Tips on Training Aggressive Dogs

Dog aggression is natural. Dogs evolved this attribute over hundreds of years to survive in the wild. Many centuries of selective breeding techniques have reduced dog aggression traits. Some tips to help you to understand your dogs aggressive behaviour are below.

What is the cause of dog aggression?

The most common causes are a lack of socialisation and experience with other people and the issue of dominance.

Stranger aggression:

Caution and suspicion are natural behaviours for dogs. If your dog isn’t used to being in unfamiliar situations it may become quite on edge around strangers and new environments. If you widen your dogs knowledge and consistently build on positive experiences your dog will feel at ease when confronting a new situation. Check out our Review of Dog Training Zone for inspiration to stop dog aggression.

What can I do about dog aggression?

Start with your dog when it’s young and expose it to a wide range of experiences. Make sure you include other people and animals in your choice of experiences. Experience will teach your dog how much fun other places, people and animals can be. Socialising your dog doesn’t need to be worrying. At puppy pre school your dog will be exposed to new people and new dogs. Once your puppy is comfortable with new people and dogs, you’ll be able to broaden this experience. You will continue to need to socialise your dog.

Aggression with family members:

When dogs feel they need to protect something that is theirs, they can react aggressively towards their family members. Resource guarding is the term used for this behavior. If your dog gets snarly or growls at you when you are near where it is eating or playing with a toy, then you know you have a resource guarding problem. This sort of aggression is a result of a dominance problem. Remember, dogs are pack animals. Packs are structured according to power and position in relation to everyone else in the pack. If there is no dog pack to be ranked against, your dog will rank itself against its human pack and this will determine how to behave in any situation. If your dog perceives himself to be at the top, it is his job to behave aggressively. If on the other hand, your dog percieved itself to be a lower ranking member of the family, it wouldn’t dream of growling at you when you are near its food or toys. The message to your dog must be clear, that you are the boss and your dog is a lower ranking member of the pack.

What can I do to change this?

Regular and consistent obedience training work will renew your authority over your dog. Regular behavior modification sessions are key to positive and effective progress. The more enjoyable you make these sessions, the more your dog will want to please you and remember to use lots of praise and treats.

For more detailed information about dog training and other behavioral problems, check out Secrets to Dog Training. Check out a full look at Daniels Stevens Secrets to Dog Training at DogHelpdesk.com