{"id":1266,"date":"2012-04-10T17:04:17","date_gmt":"2012-04-10T06:34:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/leemakennels.com\/blog\/?p=1266"},"modified":"2021-08-02T17:36:39","modified_gmt":"2021-08-02T07:06:39","slug":"dog-dog-aggression-dunbar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/leemakennels.com\/blog\/dog-behaviour\/dog-dog-aggression-dunbar\/","title":{"rendered":"Dog-Dog Aggression (Dunbar)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><small><small>This post is part of the series in response to Dunbar&#8217;s 2012 Australian seminars. See\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/leemakennels.com\/blog\/aboutblog\/the-dunbar-index\/\">index<\/a>.<\/small><\/small><\/p>\n<p>Dog-dog aggression is harder to prevent that dog-human aggression, but luckily it\u2019s more \u2018livable\u2019.\u00a0 That is, a dog that hates people is hard to live with.\u00a0 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).\u00a0 For this reason, Dunbar believes that socialisation of a puppy to dogs is less important that <a href=\"http:\/\/leemakennels.com\/blog\/puppies\/puppy-socialisation-dunbar\/\">socialisation to people<\/a>.\u00a0 In the period from 9-12 weeks, dog-dog socialisation is not a priority.<\/p>\n<p>In an off-leash <a href=\"http:\/\/leemakennels.com\/blog\/puppies\/puppy-classes-dunbar\/\">puppy class<\/a> at 3 months, most dog-dog issues are easily \u2018fixed\u2019.\u00a0 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 \u2018bully puppy\u2019 will soon be put in his place by older, larger puppies).\u00a0 That is, a large facility running numerous puppy classes of different ages, can probably find the \u2018right\u2019 group of puppies (or young adult dogs) for a nervous or confident puppy to interact with, in order to teach that puppy appropriate interactions.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_1269\" style=\"width: 586px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/leemakennels.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/252016_10150317120794047_720299046_9323482_1476296_n.jpeg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1269\" class=\" wp-image-1269 \" title=\"Two border collie puppies playing.\" alt=\"Two border collie puppies playing.\" src=\"http:\/\/leemakennels.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/252016_10150317120794047_720299046_9323482_1476296_n.jpeg\" width=\"576\" height=\"384\" srcset=\"http:\/\/leemakennels.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/252016_10150317120794047_720299046_9323482_1476296_n.jpeg 720w, http:\/\/leemakennels.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/252016_10150317120794047_720299046_9323482_1476296_n-300x200.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 576px) 100vw, 576px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-1269\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">It&#8217;s important for puppies to socialise with other dogs and puppies to learn appropriate interactions from an early age.<\/p><\/div>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><!--more-->Dealing with Adult Dog-Aggressive Dogs<\/span><\/p>\n<p>For adult dogs presented with aggression, it may be useful to examine the dog\u2019s \u2018fight to bite\u2019 ratio.\u00a0 Ask the client:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>How many full contact fights has the dog been in?\u00a0 (Often, owners don\u2019t 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.)<\/li>\n<li>How many of these full contact fights resulted in a vet visit?\u00a0 How much was the bill? (A bill greater than $250 indicates significant\u00a0damage\u00a0done.)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>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?\u00a0 To Dunbar, a dog that has been aggressive but never caused damage suggests a dog with good <a href=\"http:\/\/leemakennels.com\/blog\/dog-behaviour\/the-importance-of-bite-inhibition\/\">bite inhibition<\/a>, and a dog that is probably safe, just under socialised.<\/p>\n<p>Dogs typically bite other dogs on the face\/neck\/scruff area.\u00a0 Dogs that bite other dogs on the legs or belly are biting is an un-stereotypical way.\u00a0 These dogs are not socialised, do not have bite inhibition, and are more likely to kill another dog in a fight.<\/p>\n<p>Dogs that are harming other dogs do not have bite inhibition, and, though Dunbar didn\u2019t 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.<\/p>\n<p>For dogs that are not doing any harm (i.e. physical damage to another dog), they may be suitable for a growl class.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Flooding: The Growl Class<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Flooding can sometimes be used, with some aggressive dogs, by conducting a \u2018growl class\u2019.\u00a0 This flooding is one hour of stress for the dog, with a lot of benefit. Flooding should never be used for human aggression!<\/p>\n<p>Growl classes are for aggressive dogs that aren\u2019t biting and aren\u2019t doing damage.\u00a0 We know that these dogs are unlikely to injure another dog, so we \u201ccan do anything we like to correct it\u201d, because if you stuff up, it doesn\u2019t really matter (in terms of physical consequences).\u00a0 He recommends a lot of classical conditioning with a stationary stimulus to help overcome dog-aggression.\u00a0 (He likes the <a href=\"http:\/\/functionalrewards.com\/\">BAT protocol<\/a>.)<\/p>\n<p>Growl classes are conducted with 8 dogs, all wearing Mikki muzzles.\u00a0 There is at least two instructors\/handlers running each class.\u00a0 It begins by walking the dogs back and forward, feeding them (<a href=\"http:\/\/leemakennels.com\/blog\/dog-behaviour\/dog-training-dog-behaviour\/mcgreevy-on-classical-conditioning\/\">classically conditioning<\/a> the dogs).\u00a0 After about 15 minutes, the dogs have stopped the reactive behaviour.\u00a0 Dogs are not given cues\/commands, and so there is no pressure for them to perform them.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Take Home Messages<\/span><\/p>\n<p>The key messages regarding dog aggression from Dunbar are:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>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.<\/li>\n<li>Though dog fights may be a lot of noise and drama, often, serious damage doesn\u2019t occur.\u00a0 This is a good sign!\u00a0 It means that the dog has good bite inhibition, so it\u2019s unlikely to do damage at any point. (But the underlying anxiety provoking the aggression should still be sought to be resolved.)<\/li>\n<li>Classical conditioning is a solution to everything, including dogs that are under-socialised to other dogs.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><em>For further reading:\u00a0<\/em>Read more about BAT <a href=\"http:\/\/ahimsadogtraining.com\/blog\/bat\/\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Notes from Ian Dunbar&#8217;s seminar, looking at how to prevent dog aggression, and how to work with dogs with dog-aggression (and the use of growl classes).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[72],"tags":[83,12,417,408,411,418,11,376,423,420,422,419,421,375],"class_list":["post-1266","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-dog-behaviour","tag-aggression","tag-dog","tag-dog-aggression","tag-dog-bite","tag-dog-bites","tag-dog-dog-aggression","tag-dogs","tag-dunbar","tag-flood","tag-flooding","tag-growl","tag-growl-class","tag-growl-classes","tag-ian-dunbar"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/leemakennels.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1266"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/leemakennels.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/leemakennels.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/leemakennels.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/leemakennels.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1266"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"http:\/\/leemakennels.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1266\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4953,"href":"http:\/\/leemakennels.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1266\/revisions\/4953"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/leemakennels.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1266"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/leemakennels.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1266"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/leemakennels.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1266"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}