out of character behaviour

hi everyone

Our 2 1/2 year old neutered cockerpoo has always had the the sweetest nature both in and out of the home, getting on well with children, adults and other dogs.
Over the last couple of months my husband has come back from taking him for a walk saying he has behaved aggressively towards other dogs. This has happened on approximately 5-6 occasions. It's always taken the form of barking and growling and pulling on the lead. The strange thing is it's never happened with me! We both walk him equally. I'm at a loss at the reason for this and would welcome any advice.

Thanks Sally 33

Sorry, I have a lot of questions - it's about trying to find patterns and differences. Please bear with me, the more clues we can get, the more likely we can make suggestions.

The first thought I had was that any sudden change is often a sign of a medical issue rather than a behavioural one but the fact he behaves differently with your husband from the way he behaves with you makes that less likely and is a little confusing.

So - does your husband walk him in different places, at different times (I'm thinking daylight and darkness), meeting specific different dogs? Is he in any way less confident than you? Do you walk with a pushchair or anything? How is your dog when you walk him together? Are there any other differences you can pinpoint?

hi Joanne, thanks for replying.
We both walk him on various but similar walks. I usually do mornings and my husband mostly, but not always, does the evening ( in darkness) walks. I never walk with a pushchair. Our dog does seem to favour my husband, and I did wonder whether his behaviour ( the dog) is maybe a guarding issue? When we walk him together he's fine, and we haven't encountered any problems.

Have you taken him to the vet? Medical conditions can cause dogs to act unusually aggressive so it would be worth going for a checkup.
It could possibly a show of dominance towards other dogs but I feel that may be unlikely as he hadn't show signs of aggression around you?
Good Luck

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I can think of many possible reasons, but w/o being able to observe the dog AND the person handling, plus the surrounding circs, who knows?

It could be that after a one-off event, when the dog was startled by an unusual sound / sight / other stim, he reacted to the coincidental presence of another dog - obviously, to his mind, the “culprit”.
Following that, all that need happen is for Ur hubby to react to ANOTHER DOG’S PRESENCE by getting tense in anticipation, & the stage is set — for Ur dog to react, to HIS reaction.

E-g, hubby sees another dog in the distance, worries ahead of the event that his dog will lunge, tightens the leash to “prevent” it, & finally, he holds his breath. Dogs are highly aware of our own emotions & the signals we send, even unconsciously. Dogs close their mouths when they tense up in anticipation of a fight, a blow, or other threats. This is directly analogous to a person ‘holding their breath’ in dread of a possible event.


Or props he reacted to just *one* dog of a specific type, or even a particular individual, that 1st time... & now, he’s reacting to more dogs. Of the same type? // Of a similar size, color, or pattern? // With the same or similar distinguishing traits?

Some of the traits that dogs can notice that become “threatening” after an initial surprise / threat, are size, color [black is easily distinguished from all others, plus the dog’s FACIAL signals are lost in the dark coat, which makes them ambiguous & hard to read], prick ears, ring tails, bulky coats that give an impression of greater size than fact [such as manes, dreadlocks, big poufy coats with loads of fluff underneath], defensively aggro small dogs that lunge & bark on principle, & Dead-Eye Dick impersonations - when a close-mouthed dog stares impassively without clarifying signals, as some guarding breeds [& esp’ly Asian breeds or primitives] are prone to do.
Chow-chows, Akitas, Kangals, Tosas, Presas, Tibbies [Tibetan Mastiffs], Anatolians, & Ovcharkas [COs / Caucasus Shepherds] are some of the breeds that are prone to this disquieting habit; they provoke other dogs to react by their stiff demeanor & close-mouthed stare. They don’t do it intentionally; it’s just poor communication.
Are there any dogs of that type, who live around U, or who behave like hired bodyguards, lurking suspiciously rather than walking along calmly? — Paranoia is catching, ya know.


Something minor can occur that is simultaneous with another dog, whether that other is known or unknown to the dog who gets spooked / stung by a bee / bitten by a horsefly / etc, & the Other Dog gets the blame. // It happens. *shrug*

We may never know the precipitating event, but in all cases, WHY isn’t critical to B-Mod of the issue; we can fix it without ever determining the cause. That’s a dam*ed good thing for all the dogs who are surrendered to shelters / rescues, abandoned, or homeless, & who have “issues”.
Nobody knows why they do what they do / react as they do, but it’s fixable, nonetheless.

- terry

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I think your dog is reaching the age of social maturity and isn't a pup any more and perhaps becoming less tolerant of dogs.
I don't think he's guarding your husband but is protecting himself and telling the other dogs to go away .
I agree with LFL that perhaps something happened when he was with your husband which is why acts differently with him .

Whatever the reasons why, dogs often react like this as a defence strategy. He perhaps feels anxious but being on lead, he can't get away so has to put on an even bigger display of 'I'm big and scary, don't mess with me'.

He will have an invisible radius of space around him where he feels secure . Find out what that is and keep him far enough away from other dogs that he is relaxed. Reward his calm behaviour. Gradually, over weeks and months, not days, work on reducing the distance. This may mean you have to be selective where you walk - choose places with good visibility so you can give other dogs a wide berth, or where you can turn and walk away easily.

But - also be aware that if your dog has had a stressful episode the stress hormone can stay in the body for up to 48 hours so a distance he was comfortable with the day before might be too close that day. So the safe distance can change, watch his body language.

Trainers describe behaviour like this with reference to the three Ds. Distance, as above but also be aware of Duration (your dog might be tolerant for 10 seconds, but not 15) and Distraction - how distracting the stimulus is; a calm dog might not trigger any reaction at a given distance but a bouncy one might.

Alongside that you could train a 'watch me'. As your dog looks at you, mark and reward the behaviour. Ask for longer periods of watching. Then if a dog approaches, after you have worked on the distance issue, you can get your dog to focus on you and not the other dog. BUT - some dogs find this scary as they cannot see the thing they are anxious about so you need to judge your dog.

JoanneF said:

Alongside that you could train a 'watch me'. As your dog looks at you, mark and reward the behaviour. Ask for longer periods of watching. Then if a dog approaches, after you have worked on the distance issue, you can get your dog to focus on you and not the other dog. BUT - some dogs find this scary as they cannot see the thing they are anxious about so you need to judge your dog.

Click to expand...

We learned this game at Murphys lessons. We started by holding the treat in one hand outstretched to the side as soon as the dog met our eyes we used our cue (in my case YES) and rewarded. We then built on that exersize with the trainer being the distraction pretending to play a recorder, deliver a pizza and dancing. What it taught me is that when a distraction or trigger appears we put Murphy into a sit get him to focus on us and reward for him ignoring the distraction. (last night was a pair of drunks) he isnt 100% but Im happy with 85% and still working and hoping to improve.

On a side note you mention this happens while your OH walks the dog. How is OH's health? I ask because I know Murphy is more reactive while out with my OH who isnt well.. I think Murphy feels that and is therefore more protective.

Thanks for all your replies
Lots to think about. Dibbythedogs and LFL's ideas on something happening whilst hubs was out with our Dog are closest to my own thoughts. Maybe hubs reaction to a random barking has perpetuated this situation. Not sure how to go forward, but will certainly look at JoanneF and Mad Murphy's ideas.
Thanks again everyone

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How are walks going, now? - any improvement?

“Open bar / closed bar” is a classic DS/CC protocol [DeSensitize / Counter-Condition].
Get some high-value small tidbits, pea-sized or even half-pea, in a pouch or box that’s easy to pick from; such things as cubed chkn-breast, diced beef heart, diced & frozen Mozz cheese, etc.

Have the dog on a waist-mounted leash, so U are hands-free & can manage a clicker or other marker with one hand, & the goodies with the other.

Make a hands-free leash from stuff U already have:
A wide belt, at least 1.75 to 2-inches wide, is great - slip the belt thru the loops of yer pants, slide the WRIST LOOP of the leash onto the belt at Ur side, then finish threading the belt loops, buckle the belt, & clip the free end to the dog’s buckle collar, or to a wide sighthound-style martingale collar, or to the CHEST of a snugly-fitted Y-harness.
U are now ready; if a 6-ft leash is too long, run the clip under the collar or harness chest-strap, DOUBLING the leash, then clip it to itself, or to a locking carabiner on the belt, making it into a 3-ft leash.


Walk around the house with the waist belt for a while, to let U & the dog figure out the new parameters.
Then go on the road, but go to areas with LO-O-O-O-O-ONG sight lines. Every time U see or hear any other dog, YOUR DOG gets a series of tidbits, given rapid-fire but one by one, in a stream. As long as the other dog is within sight or earshot, the tidbits keep coming. As soon as the other dog is out of sight or hearing, WHAM! - the goody-machine shuts down, crisply.
Thus the name, Open Bar [stimulus is present] / Closed Bar [stimulus not present].

This is not “training” - the dog does NOTHING to “earn” the tidbits; this is pure Pavlovian association, & s/he does not need to perform to get the goodies.
Don’t ask the dog to do anything; don’t demand s/he sit & stay, they can sit, stand, even lunge, but that’s where distance comes into play: if they lunge or bark, it is not the DOG’S FAULT, it is YOURS, & they still get their tidbits!!... while U quickly back up, & get them to a nonreactive distance. Oops.


Behavior modification [B-mod] is the process of installing a desired behavior or changing an undesired behavior by altering the learner’s feelings about someone, something, or somewhere. We alter their emotions, to get desired actions - which actions are then rewarded, & they become rewarding in themselves.
B-mod is called “conditioning” when we work with a naive learner; we pair happy things with whichever stimulus, in order to create positive associations. When we work with a learner who’s had previous bad experiences, we are countering that past unhappy association, hence it is called “counter conditioning”.

As with any training, short repeated sessions are more effective than marathons, & 5-minutes of success at 50-feet is better than 15 minutes of trial & error at 15-feet.
Shrink the distance only as the dog improves & relaxes; U cannot make it happen faster, U can only work at the dog’s speed.

Let us know how it goes, please? - happy training,
- terry

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