Why is My Dog Aggressive to People Outside of My Family?

Are you scratching your head, wondering why your dog turns into a ball of fury with strangers, while being a cuddly teddy with the family? Prepare yourself for a truth bomb - your furry friend is not protecting you or your family, but it's fear that triggers such aggression. Join me, Scott Sheaffer, in an enlightening discussion that uncovers the mystery behind dogs' aggressive behavior towards people outside your family. 

In this episode, we dive into the world of canine fear, the role of negative reinforcement, and the concept of social learning in escalating your dog's aggression.

Contrary to popular beliefs, larger breeds can also fear the most harmless humans, and we'll explore the reasons behind this fear. We also delve into the topic of dogs' friendly behavior with family members and the concept of distance-decreasing behaviors. 

We also touch upon whether this fear-driven aggression can be treated. So, tune in to understand your furry friend better and make your dog ownership experience more rewarding.

About Scott Sheaffer
Scott Sheaffer, CCBC-KA, CDBC, CPDT-KA, is a certified dog behavior consultant who has worked with thousands of dog owners and their aggressive dogs. Scott specializes in the assessment and treatment of fear, anxiety, aggression, and phobias in dogs six months and older.

Social Media and Other Links:
DogAggressionAnswers.com (you can leave me a message here)
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Training Videos
Scott Sheaffer's Dog Behavior Articles 

Disclaimer
If you have a dog who is aggressive and dangerous to humans, it is important that you immediately consult directly with an experienced and certified canine behavior consultant who specializes in dog aggression to humans. Take proper measures to ensure that your dog is never in a position to injure anyone. The information presented in this podcast is for educational purposes only and is neither intended nor implied to replace the need for the direct involvement of an experienced and certified canine behavior consultant who specializes in dog aggression to humans. Scott Sheaffer, the Grumpy Dogs podcast and USA Dog Behavior, LLC, are not liable for any incidents or outcomes resulting from following the advice given in this podcast.

Transcript

Scott Sheaffer, CBCC-KA, CDBC, CPDT-KA: 0:00

I met a brand new client last week named Zeke, whose first words to me after hi Scott were "why in the is my dog so sweet to me and my family, but he's an absolute to everyone else? Zeke later told me that his dog lunges, grouse, wines and barks at people as they pass by when he walks him. He also told me that his dog's behavior is making his dog ownership experience not so great for his family and him. I hear something like this from owners of aggressive dogs all the time, maybe just not in as a creative way or blunt way or colorful way as Zeke's. Understanding why your dog acts this way with strangers is an important first step in getting help for your dog.

Scott Sheaffer, CBCC-KA, CDBC, CPDT-KA: 0:50

Many people try to make sense of human direct aggression by their dog, but frequently come up with conclusions that are sometimes far from what's really happening. In today's episode, I'll answer the question why is my dog aggressive to people outside of my family? ["dog Aggression"]. Welcome to the Dog Aggression Answers podcast. I'm Scott Sheaffer, your host and a certified expert in dog behavior. With the background of helping thousands of aggressive dogs and their owners, I'm here to share a humane, science-based solutions for your dog's aggression. Stay tuned.

Scott Sheaffer, CBCC-KA, CDBC, CPDT-KA: 1:35

Let me answer the question of why is my dog aggressive to people outside of my family by first telling you what is not causing this behavior. While it may look like your dog is protecting you, your family or your home with their aggression, that is actually not the case. It may appear that way, but your dog is acting aggressively for a reason that may be 180 degrees different than what you think. The real root cause for this behavior is surprising to most dog owners, and to some dog trainers for that matter. The cause is fear. That's right fear. Dogs that are aggressive to strangers, that is, non-family members, are afraid of the stranger. The aggression is an attempt by your dog to create distance between them and the scary human stranger. Your dog wants more distance in order to feel safe. As I mentioned earlier, this aggression is not about you or your family. It's really about your dog's fear of that stranger.

Scott Sheaffer, CBCC-KA, CDBC, CPDT-KA: 2:39

And let's talk for a second about strangers. Your dog decides who is a stranger and who isn't. Just because a visitor to your home is your best friend or your brother or your mother or whoever doesn't mean that your dog is going to be okay with them too. I like to say that your dog gets all the votes here, and that's important.

Scott Sheaffer, CBCC-KA, CDBC, CPDT-KA: 3:01

Think about the dynamics of your dog's aggression in these situations. If your dog acts aggressively to a stranger, the stranger will normally, if not always, back up or, at a minimum, stop moving towards your dog. This is what your dog wants to happen and because your dog got the desired result, his behavior, therefore, is highly reinforcing to that behavior. In other words, the behavior reinforces the behavior in a way. Here's a breakdown of the sequence of events with your dog. First, your dog is scared of a stranger. Then your dog acts aggressively barking, growling, lunging, even biting maybe and the stranger backs up. Next your dog feels better because they're creating space between themselves and the stranger. Again, that's the desired result your dog feels less afraid and the behavior is reinforced, as we mentioned. And finally, your dog repeats this behavior again and again with other strangers and learns to start doing it sooner and harder when they're scared, and they get very skilled at it, and this is called social learning. This is one of the reasons why aggression almost always escalates over time. If I were to chart an aggression versus time graph, it would be a hockey stick in almost all cases, and I do this with clients by recording bite histories over time, and if you do this, it almost always is a hockey stick up. This kind of reinforcement to your dog from being aggressive is technically called negative reinforcement versus positive reinforcement. This simply means that your dog is experiencing discomfort that is being too close to the stranger and when the discomfort stops, that is, the stranger backs up. It's reinforcing in a good way to your dog, in that the pain stops for them.

Scott Sheaffer, CBCC-KA, CDBC, CPDT-KA: 5:01

However, not all dogs use aggression in these situations. About 90% of dogs use aggression to keep strangers away and create distance. Well, about 10% of dogs use avoidance Maybe your dog is one of those dogs and by avoidance I mean they move away from the stranger, moving in a direction as far away as they can get. If they're on the leash, for example, they'll move as far as the leash will allow, and this creates more distance from the stranger, thus making them feel a little bit safer. Avoidance and aggressive behaviors are collectively called distance-increasing behaviors. Think about it in both cases, your dog is creating more distance in order to feel safer.

Scott Sheaffer, CBCC-KA, CDBC, CPDT-KA: 5:47

Here's a funny one for you, and I really see this all the time and I have to be honest with you, I kind of get a kick out of it. Some owners of larger breeds such as Doberman, pinschers, rottweilers, german Shepherds, pit Bulls, etc. Find it hard to believe their powerful breed is actually scared of the 95-pound elderly lady or the 50-pound eight-year-old child. But they are. It's more believable when you realize that some adult men will jump up on a chair and scream when they see an eight-ounce mouse. It doesn't have to make sense. The fear is there regardless. There are many reasons how this fear develops in your dog, by the way. These reasons include genetics, lack of proper socialization at critical developmental stages, human abuse, human neglect, etc.

Scott Sheaffer, CBCC-KA, CDBC, CPDT-KA: 6:42

We've been talking about why your dog acts aggressively to strangers, but let's talk about the other side of that coin. Why doesn't your dog show aggression to your family members and maybe some other people in your dog's life? Before we answer that question, I want to make clear that there are some types of aggression where a dog will show aggression to family members. The kind of aggression I'm talking about here in this episode is a common fear-based aggression directed to strangers or people who your dog is not familiar or comfortable with. The simple answer to why your dog is friendly to your family members is that they're very familiar with the family members and have learned as a result not to fear them. Thus, no need to keep them at a distance. Thus no need for any types of aggression or avoidance. In fact, a healthy, non-fear-based relationship with humans will cause your dog to use distance decreasing behaviors just opposite of what we talked about before with you and your family, such as always wanting to be close to you, following family members around the house, sitting next to you on furniture, etc. We all know what that looks like. These behaviors are desirable and normal.

Scott Sheaffer, CBCC-KA, CDBC, CPDT-KA: 7:56

Truth is, your dog is probably an absolute snuggle bug with family members, including with your children. One interesting note here I am always a little bit surprised by people who ask me about the problem with their dog being too needy. My dog wants to be close to me all the time. My dog follows me around the house. When I sit down, he or she snuggles next to me. In some cases I really have a problem telling them that that is probably not separation anxiety and that's why we have dogs. That is not a problem For me. One of the reasons I own my personal dogs is that I love those kinds of behaviors as much as your dog loves you and your family.

Scott Sheaffer, CBCC-KA, CDBC, CPDT-KA: 8:48

On the flip side. The moment a stranger walks in the door of your home or a stranger passes by you while you're walking your dog, your dog is going to feel panicky and begin their aggressive or avoidant behaviors. Can this fear behavior and aggression with strangers be treated in your dog? Yes, it can. After working with hundreds of these human aggressive dogs, I can tell you that some dogs respond quite favorably to treatment, while others don't make as much progress. Of course, much of this is dependent on the individual dog and the commitment of the owners to do the prescribed treatment exercises from a behavior consultant.

Scott Sheaffer, CBCC-KA, CDBC, CPDT-KA: 9:29

As I mentioned frequently in this podcast, treating just the aggressive behaviors and that would be things like barking, growling, biting will sometimes temporarily suppress aggressive behaviors to strangers, but it doesn't address what's causing these symptoms, that's fear. These aggressive behaviors are actually just an indicator or symptom of the real problem, but they are not the root cause, and treating just the symptoms is never a long term remedy. It's like taking painkillers for a serious illness and assuming everything is fine since the pain is gone. Just treating the aggressive behaviors instead of the root cause normally causes the aggression to get worse in the long run. This topic is something that I'm going to do an entire episode on in the future, and it's pretty fascinating why that is. Just treating the symptoms tends to make the whole situation worse.

Scott Sheaffer, CBCC-KA, CDBC, CPDT-KA: 10:27

This kind of fear has to be properly addressed through an appropriate treatment program. There are many protocols used to do this, and the proper one for your dog depends on a number of variables that a certified dog behavior consultant can help you with. In addition to helping you with a behavioral treatment plan for your dog's aggression, a behavior consultant will also help you with the management of the aggression to help ensure no humans are in danger during treatment, always important in these kinds of cases. Aggression toward humans by your dog can be very challenging to treat I have to be honest with you about that but it can in many cases be improved enough for your dog to be a more functional dog around non-family members, ie strangers. Understanding the motivation for your dog's aggression is the starting point for addressing this issue. If you find your dog is acting aggressively toward non-family members, get help from a certified dog behavior consultant in your area.

Scott Sheaffer, CBCC-KA, CDBC, CPDT-KA: 11:29

This kind of aggression normally gets worse over time, as we said, so the sooner you properly address it, the better. Nothing is more heartbreaking for me when a really cool family brings in what is really a cool dog but is so wracked with fear and the dog's aggression has become so extreme. They let it go, in other words, a little too long, and now the treatment is just going to be a lot harder. The prognosis is just not as good. Be sure to always manage your dog before and during treatment of the aggression, so that they're never in a position to injure a non-family member. Before we wrap up, this podcast offers educational insights, but for serious dog aggression issues, always consult directly with a certified dog behavior consultant. See you next time and stay tuned.