# Aggressive Miniature Daschund..... Help



## kiriash (Feb 22, 2010)

Hello I hope I'm putting this in the right section, if not mods please feel free to move.

Right, I have a Miniature Daschund, I have had her for about 8 months and I don't really know her history other than my friend rescued her from a puppy farm by paying £600 just to get her out of there . She was quite aggressive with my friend, nipping etc but was fine with me so I took her home but she HATES my husband!! She has bitten him 4 times already, once when he just bent down to pick something up off the floor. 
She will not stay in the same room with him, she growls at him and then runs off. She also has severe food aggression, feeding her and my papillon is a military operation. 

I'm at a loss of what to do, I can't rehome her because she has a history of biting so I am scared she will bite someone or be put to sleep. I just don't know what to do anymore. Obviously my hubby isn't happy as he feels he can't move around the house freely without watching out for a killer Daschund . I give him credit though, he has put up with this for a long time hoping she would settle down but she hasn't and isn't :crying:
These are proper bites, drawing blood 

Ijust don't know what to do. With me she is the sweetest most loving dog in the world, you wouldn't believe she had bitten anyone.
She seems to like my brother, who obviously is a man so she doesn't hate all men, but nearly bit my step dad the other day when he tried to shoo her (very gently) from the BBQ  

Sorry for the essay. Can anyone offer some insights of what I could do to improved the situation as it's getting serious.

Any replies greatly appreciated xx


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## sue&harvey (Mar 10, 2010)

To advise you over the internet would be dangerous, sorry. The best advice anyone here can offer is get you vet to refer you to a positive reward behaviourist. 

Nobody here can actually see the issue, and assess these problems.

Don't give up though with hard work and a good behaviourist she will be cuddling hubby within time

All the best


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## kiriash (Feb 22, 2010)

Thanks 

Anyone else have any insights????


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## LostGirl (Jan 16, 2009)

Arent Daschunds one of the most agressive breed dogs to strangers anyway? so it might just be a case of bad breeding and bad experiences with people set in her mind. 

If she around people i would get a baskerville muzzle for her it will help you relax, BUT i would def seek help from a professional If she bites someone one day and they take a dislike to it she could well lose her life  

with food when we got our second dog we crated him (he was more used to it then ours) and kept the door shut untill they had both finished Now they eat without any problems at all it took time and lot of praise while they were being good! 

She is gorgeous, i have a huge soft spot for them at the moment and would love a wire haired dax one day!


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## lemmsy (May 12, 2008)

kiriash said:


> Hello I hope I'm putting this in the right section, if not mods please feel free to move.
> 
> Right, I have a Miniature Daschund, I have had her for about 8 months and I don't really know her history other than my friend rescued her from a puppy farm by paying £600 just to get her out of there . She was quite aggressive with my friend, nipping etc but was fine with me so I took her home but she HATES my husband!! She has bitten him 4 times already, once when he just bent down to pick something up off the floor.
> She will not stay in the same room with him, she growls at him and then runs off. She also has severe food aggression, feeding her and my papillon is a military operation.
> ...


Hello and sorry to hear about the situation 
I really admire you persistance with her in that you are not going to give up or rehome her  Good on you :thumbup:- this is exactly what the poor girl needs (someone to trust), sounds like she has already been let down alot in her life.

How old do you think she is? (I appreciate difficult to calculate as she came from a puppy farm)

To me she sounds like the classic fear aggresive case. Let me explain a little what this means. 
Fear aggressive dogs are incredibly nervous and fearful as a result of genetic factors and almost certainly environmental (nurture) factors such as lack of socialisation. 
The fact that your dog came from a puppy farm, where she was most likely badly bred and bred from in horrid conditions means that genetics could have affected her temperament in terms of hardiness and confidence. Nevertheless an incredibly important factor is the fact that those working at this puppy farm most likely never interacted with her or at least not in a positive way. She was stuck at the place throughout all of the critical socialisation stages during which puppy or juvenile dog should be given the opportunity and exposure to all kinds of people, dogs etc, whether if only through passive socialisation or more preferably active socialisation (positive associations made).

It seems clear from your post that she is incredibly underconfident around people and will if necesary react to protect herself. The key factor in treating fear aggressive cases is identifying what triggers the aggressive defensive reaction in the dog. 
When your husband was bitten was he bending down, looking at her, leaning over her, touching her? Is there a common factor in all of the cases in which he was bitten?
Was your friend (the one who got her out of the puppy farm) male or female? What did he/she do to provoke (I don't mean this in a negative way) the dog to nip?

In any case the fact that she is so uncomfortable that she will not stay in the room with him, growls and runs away means that she is even fearful of his presense. 
When dogs are presented with a feared situation, in her case your husband being in the room this activates the sympathetic nervous system which gives the dog two options:

Fight- an aggressive display to make the scary thing GO AWAY
Flight- run away from the scary thing to somewhere safe.

A variation of this response is also the fight-flight-or-freeze response (the acute stress response).

All fearful dogs would far rather flee from a feared situation than aggress. When we consider it from an evolutionary view, aggressive displays are very risky, if a dog were to engage in a fight (aggressive displays) there is always the chance that they may not win or would be injured (hindering survival). The fight option carries far more risk and so dogs will only use it as a last resort method when they feel that any other "flight" option is unavailable.

Have a read here for more info:

Fight-or-flight response - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The fact that she reacts to your husband even when he does not approach her but is simply in the same room means that even this level of exposure is threatening to her; above her non-reactive/feared threshold.

The key to combatting fear aggressive is desensitizing the dog to feared stimuli and counter-conditioning their emotional response. 
The important aspect here is the changing their emotional response to the feared stimuli and a place where people often slip up. Their emotional response is responsable and linked to neural changes in the brain and the activation of the sympathetic nervous system. So by conditioning a passive (rather than positive) response in the dog (the dog doesn't react at that level of exposure) means that there is still potential for a fearful reaction at higher exposure.

*To successful desensitize and countercondition your dog to the presense of your husband you need to do so in baby steps. Find a reward that you know she really LOVES. When ever your hubby walks into the room throw food onto the floor for her. Tell him not to move any closer and continue feeding her. Before allowing your husband to move a step or two closer she should be showing calm, relaxed and non-reactive behaviour (no growling, no stress signals etc). If she is not calm and non-reactive this means that you are working above threshold. You need to take her back to a distance in which she is able to function and reinforce calm, non-reactive behaviour then before allowing your husband to come closer. Tell your husband to make absolutely no eye contact with her and not to make any sudden movements. 
The aim of the proccess is for you to gradually decrease the distance (only moving slightly closer when she is calm and non-reactive) to the point where you and he can be stood side by side and the dog is calmly taking food from YOU without worrying about his presense.

Tell your husband not to touch or talk to her. I would advise asking him to carry a small bag of treats in his pocket around the house with him so that if he does happen to be in the same room as her, he can toss treats on the floor (as before no eye contact, no touching, no sudden movements). 
The aim is for to create a positive assocation with your husband.

I would also repeat the above * distance-feeding desensitization program with her when out on walks. Feeding her when you see strangers at a distance at first and then only decreasing the distance when she shows a calm, non-reactive response. 
If you are concerned about strangers you meet trying to touch her and her reaction it may be a good idea to muzzle her if only for the short term, so that you can relax on walks (this will help alot as your confidence will go straight down the lead to her). It has an added advantage that many people tend to, rightly so, think twice before leaning over and stroking without asking, a muzzled dog. 
However once again you will need to desensitize her to wearing the muzzle for the duration of her walks in a similar way to the method described above. 
However the following video explains a really nice method for conditioning your dog to wearing a muzzle using marker training (clickering training):
YouTube - Conditioning Your Dog to a wear a Muzzle

If you are unfamiliar with clicker training, have a read of the following article which should explain the basics:
https://sites.google.com/site/lucysdogblog/understanding-the-basics--clicker-training

I would highly recommend a plastic baskerville muzzle which allows the dog to pant during exercise and has a bit at the end of the muzzle which can be removed meaning that you can feed treats through the hole but the muzzle still prevents snapping or biting:









With regards to the resource guarding (food), this also a highly common behaviour in nervous, fearful or insecure dogs.

Have a read of the follow article which should explain further and suggest ways of treating the problem:
https://sites.google.com/site/lucysdogblog/articles/resource-guarding

The following is also excellent:
Resource Guarding | Ahimsa Dog Training, Seattle | Dog and Puppy Tips from Seattle |

Despite all of the above advice I would highly suggest you contact a qualified and experience behaviourist who uses ONLY positive reinforcement methods. 
APDT and APBC behaviourist are very good:
Welcome to APDT - Association of Pet Dog Trainers UK
The APBC | Association of Pet Behaviour Counsellors

Whereabouts in the country are you based? Someone may be able to recommend a good behaviourist?

Keep us updated


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## tripod (Feb 14, 2010)

Please go to a behaviour-savvy vet for a full work up and a referral for an APBC behaviourist.
This is way more than can or should be advised over the internet. Your dog needs a medical check, a look at diet as well as in-depth protocol for various issues.
Best of luck


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