foreign [Music] with friends and family at your home but when the guests arrive your dog gets anxious and starts to show some aggressive behavior on this episode of the Paw report we're joined by animal behaviorist Dr Sally Foote to help us pet owners navigate the issue so we can avoid any potential problems so stay with us [Music] foreign [Music] report on weiu is supported by Rural King America's Farm and Home Store livestock feed farm equipment pet supplies and more you can find your store and more information regarding Rural King at ruralking.com Dave's decorating Center is a proud supporter of the Paw report on weiu Dave's decorating Center features the Mohawk smart strand silk forever clean carpet Dave's decorating Center authorized Mohawk color Center in Charleston thank you for joining us for this episode of the Paw report I am your host Kelly Goodwin and we've got a great episode ahead because I know it affects a lot of you out there and so who better to call for this episode is our veteran guest Dr Sally Foote animal behaviorist and she's going to talk to us about okay let me just set up the stage Sally because I know people have have experienced this you get ready to go over to somebody's house and you know that they have animals and the first thing they say to you is oh Rover is nice he's not going to hurt you you know his bark is bigger than his bite and then Rover kind of turns the tables on you and Rover becomes a little agitated and angry and hair stands up on the back of his uh rump so it happens a lot so the the topic of today's segment is dog aggression towards visitors it's a thing right yeah it happens yes and so um so for I think it's always good let's let's have our definitions right so let's unders let's all be understanding The Words we're using and what they mean okay so aggression when we all often know or say the word aggression we are thinking of when the dog actually bites or the dog is well frankly actually bites biting the action of biting is what money that's all people think of as aggression they don't think of the growling the standing stiff or the staring also as aggression so aggression is defined as threatening but threatening body language to have the perceived threat go away stay away in other words standing stiff Standing Tall staring growling attempting to bite or snap and actually biting are all aggression it's just how intense is that aggression right so the bite is actually when the dog is now really using the tools that they learned when they were four weeks of age from their mother how to use to make something in their environment in their space that might be threatening causing pain or bothering them to go away so aggression is a normal response to a perceived threat but we've got to think of well what is it like through the dog's eyes not our eyes why is my dog aggressive now you said some some of it is attained knowledge when they're puppies but there could be a lot of other reasonings going into why they're all of a sudden angry it could be anxiety it could be health related I mean I'm sure the list is long sure so there are different how should I say different categories of aggression meaning we have pain triggered aggression we have resource guarding which means guarding over the goodies in life like food gardening over the bed guarding over like doorway because like that's access to space who gets to go outside right who gets to go through the store into this space uh guarding of the owner because the owner is the one who gives the food you know allows you know plays with them Etc so the owner is seen as a resource so these are two kind of major categories there are other types of aggression there's a hormonal aggression like in the female dog when she's just given birth and her progesterone is high and her estrogen is you know High these hormones are high we have more aggression because she's protecting her young so some of it is a bit innate instinctive some of it is his body protection like in the case of pain triggered aggression an animal who's injured will bite if you handle them or try to pick them up no matter how sweet and loving they are and how much they know you and trust you that would drive me crazy at times as a veterinarian people say oh he's fine he trusts me even though he just got hit by a car no oh please throw a sleeping bag over his head as you pick him up to bring him in here he might bite you you know and sometimes owners wouldn't believe us because you know they had this great relationship with the pet but in that situation that anyone was in pain it is a normal physiological response when picked up to flip to bites make a stop it because that being picked up could hurt more you see so it's always about what we call in this categorization is based on the triggers so triggers are what is the movement the action the noise or the object that to that animal is either unknown they're not socialized to it or they've had a past experience with something that may have caused fear or pain okay so that's the memory or uh they can't perceive it normally and so um we relate to this is a handout it's called the canine I don't know which camera to look at the canine ladder regression by Dr Kendall Shepherd and I have this on my website people can print this off on the pet owners resource tab but what it shows is how dogs when there is something to the dog is like unknown or kind of scary they first they first show these signs of anxiety turning their head away walking away licking their lips creeping ears back cowering and as those those signs are increasing for avoiding I'm trying to get away from it then there comes a point where the dog says you know I can't get away from this threat or the threat is continuing to come at me so now I have to shift I have to change over to fighting it off so that's where then we get in with the stiffening up stair uh growling snapping or snarling lifting the lips showing the teeth and then actually biting and then there's different intensities to level the bite the problem is all these lower body language signs of anxiety most people don't realize even our anxiety they don't realize that the animal is building up and that fear that will then change over to aggression all that people may recognize is when we get up here to biting so their dog is already up to this level and and the next step is they're actually going to cause injury territorial aggression is is absolutely a thing you mentioned dog bowl in bed but that's that's a big one you know especially when we get back to guests coming into my house um you'd you know me being the dog you don't live in my house and I don't know you very well and so now I'm going to I'm going to respond right you know it's kind of funny I was at a lecture and um Dr Ogata from Purdue University's College of veterinary medicine was giving a lecture at the Illinois State Veterinary Medical Association conference on behavior and she made a wonderful statement humans are the only species that want to share their food we are the only species who make a choice to come together at a table and eat our food together to come into one bed and sleep together now I don't know why that is but it is true all other species really don't want to have another animal eating out of the same bowl with them or another person or anybody hovering around them or when they sleep on a bed they'd really rather sleep alone and not share it there needs to be a big enough bed for everybody there needs to be enough bowls or whatever and actually like far apart so the old saying leave a dog and his bone alone yeah uh let sleeping dogs lie do not hug them do not pet them when they're so cute and laying there don't kiss them on the head because they want to rust it can be startle aggression is another category of aggression it can startle them and that's when they just flip straight up and they bite a lot of facial bites to children because they're hugging the dog when they're sleeping and they're kissing the dog when they're sleeping I was just that kind of leads me into my next one most popular victims then are probably children and maybe senior adults um they fall into that not so much really the two categories are most common bites are children between the ages I believe two to four and then young men between the ages of 12 to 15. really and why is that okay so it's pretty much figured the toddler child dogs do not like face to face straight on believe it or not the worst way to greet a dog is to put your face right up to them so a two-year-old to four-year-old child tends to be you know right at the heightened level of the dog and the child is going to come tends to come right at the face also children that young they they run around in like less predictable ways because they're children you know they're just learning how to run Etc they will suddenly be very spontaneous in their movements you know suddenly they jump up and they do a cartwheel and all these things could be startling to the dog so if the dog wasn't raised from eight weeks up with a bunch of Toddlers and rewarded for not reacting to those toddlers it's actually like wow these kids are kind of active around me and if the kids are still active around the dog or coming to the dog and pestering the dog and the child can't understand this dog getting up and moving away and growling at them the dog is going to go to biting them all right that's all he's got left now with so it's because of the you know just the developmental age of that child physically it's more about the physical aspect of the toddler child it's theorized pretty much with the Adolescent male it's the psychological development of the Adolescent male the Adolescent male tends to be one who's a bit more of a risk taker he's going to keep trying to pet that dog even though the dog's growling and even though somebody else told them not to do that because he psychologically is more of like yeah I'll do it myself yeah whatever it just is the category so if we could go back to the stages of aggression in case we couldn't see it you said a lot of the in the green and the yellow and even approaching the orange those aren't real noticeable right what are they if you could read those off to us or some of the other signs yeah I love pairing these two handouts actually this one you can download off my website from Dr Kendall Shepard a British veterinarian published this this one is off of Dr sophia.com so this is what the animal looks like you know what they look like and early anxiety and so what they look like then you match here so anyway things like the yawning so it might be hard to see both but okay so we start with yawning blinking now less related to humans because humans do the same thing uh if I'm at first the first time you asked me a question here in this television show it made me a bit nervous I started doing this don't I um well Kelly um actually right see my jaw would time I just tense up a little bit I start blinking my eyes my throat tightens slightly okay that's like the dog here yawning blinking nose licking then you know people do the same thing that's turning the head away the dog may be sitting there looking calm but the toddler starts running you see the dog go to the side like this mm-hmm somebody's trying to oh let me give you a treat reaching the dog keeps turning his head away what he's saying is I don't like your reach I don't want that it's a very it's a more subtle level but it's turning the head away turning the body body away sitting or pawing that's when they actually may get up and actually shift their body to this just like a fire Lake this way someone I don't want to talk to at a dinner party right right okay same thing I mean yeah uh creeping ears back that's where the ears look now we're not talking about plastered against the side of their head we're talking about the ears that just turned back they look kind of relaxed but they're they're being held down and creeping means now they're walking like slowly across the room they're walking slowly in the area and it's just like people walking in a room a little more cautiously or down the street cautiously oh it's 11 30 at night and I'm out in a not so safe neighborhood okay that's so that's that's like that level and then standing crouched with the tail tucked under that's the cowering posture okay that's a dog like hunker down like this in the corner laying there with his paws and legs drawn close to him then we have okay this is a biggie lying down with the leg up that's a dog rolls on his side exposing his belly but the dog's legs are pulled close to the body they're not out like this relaxed like when he's sleeping they're pulled close to the body and this is actually that transition point where the dog is so like nervous or saying okay I'm completely submitting to you but I am recording recoiling my body I'm pulling myself ready to roll over and lunge up on you if I feel more threatened and that's a lot of time people get bitten like I was just rubbing his belly I thought he wanted me to rub his belly but it was in this you know I mean in this posture which actually no he didn't want you to do that but it was confusing to you because you think that's what the dog is asking for so then at the next stages go up to stiffening up the steering the growling and that's how they're escalating I think what's also really important is every step in this letter of aggression 0.2 Seconds Apart so a dog can go from just kind of turning his head away to ears back and now he's walking slowly within one second and if say the toddler keeps running up to him to throw his arms around to hug the dog around the head then the dog stops and salt stiff and is staring at the child in the face and then the dog snaps at the child in the face and all that's all quick that all happened in two seconds okay we went up 10 steps it all happens in two seconds some people go oh my gosh I didn't even see it happen well true it happens so fast but that's why then we need to be much better at really watching the whole Global scene and really paying attention to these quick and subtle changes in the dog's body language because the dog is telling us what they're trying to avoid we just haven't given him a way to we haven't so what I always say is Okay match what's going on around your dog when he looks like whatever like write down child running it the child four feet away running a dog dog gets up and walks away or is trying to walk away say to yourself okay either get whatever's happening away from my dog or get my dog away from whatever's happening so that's how you're met you know you're avoiding or managing the triggers that's role play so I come over to your house oh yeah hi Kelly how are you doing thank you for inviting me over I knock at the door your dog is going crazy Sally comes to the door and says oh it's fine come on in so I come in the dog is still hair standing up and obviously does not right want me there what am I supposed to do as a visitor and what is Sally supposed to do as the pet owner to to calm this situation all right so while barking barking and jumping is not on this list and it's not because it doesn't exist I think it was for kind of Simplicity Etc uh and when Dr Shepard published this barking and that barking you know the dog's usually jumping at the door I usually would do is take a line and draw from stiffening up stair draw a line and point it to biting because on that line that's where the barking and the jumping up is happening they're getting they're they're looking into a you're a threat and what it all started with was actually when your the dog could hear the footsteps coming up the doorway that's when the dog started running towards the door embarking so the dog's first trigger is the sound of your first steps coming up the door and that's when he's first starts barking and the closer he is at the door because then he hears you either knock or ring the doorbell and then so I'm gonna name what happened in that scenario that had that dog triggered up and staying triggered up for your entrance okay because your entrance is the biggest trigger correct for the stock all right it was a sound of your footsteps coming up coming up the steps your either ring of the doorbell knock on the door me walking toward the door me reaching for the door my hand on the doorknob opening the door your body appearing through the door and coming over the threshold and the door closing that was eight triggers okay each one of those to the dog is saying she's coming in she's coming in she's really coming in the house and he's already at level uh when the dog is already at this High the adrenaline rush on the brain is so intense they cannot hear a command they cannot hear any kind of command or direction or anything and even tossing them treats is like too much it's it's their appetite Center has shut down so what do we do okay if you hear the doctor I'm not coming in until you put the dog away Sally is what Kelly should say I love you I know but I'm not 14 to 18 year old kid that you just talked about I would say oh it's fine I'll love autumn and pet him right so what I and I have videos on my YouTube channel I don't know if I can plug in on public TV but I have one it's called barking like crazy one and two and I show how for the owner now in this scenario we're gonna have the dog behind a baby gate or maybe tied or tethered at least eight feet away from the door and we're gonna already start tossing rewards to the dog before we even go to the door before the person is even hardly pulled up okay so now the dog is being while he has appetite before he's so you know charged up he's getting rewarded for not barking and being quite we're changing the meaning right now oh my gosh manifold from the sky and then as I go to the door I'm still one little nugget at a time tossing it to him as I open the door and somebody comes in and they'll toss more but you do not go greet my dog because my dog is already saying your appearance is enough for me if you reached out you see now you're adding you know you're coming closer to the door a dog you're adding approach to the dog and that's oftentimes when people get bitten the dog jumps up and he bites them or jumps up and grabs her arm so instead leave the dog tethered leave the dog behind the baby gate he's getting rewarded just for this scenario this just this scenario is what we have to get the dog happy about later we'll get the dog happy about actually greeting you so it's it's really important for the pet owner to communicate with their guests like I have animals the animals are um they they get agitated when guests come I just want to let you know that when you get to the door I'm going to be putting the right my my pet away and then I will make sure that I come instead of just letting me and just holding the collar for the dog at the door like so he doesn't jump up well yes it's limiting the dog from jumping up but think about what ever again what is it like for the dog the dog now is just like Kelly's here I really want to go after her and it's called an oppositional reflex if I were to like pull on you you pull back even harder then I pull even harder and this adds to the physical agitation and then the dog has a memory of anybody holding my collar is when I'm really agitated which is then why oftentimes now the owner goes to reach the as a solution the owner goes to reach for the collar and the owner gets bit on the hand they're redirecting that's you asked me about redirected aggression right they're read the aggression they want to put on the person going through the door they now put on the hand of the owner because of the just stimulus of grabbing the collar and holding it so that's why the holding them back by the collar part of why that doesn't work it's not a solution and increases risk for bites and injury good or bad so you for you you know that I'm coming over but you got busy with dinner and you forgot to put the dog tethered or behind the baby gate I come in and you're like oh oh I forgot to do all this then it's perceived as you're reprimanding the dog for barking at me hair standing up on me so is it good or bad to reprimand as the aggression is happening does the dog know oh I'm being reprimanded for for this action I better stop okay so um punishment is defined as any any action putting up a barrier an aversive meaning like hitting a shocking call or whatever any kind of action that decreases decreases the likelihood of the behavior that's the Beth is the scientific definition and behavior science of punishment but pretty much punishers tend to be something aversive something hurtful right something that you know the animal is not going to want to receive like getting hit getting yelled at whatever okay now the problem is with the punishment is that the dog is not okay yes it may stop the immediate lunging up you know lunging up barking but it increases agitation and increases adrenaline and so we have at least a 50 risk that the animal is going to re uh redirect aggression this is why a lot of the old force-based handling with collar Corrections Etc about 50 of the Dog Handlers would get bitten in training and so when your avoidance setting up for Success you know having behind the baby gate Etc and rewarding you have less you have like a four percent chance of redirected aggression if you're doing the training so first of all the pun that's why the punishment doesn't work and secondly then the animal now to be like whoa you're like my good owner sometimes and sometimes you're not and it then builds what we call a conflict aggression toward the owner so even when you're not coming over you know to my house I may now reach to go pet my dog and now she suddenly flips a bite on me because in her head she's back to that moment at the front door when I smacked her or I gave her a harsh collar correction because she was jumping at you because to her it's like reach is that a good reach or bad breach you know kind of like that effective walking on eggshells so what I what's best uh is in the moment because we all have those moments okay we're human right oh I forgot to get the dog away in the baby again I can't let them out whatever just just owners say wait just stay out there okay just one second let me get the dog set up all right no and as a friend stay out on the front porch don't come in the house I tell you what we I don't know I grew up in Chicago I can't imagine just walking in anybody's house from your parents right knocking or saying hey I'm here in rural Illinois a lot of people and friends would just walk in the house okay they just walk in and then just walking in the dog is like who the heck are you right it's startling and also they in that moment though you're not a part of the family I don't know right so a lot of times the dogs may be barking or coming at people so so it is not rude as a friend or a family member actually it's needed to say hey I'm coming in is the dog set up or you hear the dog barking and going kind of upset say I'll just wait outside you got them back let's play it safe all right so Sally we've got a little over a minute left oh I'm gonna I'm gonna give you two quick questions so there is hope out there you can't change the dog's behavior and any particular breeds that this is more prone to yes so we have what are called reactive breeds reactive breeds they go up this ladder of aggression four times faster and they basically skip over some of these signs in other words they're the dogs who like to look first look lunge bite okay and ask questions later yeah sure so think of the breeds who are chosen for that guarding breeds shepherd breeds and terrier breeds so that's why there can be a bit more risk and everyone should take their puppies and young dogs to puppy classes for positive classes to learn uh how to go away and not get upset about coming through the door this is the stuff that you go through in public classes but especially if you own a German Shepherd a Dutch Shepherd an Australian Shepherd a border collie a Sheltie a Yorkshire Terrier a Jack Russell Terrier because Terriers that's what they were bred for to chase after little Vermin and kill them quickly so movement in motion now smaller dogs people tolerate a lot of these behaviors because they're small you know a 10 pound dog isn't going to cause as much damage when they bite you as compared to a 90 pound dog but to the dog the same things are going on so I always I always recommend all the dogs should learn and be socialized the same way yes you've got a little more you have more responsibility with bigger dog than a little dog but little dogs count too we'll leave it at that little dogs count too Sally foot thank you so much for joining us for the 12th season of the Paw report you're the veteran animal behaviorist and she's got a great website out there for information if anybody wants to check it out so Sally thanks again for our conversation thank you and thank you our viewers for joining us for this episode of the Paul report we'll see you next time Dave's decorating Center is a proud supporter of the Paw report on weiu Dave's decorating Center features the Mohawk smart strand silk forever clean carpet Dave's decorating Center authorized Mohawk color Center in Charleston the Paw report on weiu is supported by Rural King America's Farm and Home Store livestock feed farm equipment pet supplies and more you can find your store and more information regarding Rural King at ruralking.com additional support for the Paw report provided from Soggy Paws of Mattoon [Music] foreign