Jack Russell aggressive with strangers and dogs

Dear Suzydog,

I have a 7 year old Jack Russell Terrier named Sally.  She is spayed and I've owned her since she was a pup.  My husband and I travel a lot in a large bus, and Sally loves to come with us.  But she is becoming very aggressive to any human large or small that she does not know.  She goes after people's shoes//ankles (mostly men) and snarls at humans and sometimes even me when I touch her feet.  She seems to be at ease one minute then can become snarly the next.  At
first I thought she was in some pain and had her completely checked out with her vet and had no problems.

She was raised with a female Labrador retriever yard mate and they were best buds, but we could not bring the lab with us as the lab did not like to travel so we adopted her out three years ago.  Since then Sally (the Jack) is very aggressive to all dogs.  We love her and enjoy her many antics and I know she can be helped by behavior modification I just do not know how to go about it.  I've tried to solve this problem by reprimanding her instantly.   We have never struck our dog although I have snapped her nose and verbally corrected her.

How can I stop Sally from getting aggressive with strangers and other dogs?

Answer

Is Fear the Cause?

It's good to hear that you already had Sally's veterinarian check to rule out pain as the reason for her behavior.   With that said, it's important that you understand that we don't normally answer (or charge for) aggression cases when skin has been broken or a puncture made by the dog.  You didn't mention anything like that having happened, but I still give this advice with the request that you seek help from a good behaviorist in your area (http://www.apdt.com has good ones listed geographically, but always check references beforehand) who can meet Sally and see her in action. 

Aggressive dog behavior is almost always fear-based (i.e., barking, snarling, growling, lunging, nipping, biting), and although Jacks can be pretty tough little customers who seek out "victims" for fun, increasing any dog's comfort level around people or dogs usually reduces the aggressive behavior.  Dogs often feel they have to pose as aggressors when they feel in some way threatened, and any adult dog normally and naturally will feel threatened around something with which she is not familiar. 

The way a dog handles the situation can usually tell you where she is coming from, and from your description, I don't think Sally is "play-fighting" if you will (like some Jacks).  My hunch is that Sally is getting older and less tolerant of strangers in her personal space, and her personal space is getting bigger as well.

Managing a Biter

Because she is in middle age, keep in mind that changing her behaviors can take longer than with a younger dog whose habits and predispositions aren't quite as ingrained.  If by any chance Sally has actually broken someone's skin, you should consider keeping her muzzled whenever she will be near strangers (there are some very humane and non-obtrusive ones out there now).  Breaking a human's skin opens you up to lawsuits and other nastiness and if you want to keep your girl it's the safest way to make sure it never happens again.  You can even use the muzzle as your safety tool during the time that you are desensitizing her to the cues to her aggression (see behavior modification exercise below). 

A head halter like the Gentle Leader® or Halti® also can help control her in situations you're worried about although they won't stop her from biting if you let go of the leash, get too close to someone, or she gets it off.  Another alternative is to keep her away from people until you've modified her behavior to the point that she's trustworthy around strangers.  It's hard to accept the fact sometimes that we own a dog who doesn't love everybody, but it's really very common, and it's not the end of the world as long as she's getting love and attention from you, especially if you're working toward getting her more comfortable around strangers.

The following exercise should be done in every place that you find the behavior occurring.  So if she's currently aggressing at home with visitors, practice at home.  If she does it on walks, practice on walks.  If she does it in the bus or near the bus, practice there.  Practice in many other places as well to give yourself the confidence that she'll be OK in other new areas.

Exercise 1:  "The Bar Is Open"

Stop feeding Sally from her bowl for the next 6-8 weeks.   Take all of whatever she normally ingests in a day and keep it in your pocket or a baggie in your pocket (if it's wet).  Divide the quantity into 2 if both household members are involved.  It's important to also mix all of her regular treats into these bags, and even add some super special stuff like hot dogs, roast beef, tuna, liver treats, cheese, etc.  Fannie packs are helpful here if pockets aren't convenient or available. 

Any time Sally sees a stranger, "the bar is open" (Jean Donaldson):  Give her many tiny treats and praise her enthusiastically.  Any time she does NOT see a stranger, the "bar is closed". 

The bar is open for Sally no matter what she is doing – aggressing or not.  The goal is to get her to look forward to strangers in the area, so don't worry about what she's doing when a stranger is around.  However, if she's so upset that she won't eat, you should keep her at a distance where she'll still notice the treats and hopefully eat some.  Experiment with distances.  Some dogs require 50 feet away from people/dogs to remain calm.  Sally may be able to get much closer than that to start.  If it's 15 feet for her, then start at 20 feet.  Do this for a few days.  If she starts to aggress at that distance, increase the distance for a few days, then decrease it slightly again.  The goal is twofold:  To gradually desensitize her to the closer presence of strangers, and to associate strangers with happy things like treats and praise.

Exercise 2:   Strangers Deliver the Goods

After a couple of weeks you should  have decreased distance enough to have a stranger (or semi-stranger) toss the treats (use the good ones for this) to Sally.  They could even request a sit in exchange for the treat.  This can be started at a distance of 10 feet or so, so go ahead and implement the stranger treating once she's mastered remaining calm at 5-6 feet when you're treating.

Tell strangers you are working with your dog, and that it would help if they 1) don't use any sudden movements, 2) don't stare directly into her eyes and 3) toss treats at her underhanded.

Dog-Dog Aggression

With regard to dogs, use the same method in Exercise 1.   The bar is open when a dog is at 30 feet, and closes when the dog is out of sight.  Decrease distance over several weeks and increase distance if she regresses dramatically.  The same rule applies however:  She gets treats whether or not she reacts.

You haven't indicated if she broke skin on a dog but you should also socialize Sally with friendly happy dogs at a cage-free dog daycare with a competent staff who knows how to handle this type of situation.   If she has broken skin, or if you're very worried she will, she can wear a cage muzzle for the first few hours or even days.    The muzzle removes her teeth as a self-protection option and she learns that close proximity to other dogs doesn't hurt

I strongly recommend the behavior booklets by the Center for Applied Animal Behavior described at our Recommended Reading page at  http://www.dogdaysusa.com/recommended.cfm - these have a great booklet on dog-to-dog aggression and they're very low priced.

Handling Exercises

To stop Sally from her nasty new habit of nipping and snarling at you for touching her, do the handling exercises as described on our Puppy 101 page at http://www.dogdaysusa.com/puppytraining.cfm , modifying to your needs (just handling her feet, for example).   Use treats as motivation and go slowly so that she doesn't freak out.   The happy association will soon take over.  I still give my 10 year old dog 1 treat per toenail clipped, so use your judgment on when to reduce the treats from intense handling.

Final Pointers

  Remember, it's OK to have the bar open whether she is aggressing or not.  This allows the association to be pure and unfettered by the owner's judgment.   However, try to give her enough space so that you're reinforcing calm, non-aggressive behavior about 75% of the time. 

  If you're able to work with her 3-6x/day (use up most of her food but try not to fill her up - we want her food-motivated but not starving), for a few minutes each time, I'd say in 6-8 weeks you have earned the right to give an occasional verbal reprimand for aggressive behavior while at the same time continuing to praise/treat her for good behavior. 

  Never try to calm her by petting or soothing when she aggresses.  She will misinterpret this to mean that you like her behavior.  It's better to simply ignore her and remember next time to give her more space between her and the stranger. 

  Don't reprimand her when she aggresses.  We don't want her to associate strangers with reprimands and learn that "Every time a stranger comes by, I get yelled at."   If you're finding that she's still aggressing at (for example), 4 feet of distance, go back to your "bar is open" exercises at 5-6 feet and remember to practice in a wide variety of environments.

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