Ep. 41: Is Aggression Ever Fixed?

Join Marissa, Kayla, and Ursa as they discuss what aggression is and factors important in determining whether aggression is ever truly fixed.

  • Can trigger be identified? How severe is the aggressive response? What’s the learned history?
  • Can environment be managed?
  • Is b mod being carried out effectively?
    • Dog under threshold
    • Exposure managed positively
    • Significant # of trials
    • Proper use and timing of reinforcement and/or unconditioned stimulus
    • CER achieved

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  1. My rescue dog (maybe lab and border collie mix) is about 1 years old. He’s not submissive, but I’ve never seen him be aggressive to people or dogs until a couple weeks ago. And the thing is, he’s only (sofar) aggressive to smallish and submissive dogs. I cannot understand why. These two dogs are newer to him. But he “played” fine with them threeish times before the recent times where he became aggressive. I put played in quotes because the dogs were so submissive that they just stayed in a low sit or rolled on their back. And my dog generally then would go play with other dogs. I’m just finding it hard to balance the line between letting them interact in a controlled way and letting him practice the aggression. Because I can have not been able to tell yet when he decides to become aggressive. But he always does with these two smallish (cocker spaniel size) dogs. Usually within seconds or minutes. Another thing is, he’s not aggressive to them on leash out walking. Just inside the fence of our apartment’s dog park. This aggression had shown up five times now. Always at the park. Always with these smallish submissive dogs. I guess I just don’t understand. Are there other articles or videos that might be able to shed some light for me?

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      Author

      Hi Tou, I think booking a distance consult with Ursa (CanisMajorTraining.com) would be an excellent next step!

  2. It just doesn’t make sense to me that I cannot find any information on a situation like this. My dog cannot be the only one to react like this. Since I got him in December I’ve just been obsessed with training him. And he’s been easy to train. Fairly mellow, obedient (except around his best friends) and not skittish of things (except for water). I’ve taught him dozens of things. He has a great recall sofar. And I’m a handful of days into teaching him nose work. But I can’t understand why he goes from zero to aggressive with this poor puppy. The first time it happened the cocker spaniel was rolled onto its back asking humans for a belly rub. My dog doesn’t even like to be pet. And like I said. He went from zero to barking alot and trying to corner the smaller dog. Even when I pulled him away he kept trying to go back. And my dog doesn’t even really bark. And when he does, it’s usually just once or twice. The only time he barked alot since I’ve had him was in basic obedience class. When he was in close proximity to dogs for a long time and couldn’t play. But that barking was not aggressive like he is with these smaller dogs.

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      Author
  3. I have a neutered male Aussie about 8 yrs. he goes after the intact female Aussie about 5 yrs. when the door bell rings, sudden noises, she barks. She just goes down and stays still. She has never been aggressive back to him. He also will go after my husband or me in certain cases. I saw a bug on the floor and exclaimed but not yelled there’s a bug to my husband and he came after me(the person in distress). He did some damage to my arm. I feel if a burgler came in the house, he would bite me not the bad guy! We do love them both. Our vet said we could never trust him with the female again. We kept them separated for two years but the musical dogs routine was too much so we tried a muzzle. Actually he accepted it well and now wears it all day and they can be together which he likes. We just need for him to not go after her or us!

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