Dr. Larry's Family Animal Blog for San Diego Living

Dog Bite Safety Tips and Agression 4-15-08

drlarry — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 05:22:00 GMT

Dr. Larry on the San Diego Living Show Tuesdays 9-10am Fox 6:

DOG BITE SAFETY TIPS AND AGGRESSION:

There are close to five million dog-bite incidents in the United States each year. Most of the victims are children under ten years of age, with the highest subgroup being children from 5 to 9 years of age. More boys than girls are bitten. Most dog bites are committed by dogs known to the victim! Either it is the family dog or a friend's dog.

In the United States, versus other countries such as England and Australia, most dog bites are committed by mixed-breed dogs.

There is no "one type" of aggression or aggressive dog. In fact, there are several different types of aggression. Any breed can be aggressive, although breeds successfully bred for guarding or attack work are more susceptible. Examples of such breeds are: the German shepherd dog, shar-pei, chow chow, pit bull, Rottweiler, Doberman and Akita.

Recognizing an Aggressive Dog's Body Language
A dominant-aggressive dog will try to appear bigger than it really is by leaning forward in its stance and having its hair stand on end (piloerection) from its neck to its rear end. Its tail will be up stiff, or stiffly wagging. Its ears will be up or pointed forward. It will establish direct eye contact. Its lips will be pursed forward exposing teeth. It will be coming toward its target and it will be barking or growling.

A fear aggressive dog will try to appear smaller than it is by getting low to the ground or crouching. Its tail will be tucked or tucked and stiffly wagging. Its ears will be down or back. It will be standing still or backing away from its target. Its lips will be retracted back to expose teeth and it, too, will be growling or barking. However, it is important to note that in some cases, the dog may be exhibiting a mixture of aggression types and could be alternating back and forth from these two sets of behavioral indicators. With pain and predatory aggression, there may be no warning or growling until the bite attempt has already been carried out.

CHILD/DOG SAFETY:

Children should be taught how to approach and handle a dog. Children should NOT:
· Pet a dog around the face or head.
· Play tug of war.
· Tease
· Bother the dog while it is eating.
· Bother the dog while it's chewing on a bone.
· Bother the dog while it's sleeping.
· Bother the dog while it's receiving medical treatment (Cleaning of the ears and clipping of the nails). This is unnecessarily provocative and may lead to an aggressive response from the dog.

Your Dog's Mental Health 4-8-08

drlarry — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 05:15:00 GMT

Dr. Larry on the San Diego Living Show Tuesdays 9-10am Fox 6:

YOU DOG'S MENTAL HEALTH:

A Dog's Emotional Needs
Dogs do experience a psychological identity. They can relate to time and do put in priority what is important to them. One of the most important things for canines is their pack -- their family! Dogs are pack animals just as their wolf ancestors. The two most important things pack animals do are eat and sleep together. Isolating a pack animal such as a dog, and insisting on it maintaining a solitary lifestyle, is akin to taking a human member of your family and placing him in solitary confinement. The human, like the dog, will go nuts! Of course, we're familiar with how people go nuts: they get depressed, have nervous breakdowns, start hearing voices or go on shooting rampages. Dogs react a bit differently.
When dogs "go nuts" or experience overwhelming anxiety – especially what we call "isolation-induced anxiety" – might exhibit one of a number of troubling behaviors to try and relieve that anxiety: they become aggressive, they hide, they submissively urinate, they uncontrollably shake, they display neurotic repetitive behavior such as obsessive tail chasing, incessant nuisance barking, digging or destructive chewing. Dogs will indeed, chew through drywall, patio furniture and Jacuzzi decking. Some dogs mutilate themselves to relieve anxiety by chewing their front paws raw.
Isolation
If your dog is "outside," and you work all day and you sleep all night, then out of a 24 hour period, that only leaves roughly three to four hours of intermittent contact with your dog. That's not enough for a dog. In our opinion, it is emotionally abusive and cruel to leave a family dog alone day and night with only three hours of intermittent contact a day. Why have a group-dependent animal? Such limited contact is more appropriate for a goldfish or canary. A group-dependent animal like a dog needs quality and quantity time with its pack.
Failure to properly integrate the dog into the family accounts for about half of Larry's in-home consultations. The various disruptive or destructive behaviors exhibited by the family pet are a direct result of its isolation and loneliness. It's a human-caused problem.

Socialization
The other half of Larry's in-home cases result from inadequate socialization of the dog. If dogs aren't introduced in a positive manner on a repeated basis to other dogs, cats, and people, the dog will become estranged to these populations and view them as threatening. This can lead to a fearful or angry-aggressive response by the dog. It is the responsibility of the breeder, and then the recipient family, to adequately and positively socialize their puppies with a variety of people and with other vaccinated and safe dogs.
Dogs first need to be gently and positively socialized with human beings between the ages of four and seven weeks. Then, after the puppy is purchased or placed in a new home, it is crucial it be gently and positively introduced to a variety of people of different genders, ages, sizes and races. (Introductions to small children need to be very closely supervised.) If this is done over the first several months of its life, and the dog is neutered or spayed around six months of age, then the developing dog usually assimilates appropriately into its family and the community.
When a person meets your dog, especially for the first time, have the person crouch down (making themselves smaller and less-threatening to the dog), avoid direct eye contact and extend their hand for your dog to sniff.

Give the person some dog treats to give your dog while they are in this position. If this goes well, the person can progressively pet your dog UNDER its chest area and gradually rise to the full standing position. The person should not reach his hand over the dog's head and try to pet it there.

This approach to meeting a new dog also applies when you meet a dog for the first time. Running up to a dog you don't know; or reaching quickly or suddenly toward an unfamiliar dog's face will provoke a defensive response. This defensive response can take the form of either fearfulness or counter attack, both of which can lead to biting. This will then establish a phobic or traumatic experience for the dog and can adversely affect its mental health. In addition, directly staring in a dog's eyes, especially a dog you do not know, communicates a threat and challenge to that dog and may also provoke an aggressive response.
Teaching young children these safety rules and the appropriate ways in meeting dogs would save many dog bites from occurring. Dog bites in this country disproportionately involve children. This can leave severe physical scars in addition to emotional scars or dog phobias for a young child.

Why The Sit Command Is Important April 1st, 2008

drlarry — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 05:08:00 GMT

Dr. Larry on the San Diego Living Show Tuesdays 9-10am Fox 6:

WHY THE SIT COMMAND IS IMPORTANT?

It keeps your dog sharp and reinforces the notion that the human members of its pack are dominant. Before you or any family member gives your dog any attention (eye contact, petting, letting it in or out, playing or feeding) make the dog sit first. All social reinforcement is contingent upon a sit.
Also, whenever the dog approaches you in a situation in which it usually starts jumping on you (i.e.: arriving home from work), give it the sit command first, BEFORE IT JUMPS. This trains it to come up to people and sit rather than to come up and jump.
Prelude to Lying Down Command: The sit command gets your dog's body already half-way down and sets the stage for the next step, in teaching the dog the lay down command later on. The sit command also sets the stage for short timed stay commands as well.
Lying Down Command Prelude to Stay Command: After teaching the dog to sit and lie down, then the dog is ready to learn long duration stay commands as well.
Finally, it is much easier to put your dog's collar and leash on and off and groom the dog and check for injuries if the dog is staying still in a sit command versus running all around the house.