Karen writes to me about dog aggression:
“My little 8 pound dog starts to attack my geriatric dog when I go to sleep at night. What should I do?”
Adam replies:
Remember… you must confine your dog (in a crate or kennel run) when you are not in a position to correct him. If you’re asleep, and the dog can do a behavior that you don’t like, then you’ve just taught your dog that YOU ARE INCONSISTENT in your response to his behaviors.
TEACH your dog that EVERY TIME he does a behavior that you don’t like, he will receive a motivational correction. If the dog knows that you’re consistent with everything you do in life, then he’ll stop challenging you and will drop any unwanted behavior after only one or two corrections.