Lucky Dog Lessons

by Brandon McMillan

  18

  AGGRESSION (NOT A 7-DAY PROJECT!)

  Before we delve into the specifics of canine aggression, I’d like to tell you about a pivotal moment in my experience with dogs who have this problem. Years ago, when I was a young animal trainer and had worked with a few thousand fewer dogs than I have today, I took on a client with a difficult 120-pound shepherd-chow mix—let’s call him Odin. The family told me Odin had gotten aggressive with a couple of people coming into their house—a dangerous situation with such a big, powerful dog. I needed to test his reactions for myself to be able to work with him, so I asked the owners to put two leashes on him—one from his collar and one from a harness—and be ready to pull him back. Then I put on a bite sleeve—a protective arm cover trainers wear when teaching bite work or working with aggressive dogs. I walked through their front door and took a few steps toward the dog, leading with my covered arm.

  It only took a few seconds to realize that the reports of Odin’s aggressive nature had not been exaggerated. In fact, as often happens when owners talk about their dogs’ aggressive behavior, it had been downplayed—a lot. Odin lit up, grabbing me with enough force to nearly rip my arm out of its socket. The leashes made no difference, and if I hadn’t been wearing the bite sleeve, that quick, brutal attack would have maimed my arm for life. Even two people holding him couldn’t stop his horsepower as he lunged forward. Even with the protection of the sleeve, I was black-and-blue for a month after that meet and greet. This dog meant business.

  Even though that first interaction sent up a huge red flag about this dog’s temperament, I was a young, optimistic trainer, still holding on to the belief that training could change almost anything about almost any dog—even when DNA was a likely factor. I was determined to turn Odin into the trustworthy, good-natured animal his family wanted him to be. I spent the next two months working with him, socializing him to different situations that might set him off, raising his tolerance for people coming into his territory, and rewarding him for staying calm. When I was sure he was a changed animal, I told the family he was ready for his next big test.

  I put on a hat and glasses, pulled on a bite sleeve (just in case) and covered it with a jacket, then walked into the house and right over to the dog’s bed. Odin didn’t move. I sat down on the floor next to him; he looked away. I turned to the owners and started talking about their problem being solved. I was focused on the family and not paying any attention to the dog or his body language—and was totally unprepared when Odin snapped, lunging at me with ferocious strength. I only had a split second to react—just long enough to give him the arm with the bite sleeve instead of a more vulnerable target.

  I’ve had a lot of close calls with big animals in my career, but in that moment I nearly had my face rearranged. It probably should have put me off aggressive dogs for life, but what it really did was make me wonder how many dogs I’d walked away from in the past, saying, “Problem solved,” when it really wasn’t. After that, I trained hundreds more aggressive dogs, obsessed with answering the age-old question of whether aggression can be eliminated. The short answer is no. But there’s more to it than that. I’m probably the last person to give up on a dog who can be trained to be a good companion, so the powerful lesson I learned that day with Odin—and have seen proven true more times than I can keep track of since—is this: instead of focusing on solving canine aggression, dog owners need to focus on managing it. In many cases, it is possible to get this problem under control—but you can never erase it from a dog’s DNA. Aggression is never cured; it’s just in remission.

  Does this mean that there’s no hope for your dog if he has aggressive tendencies? Absolutely not. It means that as an owner you need to acknowledge that while some dogs are aggressive for specific temporary reasons, others just are aggressive, born with a trait embedded deep in their genetic material that isn’t going away. We’ve all heard the expression it’s all in how you raise the dog. But that’s just not true if the behavior is part of a dog’s biological makeup; DNA matters just as much as environment. What is true is that as a good dog owner, once you accept that your dog may always harbor an aggressive streak, you can learn how to recognize his warning signs and how to defuse a situation before it escalates into something where a life is in peril. We’ll talk about how to do both of those things in this chapter.

  A dog with managed aggression can still be a great pet, but not every aggressive dog is suitable for every family. Before I realized that Lulu was destined to be my dog, I had to rule out homes with kids and homes with other dogs for her—she was just too aggressive to be a good fit for either. Deep down, she still has that same streak in her today. It starts with her low tolerance for the unpredictable—so if she sees a toddler careening toward her or a big, dopey, loose cannon of a puppy coming her way, she feels threatened and gets ready for a fight. She was hurt in the past, and she’s not about to let it happen again. That’s fear aggression, which we’ll talk more about in a minute.

  But I know my dog’s triggers and I know her signs. So when I see a likely target for her aggression or notice her getting tense or ready for a fight, I bring her attention back to me and change the dynamic before things get out of hand. I basically put water on the fire while the flame is still small.

  In a nutshell, that’s what being a good owner of an aggressive dog is all about.

  The Problem

  For dog trainers and owners alike, aggression is a huge gray area. No two aggressive dogs are alike because what triggers one dog might be completely different from what triggers the next. The ways aggression is activated and the ways it’s exhibited are almost as unique as the dogs themselves. For this reason, I’m always reluctant to give advice on this topic over the Internet or on television, and I’m stepping out of my comfort zone to even write about it here. That said, I don’t think it would be right to write a dog-training book that ignores this make-or-break behavior problem.

  Before we dig into this topic, I want to make it clear that aggressiveness is not a behavior issue to be taken lightly. I firmly believe that most dog owners are more than capable of teaching the commands and handling the other behavior issues in this book with little more than the instructions I’ve provided and a positive, patient attitude. However, when it comes to aggression, I recommend you trust your instincts if you feel your problem is more than you can handle. There are times when consulting a professional trainer is the right thing to do, and this is one of them. I hope you find the information in this chapter helpful, but I want to be sure you know it is in no way a substitute for a meeting with an experienced training professional.

  A Dog’s Dark Side

  I’ve never been the kind of trainer to claim I have all the answers, and there’s no area where this is truer than when it comes to aggression. I make it a point to be honest with my clients, always telling them that I can’t take the aggression out of their dogs. What I can do is teach the owner how to spot the signs of an escalating situation and how to defuse it before it’s too late. Anyone can have an aggressive dog, but what sets good owners apart is that they know exactly how to handle a potential outburst.

  Before we dig into the specifics of aggression and how to recognize and prepare for it, let’s acknowledge that in extreme circumstances, any dog can reveal a dark side. When he’s threatened or cornered, a dog’s instinct kicks in and his mind and body go into fight-or-flight mode. His senses narrow, focusing on whatever it takes to ensure survival, and everything else falls away. That’s why dogs don’t seem to even hear us when they’re in fight mode. They’re only hearing, seeing, feeling, smelling, and tasting the struggle ahead. In the moment, nothing else matters to them.

  This is courtesy of millions of years of evolution in which wild dogs had to protect their dens and fight for females, food, or land. The wild can be a very unforgiving place, and the domestic dog as we know it today is just one step out of that wilderness. We see a fuzzy little lapdog sitting on a couch and quickly forge
t that his recent ancestors were hunters, fighting for survival day in and day out. Trust me when I tell you your dog in many ways is still that animal; you’ve just taken away the reasons for him to fight.

  People experience the same kind of adrenaline-driven responses, sometimes in miraculous ways. A 120-pound nineteen-year-old woman from Virginia lifted a truck off her father after it slipped off a jack and pinned him to the garage floor. She couldn’t explain it afterward except to say she’d experienced a “crazy strength.” I’m sure you’ve read about other examples of that crazy strength. Parents save their children. People save themselves. And sometimes people hurt each other, fueled by the very same fight-or-flight drive. It happens because in survival mode all energy in the body is committed to the fight. The same thing happens when a dog feels he needs to fight for his life.

  So if your dog gets cornered or stepped on or attacked, and reacts aggressively one time, that doesn’t mean you have an aggressive dog. It just means you have a living, breathing dog with an instinct for self-preservation. Problem aggression is something else. It’s what happens when dogs display this kind of instinct and behaviors repeatedly and in ways that are not acceptable.

  Two Categories of Aggression

  Aggression can usually be classified into one of two main categories: defensive and offensive. A dog being bullied by another dog or involved in play fighting that gets too ruff (pun intended) and feels the need to fight to get out of the situation is displaying defensive aggression. A dog who goes to the dog park and charges up to another dog snarling and snapping is displaying offensive aggression. There are also subcategories of each area.

  I want to point out that whether it’s defensive or offensive, aggression rarely starts or stops all at once. For decades, a three-color scale has been the standard to describe dog aggression escalation: yellow, orange, and red. Aggression at the yellow level is still in a safe but on-alert zone. Orange is crossing over into a danger zone. And red is the zone in which there’s nothing left to do but break up a fight. Your goal should be never to let your dog’s aggression get past yellow.

  Let’s talk about how that’s done.

  Defensive Aggression

  A dog who feels the need to defend himself and lash out is exhibiting defensive aggression. This kind of aggression is typically reactive, responding to some outside threat stimulus (or something the dog perceives that way). There are a few main varieties that I frequently see:

  Fear Aggression. This kind of aggression is common in timid dogs who find themselves feeling cornered. Many small dogs, like Lulu, have fear aggression. There’s no single reason for a dog to have fear aggression. Sometimes it’s a personality trait an animal is born with; sometimes it stems from a lack of socialization or is a response to past abuse. Either way, this type of aggression is often directed toward strangers.

  In most cases, dogs with fear aggression give you plenty of time to deal with their issues before anyone gets bitten. That’s because a dog with fear aggression will typically back away and try to evade the threat before finally committing to a confrontation. It takes a lot of provocation to make a dog with fear aggression snap, though some can get into the yellow zone pretty quickly. Any dog who backs away while showing his teeth is basically announcing, Get away or I’ll bite. As this is happening, the dog is in the yellow zone and the situation is still escalating. But once the dog backs up as far as possible and is snapping or growling, he’s reached the orange zone. At this point, it’s up to you to defuse the situation—by either removing the threat or getting the dog under control. With such clear warnings coming from the dog, fear aggression should never go red. There’s plenty of time to deal with it before that happens if you’re paying attention to your dog’s signals.

  If fear aggression is an inborn personality trait in your dog, there’s not a lot you can do about it except take the very important step of being prepared to respond if you see your dog in the yellow or orange zones. Better yet, figure out what kinds of perceived threats provoke your dog and steer clear of them.

  However, if a lack of socialization is a factor in your dog’s defensive aggression, then you may be able to improve things by cautiously, positively socializing him to different situations so he learns they’re not a danger to him. A dog with this kind of aggression can benefit from calm, gradual exposure to strangers, crowds, other dogs, and so on. I’d recommend socializing him with calm dogs who you know aren’t reactive fear biters—dogs who can be peaceful around your dog and not back him into a corner. If you see progress when you try socialization, keep it up. But if your dog continues to be fearful and lash out, don’t force it. Instead, focus on reading his body language and keeping him away from his triggers. Over time, a dog who stays out of the orange or red zones may actually become less fearful—and ultimately less aggressive—because his fears are not being realized.

  Bottom line: never allow a dog with fear aggression to get cornered. Cornered animals feel the need to fight for their lives. If you take control of situations where you see this possibility, you can prevent the next bite or fight.

  Possessive Aggression. Many dogs are born with a possessive streak. It’s easy to spot, even in puppies. If you watch a group of littermates play with their toys, you’ll see the occasional fight break out, usually instigated by a dog who just doesn’t want to share. As dogs with this trait get older, some get more possessive and learn that fighting gets them what they want. It’s all fun and games when you’re dealing with puppies, but in adult dogs, this behavior is definitely not cute.

  In puppies, this type of aggression is often responsive to training, though there’s no such thing as an aggression fix that’s 100 percent. If you’re dealing with a possessive puppy, your dog has not had time yet to get familiar with the feeling of wanting to have or keep something at any cost. To discourage a young dog’s possessive aggression, simply take away the object (food, bowl, toys) he covets for a few seconds at the first sign of possessiveness. Then return it. Repeat this process over and over, increasing the time you take the item away a little more with each repetition. Eventually you can build up to minutes and then to hours. If your dog shows any aggression at all, just stay steady with this routine. If you do it gradually, a puppy will learn that there’s nothing to get angry about because the object of his desire always comes back. This method conditions a puppy’s immature mind to ease up long before it reaches aggression mode.

  Possessive aggression can be more difficult to deal with in an adult dog because his mature brain knows what full-blown aggression feels like and may have made a habit of it. A dog who’s had years of experience getting into possessive battles already knows what it’s like and probably knows how many of those battles he’s won and how many he’s lost. Typically, the more often a dog has been successful with possessive aggressive behavior, the harder that dog is willing to fight to keep it up. If this is the case with your dog, proceed with caution if you’re going to try to desensitize him by taking things away and returning them. If your dog is not too set in his ways, it can still work. But if the problem is more serious, a better remedy may be to take the elimination route.

  My grandfather used to tell me that I shouldn’t take a pill to get rid of a headache; I should get rid of the reason for the headache. If your adult dog has objects that trigger his possessive streak, eliminate that headache by simply getting rid of those objects. Many dogs are ball possessive but are fine with other toys. If the culprit is the ball, take it away. If the problem is an object you can’t get rid of like food or a bowl, start feeding your dog in a different location every day. This will throw him off his game and undermine his possessive streak.

  You can also use your trusty penny bottle or Shake & Break to help with this issue. If your dog displays possessiveness over an object you need to eliminate, shake the bottle before taking it. This will potentially take your dog’s mind out of aggression mode. At that moment you can start the process of trying to get him over it.


  Bottom line: use caution when dealing with this kind of aggression. Confrontation is never the answer. It’s not worth pushing things to that level because a dog’s bite can get him a one-way ticket to a shelter, possibly to be euthanized. If you need help, don’t hesitate to consult with a trainer who specializes in this area.

  Fence Fighting. This behavior is so common that many people don’t even consider it a form of aggression. This is a territorial behavior in which a dog becomes more and more aggressive as he nears a fence. At point-blank range, dogs can easily get to the red zone, fighting as hard as they can with only the fence between them. People who have dogs who fence fight can attest that it’s extremely difficult to get their dogs’ attention sufficiently to stop this behavior.

  This kind of fighting is driven by a dog’s territorial instincts. Wild dogs mark their territory as a warning to other animals—a way of saying no trespassing to any creature that gets too close. Your dog has likely marked your property in the same way, tapping into that ancient instinct. So when other animals come along, a lot of dogs feel threatened and decide they need to defend what’s theirs.

  This is one of the less dangerous kinds of aggression, mainly because the presence of a fence prevents direct contact and injuries. It can still be unnerving, though, and it gives your dog practice at acting aggressively—something no dog needs to work on.

  There are tools that can help discourage this behavior. One deterrent I recommend is the citronella collar. This quick, effective, and humane tool gives your dog a quick spray under his face every time he barks. I’ve seen this work for a lot of dogs over the years, though definitely not all of them. An alternative is the ultrasonic collar. It works like the citronella collar, but instead of spraying the dog, it emits a high-pitched sound that he’ll dislike. Dogs who are receptive to it learn quickly not to bark with this on. Many of these collars are programmable to allow different levels of barking before they’re activated. At the higher settings, a simple woof won’t be enough for your dog to get a correction, but a big confrontation along the fence line definitely will.