Dog Aggression

That’s right… You. And your relationship with your dog.

And you might be surprised to learn that it’s as simple as Nancy Reagan’s anti-drug mantra: “Just say no.”

“But wait,” you think to yourself, “I’ve told my dog, ‘No’ before… and it didn’t stop his dog aggression…”

And as a professional dog trainer and editor of this dog training web site — I hear that, all the time.

What does it tell me? It’s an immediate red flag that the owner does not have a proper relationship with their dog.

See, once you’ve established a proper relationship between you and your dog– meaning that he:

A. Views you as his “pack leader.”

and

B. He understands your commands — (in this case, the “No!” command)

… then you’ve just eliminated 99% of the different types of dog aggression behaviors most new dog owners will encounter.

Granted, dog aggression from a dog trainer’s perspective (from someone who works with aggressive dogs, everyday) is a little different from the pet owner who only experiences aggression from their own dog.

Fixing Dog Aggression Problems

But regardless, once you learn the right techniques, dog aggression can be stopped very quickly. Other times, fixing dog aggression problems will require consistent work and constant supervision.

I’ve put together a collection of articles that cover the following:

• Aggressive dog training
• Dealing with aggressive dogs
• Aggressive puppies.  (Yes– inter-dog aggression can be a genetic factor, and present itself through puppy behavior, too).
• Aggressive dog behavior, such as nipping and biting, puppy biting, dog fighting and more.

It’s important to remember that there are four main types of behaviors we’re dealing with:

1. Handler aggression (when the dog shows aggression toward the owner)
2. Dog to dog aggression (when the dog shows aggression toward other dogs, but not to humans)
3. Dog to other animal aggression (such as killing chickens).
4. Pain-reactive aggression.

Within these four categories, there are several sub-categories, some of the most common being:

1. Dominance aggression – This is the dog that is either genetically dominant, or has learned to be dominant, because the owner has not yet stepped up to the plate and started acting like the pack leader.
2. Defensive aggression - Typically motivated by fear or insecurity, but different from pure “fear aggression” as the dog has learned that “offense is the best defense”.  It is fear aggression that has been reinforced and built up.  It can also be the result of a handler inadvertently over-correcting the dog, in rare cases.
3. Fear aggression - The dog is in a fearful or insecure state and is reacting with a fear aggressive response.
4. Territorial aggression - The dog may otherwise show no aggression, but becomes territorial over a geographic area or space.
5. Protective aggression - Showing aggression when someone gets close to or near one or more “subordinate” (from the dog’s point of view) members of the pack or familiy.
6. Learned aggression – The dog is taught to show aggression on cue.  Done correctly, this type of aggression will be a balance between “prey” and “defensive” aggression.
7. Prey aggression – The dog’s prey or chase drive is heightened and the ensuing aggression is channeled toward what the dog views as the prey object.

There are several combinations of these sub-categories which can make diagnosing the type of aggression your dog is showing, difficult.

Three Easy Steps To
Fixing Dog Aggression Problems (From A Macro View-Point)

Your dog’s aggression problems will be primarily fixed by:

1. Understanding the type of dog aggression you’re dealing with. Now, I go into more detail about this in my book, but for most types of aggression, you’ll need to know when to correct more or correct less.  It’s true– there are certain types of aggression (defensive aggression for example) that can actually get worse, the more you correct the dog.  On the other hand, dominance-based aggression will diminish if you give a motivational correction, but increase if your correction is not motivational enough.  So, knowing what type of dog aggression you’re dealing with is an important starting point.

2. Establishing yourself as the dog’s pack leader, so that your dog will listen to your commands, respect those commands, want to please you, and bond and trust you.  Remember: If you haven’t established yourself as the pack leader, then your dog has absolutely no reason to listen to you.  At the least, he’ll see you as a nuisance to what he’s trying to be aggressive toward.  And at the worse, your dog will display handler aggression as he tries to “correct you” and put you “in your place” since he see’s himself as the pack leader (or alpha dog) and is thus correcting you– the subordinate dog. We use a variety of different techniques and methods to establish the handler/dog owner as the pack leader.  A good starting point is to read about the “Nothing In Life Is Free” approach.

3. Correcting your dog’s aggression– which is fundamentally a way of communicating your displeasure with the display of aggressive behavior, and teaching your dog that it is not an acceptable response to the stimuli.  Sounds pretty simple, right? But you’d be surprised at how many dog owners will tell their dog, “It’s okay…” while petting (I.E. Praising the dogs behavior) in an attempt to reassure their dog.  But from the dog’s perspective– it’s communicating the exact opposite of what the owner intends.  To give a motivational correction, you’ll need the right type of dog training tools: Namely, the right dog training collar (buckle collar, slip collar, prong collar or e-collar) and possibly a muzzle, too.  A good 6′ leash is a must.  Most importantly, there is an art and a science to using the various training collars appropriately– which I’ll get into, later.

But for now, you can learn more about how to correct dog aggression when you download my dog training book at this link: Dog Aggression