My dog always seems angry with me when I return from my office. This behavior is regular and he bites almost all of my family members, but still we want our dog to be with us. Any idea why is he behaving like this? Any solution?
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1Can you be more specific? You come home and he starts biting people? Consistently? Does it happen for shorter outings too? What happens if somebody else is home when you come home? And is biting what you refer to with "angry", or are there other behaviors involved? Thanks. – Monica Cellio Feb 04 '14 at 18:29
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As @MonicaCellio says, we'd really need more information to help you with your dog. What is your day like when this happens? Do you all leave for the day? Is the dog crated, or does he have free range in your back yard? How does he respond to you and your family when you're all at home? – Kate Paulk Feb 04 '14 at 19:26
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Could you possibly create a video of your dogs behavior, upload it, and then edit your answer to include a link to the video? You state that the dog is angry. But without actually seeing your dog's body language it is hard to be certain which type of behavior he is expressing. Can you tell us anything about your dog's background and age? – irrational John Feb 04 '14 at 23:51
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1I have no idea whether this will be helpful so I am putting it in a comment, not an answer. Here is a link to a video on Dr Sophia Yin's site which discusses in more detail why the particular dog in this video bites. Dog Bites: Why Bandit Bites I offer it to help illustrate that people can often misunderstand why a dog does what it does. – irrational John Feb 05 '14 at 02:27
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@KatePaulk this behavior is only with me and my brother when we left home for 8 or more hours. i am creating doc of his behavior and will share it sooner. – Rahul Kumar Feb 05 '14 at 12:07
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@RahulKumar Didn't you say "he bites almost all of my family members" ? – Cedric H. Feb 07 '14 at 09:45
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@KatePaulk, Yes he bites almost all of my family members in certain circumstances. ex. if accidently we touch it while sleeping, it becomes violent. – Rahul Kumar Feb 10 '14 at 10:40
2 Answers
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So, first of all, I don't think it's anger. Behaviors like this are often a result of earlier "play" with the dog that was a little more physical than appropriate and so the dog learns that biting is a part of play. I can't say, for sure, if this is your case, but it's a common cause. Net effect, this may be a sign that the dog misses you and wants to play.
Obviously the problem here is that the biting is not desirable. The key to that is to make sure that you don't reward the behavior, even unintentionally. Also, don't engage in physical punishment. The idea here is to encourage the good behavior so that the dog learns to gravitate to that rather than the undesirable behavior.
When he starts to bite when you return, you should stop any interaction, gently extricate yourself, and give some verbal clue such as "no!" to the dog. Do not try to move away (you may be sending a chase play signal) or try to calm him with petting as this would be rewarding the behavior. Ideally, if you can treat or reward him for the times he does not bite when you come home, then you'll start to encourage that behavior as a reaction to when you come in the door. In other words, treat when he responds well, no treat when he nips and bites.
Joanne C
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1@RahulKumar People, being people, do not always understand exactly what "do not interact with the dog" implies. This video of a dog jumping on its owner illustrates this in more detail. Notice that the owner is asked to stand silently with her arms tucked. Initially the owner attempts to verbally correct her dog. But at this point in training this can excite the dog, not calm it. A dog can view any action on your part, even looking at it, as an invitation to play. Stand still with your arms & legs closed in and look away from the dog until it calms down. – irrational John Feb 09 '14 at 00:43
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Even if I can't really answer the "why" part of your question and if I doubt it is actual anger, here are a few things you should try to reduce or eliminate that behaviour, assuming that your dog is quite excited because you're back:
- stay calm, do not actively pet him before he calms down
- if he jumps and/or bites you, do not say anything, this will very likely excite the dog even more and certainly it will not efficiently give him information that it should not happen, and on what should happen instead
- do not punish him or whatever, this will create even more stress when you're coming home
Instead try to practice a few exercices when you have time and are relaxed:
- take a treat pouch with you (and a clicker) and leave for a minute
- come back as you usually do and treat him for staying with 4 feet on the ground
- repeat with some variations
- do the same exercice but first thing you do when you open the door is to ask him to sit (or whatever else, handstand is more difficult), then treat, you should highly reinforce that.
The goal is to teach an alternate behaviour that you can then reinforce.
Then if he's doing "the wrong thing", you can redirect to another behaviour. The dog will quickly learn what's appropriate, ie. what pays.
At first you can treat, then as he learns what to do, you can simply pet him. For example you come back home, ask him to sit (which he might have done already), do whatever you want to do first and then come back to him, petting, affection, etc.
My key message is
Your dog does not know what to do you when you come home. Consequently he is very likely to propose a behaviour that we (humans) consider incorrect. Teach him an alternative behaviour that you highly reinforce. When it is done do not punish the incorrect behaviour but ignore it and redirect quickly to the correct behaviour which in turn can be rewarded.
This will certainly take some time and it will be frustrating at first, but eventually it will work and your dog will have learnt something.
Cedric H.
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