Eastern Suburbs Dog Training Club

A Class 3 Club Member raised a concern in the Inspection Line one Sunday about her 2 year old Rotti baring its teeth at her young daughter.

I gave the matter some thought and emailed suggestions on how to try and remedy the problem. A few Sundays later the Club Member reported that her dog's behaviour had improved greatly. The following is an extract from my email:

I chatted with a senior instructor about your situation: Her opinion is that you need to monitor your dog and work on strategies to lower her view of herself within the "family pack".  As the instructor put it, if she treads on her dog, then it should yelp and get out of the way, not bare its teeth.

There's a wealth of material in books and on the web on curing aggression in dogs. One book (1) points out that the cure depends on the type aggression being exhibited. Is the dog being aggressive towards other animals or towards its owner, family members and other people?

These are viewed as different types of aggression. Jumping up on, pushing past and pinching food from a family member, especially a younger one, represents status raising behaviour in the family pack in a dog's mind, as does baring teeth!

Perhaps you need to reevaluate your relationship and interaction with your dog from the top down, because that's how dogs see the pack. Ensure the whole family uses the same rule book with her and remove some of her privileges.

If you don’t do so already, get your dog to lay on a mat inside the house, rather than giving her free reign. Make her wait for her food and take it away from her from time to time. Get the kids to feed her (strictly supervised!) and to put her on her mat and command her to go Down.

With regards her desire desire for rough play, another book (2) warns "don't play rough with Rover". The problem is that dogs use rough play to work out and/or assert their hierarchy in the pack.

I’d curb rough play with your dog. Perhaps teach her to fetch balls and things, but only if she'll bring them back to you. And always end the game on your terms, not hers!  

One final thought from the same book (2) is that "discipline for aggression is almost always done after the fact, therefore, in the dog's mind, the discipline is unrelated to the act."

It's something that I have to constantly remind myself, as an instructor and a dog owner!

Robert Fairhead, Instructor, April 2009
(1) "Teaching Dog Obedience Classes", Volhard & Tamases Fisher, 1986
(2) "The Dog Whisperer", John Richardson, 2001