New Adoptive parents of a Miniature Pinscher need help!

Question
Dr. Conner,

We recently adopted a 3 year old miniature pinscher from a local private rescue organization. When we adopted GiGi it was explained to me that she had been surrendered by her original owners and that she had potentially born into a puppy farm situation. It was evident that her previous owners did not take care of her being so that her right hind leg had been fractured and healed without veterinary attention. Because of this injury she has a slight limp with minimal difficulty getting around otherwise.

She has been in our home now for roughly two weeks and has taken to both of us very well. She is well behaved in the house having had only minor accidents and otherwise outstanding behavior. She seldom barks unless left alone for long duration of time.

Since having her, we have had several guests at the house with varying degrees of success. Originally a friend of ours came to the house briefly and she acted very aggressively toward him (growling, barking, showing of teeth, and aggressive posturing). At the time of the incident we felt that this had more to do with the individual than the dog.

Then, within the last 2 days we have had guests over who Gigi has physically gone after. These guest took no aggressive action against her and generally allowed her time to get used to their presence in our home. One minute she would be fine with our guests (laying on their laps, allowing them to pet her, and even licking them). The next minute she would become extremely aggressive and agitated towards them. Lunging at them, attempting to bite, successfully biting, and even in once instance cornering a guest against a wall.

We love our new dog. And want to have her in our home for a very long time. However, her unpredictable behavior and attacking of guest unprovoked presents a real problem not only from a social aspect, but from a liability aspect as well. What can we do to help Gigi become accustomed to her new home and prevent sporadic and random attacks on guests and family?

We have attempted to discipline her by firmly issuing stop commands while grasping her collar firmly as is recommended by literature. We have also removed her from the situation, putting her into a separate room and allowing her time to calm down. Additionally,we have taken her for long walks in an attempt to calm her behaviors. All of these work temporarily with a resurgence of the previous behaviors soon after. We consistently participate in these training exercises, but her unprovoked and sudden aggression worries us. We have no way to predict when she will behave in this manner, and wonder what we can do to curb these behaviors and prevent future incidents?

Any help would be greatly appreciated, as we do not want to have to give up GiGi.


Answer
Your dog is experiencing a  strong approach/avoidance behavior: she solicits interaction, then demonstrates aggression.  She has been in your home A MERE TWO WEEKS and is frightened, confused and highly anxious.  Whatever caused her injury might be directly related to a "stranger" (someone not in the family) and she was obviously seriously neglected, abused and NOT socialized at all.  DO NOT TOUCH HER COLLAR OR IN ANY WAY DISCIPLINE HER...you are worsening her fear and actually rewarding her aggression (touch is a primary reinforcer.)  You are also interrupting any trust she is developing with you.

Because she has successfully bitten a human, I STRONGLY advise you to locate a certified applied animal behaviorist (NOT a dog trainer! call the veterinary college in your geographical area and try to get referral to a professional.)  This dog's behavior needs to be evaluated in person.  Meanwhile, for the next two weeks do not allow the dog to interact with any visitors (PROTECT HER!); instead, use these two weeks to teach her ONE strong behavior using positive reinforcement training (read Patricia McConnell's book on this topic as well as her book on fearful behaviors in dogs.)  It will take approximately two weeks of daily multiple sessions (short and not too close together) to teach Gigi her new behavior ("Sit", but use a UNIQUE word.)  Once she has clearly obtained it (100% of the time), put her on lightweight indoor leash and do a set up: ask someone to "visit".  Gigi must respond to her "sit" command when the person enters (without breaking the sit), so you need to repeat allowing the "visitor" in until Gigi is firmly seated.  Then the visitor (and every subsequent visitor) must IGNORE Gigi.  If she attempts to FORCE interaction with the visitor (by jumping into the visitor's lap or onto the furniture near the visitor), use the leash to remove her, ask her for the "sit", reward and praise it, and go on as usual.  This dog needs A GREAT DEAL OF TIME to overcome the horrors that have been inflicted on her; rescue dogs are NOT "lassie", and most of them never will be.  PROTECT HER from your "visitors"; if one is unable to ignore the dog, remove the VISITOR, not the dog.

Calm, PATIENT, consistent and loving leadership for many months are all required for little Gigi.  Don't give up; the rescue dog (once abused and/or neglected) can become the dearest of companions.