There have been lots of recent news articles about dogs attacking other dogs. Wiltshire has been one of the leading areas where we have seen a steep rise in these incidents, as reported by the local dog wardens, yet research shows that this has been echoed throughout the UK over the past two years.
Jenni Molland from Salisbury Dog Trainers and her business manager Daniel have subsequently seen a huge rise in cases of dog-on-dog attacks. Jenni is an international dog behaviourist, with over twenty five years of experience of working with owners and their dogs and shares her insights on this growing phenomenon.
“This past two and a half years have been absolutely crazy busy for my business. There has been a rise in various dog behaviour issues and many of these were few and far between before the Covid-19 pandemic. Dog on dog attacks is a big problem right now. I have had to work hard to re-educate many owners and their dogs, to help them avoid this happening again”.
So how has the pandemic changed our dogs? Or should the question be, how has the pandemic changed the way we own dogs? Speaking to Jenni and Daniel about this has certainly helped me to understand more on this subject.
Let us start with the kind of problems Salisbury dog trainers have been dealing with and how they differ from before Covid-19.
As the business manager, Daniel is the front line for all of Salisbury Dog Trainers enquiries. Some of the top requests from owners have been.
- Dogs reactive to other dogs while on the lead
- Dogs being reactive to people, including joggers and cyclists
- Dogs being aggressive to other dogs and people
- Dogs with anxiety.
Jenni said that although she has worked on all of these types of problems before, she has never seen this level of cases with the above problems pre pandemic. She believes that the pandemic caused a new problem which contributed to the soaring number of these types of behaviour issues and it’s not the dogs fault.
During the Covid-19 lockdowns in 2020 and 2021 we saw a huge rise in dog ownership. It was clearly a depressing time for most of us and what better way to give our lives some excitement than to buy a new dog. Owning a dog was also a perfect reason to leave the home as we were allowed to walk our dogs during the height of the lockdowns. Breeders recognised this trend in new dog ownership and the prices rose to unprecedented levels as prospective owners were desperate to add to their households.
The problem was that many of the new dog owners were exactly that! Dog owners, perhaps dog people. To distinguish the difference, a dog person is someone who has had dogs before or been around dogs in their lives, somebody who understands that a dog requires consistency and training so they can live happily in our human world. A dog owner is someone that lacks that knowledge and before they realise it, they have a handful to deal with. I am not saying that everyone bought a dog during the pandemic lacked the knowledge but a large percentage of new owners are certainly guilty of this.
Another contributing factor to the rise in these behaviour cases came from the particular breeds that were being sold. Of course breeders were going to be looking to sell fashionable dogs that could get the highest prices. New dog owners buying these breeds with no forward knowledge of the type of characteristics they may have or what they were originally bred to do. Genetics of our lovely pets is important to understand before we jump in.
Miss information is important to look at here to. The dog training industry is currently unregulated. There are no set standards on who can become a dog trainer, or who can produce dog training information on the internet. The pandemic times saw a jump in dog training businesses and especially in social media and other information based training. Jenni has been working in the industry for twenty five years and gained her experience through working with dog behaviour as a teen with some of the top trainers and breeders in Finland. She has spent her life studying dogs and their human owners and is only at the top of her game due to this life long experience. When I asked her about the influx of new trainers she had the following comments to say.
“Yes there was a huge amount of new trainers popping up during and after Covid-19. Most of them are what I called classroom qualified and have little to know experience on the field. There are so many companies/colleges/guilds that offer dog training certificates. I don’t really understand how you can gain the expertise in dog training in such a short period of time. Yet what I see most is miss information on the internet. There has been advice coming out about socialisation for example, many so called experts telling owners to get out there and let their dogs socialise with others, the more they do this the be easier they will become with one another, they have got it so wrong”
Actually if you book puppy training with Salisbury Dog Trainers, Jenni will teach you the opposite to the above and show you correct socialisation skills with your dog. This is achieved by teaching your dog to ignore most other dogs and maintaining an engaged state with you the owner.
It is through this kind of generalised miss information where part of the problem with dog on dog attacks has evolved. So let me start to break all this down to simplify things. During the pandemic we saw a huge rise in dog ownership. Many of these new owners perhaps were not realising the amount of work that has to be put in to maintain a happy and well balanced dog. We also saw owners and families with breeds that had no idea about the genetics or what they were originally bred for. An influx of new trainers and especially information based trainers on the internet, that lacked experience or just driven by pure greed allowed many new owners to get the wrong information about their dog’s needs.
All this has culminated in more and more dog owners letting their dogs off the lead to roam free and play with other dogs. We have also the on lead dogs that have been allowed to meet and greet other dogs while passing each other on walks. These scenarios have been why we have seen a sharp increase in the dog on dog attacks around Wiltshire and indeed the UK. An example of this and how it can escalate could be.
You are out walking your dog on the local field, you let him off the lead for a run and explore. All of a sudden another dog and owner appear in the distance. Your dog then runs over to meet them, giving off an over excited attitude (as after all, your dog just wants to play) Your dog ignores your shout to come back and your whistle and continues on his path of enjoyment. However the dog and owner that are being approach have a problem. The owner is a nervous one and that travels down the lead to her dog. So as your dog approaches in an excited state, the dog about to be greeted could be in protective mode. These two different behaviours trigger separate chemical responses in the dogs’ brains and suddenly you have two dogs about to hit the red zone.
When we compare our dog’s behaviour with the human world and the way we interact with one another it offers an insight to the problems. If you were out for a walk and came across a stranger, would you start to jump all over them, or circle them or shout at them. Perhaps a friendly hello and if indeed they reciprocate in a friendly manner you may stop for a brief chat before heading on your way.
If we saw another person in the distance, again would we shout to them or run over to see them, we don’t know everyone we meet and their disposition. Do they have something wrong with them as in an injury or illness. Or what is going through their minds, maybe they are sad or feeling unhappy, perhaps in these situations just to say hello would be enough. Of course dogs don’t have the same mental boundaries as humans, therefore it is our job to teach them this etiquette that we take for granted.
As dog owners we have to take responsibility for our pets, teaching them good social skills and also using good social skills ourselves.
Salisbury Dog Trainers advice is to keep dogs on leads when others are around. Only let them off in quiet areas where the risks are minimal. Use qualified and experienced dog trainers to help teach strong recall and lead walking behaviour. They have heard countless times how my dog always comes back off lead, until it sees another dog or a perhaps a pigeon or a squirrel. Strong recall can help to eliminate this and can usually only be taught by a professional. Be smart people, keep your dogs close and protect them the way they protect you.
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