Dog aggression during grooming

Mr & Mrs Fender   Dog: Charlie   Breed: White highland Terrier   Age:  4 years old

Mrs Fender called me over her concern for her dog’s aggressive behaviour when she tried to groom Charlie.

She reported that he had now bitten the groomer on a number of different occasions and they were now refusing to groom him unless he was muzzled. Putting a muzzle on him proved a good solution to begin with, but gradually Charlie was getting more and more aggressive every time he saw the muzzle and was now at the point where Mrs Fender was to frighten to use it.

Further investigation revealed that Charlie was not that happy with people in general and would prefer to keep out of the way, which was evident during my consultation where Charlie backed away to his bed under the table and made no attempt to approach me. He also did not like other dog and would bark and growl if they came to close.

It also revealed that Mr Fender in his attempt to curb Charlie’s growly behaviour had resorted to hitting the dog with his hand.

History

Charlie was acquired at 12 weeks of age and thoughts were that he came from a puppy farm in Wales. He was taken to dog training classes at the age of 12 months, having received little in the way of socialisation up to that point. He became aggressive in the training class where he barked and growled at other dogs and sometimes the trainer when he came to close.

Training was curtailed when the owner had to have an operation.

Mrs Fender did not take Charlie for walks to often because she found it difficult to walk far and because they had a large garden large garden Charlie was not given regular exercise away from his own territory.

Charlie was very demanding of his owners in the home and very affectionate, but generally on his terms. Other times if Mr Fender approached the dog he would growl, but as yet not bitten.

Thoughts

I was quite clear that Charlie had not had the best starts in life and has a very poor socialisation / habituation history.

This lack of social skills meant that when confronted with a group class situation he could not cope, and became very stressed. Dogs with poor socialisation generally do one of two things when confronted with situation that they are not happy with, Fight or flight.

Charlie was on a lead so he could not remove himself from the situation and was left with only one option, too bark and growl at dogs /people who came too close in order to try to keep them away. This usually results in people and dogs avoiding dogs with this type of behaviour and so from Charlie’s point of view the growling and barking was rewarded – people/dogs go away – Charlie could relax again.