How To Help Dogs Who Have Issues With Strangers

Does your dog bark at people out on walks and visitors in the home? Ever shown fearful or aggressive behaviour around people? Fear not, you are not alone.

Reasons

There are many reasons why a dog may show reactivity towards strangers.

Fear

The most common reason is fear. Puppies that did not experience new people during their ‘sensitive period’ (typically up to 16 weeks) will fear them as default.

Trauma

Dogs that have experienced trauma and been trained using aversive methods are also more likely to show fear-based behaviours. Puppies who had anxious mothers, whose mothers experienced stress during pregnancy are also more likely to be fearful dogs.

A note on trauma: dogs, like people and other animals, do inherit trauma. One form of DNA that is passed on to offspring has fixed genetic information that accounts for many of the offspring’s traits.

Polygenes

However, another form of DNA is polygenes: these genes are determined from generation to generation, according to the environment that the individual lives in.

Therefore, if a previous relative – aside from the puppy’s parents – experienced trauma, then this can, unfortunately, be passed on to offspring generations down the line.

Breed

It’s worth thinking about what our dogs were originally bred for. Guardian breeds commonly have a genetic predisposition to be suspicious of strangers and to not suffer fools.

This makes sense: after all, they were typically bred to risk their own lives to protect livestock. Popular guardian breeds include the Chow Chow, Caucasian Shepherd and Rottweilers.

Bloodline

It’s worth not just considering your dog’s breed, but their bloodlines: for example, working-line German Shepherds may have police or protection dog parentage, which will have a significant effect on the traits of any offspring.

However, the same breed with companion dog parentage is less likely to show territorial or owner-guarding behaviour. This is why not only thoroughly researching the right breed for your home set-up, but the right responsible breeder is so important.

Life Experiences

Consideration must also be given to the dog’s life experiences.

Dogs that are put into situations in which they cannot cope: an overwhelming number of visitors as a puppy; visitors insistently touching and cuddling the dog against the dog’s consent; are more likely to be fearful and, therefore, reactive towards strangers.

Often, subtle body language exhibited by the dog is either misunderstood or ignored. Reactivity is simply space-seeking behaviour.

Barking and lunging are self-soothing behaviours by the dog and when earlier body language (i.e. yawning, looking away, nose and lip licking, lying with their belly up) is ignored the dog feels they have no choice other than to defend themselves.

Many people believe that dogs are threatening them when showing reactivity or aggression (not the same thing) towards strangers. However, the reality is quite the opposite.

However understandable it is to feel the dog needs to learn ‘not’ to be reactive or aggressive, if we punish the dog, we only make things worse.

Dogs that have been punished for these behaviours may suppress them in the short term, but their fear of strangers has been inadvertently reinforced. This is because they have learned that strangers = punishment.

We are then more likely to see reactive and aggressive behaviour as the dog’s stress levels are even higher than they were previously, so they are even more motivated to make the stranger leave to feel better and prevent punishment.

Even if you are not aware of an aversive experience your dog had historically with people, be aware of their history: were they over-exposed to visitors in their new home before they had settled in and their stress levels from the move naturally dissipated?

Were they ex-street dogs caught by well-meaning rescuers? These captures can be incredibly traumatic for stray and ex-street dogs: being cornered, having a lasso hooked around their neck and being physically restrained.

These traumatic experiences often stay with dogs for life.

There is a strong link between reactivity, aggression and pain or other underlying medical conditions. Most commonly, this pain is either musculoskeletal (muscles and joints) gastrointestinal (digestive system) or dermatological (skin).

For example, dogs that lunge towards triggers on a lead or are expecting people to approach and touch them commonly learn to associate people with pain. Reactivity is distance-seeking and conflict-avoidant behaviour.

The dog wants the person to move away to prevent the anticipated pain - and if people do leave or do not approach, then the dog’s behaviour is reinforced (it ‘works’) and is more likely to be repeated in future.

Vet Check

A thorough vet check is essential for dogs showing reactivity or aggression towards people.

This can involve a pain relief trial of 2-4 weeks to note any changes in behaviour, blood tests and videos sent to the vet of your dog sitting, turning sharply left and right and moving forwards.

This can also prevent a stressful and invasive veterinary check-up for your dog due to their stranger and touch aversion.

Finally, medications such as Clomicalm and Fluoxetine can be very effective for dogs in a state of regular or chronic stress: including dogs with a fear of people. In this case, this is with your vet.

Understanding the root cause of stranger reactivity and aggression is imperative to know how we can help our dogs.