19/06/2025
I rarely get to post about human directed aggression cases, because they are often of a highly sensitive nature.
Clients on the receiving end of aggressive behaviour from their dog can feel embarrassed or that they have somehow failed! They may struggle to trust their dog and this can impact on the dog-human bond, which many owners feel very upset about!
These same feelings can still be felt when aggressive behaviour is directed at unfamiliar people, and of course, towards other dogs too!
However, the potential legal repercussions of having a dog who behaves aggressively towards people are generally more serious than towards dogs. Therefore, capturing and showcasing my work with such cases is not a priority in the slightest!
I am always focused on my job regardless of the problem behaviour, even when I am filming! But with human directed aggression cases, I have to be so careful with how I move - it’s just not appropriate and it’s potentially really risky to be filming.
So it’s nice to get these pictures in my WhatsApp from Team Ricky! …. I always joke that they should call him Richard when he’s ‘naughty’ 🤣
Anyway, Ricky came to me with a bite history which was, on the whole, relatively inhibited! He’s also reactive towards dogs
Ricky has quite the past. From Serbia, where he was stabbed and had a kidney removed prior to being transported to the UK by a rescue charity.
I wasn’t happy with his mobility nor his overall energy levels (he’s 7 years of age) so I referred him back to the vets for a full MOT. My awesome vet colleague Grace Paxton found that, whilst he was a bit overweight, his large appearance (on his back end) actually turned out to be a significant mass of scar tissue that was also affecting his mobility slightly. Blood tests revealed level 2 kidney disease in his remaining kidney.
With that in mind, we decided that the most ethical current goal was to simply improve the quality of walks and home life. Working through a full dog-dog rehab program at his age (not that he's old, but in terms of how long he's been out of practise socialising with dogs) along with his current diagnosis simply wouldn’t be fair.
If Ricky stabilises or goes into remission with his kidney disease, we can push things a bit more if we feel he’s capable and ready.
On our first assessment when I asked his loving family what their main goal was, they just said “We want our family to visit without feeling anxious about what he might do!”
These photos nearly made me cry! They’ve only gone and achieved that goal 💕
Here’s what we did and didn’t do….
✅ We didn’t rely on the muzzle initially. Ricky was easily managed on lead around me and visitors.
✅ Once his family’s confidence in him increased we reverted to him wearing his muzzle and being allowed to interact briefly while on lead. Initially we ensured people were sat down at a table (to avoid face to face interactions, so he could sniff them from behind). Then we allowed him to approach closer over time when they were sat on sofas and stood up.
He’s not an overly social dog BUT he’s not proactive or offensive aggressive either. Every snap and bite was defensive in nature.
✅ Ricky grew more comfortable with me in the house and on walks, so I also encouraged walking with family members.
✅ Once it was clear the risk of proactive aggression was low and that Ricky could tolerate close encounters and visitors moving around the house, I suggested they could let him mingle more if he wanted whilst muzzled- still using the lead if they found themselves becoming anxious about what he might do. But here we can see the lead isn’t always on!
✅ At present, there’s a hands off Ricky rule! He clearly enjoys close proximity, but that doesn’t mean he wants to be stroked!
❌ We never corrected any undesired behaviour. No stringing him up by the collar, no grots, slip leads, prongs or stims.
In fact, we didn’t get any undesired behaviour because I never behaved in a way that antagonised Ricky.
❌ I didn’t take advantage of the fact he could be muzzled. We didn’t throw him into challenging situations (flooding) and I never pushed Ricky over threshold to see the behaviour myself. It’s not necessary to do this in order to assess dogs.
I gave him space and he approached me when he was ready. He was then gently encouraged away before he reacted. Across our four sessions, Ricky has interacted with me (briefly) every time and never reacted.
❌ I made zero assumptions. It didn’t matter to me that he’s a malinois- I went in and assessed his behaviour based on who he is as an individual.
We’ll be continuing to work on Ricky’s walks! He’s seeing more dogs out and about now than before and on the whole, is coping really well! He’s also lost some weight from being able to walk further!
So to further improve the quality of life of my clients (humans and dogs!) we’ll also consider doing a pub garden session so his family can enjoy meals out when they go on trips away with Ricky (to what is currently very quiet locations!).
Well done Team Ricky 💕
