Q&A with ‘The Paw Man’ (424) – STOP, Do Not Continue! Charlotte Mushy Smith Hello, Ive been reason your advice for a long time and Id just like to say that it feels great to have finally found another dog lover and trainer with the same views on training as I. However Im not an actual dog trainer I have just trained my own, my grandmas and my boyfriends and also the odd friend’s dog. There is one dog Im a still having a problem with though and nothing I try can fix it. Its my boyfriend’s 11 and a half year old Springer Spaniel, now I know you might be thinking hes a bit old to try and correct his ways but it’s quite a major problem. Hes responsive and fine with everything except one thing. When hes in the house or garden if he gets hold of a toy or a large chew instead of playing with it or eating it like he would outside of the home, he guards it. He also has the same reaction on a night if he finds a slug in the garden. Or things like pieces of paper. Hell rip them up and defend the little pieces. I only met these dogs just under two years ago and since then Ive made some amazing progress with their now almost five year old husky and some good progress with the Springer also. But in the first few occasions that I observed this behaviour I found they used treats to lure him away from the object he was guarding. Paw Man So we’re dealing with an 11 year old dog that has been rewarded for doing this behaviour previously. The life expectancy of an ESS is 12-14 years so this dog is well and truly in its twilight years. You call this ‘quite a major problem’ and whilst I do agree that it does involve a degree of risk, I would question the need to extinguish this behavior, given the dogs age and that it has been positively reinforced by the family before you came along. Charlotte Now obviously I have wiped that tactic but I still cant stop him. Theres already been four times hes been inches away from having my arm in his mouth and once where he actually got me. If you get to close to him hell growl and snarl and he will attack. The only alternative Ive found is to literally drag him inside and we have a cage were the husky sleeps on a night if hes not already comfortable somewhere in the house, so I place him in there and leave him for about half an hour before letting him back out. All his other bad behaviours like jumping on the bench and table, taking food from plates and pulling on a lead Ive managed to crack but I just cant find a way with this one. I think it might be because hes done it for years and always had treats thrown at him that now he genuinely thinks what hes doing is correct. Would you have anything to contribute to this because Im not willing to give up. Theres life in the old dog yet and we live around lots of children Id hate for any harm to ever come to them. Paw Man You are correct, he is doing it because for years he has been rewarded for doing it which means he has been taught to do it and his perception is that doing it is a rewarded behavior. So what you are trying to do now is actually de-training and this really needs to be done by a professional, as you have already found that dealing with canine aggression involves a high degree of risk. The fact that the dog has already bitten you tells me that he is quite resistant which also means that the level of aggression can quickly escalate as the dog becomes more emphatic to cling to what it ‘knows’ is a rewarded (correct) behavior. Charlotte Mushy Smith The main reason this is worrying me so much is that because Ive enforced all the training with the Husky Im about the only one he’ll listen to so now whenever the Springer starts his bad behaviours the husky wont leave my side and become very cautious of his next move. The Husky has been with the Springer from about four months old so I dont want any feud between the two but he is very protective over me with the Springer. He has never attacked the Springer yet just growled at him when hes been growling at me. Almost like a warning to back down. Paw Man The fact that you say the ‘he has never attacked the Springer yet’ tells me that you are aware how seriously wrong this situation can go, and once you have triggered that dog to dog aggression there may be no going back. You are working in an area that you are not qualified to work in and there is a great potential to do irreparable damage to the Springer, the Husky, yourself and possibly to the rest of the family. Charlotte It seems to work but in the back of my mind I know one way or another a full blown fight could and probably will occur. Its just getting rid of this guarding thing. Im positive he thinks hes doing right. Paw Man Based on what you have told me you are an amateur playing around with a potentially serious problem and you are not appreciating the seriousness of the consequences if things go wrong…. and they are already starting to do that (the dog has bitten you once already). The concept of a dog’s perception of right and wrong involves less about morals and ethics and more about what is rewarded and what is not. If a behavior is rewarded by the pack or by the environment then the dogs perceives that behaviour as being ‘right’. My default advice for dog owners dealing with any aggressive dog behaviours is to tell them to seek professional assistance. Although your motivations may be correct, it is quite possible that you could make this situation much, much worse whilst attempting to change the behavior of a geriatric dog that has been taught to do a wrong behavior by its family. With a dog of this age you should also consider a behavior management approach and a good quality basket muzzle also springs to mind as a suitable management tool. Depending on the laws where you are, a professional may be able to extinguish this behavior very quickly with a remote training collar, but please do not attempt to do this yourself as you are already out of your depth. Although your heart is in the right place, working with dog aggression requires a specific skill set. There is also a chance that any canine professional that you do locate may look at the age of the dog and say that it’s inappropriate to address this behavior in a dog at that stage in its life. I realise this answer is not what you wanted or were expecting to hear but I am not here to just tell people things they want to hear, as I have a responsibility to tell them what they need to hear.
Posted on: Sun, 15 Dec 2013 23:02:37 +0000
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