Expert: Lee Charles Kelley - 1/30/2008

Question
I just got a dog from the animal shelter who had been there for almost a year. He is about 2 years old, spanial mix (possibly some border collie) and a real love. He loves affection and playing with toys and going for walks. I don't know much about his history but he was house trained and knows the basic commands. The problem is he will approach strangers with his tail wagging, appearing freindly, but if the stranger tries to pet him or pays him any attention he will growl or even snap. It seems to come out of nowhere. After a few minutes of being around the stranger he will relax and accept being petted. About 80% of the time we encounter strangers on our walks he completely ignores them but occasionally he will single someone out and agress toward them even lunging and barking. Because of his unpredictability I am never certain strangers are truly safe around him. Is there some way to train him to be freindly to everyone? Will just more time away from the shelter help his confidence?

Answer
Hi, Teri,

Thanks for the question.

From your description it sounds as if he's frightened of strangers, and perhaps worried that they're going to hurt him. (All aggression is based on some kind of fear.) So the answer to your question is that he doesn't just need time away from the shelter to help his confidence, though the more positive encounters he has with people the better, he needs a few other things to help him get over his fear of people.

He reminds me of this dog, Bocce, who lives in my neighborhood. Bocce is a cocker who used to bark and lunge at every dog that he saw on his walks. On day I suggested that the owner stop scolding and punishing the dog, and start praising him instead. The owner followed my advice half-heartedly (he wasn't paying me), but sure enough Bocce became less and less aggressive. This also helped the owner because he began to see that he could have a positive impact on Bocce's behavior, which resulted in giving him more confidence when walking the dog. The reason praise works this way is that it changes the dog's underlying emotional state, from fear to, for lack of a better word, happiness.

Here's a link that explains this in more detail: http://www.tiny.cc/praise622

Two other things that will have a dramatic impact are playing tug-of-war with your dog outdoors, letting him win, and praising him for winning; and hand-feeding him all his meals outdoors, using a pushing exercise. Here are links to explain the details:

http://tinyurl.com/3balu6  

http://www.tiny.cc/tug

Another helpful hint: take treats with you on walks and when someone expresses an interest in saying hello to your doggie, explain that he's nervous about meeting new people, etc., hand them a treat, and have them "ask" the dog to sit for the treat. (If he doesn't know how to sit on command, you can skip that part.) Usually just seeing that a stranger has a treat will change the dog's focus from aggression to a desire to get the treat. Also, people should pet him from underneath the chin. When they try to pet him on top the head, from his perspective he suddenly isn't able to see their eyes, and that causes a sudden spike in his fear.

I hope this helps!

LCK