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Dear Yvette:

Our two-year-old Beagle and Border Collie mix is a sweet dog – good with most people. My main problem is that she is very aggressive to other dogs making it difficult to walk with her or take her to the dog park. She has never actually bitten another dog, but she jumps at them and growls. Can you tell me how to stop Molly from doing this?

Mary Beth

In more natural settings it is completely counterproductive for dogs to hurt one another. If dogs fought one another in the wild on a regular basis, they would very quickly kill off their own pack.

Dogs have other ways of diffusing a fight. Some dogs will willingly back out of conflicts. They essentially say, “I don't want to fight.” Other times dogs will get into a blustery battle that looks ugly but does little harm.

The rub happens because people want Lassie as their pet. We no longer want dogs that protect the farm and the sheep. We want Lassie. We want a dog that saves Timmy from the bad well and then gets the bad guy.

We may not be able to read a dog's mind. It is pretty obvious that when a dog lunges and snarls they are saying, “Back off.”

Problems can develop in a number of areas. Some dogs that snap are very fearful and under-socialized. These dogs subscribe to, “A good defense is a good offence.” Other dogs are guarding. On walks, that is usually their person. Still other dogs develop leash aggression. When a dog pulls on their lead, their shoulders lift up. Those raised shoulders imply, “I want to fight.” The other dogs puff up in return. In no time, a young dog learns, “Other dogs are bad and they want to fight.” The entire fight pattern started with the owner pulling back on the leash.

Aggressive displays often work as far as the dog is concerned. When a dog lunges, most people back away. Put yourself in the dog's mind for one moment. The dog wants to back the other dog off. He barks. The stranger leaves with the dog. Barking and lunging worked. It makes the scary/bad thing go away.

When working this problem, you need to teach the dog that there is no threat. This is done by working at a leave the dog can handle. For example: Can the dog pass by the threat at 20 feet?” Over time, you get closer and closer to the scary monster. This way you never put the dog in a position where they practice inappropriate behaviour. Lunging is never allowed to work and undermine your efforts. A behaviour consultant can help you with a detailed plan.

But someone once wrote to me and said, “What about those people who cannot afford the price of a specialist?” That is a very valid point, so I'm going to address it this time. To get quality-training books, professionals go to specialty outlets and universities. For dog-to-dog aggression the best two books currently available are: Fight by Jean Donaldson and Feisty Fido by Patricia McConnell. Both are available from www.dogwise.com. For those that are good book learners, this is an option to consider. But hands on coaching and experienced eyes are valuable resources not to be underestimated.

Yvette is an award winning pet writer and pet behavior columnist. She also is the author of Meeting Milo, a North American dog bite prevention program to reduce the approximately 2 million children bit by dogs annually. She is the owner of AwesomeDogs.ca and works as a behavior consultant in London, Ontario.

This column was originally featured in The Londoner
See more of Yvette... www.awesomedogs.ca
www.meetingmilo.com

Yvette has 2 dogs of her own, KIKI and KAYA. Take a look...

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