Tag Archives: aggressive

New Years Resolution for You and Your Dog

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Another year is upon us, as is those New Years Resolutions we all seem to forget about after the first three weeks. Chances are, we have all made a resolution and quickly forgot about it because of our busy schedules and hectic lives. This year, man’s best friend wants you to make a resolution, and they need you to follow through on it to ensure their happiness and wellbeing.

So, I am sure you are asking, “Where do I start?” You should start by looking at what you did and didn’t do with your pup last year, and what you can do to improve upon it. It’s imperative that you understand that your dog’s happiness directly correlates with the activities you do together. When is the last time you guys went on a walk together? Did you bring him to the park with your family at all? Invite him to a BBQ and let him run around with friends? Did you even have a nice catch with him in the house? If you did, ask yourself how often. If you didn’t…you have to ask yourself, why not?

Many times we are involved with dogs because the owner is not comfortable with the dog out in public. So they don’t bring him out in public. Often this will lead to destructive behavior inside the house, i.e. chewing on the furniture, counter surfing, chewing through walls and doors, non stop barking. It is common to see these behaviors purely because the dog is bored and makes games by himself to keep his mind stimulated.

If your dog is good in public with people and other dogs there is no reason not to get him out more often. This will decrease his energy, destructiveness and increase his behavior when he is home. If your dog is not good in public you need to address these issues. Does he bark or growl at strangers, or dogs? Has he bitten someone? Does he tend to pull on the leash and is hard to control when distracted? Do you have to repeat commands in order for him to pay attention to you? Does he jump on people? Is he easily startled or scared? Does he growl when he has a toy or food?

If you answered yes to any of the questions above you came to the right spot…because your dog needs your help. If these issues are not dealt with they could become serious, potentially dangerous for family members, neighbors, even strangers. Although these issues are common and can be fixed, you should consult with a professional dog trainer in order to make sure you don’t try to fix it and accidently make it worse.

We have many different training options, including group lessons, private lessons, in home training and in kennel training. We are committed to helping you and your dog succeed at this New Years Resolution so that you and your dog can live happier, healthier lives. Not to mention, we guarantee our training for the life of the dog. Contact us today to take the first step towards a new year both of you.

Dealing with Tayo’s Aggression

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Tayo, a Boston Terrier, came to us a few months back with some aggression issues that his owner needed resolved. He had bitten several people and had even sent two to the hospital for their injuries. Tayo was prone to snap at joggers, neighbors….well just about anyone that he encountered. This feisty black and white dog had become quite accustomed to biting, snapping and growling at pretty much anyone he encountered. This problem had become so serious that his owners knew that if he had another incident that he would surely be ordered euthanized by the authorities. They had been warned of his behavior before and knew that if there wasn’t some serious intervention, Tayo was soon to be in big trouble.

His owners brought him in wearing a small leather muzzle and described him as having “social anxiety”. Tayo would jump on people, fight with other dogs, bark, bite, and even run away if given the opportunity. He even barked and growled at unfamiliar objects as if he wanted to kill them.

We worked with Tayo for several days and observed his behaviors. I noticed that all that was required for him to bark and growl at someone was that they be standing, sitting or breathing. He was actually pretty indiscriminate about his displays of aggression. After some testing and observation we determined that he wasn’t very dominant, fear aggressive and did not suffer from dog aggression. His behaviors really didn’t fit well into any common dog behavior category. After a couple of days we were able to determine that he was reactive and very easily stimulated. This often caused him frustration, therefore, he would simply sink his teeth into whatever and too often, whomever was nearby.

So, we began to give Tayo plenty of exercise, mental stimulation, direction and an outlet for his frustrations and soon we saw that his behavior was improving drastically. So we continued to work perfecting his obedience commands and teaching him a little “self control”.

Tayo was particularly fond of trying to bite joggers and others who passed by him too quickly or closely. So after working with him for some time, I felt as though he was ready to be challenged with some “joggers”. We had several new people run, jog and pass by Tayo swiftly, all the while I was keeping his attention and focus on me. To my pleasant surprise, Tayo was able to keep his attention on me and not fixate on the people jogging by.

Tayo was not an aggressive dog at all. He was simply understimulated and needed more direction in his life. His owners had worked hard to try to rehabilitate him themselves, but they simply didn’t have the tools or the understanding of what Tayo needed.

Tayo’s owner recently sent us an update which said:

“I am so pleased with what your training has done for my dog. You really gave him a second chance at hopefully living a long life. He listens to us now and seems to actually be more content.”

-Kristen K., Baltimore, MD

The Importance of Proper Canine Behavioral Analysis

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Unfortunately, dogs don’t come with an owners manual.

Often times, dog owners deal with frustrating issues and behavioral problems because they don’t have the understanding or resources to fix them. These behaviors can be as simple as jumping on people, barging out the door, pulling on the leash or chasing a cat. At times these behaviors are more serious and include; biting, fighting, nipping, guarding, fear of people, fear of dogs, dominance and territorial aggression.

Most owners will employ the help of a dog trainer to assist in rehabilitating these more serious behavior problems. At times, this behavior modification is unsuccessful and can even makes the problems worse. Lately, we have rehabilitated a number of dogs that have been seen by other trainers. We have realized that their behaviors have escalated because there was a misdiagnosis of their problem by the other trainer. Therefore, the trainer and owner have been utilizing methods of rehabilitation and treatment that conflict with the behavior problem that the dog actually has.

Proper behavior analysis is critical in order to successfully rehabilitate a problem dog. In order to decide on a plan of rehabilitation, we must first take the time to understand the root cause of the problem or problems. In order to understand the problem completely, the trainer should take the time to interview the owner(s) of the dog, ask questions about the dogs behavior and any previous incidents with the dog and then observe the dog under the same circumstances where it has displayed the problem behaviors in the past. This should only be the beginning of the evaluation. The trainer will often have to test theories about the trigger(s) for the behavior in order to accurately determine the root cause of the problem behavior.

If we are working with a dog that we have determined is fear aggressive (biting because they are fearful of something or someone), it is not acceptable to simply say the the dog is fearful and they will bite when put into a situation where they are scared. We must first dissect the problem so that we can treat it properly. For example, we may find that this particular dog is fearful and this causes them to bite. By dissecting the problem, we may find that the dog is only fearful in situations with other dogs. If we further evaluate the problem, we may learn that the dog is only fearful of large dogs that are brown. By taking the evaluation further we may often find that the dog is only fearful with males of this type.

So, our original assessment was that the dog was fearful and that the dog would display aggression when placed in fearful situations. But by taking the assessment further, we have found that the dog is fear aggressive when placed in situations with large, brown, male dogs. Our course of rehabilitation would require inclusion of training and exposure with large, brown, male dogs in order to be successful.

This example is only one of many combinations that is possible in a behavioral analysis examination. These problems can be less or more specific than the example that I listed above. What is important to understand is that we cannot successfully rehabilitate a problem or undesired behavior unless we fully understand what the problem truly is.

Once we have determined the cause of the behavior, only then can we efficiently begin to treat it. Fortunately, the majority of behavioral problems are treatable with a consistent training and rehabilitation program.