How to stop dog aggressive behavior can be taught only by experience. Aggressive behavior in dogs is often best controlled, reduced or avoided with proper dog training. Here s how.
Imagine bringing a wonderful new dog into your home. You’ve watched and waited patiently for just the perfect dog to bring into your home and eventually found a great shelter dog to add to the family. Your new best friend starts to growl and bark all of a sudden. As you’re watching, he or she begins to howl and snarl and now you are afraid for your life.
This is the behavior of dogs that is commonly known as “growling”, “snarling” or “barking.” The problem is these types of behaviors are responses to aggression. They don’t always mean the dog is displaying aggression. A dog might be lunging at another dog, he or she may be snarling at an intruder or he or she may be lunging and barking at you. These types of behaviors are common among many breeds.
In this step 3, we will teach you what to do about it. The first thing we will do is introduce you to proper dog training. We want you to understand that proper socialization, communication and protection of yourself as well as your family members are very important in preventing aggressive behavior. We want you to know your place in the hierarchy.
Step one, dog aggression, includes proper socialization and teaching your pet to recognize you and your family as the leader of the pack. Your pet has to learn who the alpha male is and learn to submit to him. For this you must be patient and consistent. You should not yell or scream at your dog when they are being aggressive. If your dog begins to growl or bark at you, back away slowly and with control. Don’t let him take over you or force him.
Step two, teaching him to stop lunging and barking, begins with understanding your animal. He does not want to hurt you, but is sensing a threat. To resolve this behavior, you have to gain his trust and confidence. One way to do this is by removing all threats from his environment. If your dog has other dogs or visitors, do not allow them to play with him and keep the distance until he has learned to trust you.
Step three, correcting this problem behavior, requires you to develop a rapport with him. Let him understand that you are not afraid of him, and that you only intend to visit him when he is calm. Dogs need to learn that you are not the enemy. It can be difficult to do this if your dog has been trained to bark and growl at anything that comes within range. You may have to resort to using treats or praising him profusely to get these behaviors to change.
Step four, in understanding and correcting this aggressive behavior, requires you to remove any devices that will cause your dog to focus his aggression. The two most common are the toy and leash. If possible, remove both of these from your dog’s daily routine. If you cannot do this, consider using a muzzle for the time being. Muzzles do not stop lunging and snarling but they will prevent him from doing either while you are away from him.
Step five, is to establish yourself as the alpha dog in your home. Dogs automatically trust their owner when they assume the dominant role. Establish your role as the pack leader and always make sure your pooch knows that he is the alpha dog. Let him know that you are the leader of his pack, and that you will protect him and not let other dogs harm him.
Step six, in correcting this behavior is to work with your veterinarian and ask him for help. There may be a health problem that is causing your dogs’ aggression. Other potential issues with aggression could be resource guarding, or fear of strangers. In the case of resource guarding, there are several things that you can try to modify. Usually this is just a case of changing the dog’s routine so that he is less likely to guard his own food.
Aggressive dogs can also be taught to perform other tricks that will help eliminate their aggression. You can build him up and then let him loose so that he can start doing tricks to entertain himself. You can also teach aggressive dogs to perform tricks that entertain others, such as how to shake hands and do cartwheels. The more fun your pet has, the less you will have to worry about his aggressive behavior. He will just have fun too!