Stopping Dog Aggression

If you're worried about your dog's aggression then you've come to the right place. On this page I'm going to show you 5 simple things you can start doing today that can keep your dog from developing an aggression problem.

Whether you have a "dog to dog" aggression problem, a dog who's starting to bite or nip at children, guard his food or bones, or starting to aggressively protect his territory, this page is for you.

The techniques and strategies I'm about to show you are wonderful tools for helping you treat mild cases of dog aggression and prevent aggression before it rears its ugly head. And by mild I mean cases of dog aggression where you aren't fearing for your safety.

Basically this page is about nipping dog aggression in the bud or preventing it from EVER being an issue.

If your dog has become so aggressive that you are currently fearing for your safety, or know for a fact that your dog is dangerous and will bite if provoked, then you should consult a professional dog rehabilitator like the ones shown in the videos listed on this page.

In this section I want to talk about two causes of dog aggression. The first is instinct based, and the second is called "learned aggression". And each type is cured a different way.

Instinct based aggression is tricky because it is based on all the genetic characteristics your dog's ancestors passed to their offspring that kept them alive. Typically these were characteristics that kept them from starving or getting attacked by predators. These instincts are like the software that runs our computers%, it's always processing in the background.

Here's an example:

Because we know that dog's have descended from wolves, scientists have been able to study how a wolf protects its pack. And without getting into a ton of details, basically a Wolf pack designates one leader to watch out for trouble and protect them. And if that leader fails to fulfill his role, another member of the wolf pack has instincts that recognize a "failed leader". When a leader "fails" the next best candidate steps up to fill the missing void.

Well guess what? Your dog is running this same leadership scoring assessment on YOU all the time!

Your dog is analyzing the way you live your day to day life and grading you on your leadership abilities, and trying to decide if he needs to step in and fill a leadership void.

So how can you prove to your dog that he doesn't need to be the leader of your family? Here are 3 guidelines to follow that will improve how your dog thinks of you as his leader:

-Don't let your dog sleep on your bed or in your bedroom. In the wild, only the leaders of the pack sleep together, so letting your dog sleep with you could send your dog the message that he's higher up on the leadership ladder then you'd like him to be.

-Don't give your dog full access to a never ending supply of food. In the wild, the leader of the pack eats first and doesn't have to take his turn. So instead of just letting your dog dive into his food bowl, put him on a feeding schedule and make him stay, lay down or sit for varying lengths of time before he eats.

-Don't let your dog walk through doors before you. Some trainers will say this is BS, and that some dogs like to run out the front door because it's exciting, and that they're just being a dog, which is true. But if you train a dog to wait for permission to cross through doorways before going outside, you are doing what he instinctively knows leaders do, leaders go first, and followers go last. So you can still let your dog go running out the doors, just make him wait for you to go through first.

If you'll follow these three rules, you'll notice your dog shows less signs of territorial aggression towards strangers who walk into your yard. For more tips and insight for how to conquer dog aggression click here.

Unlike Instinct based aggression, learned aggression is actually taught to our dog's inadvertently.

Learned aggression follows the very simple rule of "Whatever behavior gets me what I want, or prevents bad things from happening to me is the behavior I'll be most likely to use, Morals be damned!"

For example, let's say your dog wants to chew on something because he's a puppy and his teeth are sore. Your puppy goes and finds your most expensive pair of leather shoes and starts devouring them, you catch your puppy in the act, scold him and remove the shoe.

Most people think that the punishment or scolding of their puppy will decrease the likelihood that the puppy will chew on shoes in the future. But they fail to realize what they've actually taught their dog. Without knowing it, they've taught their dog that letting you remove the item from their presence made NEGATIVE things happen. Ie. His teeth still hurts, he got hit or yelled at, and YOU don't care about his sore teeth.

This motivates some puppies to try a different approach the next time you try to take something from them that is bringing them pleasure. So they might try growling, or nipping. If left unchecked, with an oblivious dog owner this behavior can turn into the full blown resource guarding aggression you see in this video below this section

This resource guarding aggression was more likely then not inadvertently TAUGHT to dogs, and could have been prevented by following these guidelines:

Realize WHY the dog wants a resource. Are his teeth sore? Is he hungry? Is he bored? Taking a moment to look at the situation from your dog's perspective can help you come up with a better solution that meets the dog's needs and yours.

Replace the item you take away from your dog with an "acceptable" replacement. If your dog is chewing up a pillow, tell him no, and give him a plush toy to tear up instead. This teaches him what he's NOT supposed to do, along with positive ways to get his needs met as well.

Train your dog the 'Leave it' behavior, instead of just scolding or punishing your dog when he gets a hold of something he shouldn't have. If you'll follow these guidelines for curing dog aggression, I promise your dog will be less aggressive and much easier to manage. The key is to start training NOW, before the problem get's out of hand.