An experimental case study of two aggressive dogs: The effectiveness of a behavioral modification program using systematic desensitization and counter-conditioning

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s 29 It emerged that the examined signals were used almost exclusively when dogs were interacting (99.78%), especially when close up (77.18%), despite the finding that the time spent at close distance represented the 41.58% of the total time videorecorded and the dogs stayed far from each other for 43.22% of the whole time. This result suggests that the examined signals really play a communicative role. It was also observed that the signalling occurred mainly in neutral interactions (74.46%). This result may remarkably change if dogs studied include those proven to show open aggression toward conspecifics. On 62 occasions, receivers showed an aggressive behavior before the receipt of the analyzed signals; in 77.05% of cases the signals led to a reduction of the receiver’s aggressiveness (assessed by the scale suggested by Shepherd, 2002). In conclusion, such results allow us to hypothesize that most of the examined signals play a role in calming the recipient dog and therefore reduce the chance of displaying open aggression.

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