Yulia's Inquiry: How can I handle my dog’s sudden aggression towards people without a trainer? by Yulia Mikheeva

Basic Information about Dogs' Aggression to People

yuliamik — 2024-10-02 15:49:29 UTC

Document that contains all the basic information about dog aggression of different kinds

Doggy Daycare and Behavioral Issues

yuliamik — 2024-10-02 15:52:50 UTC

Could doggy day care contribute to the development of the new behavioral patters?

Definitely, yes. However, the article mostly talked about the bad sides of doggy daycare that are not really related to ours: our place is an actually house of a lady owner, she doesn't use kennels, she has doggy doors everywhere, so the dogs feel free and not too overwhelmed by the number of their "classmates". However, the dog can really develop the protective behavior: food, toys, their sleep, and start being aggressive to other dogs and people. We never had problems with other dogs IN the daycare, neither did they say anything about our dog's aggression to people working there. But, who knows...

Similar to Our Case

yuliamik — 2024-10-02 16:14:08 UTC

The case in the video is very different to ours. What I liked about this video specifically is that it has a lot of moments that were not cut off and shows the actual struggle and the need to be patient with the training. However, this video was only about the leash/outdoor reactivity, which is not the only behavioral issue our dog has.

Maybe Trainer?

yuliamik — 2024-10-09 01:57:19 UTC

https://www.completecaninetucson.com/prices

One hour of private training is about $200, which is definitely a "NO" for us. Especially considering that we'll need more than one session most likely. We also took group classes at that school before, and for us, they are kind of useless as these are the same people and gods in the same environment all the time. So, yes, our dog was reactive during the first class, and they he didn't care anymore and was pretty obedient. So, a private trainer is the only option that might benefit us.

What do people say?

yuliamik — 2024-10-09 02:01:48 UTC

I decided to go to forums to see what other people's experiences with sending dogs to doggy daycare are. It turned out that many people ACTUALLY notice a change in their dogs' (especially young dogs) behavior after they were exposed to the "pack" time: more aggression, more disobedience, more fear and insecurity sometimes. However, not sending our dog to doggy daycare is not an option. So, I continued searching for the training tips.

More tips

yuliamik — 2024-10-09 02:04:40 UTC

This is the article where I found the previous chart. It gives a lot of different perspectives on what reactivity is, why it could develop, how to deal with it, and most importantly how to try to manage it without a trainer. The article is also concise, and gives a lot of small tips according to the situation and the owner's\dog's needs. For example, I liked how they not only talked about managing the behavior on the spot only, but also paying attention to everyday routines of the dog, which at first might not be that obviously related to the reactivity. Or, distinguishing between training and managing the behavior. They mentioned that change in the environment that may as well be a trigger for the dog means a lot. So, with our case with the house aggression, we can try different rooms, different introduction of the guests, ect.

They also give useful information about dog's poses that may indicate the approaching unwanted behavior or act, which is really useful, because very often we need to be proactive.

We are in red when at home :(

yuliamik — 2024-10-09 02:07:33 UTC

I found another article, which divided different types of dogs' reactivity and give tips according to the circumstances. I added this picture here, which will show different "zone" of dogs' behavioral problems. While we are in the yellow zone for outdoors/leash behavior, the inside (home) one is pretty much in the RED.

Home Aggression Strategies

yuliamik — 2024-10-16 18:13:11 UTC

This is the video from the same trainer, which this time is dedicated to home aggression specifically. Though, the case is not identical to ours, there are still a lot of visual and practical tips on how to handle it. The trainer also says a wise phrase that each tip might not work for every single dog, so the owners should really try and see what works for their dog specifically. That's why different strategies were mentioned in the video. However, the biggest challenge for us, which is not even related to our dog himself, is that not everyone is willing to come to our house knowing the dog can snap, or maybe even bite them. One good tips, which I saw in both videos that was actually not emphasized a lot is using a muzzle.

Conclusions

yuliamik — 2024-10-16 18:19:15 UTC

I realized that there are different reasons and environments that affect dog's behavior: being aggressive on the leash outside leash vs reactivity/aggression to visitors at home;
Doggy Daycare can be a reason for new learned behaviors from the "pack";
Training a dog is a long process that involves and lot of practice and patience;
We need to continue training and exercising our dog in addition to the aggression training to make sure there is always enough mental and physical exercise, and the dog feels confident and not bored.

P.S. It's difficult to find volunteers to be willing to come to our house when they know the god can bite them :(