However, this behavior is preventable if you understand why your dog develops aggressive traits.  Read on to learn more about this common problem.

Your Dog’s Aggressive Nature Is Instinctive

Aggression is a valuable behavior in the wild.  A dog needs to be aggressive in order to hunt for its food.  It also needs to be able to defend its kill from other animals.  An aggressive dog also defends its territory and its mate.

In the centuries since dogs were domesticated, people have selectively bred most aggressive tendencies out of dogs, but a few do remain. And since dog do have sharp teeth capable of doing people serious harm, it’s necessary to recognize aggressive behavior in dogs and deal with it effectively.

Too many dog owners don’t know that there is more than one type of aggression in dogs.  The two most common are aggression towards strangers and aggression towards family members.Not only do these two types of aggression in canines have different causes, but you need to deal with them differently as well.

Aggression Towards Strangers

This type of dog behavior is very easy to recognize.  You dog may react in one of two ways:

The slightest noise will startle your dog because he’s jumpy and nervous.You dog will display agitated behavior, which may include barking and whining, pacing around, and acting fidgety.

Or, on the other extreme, he’ll be very quiet, sitting in one place without moving, while staring hard at whatever it is he’s suspicious of — whether it’s a visitor or your unsuspecting mail carrier.

The main reason a dog is aggressive around strangers is because he’s not used to them.It’s necessary for your dog to learn that strangers aren’t alway something bad.

Aggression Towards Family Members

Your dog may show canine aggression towards members of your family for two reasons.  

First, your dog is protecting something he thinks belongs to him from someone he believes is a threat.The term for this behavior is “resource guarding”.  

In the wild, only the dominant individual acts aggressively to guard resources.  So obviously, your dog thinks he’s the pack leader, not you, when he displays this kind of aggressive dog behavior.

The second reason is that he’s unhappy about how you, or somebody in the family, is treating him.  

Discover How To Handle Aggression In Dogs

You don’t have to be at the mercy of your dog, and you shouldn’t be.  If your dog uses aggressive dog behavior to control you and get his way, this is a very unhealthy situation, as well as being potentially dangerous.  There are many emergency room visits every year because of dog bites.  You don’t want this happening to you or a member of your family, or anyone else your dog interacts with.

You can learn how to handle aggressive behavior in dogs.  You need a dog obedience course which includes a complete owner’s guide to rearing and training your dog to prevent canine aggression.  Be sure to read testimonials from other dog owners who have purchased the course to see how satisfied they are with the material.

Do yourself and your dog a favor and learn more about controlling canine aggression.  Just click on any link in this article to find out more.

There are many reasons that a dog might become aggressive toward other dogs.Some dogs might be fearful around other dogs.In other cases the dog may strive to be the dominant dog.In other situations, the dog may become aggressive since he is defending its territory.  The dog can also be taught to be aggressive by the owner rather than being socialized to the other dogs.Some dogs may also be protective of their owners and thus become aggressive and sometimes become sexually aggressive also.

Tips

One major way to stop dog aggression is to ensure that a dog gets to socialize while it is a puppy to other animals.Puppies should be given the opportunity to play with other dogs that are mature and well behaved.In this way, they learn the right and proper dog behavior from the older animals.  The puppy earns that other dogs are okay and that he does not have to fight to defend the territory or protect the owner from the other animals.

Another way to stop dog aggression when a dog starts to become aggressive is to address the issue immediately each time it happens.  The dog should never be allowed to get away from this type of dangerous behavior.A head collar or muzzle can be very effective while the dog is still in training to stop dog aggression, but its not texactly the solution to the problem.

A way to stop dog aggression is through strict training so that the dog is tuned into the instructions of the owner rather than focusing on the other animal.  The dog should be trained to focus on the owner so that his attention is there and the owner can give another command to the dog, such as ‘down’ or ’sit’ while there is another dog around.  The owner should also teach himself to control his anxious feelings and behavior, as small as it might be, so that the dog does not take a nervous cue from the owner.This can also help to stop dog aggression since the dog always learns from the owner.  Once the dog has been trained to focus, the dog can also be distracted by being trained to look for a treat when there is another dog around.The treat can be thrown to the ground and the dog can be told to find it, thus distracting the dog from other dogs and stop the dog aggression before it starts.