Fear Aggression By Dogs Directed Toward People

One of the most frustrating experiences for a dog owner is having a dog that hates strangers with a vengeance. Fear-aggressive dogs are not necessarily aggressive to all strangers; they often single out certain types of people as particularly abhorrent. Men and children are the most common objects of this aggression, though women are certainly not immune.

Causes of Dog Fear Aggression That Is Directed Toward People

• Genetic factors. Some breeds and breed lines are quite well known for anxious and fearful behavior. In general, herding breeds may be more at risk of developing fearful behaviors than other breeds, though any dog may become fearful and aggressive to strangers if circumstances dictate.
• Environmental factors. Lack of socialization or unfortunate experiences with strangers during the “sensitive” period of development (3 to 12 weeks of age) sets the stage for fear aggression. Relative isolation from strangers leads to a global mistrust and suspicion of unfamiliar persons, whereas adverse experiences produce more targeted response. Men and children are most likely to be the subjects of dogs’ fearfulness with respect to of people, probably because of their greater propensity for agonistic behavior toward animals. Although the early period of life provides the most rapid and indelible form of learning, extremely distressing incidents later in life can also result in permanent learning of the regrettable type. In their wisdom, dogs sometimes generalize their learning to include all men or all children, though fearful learning can be as specific as being associated with only men wearing tall hats or men with white beards.

A pup that is destined to become fear-aggressive is usually underconfident around strangers from an early age. As strangers approach and enter the dog’s home ground, the pup will back up and bark at them and will flee to a safe distance if approached. Dogs that have been mistreated may become “hand shy” or agitated by the movement of strangers’ feet. As the pup matures, he gains confidence. He also learns, from strangers’ reactions, that a strategy of intimidation works, so he intensifies his repellent behavior. This learning accounts for the typical direction of fear-aggression toward people who are not comfortable around dogs. The dog perceives this uncertainty and capitalizes upon it. In the final stages of its evolution, fear aggression can be difficult to recognize as stemming from fear because the dog can develop confidence in his defensive strategy that he show little overt sign of his underlying anxiety.

How to Help Dogs with With Aggression Toward Peopl

As with all other fears, desensitization, a process of gradual systematic re-exposure to the fear-inducing stimulus, is the gold standard of treatment. This stepwise approach is usually carried out in conjunction with counterconditioning (training a different, more acceptable attitude and response and at each stage of the introduction process). Counterconditioning, which is usually accomplished using food treats in conjunction with a “relax” command, is not absolutely necessary but expedites the desensitization process.

The steps in the program are as follows:

• First prevent any uncontrolled exposure to strangers.
• Teach the dog a “sit and watch me” command or, alternatively, have him remain in a relaxed down-stay position. Reward the dog’s compliance with food treats and/or petting and warm praise.
• Introduce a mildly fear-inducing person at a distance. Reward the dog for remaining calm. As long as the dog remains relaxed, ask the person to move a little closer, and repeat the exercise.
• If the dog is resistant to remaining still, an alternative strategy is to have the person stand still while you walk the dog around the person in progressively decreasing circles (or vice versa)… again, praising and rewarding the dog for composure and compliance.
• If the dog remains calm when the person is close by him, the person can then be asked to drop a treat for the dog. If the dog consumes the treat, this is an indication that he is fairly relaxed. Later the person can hold out a treat in his hand and see if the dog has the confidence to take it. The golden rule is: NEVER force the issue. Allow things to proceed at their own pace.
• During the early stages of training, assistants should be advised not to make direct eye contact with the dog and not approach the dog directly. Instead, have them to approach at an angle or with a curved trajectory, to move slowly but purposefully, and to avert their gaze, looking perhaps at the dog’s ears or nose rather than directly into his eyes. An approach like this is less threatening to most dogs.
• If the dog cannot maintain a controlled sit or down, and cannot focus on the owner because he is tense, barking, or lunging at the stranger, then the owner should return to an earlier phase of training. Ideally, during the training process, no one should come close enough to the dog to trigger a fearful or aggressive response. If the stranger approaches too close and the dog becomes aggressive, they should stand still until the owner can get the dog’s attention, preferably in response to a previously trained cue. The dog should then be rewarded for the corrected response. Following such an incident, the owner can ask the person to retreat to a distance at which the dog was comfortable previously and resume training (providing that the dog does not remain aroused).

Other Suggestions

• For dogs that are fearful when people come to the house, the dog can be isolated at first, then once everyone is seated, the dog can be brought into the room and restrained on a leash with a head halter attached. If this approach is employed, the dog should be removed from the room before the guests prepare to leave, in the early stages at least.
• Once the dog is relaxed with people quietly sitting in the home, he should be taught to remain calm when people move around in the home. Dogs that have fear-driven aggressive behavior have a tendency to snap at people when they are moving away. Start by having the guest slowly stand up and then sit down again. Reward the dog for not reacting. Next have the person stand up and sit down more quickly, and so on.
• If all goes well, the person can progress to taking a few steps around their seat. Gradually, increase the amount of movement the dog can tolerate while remaining relaxed. Reward each step in the right direction with food treats.
• It is not a good idea to have the person attempt to pet or reach out toward the dog at this stage. If the dog is relaxed, the person can toss a food treat in the dog’s general direction. The goal is to teach the dog to associate visitors with pleasant experiences.
• Once the dog remains relaxed in the visitors’ presence and is accepting food treats from them, he may be allowed to interact, secured by means of a 10-foot long nylon training leash. The dog should be the one to initiate all interactions with the visitors, not the other way round. If he chooses to approach a guest, have the person quietly offer their hand for the dog to sniff and/or passively hold out a food treat. Never advance your hand rapidly toward the dog’s muzzle.
• If the dog indicates that he would like to be petted, the visitor may do so, briefly, but should avoid reaching up and over the dog’s head and should avoid prolonged eye contact.
• These exercises should be repeated with a variety of mildly fear-promoting volunteers. The volunteers should engage in progressively more ambitious interactions with the dog.

Whenever a dog is behaving in a fearful manner he should be ignored. Both chastising words and reassurance reward the dog’s unwanted behavior with the owner’s attention. Punishment has the potential to increase the dog’s fear and worsen the situation.

P.S. The use of a head halter, such as Gentle Leader®, makes control of fear aggressive dogs a “cinch.” When fear aggressive dogs are well controlled around strangers, it is then a simple matter to arrange for the correct learning experiences: Basically, that good things happen when strangers are around.