Dog Training Basics

Posts Tagged ‘aggressive dog behavior’

Aggression is instinctive to dogs. This attribute of dogs developed over many centuries ensuring their survival in the wild. Many centuries of selective breeding techniques have reduced dog aggression traits. Read on to learn about why dogs behave aggressively.

What makes my dog aggressive?

Many factors can cause aggression in dogs but the most common is minimal socialisation with other people and the issue of dominance.

Stranger aggression:

It is natural for a dog to be cautious and suspicious. Unfamiliar situations may cause your dog anxiety if it has not had much experience with strangers and new surroundings. If you widen your dogs knowledge and consistently reinforce positive experiences your dog will feel at ease when confronting a new situation. Check out our Review of Charlie Lafave’s Dog Training Zone for more ideas to stop dog aggression.

What can I do about it?

The key to your dog feeling comfortable with a wide variety of experiences is starting from a young age. You will want to make sure your dog experiences new places, new people and new animals. Experience will teach your dog how much fun other places, people and animals can be. Make socialising your dog fun and you will soon see how easy it is to do. Puppy pre school is a good place to meet new people and a variety of other dogs. Once your puppy is at ease with new people and dogs, you’ll be able to expand this experience. You will continue to need to socialise your dog.

Aggression with family members:

Dogs are commonly aggressive towards members of their own human family when they are trying to protect something they think of as their own. 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. Your dog will behave like this if it thinks it has power over you. Remember, dogs are pack animals. Dogs are used to structure and are ranked according to a hierarchy of position and power in relation to everyone in their family or pack. Since your dog does not have a dog family, it will rank itself against its human family and this ranking will tell it how to behave at all times. If your dog perceives himself to be at the top, it is his job to behave aggressively. A lower ranking member of the pack will behave in a passive, submissive way and would never growl or snarl at a higher ranking member if you approached its food or toys. You need to make it clear to your dog that you are the boss and he is a lower ranking family member.

Is there anything I can do about this?

Working with your dog regularly and consistently in obedience training will help to re program your dogs preception of you as the pack leader. Short and regular training sessions are critical to effective behaviour modification. Make each training session enjoyable: play a game by giving your dog lots of praise, pats and treats when it has worked well with you.

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Dogs are instinctively aggressive and we all realize that dogs are able to seriously injure people and other animals. This does not mean that dog owners are completely helpless in their ability to stop aggressive dog behavior. An aggressive dog must be given obedience training immediately, before someone is injured.

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Aggression towards family members and towards strangers are the most frequent behaviors shown by aggressive dogs. Dog aggression can be triggered for many different reasons so it should be reacted to in different ways.

Aggression Towards Strangers

Dogs will often dislike unfamiliar people and other animals until they have an opportunity to get used to being around them. Socialization is the method used to familiarize dogs with new environments, and strange people and animals. It’s impossible to overemphasize the importance of socialization in your dog’s training. You’re probably wondering how socialization can stop aggressive dogs from attacking the postman or pizza delivery guy. A socialized dog starts to understand that new experiences can be enjoyable rather than scary.

He needs to learn this lesson as a young dog. The more frequently your dog gets to interact with different people (for example, men in uniform, elderly people, young children, teens, people with umbrellas or wearing helmets in peaceful and enjoyable surroundings, the safer your dog will be around strangers.

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Puppy group training courses (often run by pet stores or at a vet office) are an excellent place to socialize your pup in a controlled environment. Your dog will learn how to behave with unfamiliar dogs. He will also learn that there is no reason for him to be afraid of the unfamiliar people at these sessions. He should not feel overwhelmed at these sessions – allow his tolerance to build gradually by starting off slowly.

Aggression to Family Members

Aggressive dog behavior towards human family members is most commonly for the following reasons:

• Your dog is trying to protect his possessions (food, toys, etc.) from an apparent threat (namely you or your family members). Such excessively possessive behavior or resource guarding is not unusual in dogs.

• As dogs are pack animals, it is a question of dominance and your dog’s perception of his ranking in the pecking order of the household. Dogs perceive the family make up as being no different from a dog pack. Dogs that perceive their ranking in the hierarchy to be higher than their owner or family members will probably show aggressive behavior.

Resource guarding is definitely an act of dominance – a lower ranked dog would never show aggression towards to a more highly ranked member of the pack.

Providing consistent dog training is the best way to stop aggressive dog problems, which will make it clear to your dog that you are the “alpha dog”. Your “alpha dog” status can be strengthened with rewards such as treats and praise when he responds appropriately to a command, and with “time-out” for bad dog behavior.

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Let me ask you a simple question.  Do you know how important it is to socialize your dog?  Do you even know what socializing your dog is?Discover how this important part of dog training will help to prevent aggression in dogs from developing later on.

What Does Socializing Your Dog Mean?

Actually, it’s pretty simple.  What you’re doing is getting your dog accustomed to strangers, both human and animal.  It also includes taking your dog lots of places so that he’s used to different environments. 

This process can be so much fun that most people don’t take it seriously.  But if your dog hasn’t been socialized properly, he may become timid and fearful.  A pup who’s scared is more likely to develop some dog behavior problems that are very hard to get rid of. Aggression toward strangers can lead to biting people, while aggression toward other animals leads to fights with other dogs.

Fear Aggression In Dogs

If your pooch is not exposed to lots of different people when he’s between the ages of three and twelve weeks, he may develop fear aggression in dogs as he gets older.  This is characterized by him displaying suspicion and mistrust around people he doesn’t know. 

A dog that shows a lot of fear around strangers when he’s very young has a good chance of becoming fear aggressive as he gets older.  If your pup backs away from strangers while barking at them, this is a tip-off for you that this condition could be his problem.  In this case, you really need to concentrate on getting your dog used to other people.

Aggression Towards Other Animals

If your dog is not friendly towards other dogs, he probably doesn’t know how to interact with other canines.  This is because he never learned the proper social skills as a puppy. 

Sometimes a dog owner unknowingly causes aggression between strange dogs.  If you tighten the leash and pull your dog closer every time you see a strange canine, you’re communicating your unease to your dog.  If this happens repeatedly, your dog learns to get tense whenever another dog gets close.  He wants the other dog to stay at a distance, so your dog growls and barks at the stranger to accomplish this.

Plus, tightening the leash tells your dog that he can’t run away.  The only option he has left is to fight.  Pulling back on his leash also forces him to lean forward on his front feet.  The other dog may think he’s being threatened, and the result can be a dog fight.

Socializing Your Dog Prevents Aggressive Dog Behavior

You can see that neglecting to socialize your dog at a young age can lead to many dog behavior problems as he gets older.To prevent your pup from developing fear aggression in dogs when he’s around strangers, you’ll want to expose him to a lot of different people. 

Even more important is to make sure your young puppy has plenty of opportunity to interact with other pups.  This is how he learns to be a dog, and how to behave around other dogs.

You may inadvertently be training your dog to be aggressive towards other dogs by your own behavior. 

Now that you have this information, you can take steps to socialize your dog properly to prevent aggressive dog behavior.

Are you just plain fed up?  Does feeding your dog turn into a nightmare of aggressive dog behavior if anyone in the household comes near him while he’s eating?  If your pooch is displaying food aggression in dogs, this serious dog behavior problem needs to be stopped before your dog attacks you or someone in your family.

Dog Food Aggression Is Instinctive Behavior For Canines

In the wild, a dog is protective of his food, his mate, and his territory.  Aggressive behavior in dogs is necessary for their survival.  The most aggressive dog is the pack leader, or alpha male, and he enforces his position by being the dominant dog in the pack. 

But the pack leader in your home shouldn’t be your dog.  If he is, you’re in for trouble, because he thinks he’s the alpha male, and like he would in the wild, he’ll enforce his position by using aggressive dog behavior.  This is a dominance issue that won’t go away on its own.  You must take steps to deal with his aggressive behavior before it reaches a dangerous level.

Causes of Food Aggression In Dogs

Many dog owners think that a puppy who aggressivly guards his food is cute.  Don’t do it!  This is a serious training mistake many dog owners make.  Instead of encouraging this kind of canine possession aggression, you need to nip this problem in the bud.

Your dog’s understanding of exactly who leads the pack is confused.  If you don’t take the role of the alpha male (even if you’re female), there’s a leadership vacuum, to your dog’s way of thinking.  If you don’t step into the role, he will.  And he won’t be nice about enforcing his position in your household.

Because he thinks he’s the pack leader, he believes he can take whatever he wants from anyone in the pack who ranks lower than him.  The reality is that the family dog should be at the bottom of the heap, not the top.  Anyone in the household should be able to take anything away from him, even his food.  Of course, you’re not really going to do this, but he needs to know where he stands in your household pack. 

Dog Food Aggression Training

With a puppy, you’ll make it clear that having people or other animals around when he’s eating is OK.  Do this right from the beginning, and you’ll probably never have a problem with this type of aggressive dog behavior.  Anyone in the family should be able to safely stand right next to him at any time while he’s eating.  If this isn’t the case, you need to take control of his food.

It’s always a good idea to feed your dog after you and your family have finished eating.  Your dog will instinctively understand that the alpha dog always eats first.This reinforces in your dog’s mind exactly where he is in the famly heirarchy.

Require that your dog sit and stay quietly while you’re fixing his food.  If he whines and jumps around and demands food, don’t give in.  He needs to earn his food by behaving in a non-aggressive manner. 

Never let your dog “win” his food by growling at you.  This only rewards his bad dog behavior.

If food aggression in dogs is already a serious problem in your household, a dog behavior course may be your next step.  Look for a course that includes a consultation with an experienced dog trainer, and that has a forum where you can get advice from other dog owners.

Now that you know what to do, don’t delay in taking steps to control dog food aggression.

You’ve probably heard it a hundred times: “Don’t bother the dog while he’s eating.”  This is probably good advice for small children who shouldn’t be trying to play with the dog at mealtime.  However, a dog that’s always by himself when he eats may be learning a lesson about food aggression in dogs that you’d rather he didn’t.

In the wild, the leader of the dog pack is always the first one to eat, usually by himself.If you always leave your dog alone at mealtime, he may get the wrong idea.  This can lead to aggressive dog behavior in the form of him snapping or growling at anyone who ventures too close while he’s eating.

Don’t Let Dog Food Aggression Get Started

When your dog is still a puppy, always feed him after you and your family have already eaten.  This reinforces the idea for him that you and your family members all rank above him in the pack.

When you feed your puppy, anyone should be able to approach him while he’s eating.  Slipping a little treat into his bowl teaches him that it’s good for someone to get close.

Four Steps To Control Food Aggression In Dogs

An older dog who is already using aggressive dog behavior to protect his food will require different training.

Spend about ten to fourteen days on each of these steps.It will be necessary to do these things every time you feed your dog.  If your dog is extremely aggressive around food, you may need to keep him on a leash for your own protection.  

The first thing you’ll do is to put his food dish away for a couple of weeks.  Your dog will be eating out of your hand for a while.  Feed him just a few pieces of dog food at a time, until his meal is finished.

After a couple of weeks, you can progress to the next stop.  Get out your dog’s food bowl again, but don’t put anything in it.  After a while, walk by and drop a couple of pieces of kibble in it.  When he eats it, keep adding small handfuls of food every couple of minutes until his meal is finished.  At this point, he’ll probably be begging you to walk up to his bowl.

After ten days, you can try the next step, which is to put out a half-full bowl of kibble for him.  Walk up to him as he’s eating, and as you go by, drop in a couple of treats.  Then walk up again and add the rest of his food.

The last step is to put a full bowl of food down for him while he’s obeying the sit-stay command.Keep your control over him by not allowing him to eat until you release him from the command.  This is where the leash comes in handy, as you have control over him for this step, but hopefully you won’t need to use it.Break things up once or twice a week by calling him over to you while he’s eating and rewarding him with a tasty treat.  

Always use the sit-stay, wait, and take-it commands when you feed him so that your dog understands that you’re in charge of the food.  This reinforces your status as the alpha dog for him.

You’re back to step one if your dog reverts back to his old dog food aggression habits.  

Look For A Good Dog Training Course

Food aggression in dogs is a dominance issue that’s usually a symptom of other problems in the relationship between the owner and the dog.A good basic dog obedience course can be very helpful.  

Look for a course that includes a free consultation with an experienced dog trainer.  Check for testimonials from satisfied customers who have used the course material already.

Take this advice to begin solving your problem with dog food aggression now.

Are you just plain fed up with the aggressive dog behavior your pooch is displaying?  Join the crowd.  Aggressive behavior in dogs is the most serious dog behavior problem that you’ll face as a dog owner.  

However, canine aggression is preventable if you understand why your dog develops aggressive behavior.  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:

Your dog will startle at the smallest sound, and will be jumpy and nervous.  You’ll see that he’s on the alert, acting fidgety, and pacing around while barking and whining.

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, he’s defending something that he thinks he owns from a person he considers to be a threat.”Resource guarding” is the term for this type of behavior.  

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 aggression in dogs.

Let’s face it, as a new dog owner, you probably haven’t thought too much about puppy socialization.  However, this is a very important part of dog training.  Many cases of canine aggression could have been prevented if the dog’s owner had only known how to socialize a puppy. 

Why Is It So Important To Socialize Your Dog?

When you expose your dog to lots of different people, different animals, and different places, he learns for himself that new sights, sounds, and people are fun, not scary. 

Socializing your dog is easier while he’s still a puppy.  You may not know that the best age to socialize a puppy is when he’s between the ages of three and twelve weeks.  A young dog who has good experiences with new people, other dogs, and even cats will be much friendlier and less fearful of people.  This helps to prevent aggressive dog behavior towards strangers when he gets older.

Remember that it’s never to late to socialize your dog.  It may take a little longer with an older dog, but you can still use canine socialization in order to help your pooch overcome a fear of strangers and be a happier, more trustworthy friend.

What’s The Best Way To Socialize A Puppy?

Actually it’s not that difficult to socialize your dog, if you’re willing to make a little effort.

Many dog trainers suggest a puppy preschool.  This is a series of group-training classes for puppies and their owners.There are usually around 10 puppies and their owners, along with two or three dog trainers.  During these classes, the puppies start to learn basic dog obedience commands like sit, stay, and others.

However, the obedience lessons aren’t the most important things your pooch will learn at puppy preschool.  The play sessions are where your puppy learns essential social skills.When the play sessions are happening, the puppies are let off their leashes and allowed to interact with each other.  Why is this important?

First, your puppy is learning how to interact with other dogs. 

Second, since there are other dog owners and a couple of dog trainers present, this means lots of unfamiliar people, too.  This is a great way for your puppy to learn not to be afraid of new people.

Third, it’s a controlled environment.  The dog trainers make sure things don’t get too wild.

Don’t Stop Puppy Socialization Too Soon

Many dog owners make the mistake of thinking that since their dog has been to puppy preschool, their puppy is now socialized.  This mistaken idea can lead to problems later on. 

It’s important to continue to expose your young dog to new faces, new animals, and new places.  Sometimes puppies who seemed to be well socialized at a younger age “forget” those early lessons.  By the time your dog is between eight months and two years old, he may become fearful of people and start showing canine aggression towards strangers.

Here’s some food for thought:  even though your puppy has learned basic skills during his first few months, it’s important to keep reinforcing puppy socialization lessons throughout your dog’s life.