Male Dog Aggressive to Other Dogs on Leash

[yummybagel]

I have a male beagle who just turned 15 months. Recently, he is being more and more aggressive towards other dogs on the street while he is on a walk. He growls, barks, and lunges at other dogs. When he was younger and still a puppy, he used to love seeing other dogs on the streets. He would try to go and smell them, but these days, things have changed. It's very confusing because to some dogs he responds nicely, but to some he is very mean. He is not aggressive towards other dogs when he is at a dog park. He gets along with other dogs pretty well, though it seems like he doesn't want to be sniffed by other dogs. But overall, he dog-wrestles and plays well. He actually have been chased by big dogs many times, but most of the times it was because he initiated it. He would run up to big dogs, bark, and run away. When the big dogs don't chase him, he would go back to that dog, bark, run away and keep repeating until one of the dogs chases him. Things have gone rough though, so we are trying to stay with the small dogs in a small dog area, though that's not so easy because he doesn't want to play with the small ones. Could this aggression towards other dogs while on a walk be because of his rough play with the big dogs? How should I react when he growls, barks, and lunges at other dogs?

[emmabeth]

Mmm - I do hate to burst your bubble here, but...

Hes not so much playful, but damn rude, off lead in the park certainly. Approaching other dogs at a run, barking at them and running off, whilst clearly an invite to play is a rude invitation... and repeating it when the other dogs do not respond the first time is even ruder.

What will happen at some point is, either a dog will snap at him, or will chase him catch him and give him a pasting.

Then, where he is now a little wary... but rude and cheeky, he will likely learn to be aggressive in the first instance!

On lead he is frustrated but also well aware that he cannot dash off and get round his wary 'not sure how to greet politely so ill shout in its face and run off' plan so he gets defensive.

So - for now avoid the dog park, as all he is learning there is to be a pest and a bully. On lead walks, avoid other dogs, concentrate on getting him paying attention to you, trusting you, you are a source of interesting fun things and you WONT make him nor allow him to approach other dogs.

When you have that sorted and can redirect his attention, know when its time to try redirecting and when its time to just avoid, then you can work on him greeting politely.

For the dog park before he goes back there, he needs a rock solid recall and to have practiced being introduced to other dogs politely, and leaving them alone if they dont respond to his invitations to play.

[jacksdad]

It is actually not uncommon for there to be two different behaviors around strange dogs. One while on leash and another while off leash (ie the dog park). Why a dog is different on leash has a lot to do with their confidence levels, past experiences, and natural dog behavior. If the dog is low confidence or fearful, when they are off leash the can run away from something that makes them afraid/overwhelmed/stressed. When they are on a leash they lose this option which leaves displays of aggression. if they have had bad past experiences while on leash such as a dog attack or close call with a dog attack it is possible for the dog to play it "safe" and try and keep all dogs away with displays of aggression. Dogs also lose the ability to approach each other naturally when on leash. Humans walk strait lines up to each other to greet. To us this is polite and proper. But not so to a dog and this can cause dogs to be nervous approaching or being approached by another dog, which leads to aggression displays. A last possible cause is some dogs just really want to run up to every dog and say hi. Being on leash prevents this. So frustration builds and eventually leads to displays of aggression. should note here that allowing your dog to "run" up to say hi to just any dog can be dangerous as you do not know the disposition of the other dog.

The most common cause though comes from a place of fear or stress. The root cause of which you may never know. And if your unsure why your dog is acting this way, it is safest to assume fear. If your wrong, the consequences of being wrong are next to nothing.

In the case of your dog, at 15 months old it is possible he is just going through another fearful stage that with some help he will grow out of. see this thread for more info about dog development stages viewtopic.php?f=20&t=1981

So, what I would suggest is maybe backing off dog park and minimizing contact with other dogs for now. Being you indicate he doesn't want to be sniffed, it is entirely possible he isn't as "ok" with the other dogs at the dog park as you think. And so when he barks, growls and lungs at dogs on a walk I would take that to mean "I am uncomfortable with this" for now.

Moving forward, I would take a week off from dog park minimum. Try and make your walks as dog free as you can. This is to help your dog lower his stress levels. When you see a dog on your walks try and avoid the dogs for now. if the dog is coming towards you, if possible cross to other side of street and pass there and place your self between your dog and the other dog. Or if that isn't possible, U turn and go the other way. Or you can duck behind a parked car, bush, tree etc and let the dog pass.

When dogs are close you want to try and redirect your dogs attention to you. The simplest way is with "watch me". When you say watch me, your dog looks you in the eye until you release. You will need to build this up before can actually use it when a dog is close. start in your living room with no distraction, when you can hold a watch me for 10 - 15 seconds move to the back yard, then when you can hold it there, move to the park etc. early on your dog may only be able to look at you for a second or two once distractions start getting added in which is why you need to build this before trying when dogs are around. In the mean time, to keep attention off the dog, you can feed small treats one at a time rapidly while the other dog passes or you can also throw a small amount of treats on the ground for your dog to find rather then focus on the other dog. For any of this to work you will need to work out the distance from another dog your dog can be and stay calm. IF your dog start barking, growling, lunging your too close. Your dog won't be able to pay attention to you. It's not that he doesn't want to, he can't. His stress/arousal is too high.

If a dog tries and come up to you, if lose do your best to keep your self between your dog and the other dog. At first it might not seem to do much, but in time your dog will learn that if he stays behind you, he doesn't have to deal with the other dog you will. I just had to do this with my dog who is also reactive while on leash towards other dogs. yesterday morning we encountered 2 lose dogs out with their owner. one dog keep trying to get closer. I was able to keep my dog behind me, and square my self to the on coming dog and lean forward just a little and give him a nice "go away" glare. didn't say a word and he got the message. My dog never once barked. just low growls, a first for him in this situation. you can if there isn't an owner trying to "call back their dog" try throwing some treats at the dog to distract it while you and your dog head off in the opposite direction.

The goal of all this is to teach your dog new options rather then displays of aggression, and to change his association of other dogs while on leash from oh great here comes another dog "bark, bark, growl growl etc." to "oh cool another dog which means look at owner and get treats". Also because of his age, and a possible fear stage, you want to work to ensure his dog/dog experiences are positive as possible. Which may mean "socializing" from a distance for a little while to ensure no bad experiences and when he looks at other dogs from a distance and stays calm, he gets a reward.

Another thing to keep in mind is that as your dog gets older, mature dogs aren't going to tolerate being run up to as your dog is no longer a puppy this behavior is considered rude and could cause dog fights. you can use the same technique I describe to retrain an impulsive/rude dog as you can a fearful dog. and it is just as equally possible your dog is being impulsive/rude because of the stages he is going through is it is a fear based response. But again, the methods are pretty much the same to correct both type issues.

There are other things that can help such as clicker training which can build confidence, if your interested check out this thread viewtopic.php?f=20&t=513. I would recommend looking into this.

There are a few other ways to tackle this but start with the above. If you have any questions, need clarification etc please stay with us and ask. There are many of us going through the same thing as you, my self included so if you need to vent this is the place to do it, we get it because we are going through it too.

[yummybagel]

Thank you so much for all of your comprehensive answers!

I had couple of more questions.
At home, whenever he hears another dog bark, or sees another dog through the window, he barks like crazy and growls.
What would be a good way to handle that? I can't control when another dog barks...We are trying to keep the blinds down so that he wouldn't be able to see the outside, but it's hard with the hot weather.

And also, whenever I tell him not to do something, he gets very defensive. Like today, he was trying to dig through the trash (we put a fence around our trash bin but he still tries to go through it through the little holes that are on the fence. I plan to change our trash bins to the ones with the lid.) So I said nah-ah. After he backed off, I bent down to pet him, but he snapped at me. He growld and nipped my hand. Then he started barking at me, and whenever I tried to go near him, he nipped at me again. He didn't bite hard. It didn't really hurt or leave a mark or anything (his bark was worse than his bite), but it was very frustrating. This has been going on for awhile now. Several times, I've been so frustrated that I've yelled "ouch!" followed by a "no!" I've been trying to keep calm, and I was actually able to during the early stages of this..uncontrollable phase (I'm hoping it's a phase). I've been trying not to raise my voice, but with all the things that he's been doing, it's difficult. Sometimes, when I say "nah-ah" he barks at me like a teenager rebelling against his/her parents. How should I react to that? I've been ignoring it..is that a bad way to handle the situtation? I actually am clicker training him, and I train him every day. May be I'm not training him enough...I really need help with him. It's getting harder and harder to deal with him..Feels like I'm doing everything wrong regarding handling him.

[emmabeth]

Ok... ask your self this. When he has nipped you once... effectively, warned you to stay away from him, why are you trying to touch him again?

Regardless of why hes doing it, or why he shouldnt be doing it, or what he should learn at that instance, or how appropriate or inappropriate the behaviour is depending on your perspective (because our human perspective and a dogs perspective on the same thing are verrrrrrrry different!)...

By continuing to interact and attempt to touch him, when he has already said 'go away' and means it.... you are involving yourself in an argument with him, and you are escalating the level of confrontation and aggression.

I am by no means saying he should bite you, or that it is appropriate - however you have the superior capacity to learn other languages - his ability to do this is very limited, so its you that has to give ground here.

In HIS language, growling, warning you, nipping at you is all PERFECTLY acceptable communication and you absolutely cannot teach him otherwise. No more than I could fairly or realistically teach you never to say 'help' or 'leave me alone' or 'back off buddy I have a baseball bat'...

Soooooooooo you cant teach him not to growl, bite, nip, make faces, ... you CAN figure out why, and how to avoid those situations, how to change his perception of certain situations and react differently.

Trash 101 - to a dog, trash is AMAZING. Trash is like gold, trash is dog-heaven, all dogs, at heart, are trash-can dogs, bin divers, garbage guzzlers. Dogs Love Trash. Trash is up there with stinky carcasses, weeing up stuff, rolling in poop and getting lucky with mr or mrs right-now...

Its a dog thing.

We humans have an utterly BIZARRE habit of not making the best use of our trash (ie, not ripping it to bits, rolling in it, decorating our floors with it or treasuring the bits bits an carrying them around in our mouths to save them for all time). Instead, we freaky humans STORE our trash, in big trash-loot-heaps... we dont touch it, we dont want it near us.... yet we clearly WANT it because we keep it in large quantities in a special place.

Utterly alien to a dog.

So the concept that you DONT want the trash... but the dog CANT have the trash.... nuh-uh, does not compute! On planet dog, there is no such thing as 'I don't want this but YOU can't have it'...

So your dog has some darn good reasons for wanting the trash, and for not coming to terms with the idea that though you do not want it, you also do not want him to have it either, because that makes no sense to him whatsoever.

I also bet, that the first few times your dog got ito trash you chased him and probably took stuff off him and maybe yelled at him - if thats correct then thats pretty normaly 'freaky human' behaviour, you won't be alone there!

What THAT does though is increase his desire to keep hold of trash he has, and defend his trash, and defend his right to get into the trash, because its a BIG deal to you... so that means the trash is even MORE valuable... and it already was way high up on his list anyway!

The first stage, is to make sure he cannot get into the trash, at all. Better fence, lid on the trash can that he cant get open.

Next job - stop getting into arguments with him - it is pointless because there will ultimately, be no winner - if you both escalate the argument to its ultimate conclusion, ie, one of you hurts the other... its liable to end up with someone taking a one way trip to the vets office and someone else getting stitches.

Very silly argument to have, but it takes two to argue, so if you dont... he cant.

This applies to everything and anything - instead of saying no, change the subject. If his brain is on 'ooh yay trash', what happens if you say 'meh - suit yourself but IM goin in the fridge for some cheese now' or 'feel free but IM goin out in the truck/picking up this dog lead to go for a walk.....'

Bet hes forgotten ALLLLLL about the trash (or the barking, or the wrecking something, or wahtever) then.... and thats not rewarding him for getting into the trash, tahts distracting, redirecting and NOT having a confrontation.

It involves a bit of practice, a bit of self control to NOT respond to the impulse urge we humasn have to deal with something confrontationally, but it IS worth it.

A friend of mine had a lovely GSD rescue, and one day he got into some left over roast lamb, wrapped in heavy duty tin foil (more the kind of pie tin stuff with sharp edges than the foil). She reacted instinctively and dived on him to get it off him - she DID get it off him... but the next day he got hold of something else wrapped in the same foil...

This time, instead of waiting for her to dive on him when she saw him.... he swallowed it the moment he saw her coming.

That was as very expensive vet trip indeed as he had to be opened up to get the sharp metal out.

The third time he got hold of something dangerous - she stopped herself, grabbed a dog lead and said 'walkies'...... and he dropped his prize, legged it to the door and they went for a walk. When she returned she shut him in her kitchen until shed removed the dangerous 'prize' from the other room.

Now of course, shes a lot more careful where she puts dangerous stuff, and she reacts calmly and redirects (changes the subject) when something like this occurs.

So, no more telling him not to do stuff. Its not at all constructive.

If i just responded to your post by saying 'well dont do taht' - how useful would that be, you wouldnt know what you SHOULD do instead... maybe you would guess, the chances are if you couldnt guess you would just carry on doign waht you were doign before...

So replace telling him no and trying to get him to 'dont do that' with telling him what you DO want him to do.

You may have to teach some of these behaviours before hand and manage him so that he cant make errors (things like trash you will pretty much ALWAYS have to manage!), but then you are constructively telling him waht WILL work, be rewarded and is good to do - and he wont need to react defensively because he will understand.... rather than feeling confused and threatened.

[jacksdad]

At home, whenever he hears another dog bark, or sees another dog through the window, he barks like crazy and growls.
What would be a good way to handle that? I can't control when another dog barks...We are trying to keep the blinds down so that he wouldn't be able to see the outside, but it's hard with the hot weather.

This one is a tough one because your dog can smell and or hear the dogs before you ever will. I had/have this problem too. I leave the blinds closed and but he still knows when there is a dog walking by and will bark. So it's near impossible to "counter condition" if the driving factor is fear like you can on walks. So, the best I can give you is keep the blinds closed as much as possible. I know this is summer, but do your best here. If your dog can see the other dog and starts barking and then the dog walks out of sight, your dog thinks he chased off. which rewards/reinforces the behavior. If you yell at him or even just say no, stop, quite while he is barking you risk him thinking you are joining in. so be careful about that.

There is also the possibility he is just bored and this is self entertainment if he is allowed to site and watch out the window. So again, management is the solution here. don't let him watch out the window. close the blinds.

This is Jacks first summer with me, so there were lots of new sounds/smells to react to. My wife and I thought we were going to never get a nights sleep for a while there. The good news is as we have made progress in my neighborhood with Jacks reactivity towards dogs and humans (aka fear aggression) and he has become more used to the noises, he has settled down. we did start off though trying to teach/ask him to be quite. not as easy as it sounds. we noticed he developed a second bark, one that was about getting attention. So, we learn to ignore this bark and it went away. To deal with the fear bark we sort of ignored it. but I would also call him over to me and calmly interact with him. asked for a sit, maybe played a little with him etc. when he was calm and stopped barking...party time, fun things happened. this is distracting and cutting the barking short, not rewarding because I started a new activity. When he would only bark once or twice and stopped, he got verbal praise and attention. when he make low quite barks and only a couple and then quiets down, he gets praise. my goal was never to end the bark or growl or to make him feel this was wrong, but to encourage some control and brevity to it. It's ok if something makes him feel he needs to alert us, it's just the on and on barking we didn't want.

I hope this helps. others I am sure will also have advice how on how they tacked this problem as it's fairly common.

[Nettle]

Just a quickie to add about "changing the subject" - never ever lie to your dog. If you pick up the lead to distract him, you MUST take him for a walk (even ten minutes will do). If you run to the kitchen and say oooh cheeeese, then give him a tiny piece.

Lying to the dog is what so many people do, and once the trust is broken, the dog will not respond, because the owner has proved they aren't worth it.