How To Deal With Aggressive Dog Behavior

Your first step, when dealing with aggressive dog behavior, is to get the dog a complete physical examination by a veterinarian. Sometimes a dog that is in pain reacts with aggressive behavior. The dog could have an infection or an injury that you are unaware of. Once treated by a vet, you may find that your dog drops all aggressive behavior.

If the vet gives your dog a clean bill of health then it is time to take some serious steps to training your aggressive dog.

The first step will be to identify your dog´s type of aggression. Many times an aggressive dog feels that he is the most dominant member of the family. In his mind he´s ´lead dog´ and its his job to show his dominance.

When training an aggressive dog who thinks he has dominance over you, your job as a pet owner is to establish with the dog who the real king of your castle is. This often involves having a firm voice when speaking to the dog (this does not mean yelling or using hostile words.) Your tone of voice lays the foundation for establishing yourself as dominant over your dog.

Sometimes a dog is aggressive because they think of their owner as their own personal property that needs to be protected. The dog can become aggressive to people or other animals if they feel that their owner is in any kind of danger. The pet owner can break this aggressive habit by letting the dog know that they are the boss and that it is not the dogs job to protect them.

This is also established by being firm with the dog.

Another cause of aggressive dog behavior can be fear.

A dog who feels that they may be attacked and who is unsure of their owners ability to protect them may become overly aggressive. This is common with small dogs that are around rambunctious children. They are afraid that the children may become rough with them so they are overly aggressive.

The most important step a pet owner can take, when they see any aggressive behavior in their dogs is to break the aggression before it becomes a habit.

An assertive consistent owner can break their dog of aggressive habits.