Aggression is defined by the ASPCA Behaviorist Website as, “threatening or harmful behavior directed toward another individual (a person, another cat or other animals).” Often, the purpose of aggression is to increase the distance between the animal and the perceived threat.
There are innumerable reasons why a dog may show aggression, and usually there is more than one stimulus that could lead toward the behavior. He could be dominant, fearful or guarding. It could be his breeding, hard-wiring of his brain, medical, or nutritional. The bottom line is that we can never be 100% sure of exactly why he is reacting in an aggressive manner. But, we can learn what might cause a reaction and we can train the dog to be more comfortable and mannerly with stimulus at closer ranges.
Think of a person who’s afraid of swimming. Without talking to him or her about his past, you couldn’t find out why he’s afraid. Even then, knowing why isn’t going to help much when it comes to getting him in the water. The best approach to getting that person to try swimming would be a very gradual process with lots of “baby steps.” First, go in the baby pool, then the shallow end of the pool. Then, the junior pool (with floaties). . You may never be able to get him in the deep end but you can teach him to be comfortable and even enjoy the calm water of the junior pool. You also need to make each step of the way successful and rewarding.
Many behavior experts use classical conditioning and sub threshold type activities. In order to change the way a dog feels and behaves, when dealing with emotional arousal, we need to change the way he feels along with understanding basic commands in increasingly stressful situations. It’s not complicated, but it does take time.
For safety sake, we might use barriers like crates, distance, or a comfortable muzzle when training. (We call the muzzle the happy mask and teach dogs to enjoy them.) Any training and management must start with a risk assessment. Make a list of any past aggression, observe behavior and body language. Owners need to learn to read their dog’s body language, recognize and avoid the dog’s triggers, and above all exercise caution to prevent contact with those triggers.
Each time the dog uses aggression it is a learning experience. He gets to practice. That’s not what you want. Avoid any confrontation that may escalate behavior. That does not mean you allow the dog to rule the house. Effective training should comprise of a combination of basic principles of psychology, and common sense.
Some trainers may advocate punishment to make the dog stop barking, lunging, growling. The downside of that approach is that you may be just suppressing the warning signs of an attack, but not the attack itself. Try to appreciate how the dog must be feeling to be displaying so many signs of discomfort.
To understand warning signs or lack thereof, take a look at this video clip. Look closely at the dog, he has been trained not to move and tolerate people but you can see he is very uncomfortable. Ears back, mouth closed, eyes shifting, lip licking. The officer does not read his dog’s warning signs (which don’t include barking and lunging) very well. The dog holds still until he can’t take it any more and bites.
With proper management and conditioning aggression is often controllable. Some dogs with severe problems may require medication along with behavior training to get started. Talk to your veterinarian. It could take weeks, months or in some cases, years of work, depending on your dog and your level of commitment to the process.
The Story of Mikey:
I have a Boston Terrier, Mikey, who used to show extreme anxiety and high aggression toward strange dogs. He displayed the behavior up to 100 feet away from other dogs. To curb this behavior I first had to increase his repertoire of behaviors I liked. I focused on teaching him to pay attention to me, and made sure he could do what I asked in different locations under mildly stressful situations like walking really, really far away (think it was something like 100 yards) outside of our local dog park and in our training room with one other really nice calm dog. Over a several months we gradually reduced the distance to about 10 feet. I had to use high value rewards to help Mikey forget about the other dogs (and a healthy dose of, “I mean it!” when necessary). My weapons of choice were boiled chicken and string cheese. I ensured success by being attentive to his body language and leaving or ending the training session if he looked like he was going to get stressed. By keeping Mikey focused on me and successful his anxiety level was reduced and he was able to tolerate our multi-month journey of slowly getting closer to, ignoring, and being in the presents of other dogs.
These days Mikey actually shows great focus on me when we’re near other dogs. This is partly due to the classical conditioning he experienced when he got tasty morsels from me whenever we were approaching other dogs, ( he somewhat associates other dogs with getting food from me) and, partly due to him being able to obey commands even tho he may be excited. It’s important to note that I did wean him of treats in the final stages of training away from aggression and he no longer “needs” treats to exhibit the improved behavior.
Although Mikey has improved drastically, I still have to pay close attention to his body language to prevent putting him in a situation that may be too stressful and trigger a relapse.
So the question that remains is, “Can you train an aggressive dog to be not aggressive?” The answer isn’t always a straightforward “yes” or “no.” But you can almost always reduce or diminish aggressive behaviors. You start small and with the not-so-scary stuff, make training short, and make it very rewarding.
Recommended Reading:
Culture Clash and Fight by Jean Donaldson,
Don’t Shoot the Dog by Karen Pryor.
Calming Signals video or book by Turid Rugaas
“Behavior Protocol” series by Dr. Karen Overall.
There are also some good websites. Try www.leerburg.com or www.dogstardaily.com. Always use caution; however, when seeking advice online. Make sure you’re learning from a reputable source.
If you need help, ask for help from a reputable trainer at the first sign aggression or anxiety. Ask how the trainer plans to approach training and make sure you are comfortable with it. There are many good dog trainers out there who can help you (and some bad ones so don’t be too hasty to make a lifetime commitment to one).
Although, house calls, phone calls and emails have become popular, it can be extremely frustrating for clients to get a hold of “trainers/behaviorists*” who work out of the back of their car. You want your trainer to have made a commitment to his/her business and is easily accessible.
(*”Behaviorist” is the new buzz word in dog training and almost everyone calls themselves a behaviorist so take it with a grain of salt unless you see the diploma on the wall from an accredited school.)