The first thing we need to do in the class to teach the dog to respect the handler.

Three ex grumpy dogs playing

One of the ways we promote the hander in the pack,is by placing the dog in a sit.  It sounds simple but is not easy to do.

When you meet another dog, try and sit your dog at heel (next to left leg) and are on a loose lead. The dogs will usually get up and try and chase the other dogs or people away by showing aggression. In real life this works because no one will want to stand next to or let their dog stand next to an antisocial dog and the aggressive dog in essence chases the other dog away therefore keeping its position as pack leader.

In our anti-social class, everyone stays still so the dog doesn’t chase anything away; the handlers are told not to move but gently guide the dog back into heel and back into a sit and to add praise as the dog sits, then, keeping a firm hold of the lead, let the it go loose again. Try and arrange to meet people with dogs so that you can practice.

Of course the dogs get up and do the same thing. The handlers have to be more persistent than the dog and keep putting them back to heel and back into a sit (Always praise the dog even when it’s being handled into a sit.) So what you are doing is, instead of correcting the dog for being aggressive, you give it something else to do and you are praising it for working for you.