Training a Fear Aggressive Dog: Update on our Rescue, Jasper
It’s been seven weeks since we adopted Jasper, and about four since I’ve written about it. He’s settling into our household and we have a pretty good idea of the dog we’ve gotten now. For the most part, Jasper is a terrific boy. He’s loving, smart, playful and a big cuddler and kisser. I love that, because Sophie isn’t. So, all those times I was dying to reach out and scoop her up and cuddle her, I often resisted, because I know it makes her uncomfortable. She shows us how much she loves us in her own ways.
Then, there’s the other side of Jasper. The shriek-barking, lunging at anyone passing by, Jasper. It’s unpredictable and scares the bejeesus out of people, so let’s just say each walk is a recon mission. Is someone coming down the hallway; is someone in the elevator as it opens; is someone just outside the street door. We’re all about avoiding the triggers, and really needed help in training a fear aggressive dog. Stressful! And Sophie, who is obviously fond of Jasper, has taken her outside barking up a notch, which sets him off. They’re totally in cahoots!
There were many days, between week one and five, when either me or my husband would say to the other, we just couldn’t handle it anymore and we’d considered rehoming Jasper. We told ourselves this wasn’t what we’d signed up for; we’re too old for this. But, the other would talk the desperate one off the ledge and we’d continue on. Neither of us disputed that we’d gotten to love this little man, and that we’d rather keep him with us. By week six, after a few good days outside and more lover boy cuddles and kisses inside, we made a real commitment to do whatever it took to keep Jasper and help him through. So, we’ve assembled a village. But first, we needed to learn more about his problem.
What we’re learning about how to deal with a fear-aggressive dog
All dog aggression is based on fear. Some go further than others to protect themselves. Luckily for us, Jasper hasn’t bitten anyone, but we aren’t 100% sure he wouldn’t when he’s in the red zone. You can see it clear as day in the eyes. His look so fiercely frightened, we really feel for him. When I was reading and then interviewing Dr. Debra Horwitz around her book, Decoding Your Dog, she explained how important it is to avoid the triggers, as much as you can. While the book was really helpful and I think it’s a valuable resource to have, we also needed hands on help. We were grappling with things like is training what Jasper needs? Does he have a chemical imbalance where medication would be best? We didn’t know and we’re not sure still.
Here’s a short video I took of Jasper having one of his freak outs during a walk. That’s my poor husband, attempting to calm Jasper down.
I know it looks pretty grim, but those outbursts are happening less and less, and it’s still early days. Here’s what we did.
We started early on by enrolling Jasper in playcare at a local, really great place, called D Pet Hotel. Think of it as the W Hotel for dogs. 🙂 It’s clean, they have spacious play areas which, in New York City, comes at a premium, and the owner, Kerry Brown, and her staff are attentive and caring. Jasper now had the opportunity to meet and socialize with about 20-30 dogs each session, under the watchful eyes of at least two D Pet staff. And, he was meeting people at the facility, seeing that not all strangers are bad. They have been reporting very positive things back to us. He plays a lot with the dogs and he’s given kisses to some of the staff. Wow!
All assets are opportunities
Next, we sought out a behaviorist/trainer. Believe it or not, it wasn’t easy to find! We wanted someone who had real experience treating severe behavior issues. Luckily, a dog walker/actress friend recommended Maggie Wood of Joyful Pet Training. Maggie is a get-it-done, lovely English woman who really knows her stuff. When she arrived for her first session, she got a dose of the other Jasper, as he goes ballistic when strangers come into the apartment. She responded the way we’d also learned to respond to a barking dog who isn’t a threat to your safety. Ignore ignore ignore. It’s amazing how ignoring that bad behavior and then praising or giving attention to the good behavior really works! And, he does settle much quicker that way.
Maggie right away drove home this important point. Dogs need to work for everything that’s good in their lives. Super delicious treats, jumping on the bed, the couch, whatever it is they covet, is an opportunity to train. She saw Sophie chewing on a bully stick, something I regularly give them, kind of like a baby’s pacifier when I need a little peace. She made sure we knew that a bully stick was like a million dollars to the dogs, and you don’t give away a million dollars just like that. So, we identified some high value treats and designated those as outdoor, only for walks treats, so we’d be armed with our best ammunition when he goes off. We’d already trained Jasper to look up at us with the “Look at me” command, and he was pretty good at it. He got even better with better treaties! (Maggie’s suggestion: hot dogs cut into tiny bits, so now, I smell like hot dog all the time!)
And, she suggested we get Karen Pryor clickers (the creator of the animal training clicker). We did, and trained them to come with a click/treat regimen. That’s a work in progress, but it’s coming along. Funny enough, Jasper caught on very fast and Sophie, who got lax training as a pup at best because she was always so sweet and easy, is kind of ho hum about the whole thing. But, she’s improving with practice.
The takeaway is we’re thinking in a whole new way about our dogs. They’re still our babies, but we’re now treating them more like dogs, requiring them to work for what they want. Many of you may already know this, but for us, it wasn’t the way we were operating. It’s an empowering tool!
A lifesaving suggestion
A key lifesaver Maggie suggested in our first meeting was to teach Jasper how to love a carry bag. And, one that completely closed, so we could transport him safely and securely from our apartment, outside. She spent an hour training Jasper through positive reinforcement to go into a Sherpa Bag and gave us instructions on what to do to get him to the point where we could zip the bag completely closed.
Maggie’s tip: We were to leave the bag opened on the top and side, and bring it wherever Jasper was hanging with us. We’d feed him high value food (meals) or treats in there and I even did some regular training with both of them, teaching them to jump in and out of the open bag.
Granted, a Sherpa may not be the most fashionable bag on the planet, but for practicality in an extreme situation, it’s a great choice and I’m so glad we had one. We can always move to a cool bag once the training is locked in. 🙂
It didn’t take more than a couple of days to see Jasper really warm to the thing. He now hops right in, we zip it completely up, and 98% of his outbursts getting from our apartment to the outside are gone. Brilliant! In fact, he looks to jump inside the bag every chance he gets when he’s outside, because he feels more secure in there. The bag technique isn’t forever, but it’s a great bridge and stress reducer for us all.
We’ve only seen Maggie twice and we already feel like we have a plan. We still have the unpredictable element with Jasper, but 80% of his walks are good. If he gets out of our building without incident, we’re likely to have a good walk. And, outbursts come under control faster now. At home, he’s very slowly blossoming. Whatever happened to this little boy, he’s got a sadness in his eyes sometimes, that breaks our hearts. So, when we see that long, loopy tail wag or he gives us a little grin, it’s cause for celebration. It’s his vulnerability that so brings out the maternal instinct in me and I just want to protect him and nurture him into the happy guy I know he can be.
I’ll keep you posted on our progress with Jasper, and what we’re learning in our training with Maggie, in the hopes it will be helpful to you, too. While learning to live with and train a fear-aggressive dog is all new to us, we feel blessed that the universe brought Jasper into our lives. We believe it was for a reason and we’re committed to making it work. Besides, we think Sophie and Jasper may be falling in love. 😉
Do you have a specific behavior problem with your dog? What is it? Tell me in the Comments.
Jasper is such a cutie! I can so relate to the reactivity rollercoaster, and have written many a post about it. You are really going above and beyond to do all you can for Jasper and should be commended for it. I truly these challenging dogs make us better people (although sometimes I would be okay without all the personal growth…)Carrying Jasper outside in his Sherpa bag is a great management plan, and a bonus to having a smaller dog. I can pick Ruby up as a last resort, and don’t know what I’d do if she were 80 pounds with her level of reactivity. I look forward to following your journey with Jasper.
Thx! We think he is too! 🙂 thank you, Lara. As you know, it’s pretty exhausting. But we live him and feel for him. Without the tough work now, we won’t have the great dog later. I know you totally get it. But i’d be lying if i didnt admit i do look at these little, sweet, fluffy dogs on some of the hardest days and think, THAT’s maybe more like it! We live in nyc so you can imagine how much he has to react to!
And thanks so much for following the journey, Lara. Do you have a second dog? I saw two dogs on your Twitter page. Talk about winding each other up! Sophie and Jasper do all the time. Wondering if you have that problem, too. Also, have you found a good training/everyday harness you like for Ruby? I’ve been through two with Jas and don’t like either. About to try Ruffwear’s new training one that has a ring in the front and on the back.
I completely feel for you! Bella and Terra are pretty easy-going and were naturally socialized in stable and busy home environments where they were born. Kronos is my trouble child-he is what I have now come to know is called fear aggressive like Jasper. He came from a rescue and his mother and littermates were found on the side of the road and then turned into the shelter. It is possible he may not have had proper human contact until he was already a few weeks old, which also makes it so much harder to socialize them to people. After a ton of research, I found out that what happens in the womb and the first few weeks of a dog’s life is pretty influential on the dog’s personality for the rest of their lives. While it is possible to offset the negative experiences early on, it takes at least three times as much work than it would with a properly raised and reared puppy. And I didn’t know anything about fear periods before, but I realize now that Kronos did have a few bad experiences during his fear periods. He has an intense fear of men, but then I found out that the man in the household where he was fostered was very forceful with the puppies. He is finally learning to trust my brother and realize that people aren’t scary, but it’s been a long road so far and we still have an even longer road to go until he is a properly mannered canine citizen. The sad thing is he seems to be more outgoing and well adjusted than many of his siblings (besides his sister who is the boldest), but it’s still a far cry from him being the relaxed and confident guy he could be.
The first time we walked around our block and dogs came to the fence barking, he went into a full piloerection with tail erect, lunged forward and barked back. It surprised me, but I quickly learned to interrupt him before he got into the full blown frenzy and showed him we walk calmly though it’s fine to show mild interest (perked ears and looking at the commotion as long as there’s no reaction). We’re also staying with a bunch of dogs right now which is great for him to learn some canine communication skills. He also didn’t have as much dog on dog interaction outside of the home. While it’s not the same as the daycare like Jasper has, I think it will still help him towards realizing there’s nothing to fear from other dogs and he will learn some self control and how to inhibit himself.
For a long time, Kronos also wouldn’t even let me simply touch him or pet him. He would mouth my hand to intercept my petting and fool around (which I later learned was another way a dog asks to please be left alone). But now he’ll let me squish his face, kiss his face, and touch him all over. And if I do touch where he hurts, he’ll tell me it hurts by simply moving his head toward my hand or telling me with his eyes instead of mouthing or biting my hand.
He would also growl at people and back away if they stared in his eyes and duck away if they went to pet him over his head(and while I do understand that a direct hard stare and reaching over a dog’s head is a threatening communication to dogs, it is not appropriate for him to respond in this manner). So we’ll be working on teaching him that he can look away if he feels uncomfortable instead of growling. People inevitably want to come up and say hi to a dog, but the last few times people have come up I’ve first told them to please not touch him or stare in his eyes, but if they’d like to give him a treat that would be great. He’s actually initiated sniffing them a couple of times and begged instead of trying to hide behind me which is great. We’re working on making people approaching an awesome thing because then he gets treats and they are less threatening. Eventually we will be working on the staring and then being petted by strangers, but I will also be informing the people of the proper way to greet a dog if they want to say hi to him(which is especially important for an anxious, shy, or fearful dog) and we’ll see how that goes.
It’s awesome that you have done so much with Jasper, and I understand sometimes how tough it can be. There are days I have been so exasperated with Kronos that I have just cried and wished I had an easy puppy. But he’s taught me so much already about dogs that I never would have known before, and it’s his wonderful goofy and playful side that he shows at home that makes it worth it and why I won’t give up on him. Sometimes it’s hard to remember that it takes awhile for them to learn how they are supposed to behave in a human world, but it’s even harder for a fearful dog because they are so far behind the normal learning curve.
But it sounds like Jasper is well on the way to being a happy and well mannered boy. If you’d like, you can link up on our Training Tuesday Blog Hops with DOGthusiast to chronicle your progress and tips with Jasper? We’d love to have you join us!
Hi Tiffany – Thanks so much for this. It sounds like you do have a similar situation to ours with Jasper. Today has not been such a great day for him or us with him. We have no idea why; some days are just good and others aren’t. It’s a long haul. Interesting about the womb and first few weeks. We have no idea and will probably never know what really happened with Jasper in the home he was in, but it’s clear he didn’t have the kind of environment that creates a well adjusted dog. We had food delivered for dinner tonight, and I normally slink out the door into the hallway to pay for it while the dogs are barking inside, because I can’t chance Jasper with the delivery guy. Tonight, he snuck out right with me; I didn’t even see it, and took off down the hall to the delivery guy just exiting the elevator. He shriek barked at him, started jumping on him, yelling into his legs and other parts and then tore the plastic bag he was holding with our food before I was able to grab him and put him back inside. I froze I was so scared and in shock. If he had bitten the guy, in NY state, he would have to be put down! It’s crazy and scary and I have to be super vigilant.
I think it would be awesome to share our journey and hear about others journeys on the Training Tuesday Blog Hops. I’ve never done a blog hop and I still have no idea how to do one. If it can figure it out, would love to join. Thanks! And best of luck (even though we know it’s not about luck) with Kronos training and progress. It is definitely a process. 🙂
I totally understand about some good days and some bad. That is very scary, but I’m glad you were able to manage the situation! It would be awful for that to happen…
For joining the Blog Hops, you can find the tutorial on how to do them on BlogPaws Wordless Wednesday Blog Hops. And it’s pretty much the same with all Blog Hops, because the hosts use Linksy.
Yeah, I guess like people, too. We have better days and not so good. Thanks, Tiffany, re the Blog Hops. I’ll check it out since I’m participating in the one Kimberly suggested about things to do with your dog in your city. You doing that?
Thank you for posting this article. We have 4 dogs and the most recent we adopted about 5 months ago. This article describes our little guy exactly. He has become so sweet and loving, except for being in public. I have not even heard of the fear aggressive term before. But I am sure it applies to my Merlin. He too has the sad eyes and far way look that breaks my heart sometimes. He was nearly starved and just skin and bones when we got him. He obviously has been abused in some way. My other 3 were all added to the family as puppies. They have always been happy and well adjusted. Helping Merlin learn to trust and accept us has been one of the most challenging and rewarding experiences of my life. Every time he runs up and gives me a kiss simply melts my heart. I want more than anything to prove to him that he is home and safe now.
Hi Jodi – Thanks for this. It is heartbreaking to see a glimpse of what they’ve been through in those eyes. I know exactly what you mean. I’m learning with Jasper and through our sessions with Maggie, that it’s all about consistency, patience and time. Like kids, they need structure to feel safe. We’re training Jasper so much better than we ever trained Sophie. We have to start training her again now, too, so she doesn’t wind him up out on walks. Hang in there with Merlin and, hopefully, some of the tips we’re learning from Maggie will help you, too. I’ll keep sharing our journey. Good luck. Would love to see a pic of him. If you want, you can send to jody@barkandswagger.com. Thanks.