---start---- InterDog Aggression videos: senior student's dogs. Pyle, a St. Bernard, and a greyhound. the St Bernard is passive aggressive. he comes up to sniff Pyle's butt. then he sniffs some person's crotch. person pushes dog away. SB curls tail more forcefully. the Fila is controlling access, though. there is a lot of patrolling of space and pushy behaviors. pyle and SB both try to get attention. flagging of tail and turning back by SB is signal. he lies down, turns his head. subtle threat. you don't have to have overt aggression to be having problems. there is no fighting here. passive stuff. when SB tries to assert self, not successful. Pyle follows him around. dogs are doing constant posturing dance. no one thought it was a problem until there began to be real problems. so this is a situation where there is staring, signalling, blocking of access, standing in the way, looking away, all those passive things. this video involves a dog having trouble with other dogs in the house. the GSD was brought in here. the 8 yr old Golden sort of raised the GSD. the GSD is aggressive to other dogs - owner has been muzzling it when it plays with other dogs. note hair pattern on GSD - hair is up over shoulders and rump. this dog is afraid of other dogs but not overtly aggressive. the Golden is a tough cookie - came into exam room and growled for an hour. has always been this way. the GSD wants to play. they take the GSD to play with other dogs wearing a muzzle. problem with that - can't do some of the normal stuff. note the bimodal pattern - she wants to play, but usually when she does she gets growled at. this dalmation wants to play but GSD can't show normal behavior...so shouldn't use muzzle. owner was worried the GSD could injure another dog. but that GSD had learned that some dogs are serious threats, and she has to be careful about who her friends are. this video - golden retriever, bailey, 2 yrs old. came in for growling at dogs in the street. is she fearful or pushy? not sure. if you arne't sure you get another dog to tell you. they brought in Flash - to say if golden was threatening him, or fearful of him, or what. flash said this golden is dangerous. the golden is snarling at him, not fearful. so use another dog to find out in these situations what is really going on. flash is backing away, looking fearful. you can use head collars like this to close the dog's mouth, great for these situations. flash is trying hard to ignore the golden. the golden is staring at him, threatening him. flash tries to move away. faces away from her. back to first video: pyle is blocking hall, with stiffly wagging tail. SB wants to interact with pyle - side by side intensification, challenge, T challenge; pyle goes onto couch, ignores SB. SB goes to person for attention. these dogs are sparring for status, in a way. the SB is showing some signs of separation anxiety. SB is not able to get Pyle to engage with him in any serious way that isn't a threat. no problems with greyhound. SB wanted to go to couch - pyle blocked him. pyle got onto couch. later in video: person in chair is "related" to SB. Sb is walking back and forth while pyle sits in front of chare, staring at SB. now a golden comes in. SB plays appropriately with golden. SB approaches pyle, who is staring at him. SB has tail up. plumed tail means SB is getting more interactive, this is a bit of a challenge. SB basically telling pyle he wants to play. Pyle keeps staring and blocking access. these dogs spend all day sor tof threatening each other. Pyle doesn't interact with any of the dogs, really. most of the other dogs just ignore Pyle. the SB is persisting in trying to play, though. now, SB is lying on floor near pyle. they keep staring, then looking away. SB gets up and moves away as soon as possible to play with golden. later, you see SB reach over into chair to get attention from the person and Pyle snaps at him. Pyle needs to get punished - banish him when he threatens the SB. Dominance Aggression: an anxiety disorder -generally associated with social maturity, especially in male dogs -may also be manifest as a separate form in young (under 6 mos) female dogs: must be some different underlying mechanism causing a similar phenotype -usually associated with pushing on dog, disturbing while sleeping, rolling dog over, moving dog's head/feet/neck -dog talks back, gets last word: you correct them, they growl back. they view your correction as a threat or challenge, it seems. you say "sit," dog may sit, but he will growl at the same time. -dog leans in to interaction or person, do a lot of passive blocking behavior. one springer kept stretching out to cover owner's feet. when owner totally moved feet away, dog jumped over to cover the feet again. it's about controlling access -threat may involve raised hair down back or at neck, appears very confident, very serious in their threat -bites without a lot of vocal warning: if you reach over their head, eyes change, short growl, then he snaps. these dogs are very uninhibited. only give a low, quick growl. fearfully aggressive dogs, on the other hand, make more noise before biting -invariably worsens if punished or threatened - HALLMARK think of punishment as verbal correction, leash correction whatever - if you punish the dogs they get worse. now, a dog may lean on you, push on you, stare at you - may just be a pushy, confident dog who wants some attention, may have nothing to do with dominance aggression. if you can shove the dog off and move away without growling or stiffening, or whatever, then it's fine. behavioral dx: dominance aggression necessary condition: abnormal inappropriate out of context aggression consistently exhibited by dog toward people in any circumastance involving active or passive control of the dog's behavior or dog's access to behavior sufficient condition: intensification of any aggressive response from the dog upon any passive or active correction or interruption of the dog's behavior or access to behavior (not food item) it's about *control* not about social status. if dog brings you an object, then growls when you try to take it - that's about control. if dog sits on your lap and growls/threatens when you try to get up - that's about control. Flash's dominance aggression is restricted to situations when there is a threat involved, and you are trying to control his behavior. Dominance is not synonymous with dominance aggression. Dominance has been traditionally defined as an individual's ability to maintain or regulate access to some resource. it is a description of the regularities of winning or losing staged contests over those resources, is not to be confused with status, and does not need to confer priority of access to resources. if you put a bone in a room with two puppies - see who controls access to the bone. that old tests - holding puppy in a dominance down - if puppy struggles, bad news. that's bogus (social dominance test) temperament testing puppies at 7.5 weeks of age and then again at social maturity showed no statistical association. but if you test early, that's when environmental influences will have least effect. that's what they say, of course. but you really have to get over the terminology which was set up to study specific conditions in caged animals, not real ongoing interactions. anyway, dominance is not status. does not mean to control priority to resources. people will tell you that dominant dogs stare. stratification of dominance aggression - at least two broad subclasses: 1. truly "dominant" dog; must control environment; potentially very dangerous. realize the terminology sucks. not really a "dominant" dog. could call him "master of the universe." this dog wants to control things, is confident, is good, is hot, he knows it, and can do what he wants. very rare, very dangerous. 2. more commonly - dog that is uncertain of its role in social hierarchy; uses dominance challenges to deform system and obtain information; potentially dangerous, but imminently treatable. this is why dog behaves differently with different people. these dogs are not "fixed," but you control this anxiety disorder with drugs that augment serotonin. these dogs have decreased serotonin in CSF. same finding as in people with outburst aggression. these dogs are excreting urinary metabolites of excitatory amino acids. note - this diagnosis is restricted to aggression toward humans. not other dogs. be careful with this. if it is about control with dogs, it is about status. if it is with people, it isn't about status. rule: dog will test you. if dog is uncertain, and owner says "sit, good boy" then dog is ok, acts fine. If dog tests you and you say "uh-oh, something's wrong" and act uncertain, dog will threaten you to see if you are a threat. if you push him away, he will attack because you've proven to be a threat. so you have to address the anxiety disorder - give a set of rules to convey you are no threat, if they defer to you, they get what you want. recipients of dominance aggression - stratifications 1. compliant owner (2, sometimes 1) 2. confident demanding owner (1) 3. kids aged 3-6 (2) 4. kids aged 8-11 (2, sometimes 1) 5. kids aged 11-14 (1) note: no reason to ever shock a dog to train it. if you think you need to use shock mroe than once it is about the trainer, not about the dog. similarities b/w human and canine social systems: -sexual maturity occurs prior to social maturity in both (sexual 6-9; social 18-24) -nursing occurs prior to semi-solid food, both precede solid food -extended family groups help with parental care -fluid, context specific social hierarchies -social play and learning about surviving errors -most of communication is nonverbal -social system and individual status based on deference, not on overt challenge and combat. deference: respectful yielding to the judgement, opinion, will of others. a social construct some diagnoses part of an abnormal control complex: types of aggression: food related aggression - not a sign of dominance aggression per se. can stand alone. may be an early warning sign of incipient dominance aggression. possessive territorial/protective redirected dominance attention seeking behavior regarding proofing again- if you want dog to think you are reliable, should you take bowl away all the time, or sit there while he eats, and then add some more food into the bowl when he's done. hello, mcfly? feed the dog. put food in the dish. in this clinic we usually do not treat food related aggression b/c kids are involved. get "food" type toys away from the environment. only give dogs treats behind closed doors. that's erring on the side of caution. drugs for dominance aggression: amitriptyline fluoxetine clomipramine other drugs that augment serotonin Dominantly Aggressive Dog videos 1. dog on the way to recovery: this dog is improved. an english springer - 50% of these show dogs have dominance aggression. solid color english cockers in europe have it too. this dog is sitting on woman's lap when she talks on the phone. when phone rings, dog used to bite her. dog would move in and control her access. he puts his paws on her legs so she can't get up. she can touch him but she isn't trying to push him away. she pulls her arms away. makes him sit (hand sign), walks away. he follows. licks lips. obviously anxious. 2. a patient. another springer spaniel. kids are doing behavior modification. springer greets neighbor. acting friendly. sitting in front of mom, blocking he ability to move. neighbor pets him. dog stiffens, starts to growl. starts licking lips. neighbor moves away. problem is when dog is sitting in front of owner. when neighbor sits further away, dog sits near her, lets neighbor pet and play with him. effects of hormones: sexually dimorphic behavior - one reason we suggest castrating these dogs is b/c of heredity. plus, castration lowers the level of reactivity to stimulus. shorter reactivity time, quicker return to baseline. females do not get off scot-free. the young dominance aggressive dogs are generally females - under 6 mos of age. females that are unspayed, and under a year of age, are overrepresented. we never see young males. in males, only starting at social maturity. androgenized females? if you calculate the probability of a female sitting b/w two males, you get to about 17% probability with 12 or more puppies. with only 5 puppies, only happens about 5% of the time. in rats, this makes females androgenized - fight like males, act like males. this is about the proportion of females with dominance aggression. so this could be what's going on. but it's not proven. ---end---