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Stop Dog Aggression
Understanding Your Dog
In order to stop dog aggression, it is important to understand the reasons why it occurs. Dogs, by instinct, are aggressive. Aggressive behavior was essential to a dog’s survival in the wild. As dogs have been domesticated selective breeding has minimized this trait but the instinct is still there.
Wild dogs, as social animals, lived together in packs with a distinct hierarchy. Dogs would assert themselves, as they came of age, to determine their social ranking within the pack. Domesticated dogs still have this instinct. Your puppy wants to know his ranking in your family and in the neighborhood.
Your dog has a natural instinct to protect his territory and his pack or family. Aggressiveness may assert itself if your dog sees neighborhood dogs as a threat to his position within his home territory. Aggressive behavior will also happen when your dog feels he must protect your family. Taking the time to help your puppy become familiar with different situations will help him understand when aggressive behavior is inappropriate.
Importance of Socialization
Socialization helps your puppy learn how to get along with other dogs as well as teaching him how to deal with various situations. It is best for a puppy to learn proper dog behavior and socialization from his mother. However, taking a puppy away from his mother before 10 weeks of age may mean that he has not been taught how to socially interact with other dogs. When a puppy becomes part of your household it becomes your responsibility to give him supervised experiences that will continue the socialization process and help avoid dog aggression.
There are two areas of socialization to consider with our furry friends. These two areas are: 1) getting along with other animals and people; and 2) understanding the requirements within your family. Your dog requires opportunities to interact in all these areas. Your dog wants to be a vital part of your family. Train your dog properly and he will understand what it means to be a responsible member of your family.
An excellent resource to help you in training your dog can be found at: Secrets to Training Your Dog Properly
Family Dynamics
The way you and your family handles tension has an impact on your dog. Your dog will react to tension within your home. He will be tense if family members are tense. Your family must learn to handle tension in an appropriate manner or your dog may show aggressive behavior in trying to deal with the tension around him. Your dog will learn much from your example. Being calm with your dog and others is extremely important.
Your Puppy’s Needs and Wants
It is important that a puppy’s needs and wants are met. He must receive enough attention to feel loved and secure. Aggressive behavior can happen if your dog is bored and boredom comes from lack of attention. Aggressive behavior is rewarded if your dog only receives attention when he acts in an aggressive manner. Negative attention is as much of a reward as positive attention if your dog is feeling bored. If your dog receives enough attention, and if he is trained in a positive manner, dog aggression should not be a problem.
Regular exercise is important to your dog. Space and opportunities to run and play are necessary for a puppy full of youthful energy. Even a small apartment size dog and older dogs should have opportunities for adequate exercise.
Neighborhood walks, besides providing needed exercise and interaction with you, also offer experiences for socialization under your control. You must provide good examples for your puppy to follow. A puppy allowed to run around freely with other neighborhood dogs will obviously learn the wrong behavior. You should choose mature, well-behaved dogs as playmates for your puppy.
Bad habits are the result of leaving a dog on his own without proper guidance. With positive training your dog’s aggressive nature can be controlled. You can keep your dog’s attention centered on you, instead of other dogs and people, by training him properly. Your dog will follow your commands in any situation if you are consistent in training your dog.
Teaching your dog tricks will provide social interaction and will also help prevent boredom.
A fantastic guide for teaching your dogs tricks can be found at: Teaching Tricks and Training Your Dog
Can You Teach an Old Dog New Tricks?
All this is well and good if your furry friend is a puppy because they are a clean slate and open to learning but what about an older dog? Correcting an older dog’s bad habits requires consistent effort. You must handle a mature dog’s aggressive behavior immediately. Your dog will not understand your response if you wait to reprimand him. He will only know that he feels bad. Until your dog understands the correct response in a particular situation you must repeatedly correct his actions.
Dog Aggression is Serious
Dog aggression is a critical problem. Many dogs are taken to the pound because they were not taught to live peacefully in our society. Don’t let aggression become a problem. Take the time to train your puppy or dog.
I highly recommend this fantastic course to help you successfully train your dog, whatever his age: Dog Obedience Training
"Pays Dogon" Natsandfrancois's photos around Bandiagara, Mali (cliff village)