How to Stop Dog Aggression

Posted by Puppy Trainer on July 29th, 2009 filed in Dogs

Aggression is instinctive to dogs. This characteristic of dogs developed over many centuries ensuring their survival in the wild. Selective breeding and domestication processes have lessened and refined dog aggression. Below are some reasons why your dog could be displaying aggressive behaviour.

Why is my dog aggressive?

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

Aggression directed at strangers:

It is instinctive for a dog to be cautious and suspicious. If your dog isn’t used to being in unfamiliar situations it may become quite on edge around strangers and new environments. Make time to expose your dog to new people and situations and reinforce these experiences in a positive way. Browse our Review of Dog Training Zone for help to deal with aggressive dog behavior.

How can I change my dogs aggressive behaviour?

Start with your dog when it’s young and expose it to a wide range of experiences. In your choice of experiences include other people, places and 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. You might want to begin with puppy pre-school. Once your puppy is comfortable with new people and dogs, you’ll be able to expand this experience. Your dog will continue to need socialisation, to stay stranger friendly.

Aggression with family members:

When dogs feel they need to defend something that is theirs, they can react aggressively towards their family members. This is known as resource guarding. Resource guarding usually appears as snarling, growling or over possessiveness. This sort of aggression is a result of a dominance problem. Pack animals such as dogs need to know who is the leader. Pack structure is hierarchical and depending on your position you will have power over someone else in the pack or family. 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 your dog behaves in a submissive/passive way it perceives its self to be ranked lower than other family members and wouldn’t dare growl or snarl if you approached during eating or if you took away a toy. You need to make it clear to your dog that you are the boss and he is a lower ranking family member.

What can I do about my dogs aggressive behavior?

Working with your dog regularly and consistently in obedience training will help to re program your dogs preception of you as the pack leader. Keep your training sessions short for effective behavior modification and control. 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.

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