Barrier Aggression/Frustration also know as Fence Aggression can be a frustrating behavior for dog owners to deal with. Your dog sees something or hears something on the other side of the fence and runs off in that direction, reacting in a pretty over the top manner to whatever they saw or heard. The behavior itself is typically rooted in frustration. Whatever made them react either scares them or they really want it. That results in an insecurity that presents itself with aggressive looking behaviors. Many times this is because as the frustration of the fence line or barrier builds up, the dog becomes more and more overaroused.
There are a few ways to work on fence aggression and a combination of all these methods really helps the issue overall.
Management
The first step to take is managing the fence through creating an "air-lock" and to block any visuals.
An air-lock is basically creating a second layer of fence. Think about the size of your yard you are working with to come up with an ideal distance. If you have room for it, about 10-15 ft can be a great distance for that second layer but even about 5 ft can help. The more distance the better. Sometimes this simple layer gives the dog enough space to feel less threatened or frustrated.
Another big help is to block any visuals beyond the fence. Attach something to the fence (or swap it out for a privacy fence if you are able) so the dog cannot easily see beyond it. There are privacy screens made for fences but you can also use tarps, rolls of bamboo (often found at hardware stores, especially during Spring/Summer), wood, anything you can find that you don't mind attaching to your fence. Many times you can attach something to your fence with simple zip ties. For many dogs, eliminating the ability to see their triggers can reduce or eliminate fence aggression right there.
Another important element for management is supervising your dog outside so if they get overaroused you can bring them inside or away from what they are barking/lunging/growling/etc. at. This helps them not practice the behavior.
Working on Fence Aggression, "The Fix"
This is how I worked with one of my dogs on her fence aggression. She is a 4 year old husky mix who feels the need to act aggressive at fence lines at their sight and sound of any person or dog on the other side.When she first started exhibiting this behavior, we changed the fence from see through to privacy to both help her not see things beyond the fence and to manage her escaping tendencies. This worked for a while until she started paying more attention to sounds and began reacting again to the sounds of her former visual triggers. At this point, the sound of any dog or person on the other side of the fence would cause her to bark and lunge at the spot she thought the sound was coming from. We basically circled back to where we started however now she only reacted if something was within a few feet of the fence rather than before when it was anyone within view.
We ended up moving and our next property had a see through fence with too much land to afford a change to privacy fencing. With this property, her barrier aggression started to get so bad she started exhibiting redirected aggression. She was so overstimulated at the fence line that any of our other dogs would get that energy taken out on them in the form of an attack if they got to close to her.
Our first step was to limit her outside time. She was only allowed outside when supervised. If we saw or heard something we knew she would react to (neighbors out and about, children playing loudly, other dogs barking, etc.) we would just bring her inside and let her back outside later. If my neighbors were active enough that this wasn't an option, we would have brought her outside on a leash.
At this point there were 2 main things I had to do. First I had to pay attention for her triggers and to her body language. When I noticed her about to get overexcited or a trigger starting to come out I would call her back to me at the house. Recall is a very important skill and if you are not confident in the recall of your dogs then you will want to train that skill to be really solid first. Even my working livestock guardian dogs have a pretty reliable recall so it is possible! Our yard is roughly an acre so I need to know she will come to me even if she is 200 ft away. Through practicing this she started to regulate herself. After a couple of months of me calling her, she would turn her head to the house right before getting overexcited at the fence. She was learning to look to me on the deck for recall when she had those feelings. The association was being made in her mind.
This was when the real magic started to happen. After a few more months of me calling her away from the fence, instead of looking towards the house she would come by herself! She made the association that "barrier aggression feelings" = come to the deck. After rewarding this choice over and over she can now be successfully let into our yard without supervision. She walks away from the fence line on her own even if the neighbor's kids are climbing onto their fence which is only a few feet from our fence. But it was that consistent rewarding and practice that helped her learn to regulate her own frustration.
So this was the first thing. However the second thing I had to do to help her through this was counter conditioning. The other piece of the puzzle is turning that frustrating or scary thing on the other side of the fence into a positive thing. If you have not had to desensitize and counter condition an animal behavior, look into how to properly do so to help them start associating their trigger into something more positive. This is particularly helpful for triggers that are further from the fence.
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