How do you get a dog to stop acting aggressively at a fence
Well, you see, all three of my dogs feed off of each other and when one
barks all of them bark.The thing is that most of the time they are barking
at nothing (imaginary sounds) and they all go out the doggie door and bark
at the fence gate.They probably do this every 15-60 minutes at least.And
when my neighbors dog is being let out of his fence, then all of my dogs
go crazy and bark and growl and even start snapping at each other. l have
already tried putting my golden retriever on his choke training collar with a leash and l ''jerked'' him inside when he started acting aggressively...l just felt like l was hurting him though because he was pulling against me so hard. My question is how do l stop this aggression problem? AND why are they so aggressive towards the outside world??? Thanks for helping. Yes we have a wooden fence that the boards are about 1 1/2 inches apart so the dogs can see out, but between the two yard there is sort of a solid fence. It has ''layered'' boards that you can only see through if you look through it at an angle if you know what l mean. l think what gives it away that the other dog is outside is the sound of the neighbors gate unlatching.
In the trade this is called ''barrier defense drive'' as it is
very much different than the standard defense or offense drives..It is
thought by many that the fence is viewed by the dog(s) as a safety net of
sorts.they think because the foe (real or imaginary) can not get to them
because they can not get to the foe so they tend to overload their threat
displays...when more than one dog is involved it becomes dangerous as you
know..random nipping & displaced hostility can occur between them..as a rule, as a trainer I would bring the dog to the fence & from behind the dog on a leash force them at the fence..which makes them reflex backwards at the instant they do this a reward is in order...then I'd move into the real world & do this with a real foe on the other side.. repeating till the desired affect was gained..rewarding all good results..care should be taken though, as the displaced hostility might occur here..a good trainer good be a great help..
What they are doing along the fence with the neighbor is dog is
called ''fence fighting.'' It is something some dogs seem to like to
engage in & it gets them highly aroused & excited rather than truly
aggressive (none of ur dogs have been actually hurt, right?). Also, they
are not running out due to imaginary noises - their hearing & detection of
motion is much keener than yours - so they see something move - such as a
bird or hear a neighbor moving around & off they go. It is a big exciting game, especially for dogs that like to chase things (just like on of my retrievers). I think some modifications to ur home might solve most of this. I'd get rid of the doggie door or lock it when they are inside with you during the day so they can not go stampeding out at every noise - you control when they go in & out. Also, creating a separate fence inside the existing fence that creates a barrier between the neighbor is fence & yours will stop th e fence fighting. Also introducing ur dogs to the neighbors dog in neutral territory & having them become friends may tone this down somewhat. If nothing else works, creating a separate outside run area away from the fence should take care of it. A lot of changes for you, but I don't think training will help this behavior so you will need to change the way you manage the dogs when they are in the yard.
Your dogs are acting aggressively because that is their
instinctive reaction to something foreign in their territory. The best
way to get them to come off the fence is to squirt them with a squirt gun
when the are behaving inappropriately. Dogs hate squirt guns, and you do
not have to worry about hurting them. If that doesn't work, spray the
fence with ''Doggy-be-Gone'' or a similar product that you can pick up at
PetSmart.
You could fix the fence, so they cant see out, like putting
tarpaulin along it, or sneakier, how about you set up a sprinkler where
they run along barking, sit near the tap and turn it on everytime they run
at the fence. You could invite someone the dogs dont know, to come to your
fence, and squirt them with vinegar when they come and bark at him, or get
this stranger to yell and bang the fence and scare them.
The key here is to realize that this is a completely natural
behavior & almost impossible to control through behavior modification. The
dog is doing what comes naturally to him - defending his territory. Even
the best socialized dogs that love all other dogs will do this if they are
in their own yard. They are protecting what is rightfully theirs & to ask
them to do otherwise goes against all of their instincts. It can be done
but you are far better off trying to prevent the behavior, rather than control it. The object is to remove all stimuli of the other dog from ur dog. You stated it in ur question - Every time our dog sees the other dog. If you want this behavior to stop, you have to prevent the dog from seeing ur neighbor is dog. You didn't say in ur question but I assume that you have some sort of chain-link fence between ur yards. These fences work great but allow the dogs to see each other & run the fence line in eternal battles over territory. Replacing the fence with a solid wood fence which the dog cannot see through almost always eliminates the unwanted behavior. If you cannot afford to replace the fence or it is too problematic, covering ur existing fence with a tarp often will do the trick. The key is to eliminate the visual stimulus of the other dog which triggers ur dog is instinct to protect its territory. People have come up with various other techniques in eliminating the visual cues but the principle is still the same. Sometimes auditory cues are enough to trigger the response in ur dog, particularly if the other dog is wearing tags that jingle when it walks. If this is the case, there are only a couple of other solutions. Play music when you go outside with ur dog. Try to convince the neighbor to tape the dog is tags so they don't make any noise. Or the only other solution is to move to another part of the yard, out of hearing range (sometimes not easy with a dog). One final solution is to work things out with ur neighbor. Asking them to bring their dog in during scheduled times or switching ''yard time'' on an hourly basis is usually a great solution. This of course assumes you are on good terms with ur neighbor. Try working it out with them. I am sure they don't appreciate ur dog is howling & barking any more than you do. If none of these work, there are some behavior modification techniques (like the citronella collars) that can be used but I would suggest starting with the simple solutions first.
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