Maddie – Dog Aggression Case Study  

I have a love/hate relationship with my job sometimes, especially when I encounter dogs that are suffering and exhibiting some type of aggressive behavior. I hate that the dog’s aggression is happening and causing extreme anxiety and grief for both dog and owner. However, I love that I can be there to help get this aggression and anxiety under control. An overwhelming majority of dogs in shelters and rescues are there because they are dealing with some untreated behavioral problem. Many people have a dog with behavior issues and they do not know or try to take care of it, resulting in the dog being re-homed constantly, given to a shelter, and especially with aggressive cases, sometimes automatically euthanized (whether a biting incident occurred, or not). As a dog trainer, I want to help dogs get into homes and stay there forever, with no behavioral problems running rampant.

A very common type of aggression I see is dog aggression. While some may see this as not too terrible (especially when compared to human aggression, child aggression, etc), this is still a problem that must be addressed. People can try to work around it where they choose not to adopt another dog. However, these same people are restricting leashed walks because of the bad behavior the dog displays when they see another dog. I have actually had clients tell me that the only times they walk their dog is late at night because they KNOW their dog won’t see any other dogs in the neighborhood. Imagine altering your life that dramatically because the dog has such an aggressive reaction to other dogs!

I recall one of my more recent clients from this summer. The owner Richard called me because his older dog Maddie did not get along with dogs at all. For many years, Maddie could not be around other canines because she would react very aggressively to them, even dogs that approached her very calmly and civilly. Richard worked everything he could around Maddie’s behavior problems – walks were shorter, he decided against adopting another dog, and even with daycare. Richard actually took Maddie to doggy daycare, despite her issues, because he did not want to leave her home alone for so many hours while he worked. The daycare was understanding enough to follow his instructions though: in lieu of interaction with any dogs, the kennel technicians would simply take her for periodical walks (as Maddie was perfectly sweet around all humans).

Still, even after all these adjustments, Richard finally decided it was time to get to the root of the problem, and help Maddie be a happy girl that could get longer walks and feel comfortable with other dogs. That’s when Bmore Dog Training came into the picture. After meeting for our initial in-home assessment, we implemented my training program that is based on reward-based techniques, where we first work on Maddie’s obedience and focus in a controlled, distraction-free environment. Just because Maddie was an older dog did not mean that training was not possible for her.

After applying a consistent regimen where Richard is an assertive leader that sets his beloved Maddie up for success, we then slowly reintroduced any triggers that caused the bad behavior. In Maddie’s case, this was other dogs. We walked her around the neighborhood, all of us fully equipped with the training, and also took her to the local park, which was teeming with people walking their dogs. Maddie was able to focus on her owner and also become more and more desensitized to other dogs being around her. It was like seeing a brand new dog!

While dog aggression may not be as severe as human aggression, it is still a problem that needs to be taken care of. It will not only make an owner’s life easier, but the dog will be more at ease, feeling more confident, relaxed, and happy. If your dog is having some issues with other dogs, give me a call at 410.844.6611!