We’ve all encountered it, and some of us will have been unlucky enough to have to deal with the problem directly with one of our own Dogs. I’m talking about Dog to Dog aggression, especially while out on walks. This can be a particularly emphatic problem for Dog walkers, as the responsibility of looking after Dogs other than our own makes the situation even more nerve racking. This subject was suggested by one of our members at Dog Walkers City and it’s one we thought was well worth covering.
Dealing with aggressive Dogs when out walking can be extremely tricky. Combine that with not knowing the Dog(s) you’re walking as well as you would your own and you have a particularly worrying situation. There is no one answer to this question but I think it’s important to pre-empt the problem from day one. This means talking openly to the owner when you first start walking their Dog (I’m talking about the client here – not the owner of an aggressive Dog) and asking them if they’ve had any experience in this area and if so, how their Dog tends to react to aggression.
It’s important to explain that you’re only asking this in case a problem arises and that you like to be as well prepared as possible if something were to happen. This should alleviate the owners concerns instead of worrying them. Once you know how a Dog reacts to aggression, you’ll be better served to deal with a situation if it occurs. The owner may also already have a trick or method that tends to work for them and their Dog. Either way, its good to discuss this subject and similar ones before you take on a new client.
Of course it’s one thing discussing this with owners but it’s another when it actually happens out on a walk. Here’s the scene; Your walking two clients Dogs when you see another Dog running towards them from the other side of the field. The situation could turn aggressive, it could not. What do you do?
First, Dogs tend to be less aggressive when owners are around so call the Dogs you’re walking to your heel. If they’re not on leads already try and get their leads on them as soon as possible. Hopefully the aggressive Dogs owner should have called his Dog back to him or be trying to deal with the situation himself, if he hasn’t noticed what’s going on try calling him over.
There are varying degrees of response to aggression and how to respond ultimately depends on you and what you feel is necessary. An extreme response is pepper spray. In my research I’ve found that a lot of people carry pepper spray when walking their Dogs in case something happens. I’m sure this is an effective response to aggression, but I’m in no way advocating it. Like I said, ultimately it’s down to you. A less extreme alternative to pepper spray is simply a small spray bottle of water. This can sometimes be enough to resolve the situation and I have read of some people adding lemon to the water.
An alternative to spraying is noise. Loud noises are sometimes enough to scare a Dog away, or at least snap them out of certain behaviour. I’d recommend carrying a tin can with coins in. Shaking this when a situation arises can be very effective.
Nine out of Ten times an aggressive Dog will be dealt with by their owner straight away. But occasionally you’ll come across an owner that either isn’t responsible or just doesn’t care. If it’s one isolated encounter with this sort of Dog and owner then there’s not much you can do about it. Use the tactics above and then walk away in the opposite direction. But what do you do when you encounter the same problem and the same person over and over again.
Here you have two options. The first is to change where you walk. While not ideal, this solution may appeal to you if you don’t want to confront the owner and get drawn into a situation you could avoid. The second option is to confront the owner and, if that doesn’t work eventually report him/her. If the problem occurs over and over again then I wouldn’t hesitate to take this route. Especially if a Dogs safety is at risk.
As I said, this is a tricky subject and one I hope you won’t have to deal with very often, if at all. Do you agree or disagree with any of these tactics? Or do you have your own advice on how to deal with aggression. Let us know in the comments…
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Tags: advice, dog walkers, dog walking, Dogs, tips, your business
Simple body blocking without facing or looking at the aggressive dog can be very safe and effective. Dogs can be defensive-aggressive when a person is spraying or shaking can at them.
This is a great topic. I recently adopted a dog and while he is always friendly to all pets indoors, picks and chooses them outdoors. He approaches in the same manner. I don’t want to cut him off from all dogs. How do I deal with sometimes aggressive behavior?
Any suggestions in the case of an actual attack? One person trying to seperate two large dogs in a frenzy? This is my biggest fear!
Not sure what to suggest Jill – however my experience tells me there is little you can do once an attack ensues. My labrador was attacked by a mid sized bull terrier breed. It latched on and threw all 35kg of her about ripping her back open. There was nothing I could do. My Labrador was running round the field in flight mode with the dog gripped into her flesh. The owner took off with their dog once it had let go and left me in the middle of a field miles from home with an injured and frightened (in shock) dog to large to carry….
I’ve split up fights before and it’s best if you take a moment to assess what is happening and then grab the dogs by the scruff of the neck. This is why you WAIT….do not wade in and start grabbing or you will get bitten. Most fights are not what was described where a dog just walks up and grabs and holds onto another. There is usually posturing and then one goes for the other. Many times NO blood is shed, it’s just noise and hair. If I’m out walking then I place my dogs behind me and stand in front of them. Often that combined with a firm-GO! and pointing will be enough to have another dog turn around and go…otherwise it’s stand in front and wait. If the dog comes in, I would give a “bite” with hand or even block with feet. Keeping your own dogs under control is paramount. If you’re unsure about a new dog, walk it alone until you assess how it acts around other dogs. Dogs should NEVER be walked off leash if you even suspect that it might react aggressively towards other dogs…that’s just foolish and puts you in the side of being at fault should the dog attack another. This is the same as the dog that was attacked. If it had been on leash, the other dog could not have continued the attack because your dog would not have been able to run off away from your help.
Dimadogs: I’m not sure what you mean. Helping our trainees feel better about themselves? I’m assuming you mean the dogs. They don’t feel better or worse about themselves…they either feel confident or fearful, aggressive or not. Our job is to help them feel confident (I guess that means feel better) and that’s done with leadership, proper discipline (you seem to think that dogs shouldn’t be corrected for inappropriate behavior) and getting them out and around other dogs as much as possible so that they learn the right way to act. My own dog was recently attacked by a foster of mine. She has lost some of her confidence around dogs and I had worked very hard to get her over dog aggression some years ago. She was my dog that I took to work with aggressive dogs and she was awesome. Now she is much more wary around strange dogs and it’s up to me to take her and expose her to them so that she once again learns that nothing bad will happen and she moves on. She WILL move on and be the dog she has been the more she gets back out there and works around dogs. It happens sometimes and although we try to prevent things like this from going, they do. This is especially true when I’m rehabbing dogs that have these problems to begin with. It’s up to ME to help her come back to balance and that may take correction if she triggers on another dog. It won’t injure her, it will stop her though.
Yes I agree something we all have to deal with at one time or another, The blocking is a good defensive also i carry Pet Correcter which if you don’t know of is a small can which you spray it is just load gush of air and as Jackie said some dogs are not detured be it but will give them shock. It also stops some unwanted behavioural habits of your own dogs, it has almost stopped my own dog eating pooh!!! I only have to make the noise by mouth and she comes back to me.
where I live everyone carries guns. If another dog goes to put his teeth on either of my dogs, my first order of business is to protect my dogs. If the owner is stupid enough to let his dog loose, then I have to defend my dogs. There is no leash law where I live. The part about the spray bottle with the lemon water is a joke. Try that with a 80lb. pit. Your dog will be dead and you’ll be in the ER.
We are talking about helping the dogs recover from that animosity towards other dogs? Then using aversion / negative reinforcement for sure will make the dog in question feel lots worse towards the dog approaching, not better…
Why is that when we are thinking about helping our trainees to feel better about themselves, people and dogs around us we talk about dominance, punishment, all sorts of zappers and chockers… Sad really.
Thank you to DWC for writing this post.
I agree with everything that has been said including the methods of dealing with aggression. However I think there are many people who don’t realise that any dog even the cute and friendly ones can show aggression. After all they are dogs and in the dog world confrontations occur. Dogs will show aggression for different reasons either they are anxious, nervous, perceive or sense a threat or have been “trained” in an abusive way.
For the last 3 weeks I have been providing daycare to a German Shepherd, the owner had explained to me that the dog has been through some traumatic times including being attacked by 2 Labpoodles and as such was nervous around dogs. He is a very friendly playful dog but more importantly is obedient to spoken commands as well as lead commands. I walk him always on a lead and slowly teaching him to be relaxed around other dogs. We have had a few confrontations with dogs off leads and successfully used body blocking as well as controlling the dog in my care with the lead. Most owners are reasonable and apologised as their dog was off lead and did not respond to recall but one or two have shown aggression towards me despite the fact that their dog was off lead and did not respond to recall. Most of the time it’s not the dogs that are the problem but the owners!!
“Interesting”-all the comments I have read already-as I don’t know how I feel about using my own body ( as a few people suggested) when an agressive dog is approaching dogs in my care- whether my own or my client’s dogs. I unfortunately had two dogs come upon me while walking two dogs I walk on a regular basis for my business, and they would not back down, & the owner would not say anything to them to do so once she came on the scene. So, unfortunately, when I am doing this dog walk weekly, I have to stay alert and sometimes on edge still, which is not why I got in to this business- it was because taking care of pets gives me peace of mind. I did report this pet owner to the humane society by phone, & in writing, and have not had a problem since with their dogs, but others in the neighborhood are lax in letting their dogs sometimes run around without leashes, etc.-so the on edge feeling of walking the dogs I walk is still there for me. The humane society suggested to get this citronnella spray from the pet store- so I carry that with me ready to spray if/when needed in that neighborhood. As for my own two dogs- unfortunately too- last summer a dog came after them and had their throats in his mouth while I was screaming for it to get away and trying to pull my dogs back. The owner was nearby and finally relaized his dog was the problem & came and grabbed his dog, but continues to be an irresponsbile dog owner with a crazy dog- so even in my own neighborhood I feel a need to carry something with me for protection in case a dog, such as that one, comes upon me again. I read the post about carrying a gun- whoa-but, the stick I carry now, well, lets just say it is long enough with two ends that could either be used for just pushing a dog away, or the other for injuring it – if need be. It is too bad that some dog owners are so irresponsible & don’t have a clue , or do, but don’t care about other dog owners & their dogs to take more responsibility for their own dogs so us pet sitters with client’s dogs & our own can continue to enjoy the canine community and not have to fear when doing so, but more so enjoy & have peace of mind in doing this service we are passionate about! I truly don’t think there is any one answer to this problem-as it obvious by the comments posted besides mine- which is a sad thing. Need training for dog owners not dogs!
I agree with the above comments. I always walk dogs on a lead and on several occasions neighborhood dogs ran aggressively towards the dogs I was walking. I found that assuming the sumo wrestling position and shouting “NO” over and over while staring them down worked for me. Dogs usually know the word “no”. I don’t know that this would work in all occasions, but it was just my automatic reaction in these cases.
People think like people, to understand a dog you have to think like a dog. A dog on a lead is attached to the human who feeds them, if left to their instincts and not properly handled and trained, why would they do anything else but see off any possible takeover bid on their food source or attempt to dominate something that’s frightened of them?. They are acutely sensitive to our fear, apprehension and aggression and watch us far more than we watch them, often mirroring our behaviour, or acting on it! It’s a complex subject which is why people should not own dogs unless theyunderstand at least the basics of their behaviour and how to train them.
In the wild they would rip into each other and one would skulk away and lick its wounds, the ‘winner’ would get the food or the females. Why are we shocked by this? We have learned to be civilized (supposedly) but how can we expect dogs to be unless they are trained.
My 3 terriers are very noisy, they rush up to people to say hello, and it is interesting to watch peoples reactions. Those that are familiar with dog behaviour say hello and my dogs are calm and move on quickly (though one would clearly sell her soul for fuss and food and often lingers) and if they are with dogs I won’t walk up and put mine on a lead as this has ignited the situation (in their case) I find if I dont get involved (unless it looks like real trouble) they’ll say hello, do a bit of posturing and move on. Proper puppy Socialisation at an early age is they key and lets face it, most dog owners do not do this vital stage. All my dogs are rescued, so, like many owners, I don’t know their full history and 2 of them certainly weren’t socilaised properly, one is more human than dog as she had a wonderful upbringing and socialisation but she will still put another threatning dog in it’s place.
There re always going to be idiots out there that shouldn’t have dogs, I;ve found people are sometimes as aggressive as their dogs, especially those that can’t handle them. If you own an agressive dog you should NOT take it out without a muzzle on. Get it trained properly if you want to keep it, and if it persists in violent behaviour then having it destroyed is the only answer before it rips another dog, or human, to bits. I’v worked with dogs for many years, it is the only safe solution in the absence of proper training, and sometimes that doesn’t worlkas the alternative is to put the idiot human down that ruined it in the first place, and sadly this is not legal!!
one thing to remember is that dogs cannot express natural behaviour whilst on a lead, they are pack animals and have to assert their place in a hierarchy. if you introduce the dog you walk to another dog off the lead to one you know to have good behaviour e.g an elderly dog then you can see how they MAY behave. do this before you take them out in public. to my experience most elderly dogs are not confrontational and just keep on walking. animal training and behaviour is very useful to know, i did some at college. hope this is some help.
Yes dogs are pack animals as well as being social animals but we must also remember that they are in a human environment. The lead is used to keep the dog safe and under control. Of course letting a dog off lead is a wonderful thing to see but should only be done if the dog is responsive to commands such as recall and should only be done in a safe situation – a park with many children, old people and too many dogs is not a safe situation!! Not all dogs belong to the same pack and as such other dogs could be perceived as a threat. Chasing birds, cats and other animals is a natural behaviour but we do not encourage it. I agree it is important to understand animal behaviour however we must also train dogs to live in our environment as they are not in their own natural environment.