Nervous aggressive behaviour.
This is usually the result of a dog that has had insufficient socialisation in its formative months and years, and/or a negative event with another dog. This can happen on a number of occasions, leading to an even more fearful dog as time progresses. Some dogs seem to have a demeanour that attract other dogs, and for some of those dogs to attack it. I suspect that dogs attack a fear-based output from some fearful dogs, and this then leads to a more ingrained behaviour on the attacked dog’s part. The dog can then adopt an ‘offence is the best form of defence’ approach. Once it learns that this results in other dogs moving away with an owner that naturally wouldn’t want to become involved, the dog again learns the value of such behaviour and perpetuates it more and more with great effect.
Fear based aggression is (as I see it) a relatively modern phenomenon, and reflects back upon our more insular lifestyles and lack of time available to pay proper attention to the socialisation process. With less and less time to address areas of training and socialisation the strain is showing in our dog population.
It is not unusual to see figures quoted that 80-90% of dog to dog aggression (indeed dog to people with strangers) is a fear based behaviour. I can well believe these figures, and they are borne out in my own experience.
I have for some time described fear based aggression as being virus-like in its manner of spreading from one dog to another, with each newly attacked dog going on to become sensitised (depending on the dog’s nature and owner’s level of control) and displaying similar behaviour towards other dogs.
Many owners with young pups fall into the trap of not giving full and correct control when in the park and are unable to recall the dog prior to allowing it to run freely in the local park. This is rather like allowing the dog into the snake pit, with a number of other dogs near by that are unknown as a quantity, and that may pass this ‘virus’ onto the young dog. Developing a sound leader based relationship; a strong recall combined with a long line is certainly far sounder than the practices of many unthinking (albeit well intended) new dog owners that simply allow the dog to run freely from day 1.
www.alphadogbehaviour.co.uk
Sunday, 12 April 2009
Tuesday, 7 April 2009
The Ignore...Learning to know when.
The above picture was taken recently in a consultation with a German Shepherd cross hound.
What you're seeing is the husband of a couple ignoring the best efforts of his dog to get his attention! Isn't he doing well?!
Notice a few things:
1) The toy near the dog that was used as an early effort to get people's attention.
2) The lead on the dog to aid a quick control if needed (and it was a number of times in the first hour or more!)
3) The perfect ignore by a determined client!
Is this really necessary with most dogs? Well, the short answer is no. The work and dogs I'm involved with is at the more complicated end of dog behaviour. This dog had worked itself into a stressful state based on a cycle of attention seeking that was being rewarded by attention from the owner. By use of the ignore the dog shown had settled from being somewhat 'mad' to becoming settled and more focused in a relatively short time.
I cannot emphasise enough that the behaviour you mark with attention (even negative attention can mark it) will reinforce the behaviour and you're likely to see more of it. Simple.
The difficulty comes with the fact that we as humans do not ignore, and dogs understand and respond to it far better than we can. You won't hurt your dog's feeling if you ignore it :)
I'm talking about selective ignoring of unwanted behaviours. Some of course cannot be ignored, and we may need to intervene in a calm way free from aggressive intent.
I also advocate the ignore upon homecomings. This is nothing to do with wolf behaviour (I know little about wolves...I work with dogs and humans) as I know it; it's just a simple case of waiting for the behaviour we do want, and to mark that behaviour in a calm way.
There you are. A few thoughts on what I felt was super picture that says more words than I can write here.
Sincere thanks to the gent in the picture.
Nick Jones MCFBA
Alpha Dog Behaviour
Toileting away from the home...
[Name] = Jo
[County] = Surrey
[Country] = England
[Training Question] = I have been walking my neighbour’s dog for about a year now, he’s a border/cairn terrier cross and is a rescue dog. He won't do a bowel movement in his back garden, only doing so when he's on his walk. This is causing his owner a lot of problems as his owner has mobility problems and finds it difficult to get the dog out three times a day to go to the toilet and it would be much easier for him if he would go in the back garden. The dog had this problem since coming to his owner three years ago, and this is his third home. His owner has no solid information on the dog’s first home, but thinks that he was punished for going to the toilet in his back garden. Is there anyway to change this behaviour so that he will do a bowel movement in his back garden and on the walk?
Hello Jo, and thank you for this interesting question for D For Dog.
This is not the first time I have been asked this, and whilst he is having a chance to eliminate when on walks away from the home, it is indeed difficult to stop such behaviour. Bare in mind that it’s normal and desirable for a dog to eliminate away from its living habitat, and so in many respects the dog does not have a behavioural problem. This also suggests that the dog was not necessarily punished for doing so at his previous home. A behaviour problem is only classified as such when it affects the owner and their lifestyle. In the circumstances I can see that this does present some frustrations.
Should the dog eliminate when outside away from the home, there is nothing that can or should be done. Simply pick up as normal and carry on.
The best thing is to reward the behaviour we do want. This would involve you both agreeing a key word to use when the dog does relieves itself at any time or place to build an association towards that word. I like the term ‘Hurry up’. Though any clear term would work just as well. My own dogs are trained to go on command, though this takes time from puppy-hood to get right.
One method would be to not take the dog outside for a week and to put it in such a position so that it has to go outside within the owner’s grounds. The owner must be with the dog as soon as it goes ready to reward with food (assuming the dog is food driven). Something liked cooked liver or any other high value meat based product can get the message home that you’re happy and you approve. Some dogs are mad for the favourite tennis ball for example, so use this also if you think it will help. Simply throw the ball to reward the pooing in the garden! Play with the dog for a few minutes, and then come back in.
Not taking the dog out for a week will have effects on the dog’s energy levels, so the owner will need to interact with the dog more in the home. Feeding the dog through a treat ball or similar can be a good start, and working on a few simple yet enjoyable fetch games can also relieve the energy.
See how you get on with this approach, and feel free to contact me directly if this needs modifying.
Good luck.
Nick Jones MCFBA. Alpha Dog Behaviour
[County] = Surrey
[Country] = England
[Training Question] = I have been walking my neighbour’s dog for about a year now, he’s a border/cairn terrier cross and is a rescue dog. He won't do a bowel movement in his back garden, only doing so when he's on his walk. This is causing his owner a lot of problems as his owner has mobility problems and finds it difficult to get the dog out three times a day to go to the toilet and it would be much easier for him if he would go in the back garden. The dog had this problem since coming to his owner three years ago, and this is his third home. His owner has no solid information on the dog’s first home, but thinks that he was punished for going to the toilet in his back garden. Is there anyway to change this behaviour so that he will do a bowel movement in his back garden and on the walk?
Hello Jo, and thank you for this interesting question for D For Dog.
This is not the first time I have been asked this, and whilst he is having a chance to eliminate when on walks away from the home, it is indeed difficult to stop such behaviour. Bare in mind that it’s normal and desirable for a dog to eliminate away from its living habitat, and so in many respects the dog does not have a behavioural problem. This also suggests that the dog was not necessarily punished for doing so at his previous home. A behaviour problem is only classified as such when it affects the owner and their lifestyle. In the circumstances I can see that this does present some frustrations.
Should the dog eliminate when outside away from the home, there is nothing that can or should be done. Simply pick up as normal and carry on.
The best thing is to reward the behaviour we do want. This would involve you both agreeing a key word to use when the dog does relieves itself at any time or place to build an association towards that word. I like the term ‘Hurry up’. Though any clear term would work just as well. My own dogs are trained to go on command, though this takes time from puppy-hood to get right.
One method would be to not take the dog outside for a week and to put it in such a position so that it has to go outside within the owner’s grounds. The owner must be with the dog as soon as it goes ready to reward with food (assuming the dog is food driven). Something liked cooked liver or any other high value meat based product can get the message home that you’re happy and you approve. Some dogs are mad for the favourite tennis ball for example, so use this also if you think it will help. Simply throw the ball to reward the pooing in the garden! Play with the dog for a few minutes, and then come back in.
Not taking the dog out for a week will have effects on the dog’s energy levels, so the owner will need to interact with the dog more in the home. Feeding the dog through a treat ball or similar can be a good start, and working on a few simple yet enjoyable fetch games can also relieve the energy.
See how you get on with this approach, and feel free to contact me directly if this needs modifying.
Good luck.
Nick Jones MCFBA. Alpha Dog Behaviour
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