This post is part of the series in response to Dunbar’s 2012 Australian seminars. See index.

Dog-dog aggression is harder to prevent that dog-human aggression, but luckily it’s more ‘livable’.  That is, a dog that hates people is hard to live with.  A dog that hates other dogs will probably be perfectly fine and happy living at home with minimal or no walks (and arguably, most dogs live like this anyway).  For this reason, Dunbar believes that socialisation of a puppy to dogs is less important that socialisation to people.  In the period from 9-12 weeks, dog-dog socialisation is not a priority.

In an off-leash puppy class at 3 months, most dog-dog issues are easily ‘fixed’.  If dogs are struggling with dog interactions in a couple of weeks, they can go to extra classes with a younger group of puppies (i.e. a scared puppy can learn to be confident around younger, small puppies) or with older puppies (i.e. a ‘bully puppy’ will soon be put in his place by older, larger puppies).  That is, a large facility running numerous puppy classes of different ages, can probably find the ‘right’ group of puppies (or young adult dogs) for a nervous or confident puppy to interact with, in order to teach that puppy appropriate interactions.

It’s important for puppies to socialise with other dogs and puppies to learn appropriate interactions from an early age.

Dealing with Adult Dog-Aggressive Dogs

For adult dogs presented with aggression, it may be useful to examine the dog’s ‘fight to bite’ ratio.  Ask the client:

• How many full contact fights has the dog been in?  (Often, owners don’t like to answer this question. It may be easier to ask about the first 3 fights the dog was ever in, the last 3 fights the dog was ever in, and how many there are in between.)
• How many of these full contact fights resulted in a vet visit?  How much was the bill? (A bill greater than $250 indicates significant damage done.)

Owners often have difficultly talking about aggression, but what we are trying to ascertain is, when the dog reacts, how much damage does he do?  To Dunbar, a dog that has been aggressive but never caused damage suggests a dog with good bite inhibition, and a dog that is probably safe, just under socialised.

Dogs typically bite other dogs on the face/neck/scruff area.  Dogs that bite other dogs on the legs or belly are biting is an un-stereotypical way.  These dogs are not socialised, do not have bite inhibition, and are more likely to kill another dog in a fight.

Dogs that are harming other dogs do not have bite inhibition, and, though Dunbar didn’t say explicitly what should be done with these dogs, I would suggest that he thinks they should be the type of dogs that should be left at home and not given the opportunity to interact with other dogs, or that they should otherwise be strictly managed.

For dogs that are not doing any harm (i.e. physical damage to another dog), they may be suitable for a growl class.

Flooding: The Growl Class

Flooding can sometimes be used, with some aggressive dogs, by conducting a ‘growl class’.  This flooding is one hour of stress for the dog, with a lot of benefit. Flooding should never be used for human aggression!

Growl classes are for aggressive dogs that aren’t biting and aren’t doing damage.  We know that these dogs are unlikely to injure another dog, so we “can do anything we like to correct it”, because if you stuff up, it doesn’t really matter (in terms of physical consequences).  He recommends a lot of classical conditioning with a stationary stimulus to help overcome dog-aggression.  (He likes the BAT protocol.)

Growl classes are conducted with 8 dogs, all wearing Mikki muzzles.  There is at least two instructors/handlers running each class.  It begins by walking the dogs back and forward, feeding them (classically conditioning the dogs).  After about 15 minutes, the dogs have stopped the reactive behaviour.  Dogs are not given cues/commands, and so there is no pressure for them to perform them.

Take Home Messages

The key messages regarding dog aggression from Dunbar are:

• Dog aggression is not the end of the world! Many dogs that are dog-aggressive live quite happy lives at home, away from other dogs.
• Though dog fights may be a lot of noise and drama, often, serious damage doesn’t occur.  This is a good sign!  It means that the dog has good bite inhibition, so it’s unlikely to do damage at any point. (But the underlying anxiety provoking the aggression should still be sought to be resolved.)
• Classical conditioning is a solution to everything, including dogs that are under-socialised to other dogs.

For further reading: Read more about BAT here.