Of all dog behaviors, aggression is the cause for most alarm. Whether your dog is aggressing and reacting towards other dogs, people, or even resource guarding items from you, aggression is the culmination of impulse control issues when combined with anxiety. Let's take a look at how we can avoid aggressive outbursts and provide a safe, calm way of life for our dogs.
Understanding the Root Causes of Aggression in Dogs
Before diving into solutions, it's crucial to understand the root causes of aggression. Over the past two months, we've focused our recent articles on impulse control and anxiety, the two drivers of dog behavior.
Different levels of each will lead to various results. For instance, anxiety might be the reason why your dog chooses to relieve themselves inside the house rather than outdoors. On the other hand, a lack of impulse control is responsible for behaviors such as jumping on guests or stealing food from the counter. Anxiety triggers a feeling of threat in your dog, while a lack of impulse control hinders them from responding calmly and in a controlled manner.
1. Focus on Your Dog's Impulse Control
Regardless of the trigger for your dog, focusing on building that impulse control is crucial. Expecting your dog to exert any kind of impulse control when they are confronted with their nemesis (namely, Puddles, the little Yorkie across the street) is an unreasonable expectation if they still haven't mastered impulse control when guests walk in the door, or your dog is presented with their dinner.
In other words, just as with children, impulse control is something that is built up over time, with gradual increases in stimuli. By helping your dog build up that impulse control in non-threatening situations, you are setting up the groundwork for addressing The Big Bad: Puddles across the street.
Discover ways to focus on your dog's impulse control in these articles:
2. Understand Your Dog's Anxiety
I once heard anxiety described as fear of the unknown. When your dog sees another dog walking down the street, their anxiety may kick in, causing them to wonder if the dog is a threat. With food reactivity, your dog is concerned about the scarcity of a resource, wondering if/when they will get their next meal. And that person who just stopped by your mailbox, your dog is wondering when they will attack the family.
Anxiety always starts with a question, that left unanswered, culminates into bigger things.
I think of anxiety as fear without a plan. And right now your dog has a plan, and it involves teeth, biting, and aggression.
If you've never "answered" any of your dog's smaller questions, such as:
Can I pull you on the leash?
Is it okay if I eat off the counter?
I'm going to jump on you, m'kay?
Well, bad news: that bigger ticket question your dog has about Puddles the Yorkie is going to be much harder to answer.
As with impulse control issues, having the ability to guide your dog through their anxiety relies on starting in smaller, more manageable situations. Learn more in these articles:
3. Gradually Introduce Stressors to Your Dog
If Puddles across the street is the trigger for your dog's aggression, constantly walking near Puddles is only going to get your dog keyed up for the next battle, constantly checking their surroundings for the next matchup.
It's important to achieve some success first. When dealing with your dog's aggression during walks, try a gradual approach. Begin by walking down your driveway. If your dog shows signs of tension, you've reached their impulse control limit. This will help you see where to focus your efforts.
If your dog's tension arises at the end of the driveway, walk back towards your house, back and forth, slowly extending slightly beyond their original boundary. The goal is to progressively widen their comfort zone, rather than abruptly busting right through it.
By going slowly, and then retreating like a pendulum swinging in both directions, you are limiting the amount of stimuli your dog is taking in at any given moment. In other words, rather than your dog constantly being on red alert, they are given moments of retreat from high-stress situations.
4. Control Your Responses to Your Dog's Behavior
I am currently working with a woman we'll call MaryAnn and her dog Kimmy. Kimmy has an exceedingly high amount of anxiety, and her lack of impulse control has led her to literally drag MaryAnn down the street in a way that makes Klingons look positively benign.
Making matters worse: MaryAnn is a smaller woman and Kimmy is a large dog.
At our initial meeting, Kimmy burst out of the door like a wrecking ball attached to a leash that MaryAnn was struggling to control, while MaryAnn attempted to placate, calm, and reassure Kimmy with a stream of verbal platitudes.
It became evident that significant changes were required, particularly in MaryAnn's approach towards Kimmy.
Rather than spewing forth pacifying platitudes towards Kimmy, I merely had MaryAnn stay silent, and under-react to the situation (which was me, an intruder). By underreacting to the situation, MaryAnn was able to gradually de-escalate Kimmy in a matter of moments. Within 5 minutes of working together, MaryAnn was able to take Kimmy for "the best walk we've ever had". I'm going to heap the praise on MaryAnn, though. She was able to under-react, and control her responses to Kimmy's behavior not because MaryAnn wasn't scared (she was!), but in spite of her fear.
MaryAnn was the one who decided that the vicious cycle of escalation would stop with her, and she has finally started the journey to build trust with Kimmy, all because MaryAnn was brave enough to underreact to a terrifying situation. De-escalation at its finest.
5. Consistency is Key for Your Dog
I'm not typically a fan of consistency when it comes to dog training. However, what we're dealing with is not dog training, but rather dog behavior. And more importantly, it's a dangerous one.
Dogs thrive on routine and consistency. Ensure that all family members are on the same page when it comes to helping your dog through this behavior. Mixed signals can confuse your dog and exacerbate aggressive tendencies.
Adding too many triggers for your dog, or too much stimuli at once can result in disaster.
I once heard someone describe everything in the world as a rubber ball or a glass ball. If you drop it, does it bounce off, and you merely find it and start over, or does it shatter everywhere?
Categorize your dog's behaviors as glass ball or rubber ball. For instance, if I "drop the ball" and don't be consistent with my dog jumping on me, I've always got another chance to pick up that ball and try again. It's annoying, but not catastrophic.
However, any reactive, aggressive, or guarding behaviors from a dog must be treated as a glass ball. If you drop it, the outcome may be unfixable.
Don't become complacent. Be consistent in not only guiding your dog's behavior in these situations, in verifying that everyone in your household is as well. Don't drop the ball. Even if training seems to work immediately on your dog, you are working hard to establish patterns of responses to scary situations (such as Puddles the Yorkie). These patterns are created through repetition, not through a one-and-done training session. Stay focused.
Conclusion: Seeking Professional Training for Your Dog's Behavior
Aggression in dogs can be a daunting issue to tackle, but with the right approach and techniques, it is manageable. By understanding the root causes, employing trust-based techniques, and following a consistent behavioral training regimen, you can help your dog lead a happier, calmer life.
Take the next steps towards your Best Dog Ever, and join our dog and puppy training services.
Together, we can make a positive difference in your dog's life.
Comentarios