Why does my dog bark at other dogs? Dog aggression and how to help

Dog to dog aggression seems to be on the rise but what causes it and what can you do?

Dogs that bark at other dogs is a problem that's on the rise

All you want is to enjoy a nice, relaxing walk with your dog, just like anyone else. Instead, you're constantly on alert in case ANOTHER DOG appears. Because the mere sight of a dog is enough to turn your delightful, chilled-at-home pet into a crazed loon who wants to give every other dog the hairdryer treatment.

What is reactivity?

You may have heard the term reactivity. It's a bit of a catch-all phrase that people tend to use to mean their dog OVER reacts to certain things (triggers) in certain circumstances (for instance on lead, or in the house). But it happens for a number of reasons. In this article, I'm going to concentrate on dog-to-dog reactivity, so let's get into why it happens.

Why does your dog react?

Fear

Fear is probably the most common root cause of reactivity we see. It can look like aggression (barking, lunging, baring teeth), and people often think their dog is trying to protect them. In fact, they're trying to protect themsleves. All that sound and noise is an attempt to make the scary thing go away.

Frustration

This happens when a sociable dog is prevented from greeting another dog when and where they want, because they're on the lead. Their excitement and enthusiam turns to frustration, which then turns into a reactive tantrum.

Combination-type

When we're workimg 1-2-1 with reactive dogs, we spend a lot of time observing and what's surprisingly common is to see a mix of both fear and frustration. These are dogs who really want to make doggie friends, but they're not sure how those interactions might go. We often see it with dogs who've had bad experiences with dogs before, or they may have been punished for playing too boisterously, or for expressing their frustration, and now they associate dogs (who they have a great desire to socialise with), with pain or fear. Another common scenario is a dog that didn't have a proper socialiation programme as a puppy, or had a poor one (for instance at a badly run pet store socialistion session). The result is a dog who don't know how to read - or give off - the right signals around other dogs. By the way, this is a common stage in adolescent dogs who are going through a second fear period.

 

So is my dog being aggressive?

Probably not, in the true sense. Aggression is intent to cause physical harm. True aggression is rare And it's often silent. A dog that genuinely wants to cause another dog harm does not, by and large, give that other dog warning.

With reactivity, there's a lot of sound and fury, and (usually) very little substance. It looks terrifying, but if the dog were suddenly able to reach their target, they USUALLY wouldn’t attack. However, this is not one to test out!! Because the act of barking furiously can provoke the target dog to react in kind, or at least give off equally threatening signals. Because your dog is pumped up with adreneline, the thinking part of the brain is switched off... You can guess the rest.

What kind of reactivity does my dog have?

Knowing which kind of reactivity your dog has will be useful when coming up with a training plan to fix it. That's where we come in. When we're working with dog reactive dogs, one of the first things we do is diagnose when kind of reactivity your dog is showing. That's one of the main things we consider when we're coming up with an action plan. And that plan is nearly always all about changing the emotions your dog feels when they see another dog. The other thing we concentrate on is getting your dog to trust you to take care of the situation.

But that's not all. We always look at a dog in a holistic way. What else is going on? How are their needs being met? What's the relationship with the owner? We even want to know how their poos are! We work on the whole dog, not just the behaviour.

I'm going to be totally honest. It's not usually within our power to change your reactive dog into a social butterfly. What we aim for is that your dog can tolerate other dogs being around. But for most owners, that's the dream. It's not a quick fix (and if you see/read any dog trainer who promises it will, keep your money in your bank account and your dog well away from them). It takes time, and patience and work, but you can make the change.

Tracy and I work 1-2-1 with reactive dogs and their owners and also run small group classes, helping reactive dogs overcome fear and frustration. So give us a call and have a chat or drop us a line imfo@hotdogtraining.co.uk.