A More Proper Response

Once again, it’s been a while. So often things in life tend to upend our usual schedules, catching up, and whatnot. Thankfully, along comes a prompt to remind us of things left wanting. All that, merely for a more eloquent way of saying, Boy! am I behind on catching up with the great folks that read my blog! Terribly sorry, but I want to thank a particular reader, John, who posted a comment on my article titled, “God, Dogs & Spiritual War.” He openly, humbly shared some great points that I believe more and more people are dealing with on a larger scale. His comment also reflects such great faith that I could not merely slap a short response to his comment. I just had to scoot some things aside and take this opportunity to provide a more proper response. Buckle in, as you may know how long-winded I can be 😉

Rescues

In today’s world we seem to have more and more rescues popping up all over the place. Not all are formal non-profits. Rather, many simply open their homes and hearts to take in injured, abandoned pups, or an overflow from the local non-profit kennels. God bless them in their endeavors. This, however, appears to be a catalyst for the growing numbers of folks dealing with behavior issues. Particularly aggression. John is one of those blessed souls who is believing the Lord for his Beagle, Max, to be healed and learn better behavior. I want to address some things he brought out, alongside giving you an example in the form of an update on Hanani (my aggressive Dutch Shepherd). In that, you may read some opinions I have on certain things, which you may not agree with. And that’s okay. Just know that I never intend to be offensive or demeaning in anything that I post. My opinions are based on years of experience, research and observation.

The research noted is primarily studying dogs–mine and others’–along with finding valid, sensible info from trainers and others who have tangible results. Tom Davis of Upstate Canine Academy is a fine example of someone who has, by trial and error, alongside some sensible approaches, produced amazing results with folks and their pooches literally all over the world. He came from a quite humble background and just kept working at refining skills to accomplish his heart’s desires. Davis has done amazing work with aggressive dogs! Anyone who has a dog with any issues I strongly suggest you look him up. Watch his videos on his YouTube channel and just do what he does. Most issues with training dogs is usually that simple. Even aggressive dogs that bite.

Don’t be mythtaken

Before I go on here I need to get some other things out of the way. There are beliefs that lots of folks have that are, frankly, ridiculous. Especially nowadays, it seems like if you don’t let every person that wants to, pet your dog, you’re shunned. I wrote a dedicated article on that years ago, which you can find here: Ignore Me, Please. But that’s only the tip of the proverbial iceberg. For want of time, so I can get to the main point of this article, here’s a short list of what I am talking about:

• All dogs must be friendly to everyone.
• My dog is my child.
• The experts know best.
• If your dog is a biter, it must be put down (euthanized).
• Your dog’s behavior issues are either due to mental illness or abuse or both.
• “Dangerous dogs” will attack with no provocation or warning.

…there are so many more, but for our purposes here I will stick to these. Or at least try 😉 Though not necessarily in any formal order, I will touch on each of these myths.

Addressing Max’s case

So, John shared that he and his wife have many years experience rescuing dogs of various types and issues. He shared that most of “their stories ended well.” He went on that Max, a Beagle, was a stray that no one wanted due to a biting issue. From what he shared, it appears that Max has had three previous owners. John stated, “Other than this aggression trait, he is a terrific dog.” I believe John here because my Dutch, Hanani, is an amazing, fabulous creature–except for the fact that she will attack other people (strangers, not my household) and other dogs.

I need to stop here a minute. This case of Max and John, and those like it, is the entire reason I started this blog many years ago. Although I need to keep up on being consistent, the interaction, such as comments posted from readers like John, helps to spur me into creating new posts. It helps me know what folks are struggling with and I can respond more directly. Thanx, John, and God bless you for reaching out, reminding me of this.

So we have this terrific dog, but this dog has bitten people, including he and his wife, many times over the past year. John says, “…without provocation or warning.” With the utmost respect, I believe he believes this. I said that because it has been my experience and observation that no dog attacks without provocation and all dogs give warning. Now, the warnings may be so subtle to most that we miss it. It could be simply a look, a lowering of his head. His hackles (hair along the shoulders, neck and back) may not even rise, but there is a warning that the dog assumes you will take note of. The time between warning and attack may be seconds or minutes. That truly depends on the dog. But again, there will always be a warning. Dogs do not have the capacity to simply be ruthless, mindless killers. Even dogs that are trained to attack will give a look, lowered head, etc, while they wait the command to attack. Heck, even dogs trained to fight (as abhorrent as that is) give the opposing pooch warning before the attack.

The provocation issue is a bit more tedious, only because most folks–even people that have had dogs all their lives–assume that it must be some threat that provokes a dog to bite. What many folks fail to see is that dogs perceive threats differently. From a dog’s view, biting is a form of communication, and biting is not always in response to a threat. Some dogs bite simply because they have so much pent up energy they literally cannot help but nip, even bite a hand or foot here and there. This is particularly true with intelligent and high drive dogs. More serious issues arise when we have dogs that just your mere presence or certain movement is a perceived threat. I’ll never forget the first time Hanani saw my husband with a “Santa hat” on. Oh my!! Thank God she listened to me before she tried to protect me from that scary hat! Seriously though, when we begin to rule out things we can see that the majority of biting pooches bite because, frankly, they have been able to get away with it for so long.

Now, what I do not mean by “get away with it” is that no one tried to correct them. Part of what I mean by get away with it is that the “corrections” were never clear or consistent. Furthermore, what I do mean is that the biting and/or show of aggression has worked to accomplish whatever goal for the dog. For instance, if we have an aggressor that will bite who simply does not like (feels threatened by, even if it is unwarranted) a child’s presence, you will notice–even if ever so slightly–the dog first becomes a bit nervous or antsy. The time between antsy and biting may be rather short, particularly if the dog has learned from past experience that its cues go unnoticed. A dog that has spent a lifetime of its warnings being ignored has learned that it can only depend on itself to feel safe. Other dogs are simply bullies that use this behavior because it has always worked to get its way (ie: leave me alone, I want that ball, I sit on the couch right here, etc).

Get where I am going here?

All behaviors in dogs can be traced back to one thing: Poor or absent Pack Leadership. I spent a lot of time on past articles that you can find by clicking the blue highlighted words there, so I won’t get into great length here. I say this to lay the ground for a speculative scenario I’d like to present about Max. I present this only to give an alternate view that may be compared to the “experts”, who sadly cautioned John that the dog is dangerous and appear to have led him to believe Max needs put down. Praise the LORD John has the sense and strength to keep reaching out for Max’s sake.

Ready? Here we go…

As I said, this case is the primary reason I created this blog. Dogs get passed along mainly because most folks do not research the breed they’re getting and later end up deciding they cannot deal with the dogs’ behaviors. Couple that with the notion that most folks treat their dogs as if they are little humans. Children, if you will. Although there may be much in common when it comes to establishing place in the Pack, etc, DOGS ARE NOT HUMAN. Dogs need to be respected as sentient, intelligent creatures that are fully dependent on us to lead, set structure, provide and protect. Period.

The biggest determining factor is how much time and effort are you willing (or have available) to put into learning about the breed, studying the dog you have, learning stricter means of training him, and–most important–consistently implementing these new ways?

So, here’s my assumption of Max. Beagles are absolutely adorable, smart, cuddly and awesomely funny lil fur balls! Whoever originally started with Max was probably overwhelmed with all his adoring qualities and understood nothing of what makes him tick. Beagles are high drive dogs that are incredibly difficult to train (generally, but there are exceptions) for house dogs. The original owners, we’ll call them Pam and Sam, probably were out of their mind with his cuteness as he chased after literally anything that moved! Played tug with him, using anything he got a hold of, on his timing/command. They gave him no parameters of expectations with this. Likely, he even spent time on their couch and/or cuddled in their bed with them. Everything to set the stage that he was on their level and in full control. As he got older, and his chasing everything not so cute anymore, Sam and Pam probably just yelled  at him, maybe even smacked his nose or did something else to cause him fear and confusion. I am not saying they out rightly abused him. I am saying they created an environment for him to grow up just as he did. When Pam and Sam could no longer take it, they passed him to someone who was obviously similar. Who passed him…and so on. (Yes, I personally considered this abuse/neglect, but not in the context most “experts” determine abuse.)

Now, here we have a dog that just did what came naturally and it was not really a problem until he got past the puppy cuteness. It was likely even encouraged when he was a pup because, c’mon. Admit it! It is funny! I firmly believe that Max has no clue on two very primary issues: One, that his out of control prey drive is why no one wants him; and two, that there are people in this world he can learn to depend on. Obviously, because he is with John and John is trying to find help for him.

Myth-busting on “experts”

The so-called “experts”, or behaviorists, that claim Max is a “dangerous dog whose aggression comes from past abuse and/or mental illness” are idiots, in my opinion. I say this with all due respect to John. I do not fault him at all for consulting them. I am faulting the so-called experts because if they were such experts they would have been able to say, “Hey, John, I do not really know your particular dog, but first up, Beagles are high drive and difficult to train. That right there lays a foundation for creating a monster if you do not know how to work with such a breed.” Shame on them.

As far as “mental illness”…sigh. I believe that is a catch-all marketing cop out “experts” use to get you hooked and dependent on their services. Anyone that tells you a dog is mentally ill has no idea what they’re talking about. Since I can sense this to become a hot-button topic, I’m going to leave that for another article. In the meantime, do some prayerful research.

Getting back to Max. I make such assumptions based on the facts of knowing at least a bit of the breed–and high drive dogs in general. But even more, knowing what little effort most folks put into deciding what puppy to get, let alone having any foundation in Pack Leadership. I do not say this with pomp, or to demean anyone. It’s just a fact. Look at all the over-full shelters and I believe you can see at least some evidence of this.

Where do we go from here?

Here I’ll share an update on where we are with Hanani, my “aggressive biter.” I’m going to share with you what I have done in hopes to provide some insight and points to help John and anyone else dealing with similar issues.

Since I last shared about Hanani’s aggressive behaviors, we have both learned a lot. That’s the first and foremost thing I have found important in dealing with any dog–having the mindset of a continual student. If I am resistant to learning more, not much is going to change. Now, ideally, I’d love to tell you I watched endless videos from Upstate Canine, implemented what he taught so wonderfully and, pow! I have an amicable dog that goes everywhere with me. Not the case. Don’t get me wrong, Tom Davis and some others do provide wonderful training and insights that are easy to implement. That was not the problem at all. The main obstacle was the plain fact that too much in life sucked away too much time to really go at the training hard and consistently. I learned, however, that managing a dog with these issues can be just as rewarding.

What do I mean by manage? The short version is simply the fact that I just do not give her an opportunity to go after or bite others–dogs or people. In my home we have two bedrooms extra. On one of those I replaced the door with a locking gate when we first moved in seven years ago. Hanani knows how to open the gate, so I make sure that it locks! That used to be “the girls’ room”, but now is her room. She spends a lot of time there, mainly because she has gone after and bit Mia, my Pit Bull, several times. It seems the more time I spent with Hanani the more possessive of me she became, to the point that just Mia’s presence near me is a trigger for her. Although I have multiple times muzzled Hanani and tried to re-acclimate the two, Mia wants nothing to do with her and Hanani still cannot be trusted. So, I keep them separate. Each take turns being out with me, out in the fenced yard, etc.

By the sweet grace of our Lord Jesus, we can gain the strength and wisdom to do what we ought.

Additionally, Hanani’s world has become rather small. Or at least most would deem it such. If she cannot be right beside me, whether around the home or in our yard, she is in her room. The only time I lock her in her crate is when she has gone off her rocker (been disobedient) or when I need to take additional measures to keep her calm (when we have company around the house, etc). She has not gone off in a long while now. If I do take her for a walk off our property, she is muzzled. I use a martingale collar to attach her leash, but have an ecollar when I need the additional means to get her attention. Then I have a collar with a handle on it for if or when I need to hold her tighter and closer. I keep her on a short lead primarily due to the fact that if something does spark her and I do not catch it in time, if she has a running start she can pull me off my feet since she is more than half my weight.

We’re still working on that….

Many will read this and exclaim how “sad” or even “terrible” this is. Those, however, ignore the fact that dogs cannot tell time. Thus, she has no idea how long she is in her room. She further has no concept to think about a world beyond her own. As long as she is showered regularly with love, food, mental stimulation and exercise, she does not know to be “sad”. Hanani is a happy, healthy monster of a pooch that is well managed. Although her world is rather small, she knows nothing different. I truly believe her aggression can only be controlled, not necessarily trained out forever.

Sure, I would love to take Hanani everywhere with me. She is an awesome and amazing dog! She’s a great show off! There is little to nothing she will not at least try when I ask her. At the same time, she has already proven she has a hair trigger with people and animals. Although she has learned to stop and think to make better decisions (ie, to listen to me) she is a very intelligent and determined animal–with the emphasis on animal–who cannot be given even an eighth of an inch. Everything, from choosing which ball when we play together, to “okay, you can eat your food now”, needs to be by my command. Once she gets her way in anything, she becomes even more aggressive. Not with me, but if she is left to think anything is up to her whims she will take full advantage and this shows in other disobedience. So, I manage her closely. I also try to not let her get bored, doing activities that tire her out mentally and physically. A bored dog is never a good thing. A high drive, intelligent dog that is prone to aggression who gets bored can become a dangerous thing! Furthermore, there are games I taught Hanani that I formed specifically for her. They’re not really new, but just enhanced versions of training tactics that I turned into games. Anything you make fun for a dog makes it more likely the training will sink in 😉 Most of these games cause her to think, problem solve if you will. Others cause her to wait to get what she wants–which usually involves chasing down something, biting it and playing tug for a while. But always something of my choice and she can bite it only when I say she can. All of the games force her to choose to exercise self-control and wait for my command. And all of these things together have helped to greatly reduce her aggression.

All that to say…

All this may seem extremely tedious at first, especially if you were not the type to pay such close attention to dogs. But as you move forward, you will see how well your aggressive dog does and how much you both grow as you learn more. Case in point, over time Hanani has become more at ease even in situations where she was previously triggered.

What’s more is I am one of the few people I know that understands and embraces the fact that not all dogs will get along with other dogs or even other people. I have one of those dogs. And that’s okay, as long as I see to it that she not gain an opportunity to go after another. The top priority is others’ safety. As much as I love her dearly and a part of me would die without her, Hanani’s comfort and fun time is secondary to others’ safety. I am in a position to manage her behavior like this, but not everyone is. At each step in dealing with such an animal, you need to prayerfully weigh the options within your abilities and move forward from there. For instance, you may decide that for a while you just make your aggressive dog’s world much smaller for everyone’s safety and the dog’s health. After a while, though, you may learn more things to try and, by watching your dog closely, be better able to find ways and means to curb or cue such behaviors. But if your dog never gets to, for example, play with other dogs, your grand kids, etc, that’s okay. I think most folks have a huge block of guilt to get past when it comes to this, but when you do a great peace fills you.

So what does this mean for Max?

Frankly, I do not know specifically what exact measures to take with Max only because I know very little about the contexts surrounding the times has bitten, John’s understanding of the issue and the breed, or even what training he has or hasn’t had. All I can do is make suggestions based on my knowledge from observations and experiences. If any of my presumptions about his past are correct, I’ll bet he is not a truly aggressive dog. He is likely just a dog that has never been trained well when it comes to appropriate behavior and self-control. He is likely a dog whose high prey drive may even, for now, be out of his control only because no one taught him otherwise. He is also likely a dog that was pampered like a spoiled rotten kid until previous owners couldn’t take his biting any more. Then dumped him. That makes for some serious behavior issues, but not always an unmanageable aggressor.

In fact, he may even be able to be trained well enough to resolve the issue altogether. I have found most aggressive dogs, even those that bite, can be trained out of such behavior. The biggest determining factor is how much time and effort are you willing (or have available) to put into learning about the breed, studying the dog you have, learning stricter means of training him, and–most important–consistently implementing these new ways?

The way I look at these cases, including my own, is first and foremost safety of others (people and animals) is of top priority. After that, consider the above question. In that, you really have four options:

• Learn what you need (as noted above) and put it into practice.
• Resolve to just manage the aggressor/behavior (similar to the example of my dog) by just making sure he never has an opportunity to bite.
• Find a rescue with experience in dealing with aggressive biters and see if they will take him.
• Last resort, in my book, is to put him down (euthanize) for the safety and well-being of all involved, including the aggressive dog.

Personally, I would resort to the forth option there only when I have exhausted the other options. At the same time, I really think folks need to embrace the fact that this has to be an option for some. Granted, in my opinion, few and far between, but we cannot be afraid to admit that there are times that an out of control, dangerous animal needs to be humanely euthanized if other options have not worked. That is realistically part of responsible stewardship of the animals entrusted to us by God. Sad that someone else’s irresponsible treatment of a dog is laid at the feet of another, but life is full of difficulties. By the sweet grace of our Lord Jesus, we can gain the strength and wisdom to do what we ought and be enabled to handle it.

Lastly, for now…

So, John (and others in similar situations)…. Please know that whatever you choose to do with Max, you already are doing your best for him. Most folks simply dump the “problem dog” at a local shelter or on the street. Shame on them, but God bless you and your wife for having hope for him. Please do keep in touch!

I truly hope this helps and please do not hesitate to send more messages, even video if you like. I am here for you, in prayer and to help you figure this out. Having this open discussion will, hopefully, help others as well. Thanx so much again for reaching out!