Dog Aggression FAQ's

 Bah Humpug

What is dog aggression?

For the purpose of this blog post, we will define “dog aggression” as any circumstance in which a dog displays an undesired behavior toward another dog. This behavior could be as simple as excessive barking or may be a more severe reaction such as snarling, snapping, or biting. There are a number of triggers for these behaviors, but they all fall under the umbrella of “dog aggression.”

What causes dog aggression?

A common misconception people have about dog aggression is that it is purely a result of poor socialization and it can be “cured” with training/dog parks/play dates/etc.  The cause of dog aggression is actually multifactorial; a combination of nature and nurture. Sure, poor upbringing and lack of socialization play a part in the development of dog aggression, but so do genetics.  Just like humans, dogs’ personalities are highly variable. Some are born to be outgoing and universally dog friendly while some are born to be more reserved and dog selective.

The age of the dog also plays a role in dog aggression. Often puppies are very dog friendly, but their dog tolerance can change as they reach maturity (around 2-3 years of age).

What triggers dog aggressive behaviors?

Aggressive behaviors can be triggered by a variety of circumstances and the purpose of the aggression can range from protection of resources/territory (toys, food, spot on the bed, etc) to formation of a social hierarchy (establishment of alpha dominance).

My dog gets along with some dogs, but not others. Does that mean that he/she is dog aggressive?

Bad Rap has a wonderful article about dog tolerance levels. They describe four tolerance categories (dog social, tolerant, selective, and aggressive) and explain that these categories are constantly in flux. A dog that was previously dog social can lose tolerance as they mature and ultimately fall into a more dog selective category. I think it is important to figure out where your dog’s tolerance level falls. When you understand your dog’s preferences you can better prepare yourself to manage the situations to which your dog is exposed. 

http://www.badrap.org/dogdog-tolerance

What can I do to improve my dog’s behavior with other dogs?

First and foremost, the best thing you can do for your dog is to set him up for success. Don’t put your dog in situations that result in the undesired behavior. Avoidance of triggers is the easiest and most effective way to manage dog aggression. For example: is your dog possessive of his toys? Then pick up the toys when other dogs are around. Do your dogs fight over food? Then feed them separately. Does your dog hate strange dogs running up to him? Then the dog park is not the ideal setting for him.

Once you learn to avoid triggers, you will be 75% of the way to a happier household. The remaining 25% of your energy can then be spent on training and behavior modification exercises.

Why do I need to manage my dog’s interactions?

Have you ever met a person that you don’t like? Perhaps that person is too rude, too bossy, or too awkward. Whatever it is, you’d just prefer to avoid any future encounters with that person. It doesn’t mean that you hate all people, it just means that there are certain personalities that don’t mesh with yours. The upside for us is humans have the ability to alter their situation. We can control our level of interaction with people we don’t like. Dogs can’t. They rely on us to do that for them.

What are some training exercises to help with dog aggression?

The best training trick you can teach your dog is “focus.”  The ability to gain your dog’s focus despite any surrounding chaos can help in a wide range of situations. Imagine you are walking your dog when he suddenly sees a squirrel. Without a second thought, little Fido jerks the leash from your hand and takes off running. He is just about to run into oncoming traffic when you shout a stern “Fido!” and he stops dead in his tracks and turns to look at you. All of that “focus” training just totally paid off, didn’t it?

Harry practicing his "focus" while Layla
watches squirrels

To practice gaining focus, start in your house with a low level of distraction. Keep a few tasty treats on hand and watch your dog as he goes about his business. As soon as his focus seems to be away from you, say his name once, in a happy tone. If he turns to look at you, reward him with a treat. Continue practicing, increasing the distractions as he learns.

The “focus” in response to verbal command generally works great at home, but sometimes once you are outside amidst the excitement of a walk the verbal recall is not as effective. In these situations, I find that bringing my dogs’ favorite squeaky toy is a miraculous replacement for my voice. Here, I give one squeak on the toy alongside my verbal command and “POW!”... I’ve got their attention again.

When you notice your dog’s attention turning negatively toward another dog, use the “focus” trick as a tool to get your dog’s attention back onto you. Once you regain focus, remove the trigger as quickly as possible to prevent any further negative behaviors. 

Our dog does well with other dogs outside the home, but he/she is not adjusting well to the new dog we brought home. What can we do?

I highly recommend a process called “crate and rotate” whenever you bring a new dog into the home. “Crate and rotate” is an exercise where for a set period of time (generally 1-2 weeks) you keep your resident dog and your new dog completely separate from each other. This means that only one dog is out at a time.

This period of separation allows your resident dog to accept the fact that there is a new dog in the home and that this dog is there to stay. At the same time, it allows the new dog time to adjust to his new surroundings without the added stress of having to meet and interact with his new canine sibling.



Ringo and Crosby practcing side-by-side walking

I know that “crate and rotate” is not ideal. Taking dogs outside to potty separately and having to spend time with each of them individually is time consuming and exhausting! But trust me, giving both dogs time to adjust before forcing an introduction will make a world of difference in how well they are able to get along.

Another trick I often resort to when things seem a little tense between the Drool Crew members is side-by-side walking. This exercise is best when there are two people (one to walk each dog). Walk the dogs side by side, first with the dogs on the outsides of the two humans. As the walk progresses, allow the dogs to walk side by side, between the two humans.  Side-by-side walking allows the dogs to exercise and bond as pack members all while reinforcing the humans as their pack leaders. 

Every dog should get to go to the dog park and have doggy friends. Don’t you think avoiding these “triggers” is unfair to my dog?

Absolutely not! It’s not unfair to avoid situations that make your dog uncomfortable. It is, however, unfair to continue to put him into situations in which he cannot succeed. His well-being is dependent upon you, and being forced outside of his comfort zone is not in anybody’s best interest.

Oftentimes people project their wants/needs onto their pet. It is YOU that wants to go to the dog park. YOU want your dog to get along with your friends’ dogs. YOU want to bring home a second dog. YOU think your dog is missing out on a great experience, but I can assure you…he is not.

Your dog doesn’t want anything beyond your love and affection.

It's Friday!

Top 10 Worst Foster Moments

When I started this blog, my intention was to share my rescue experiences; both good and bad. I get an extraordinary amount of joy from fostering pit bulls. As a result, I could blog forever about my wonderfully happy home, but that doesn’t mean that there haven’t been difficulties along the way.

I would say that every foster dog has resulted in at least one breakdown (and some have caused waaaay more than one).  Every dog is different, and when you have a revolving door of new dogs entering your home you are bound to suffer the occasional hiccup.

In the interest of full disclosure, I have decided to share my top ten most emotionally trying foster moments. Each of these moments was short lived and the old adage “time heals all wounds” is certainly applicable here. So feel free to laugh and enjoy my stories of exhaustion, frustration, panic, and despair.

      1.  Layla (our first foster fail) has terrible separation anxiety. In our attempt to find a solution, we tried leaving her uncrated in the basement with a baby gate at the top of the stairs. We quickly discovered that she could crawl under the baby gate. Our next genius idea was to put two 30-pound dumbbells in the gap beneath the baby gate. They were heavy enough that she wouldn’t be able to push them out of the way and escape…so we thought. We came home from work that day to be greeted at the front door by Layla. With a feeling of dread, I slowly moved toward the top of the basement steps. As I turned the corner, I screamed. The giant floor to ceiling mirror had fallen to the floor. The baby gate had been pried off the wall. And, at the bottom of the basement stairs sat two 30-pound dumbbells; the tile floor beneath them shattered.  EPIC FAIL! (Please do not judge our stupidity. We realize now that this was one of the most terrible ideas ever conceived)

      2.  Our foster Autumn (mother of the 7 puppies that we also took in) had separation anxiety. She destroyed 6 metal wire crates before we finally started just leaving her loose in the house. Once we started leaving her loose, her anxiety improved immensely. So much so that she began redecorating our home in her spare time. It was Christmastime and we had decorations everywhere. We came home one evening to quite the surprise. She had removed our stuffed snowmen from the living room shelf and placed them gently on the floor of every bedroom and bathroom. She had also carried the low hanging Christmas ornaments upstairs to our bed and tucked them beneath the pillows. This happened almost every day in December. Although completely adorable, scouring the house and cleaning up scattered decorations did get a little tiresome.

      3.  Several years ago we took in a momma dog and her two 3 week old puppies. Those tiny puppies could not have been any cuter! Unfortunately, those tiny puppies grew and turned into bigger puppies, and the bigger puppies were poop machines! All of my free time was devoted to cleaning up their potty. Usually while I cleaned up, the puppies pranced around, pottyed more, and tap danced in their messes. I lasted almost 2 months before my husband found me sitting in the puppy room, covered in puppy poop, crying hysterically.  “If I clean up one more puppy mess I may lose my mind!” I whined between sobs. Well guess what? I cleaned up more messes and still had some sanity to spare.

      4.  Bogart (the momma to the puppies mentioned in #3) was nursing when we got her so we couldn’t spay her until the puppies had been weaned. Unfortunately for us, Bogie went into heat before we could get her spayed. I won’t go into graphic detail, but I will say that the puppies (and my furniture) were constantly covered in blood. The puppy room looked like a crime scene. I can safely say that this was my husband’s least favorite fostering moment.

       5. Last Thanksgiving we had a litter of 7 puppies (Autumn’s babies). By this point, the husband and I were puppy pros. We put down plastic painters tarp and confined them into a puppy pen. Things went much more smoothly than they did with the previous litter, however, it wasn’t without incident. I went downstairs one morning to discover that the puppies had worked together to move the pen across the room and had eaten a large hole in the baseboard and an even larger hole in the drywall. To this day, I still can’t comprehend how a puppy could eat a hole in a flat wall, but some things are meant to remain a mystery.

      6. Teddy was another foster with a talent of moving his crate across the room. We had to crate Teddy in our bedroom because he needed to be near his dog siblings. One day, Teddy managed to scoot his crate (with him inside) across the room to the bed. He pulled the down comforter off of our bed and into his kennel (another feat that remains a mystery) and shredded it. There were goose feathers EVERYWHERE!!

      7. Sadly, our bed seems to be a recurring theme in this list. I was napping one Saturday and Crosby climbed onto the bed and I was awoken by the sound of him tinkling all over it. Needless to say, there was A LOT of yelling. Crosby’s combination of tinkle and disruption of my nap made this one of my angriest foster moments.

     

     8.  A couple of years ago, I brought home a puppy the Tuesday before Thanksgiving. As soon as I got her settled into our house, I got a phone call to tell me that she had parvovirus. I spent the next 5 nights sitting next to her crate, forcing fluids and food into her mouth, and taking her outside to potty. The sleep deprivation combined with the stress of our visiting family made this foster experience truly exhausting.


 

     
   
   9.  Anybody that knows me will tell you that my favorite foster of all time has been Violet (luckily, Violet was adopted by my parents so she is a permanent member of the Iowa Drool Crew). Violet was impossible to potty train. She would go outside to tinkle and then come back inside and tinkle again. We checked her for medical issues and tried a million different cleaning solutions, but nothing worked…she kept doing it! She would just squat on my white shag rug, look at me defiantly, and tinkle. Thankfully, she eventually improved, but not before I was forced to buy 3 new rugs.   

  

    





      10. Lennon howls…ALL NIGHT. I think he might be part coyote. Enough said.

 
 

 

Wordless Wednesday!

Get Out There!

I can’t go to the shelter…it’s too sad. 

I can’t even begin to count the number of times I’ve heard that phrase. I’m not questioning the merit of the statement. It’s true. Animal shelters can feel like some of the most hopeless places on Earth.  

I guess my argument is that that sadness exists whether you choose to acknowledge it or not. Just because you have not seen rows and rows of abandoned dogs confined to cold, damp kennels doesn’t mean that they aren’t there. Just because you haven’t looked into a dog’s eyes, knowing that their time has run out, doesn’t mean that they aren’t being euthanized to make room for the newest intake.  

There is a seemingly constant supply of stray dogs and owner surrenders that enter shelters at overwhelming rates. Many good people come to adopt a new family member, but no sooner than that dog leaves does another dog arrive to take his place. There is a serious pet overpopulation problem in America and until we succeed at addressing this problem, shelters will continue to be overcrowded. 

That doesn’t mean it is hopeless. You don’t have to look the other way. You can choose to pull your head out of the sand and face the issue head on. You can help save lives. Yes, it’s sad, but that does not negate the reward.  

So stop by your local shelter. Walk or play with the dogs, pet the kitties, clean some kennels, or help with some much needed maintenance work. It doesn’t take endless hours of time. That is the nice thing about dogs. They are happy with whatever you can give them.

 

 

Wordless Wednesday!

This is Napoleon (lab), and Lucy (pit). 





Life of Drool Road Trip

The Drool Crew took a road trip last week and enjoyed a few days of vacation. The four Kansas City dogs made a trip to visit their four dog siblings in Iowa. Everyone had a blast, but the humans are still exhausted. Things were pretty hectic with eight large dogs in the house!  

The dogs did a lot of playing, but they also found time to gang up and make some mischief. The humans went out for the evening and left the dogs in the care of Aunt Shannon. After listening to a long list of instructions, Shannon seemed confident and up to the challenge. 

Little did she know, the dogs had other plans. 

Shannon is in the process of making dinner. She is slicing cheese for a turkey sandwich.

Ringo: WOOF WOOF (translation: I need to go outside)

Shannon: You need to go out right now?

Ringo: WOOF! (translation: YES!)

Shannon: Ugh, okay Ringo. Let's go. 

Shannon goes to the front door to let Ringo outside. Ringo is a senior dog. He is generally allowed outside off-leash (with supervision) because he never goes anywhere. 

Ringo ambles around the front yard and does his business. He then looks back at Aunt Shannon standing on the front porch.  

Ringo: Woof! Woof! (Translation: This is as good of a time as any to introduce myself to the cute poodles up the street.) 

Ringo takes one final look at Shannon, and with a gleam in his eye he takes off sprinting, as fast as his arthritic legs can move. 

Shannon: Are you for real?   

Shannon jogs up the street after the grizzly bear.

  

If you want to imagine what sight the two of them made, just picture a barefoot asthmatic  holding her pants in one hand, her braless chest in the other, and a senior citizen dog that just chucked his walker. 

Lucy: Hey guys…this is our chance. 

Harrison: Our chance for what?

Lucy: We can get up on the counter and eat some turkey and cheese! If we’re quick, she won’t even know we did it.

Violet: Ooh cheese!! Yum yum yum yum!

Layla: I think she will notice the cheese is gone when she gets back...and then she will tell mom! 

Ziggy and Napoleon: Yum, cheese. 

Harrison: Hmmmm…I don’t know you guys. Aunt Shannon was planning on eating that. It might make her sad if we ate it.

Lucy: Aunt Shannon just ate a box of fruit loops, a bag of potato chips and a pint of Ben and Jerry's. I think her delicate figure can spare us some food. 

Violet: Who is going to get up on the counter? I can’t do it…I’m too short. 

Lucy: Ziggy will do it!

Ziggy: Huh? Why me?

Lucy: Because you are the youngest one here and you have to do what we tell you. 

Napoleon, Harrison, and Violet: Yeah! Do it Ziggy!

Layla: I’m out of here! (Layla runs upstairs to hide) 

Ziggy hops up and rests his front legs on the counter. He grabs the brick of cheese and the bag of deli meat and tosses it to the floor. 

All dogs in unison: Nom nom nom nom nom! *Crunch, crunch, lick, slurp* 

Just then, Shannon returns with Ringo in tow.  

Shannon: What the hell?  Seriously? You guys just ate a pound of cheese? Your parents are going to never let me watch you again.

The dogs just look at her, innocently wagging their tails.

”We didn’t do anything.”