Hi Kenny! It would be helpful to have some more information about what the plan actually is for management and leadership so that it can be broken down. One thing stands out to me in what you’ve posted so far.

Instead of pushing him to tolerate affection I would teach the client about establishing operations and respecting the dogs lack of interest in affection. Affection by definition has to be desired. If he doesn’t want it, and it is being pushed on him in anyway, through his perception, it has the potential to become a safety risk as it will can be a source of on going conflict. With dominance aggression cases, it is imperative for the owner to understand establishing operations and how to safely interact with this dog long-term. I would ask why the dog needs to accept affection from 100% of people? Ethologically that doesn’t make sense as they are familial animals.

I would have them stop attempting to give affection and create a deficit so that he wants it and it can become valuable as a meaningful interaction. This way they are truly providing and can learn how to read their dog so that they will be safe with him long-term. This is especially important with children present.

If/when he finds affection and valuable, then you can talk about desensitizing for handling and grooming purposes, which is different and works best if he is now enjoying affection at his family’s provision.

Even with dogs that are not dominant aggression cases, I coach clients to make sure that they are establishing a provision standpoint for affection and this done by inviting the dog over and if the dog wants it, they will come if they don’t they don’t get affection. This way, we are never soliciting affection or pushing it on the dog. We don’t want to be like that boyfriend or girlfriend in high school that would never stop touching or texting or calling and creates an adversive response to that persons presence. Might be a sloppy analogy, but I hope this helps.

Pushing affection and physicality on a strong temperament animal can cause a myriad of other side effects.

For me it is very important to remember that behavior doesn’t always equal cognitive effect.

For example, I am an outwardly emotional person. I don’t have a very good poker face so my behavior often times represents my emotions. My brother on the other hand does not show emotion at all. So his behavior is not a good indicator of his feelings. We need to keep that in mind when we are working with animals…that their behavior is not always a good representation of their cognitive perception, especially with aggression cases and more especially with dominance’s aggression cases because it is a major safety issue.

While a dog may sit still for petting, it doesn’t mean that he is enjoying it. For a dominance aggression case, in the beginning of his training, it is very very important to walk that line for long-term safety and relationship building. Part of this is explaining to the clients that he may never be a mushy lapdog that wants people to touch him all the time. Setting expectations early on will help them be successful and also help them decide if this is the right process for them. If they think that the outcome of this is going to be the dog changing his nature, then they may end up being disappointed. That doesn’t mean that he won’t. It’s just something to consider.

I’m glad they have you! Thank you for sharing this case with us!!!