Today’s domesticated dogs have a lot of wild traits that go far back in their bloodlines. After all, their ancestors had to be aggressive to survive, to look for food and shelter, and to mate. A lot of selective breeding has taken place over the centuries which has tamed a lot of the aggression in dogs; however, the ability to attack and inflict harm is just as real now as it was back then. It’s a dog’s instinct to be aggressive, and nothing humans have been able to do has completely eradicated this tendency. Therefore, it’s up to us as caring dog owners to learn to help our aggressive dogs control a trait that is a natural part of them.
As humans we take a lot of control over the aggression in our animals. Even if your dog does begin developing some aggression, you can take steps to understand what’s happening and defuse it without much conflict. With dogs, there are quite a few types of aggression. Two of the most commonly found types are dog aggression shown to strangers and that shown to family members. Who cares who the dog’s aggression is targeted at? Why would we desire to spend time defining two kinds of aggression? In actually, it’s because although both of these types are aggression, they happen for different reasons and need to be treated differently.
Obviously, aggression around strangers is easy to see. You know your dog well, so you’ll know when he gets excessively nervous by watching him pace constantly, bark, whine, and notice the smallest of sounds. Or, alternately, if he becomes very silent, staying in one place and never taking his eyes off the stranger, be it the mailman, a friend, or someone meandering down the street. Some dogs just don’t take quickly to people they don’t know. They’d rather be in the company of people they are used to and who they feel safe with. Generally this takes place because they haven’t been taken into a lot of social situations so that they can become adapted to the idea of strangers. If you keep your dog confined at home all of the time, how is he ever going to get used to the idea of strangers and unknown situations?
You can help your dog become friendlier by helping him get accustomed to being near both strange animals and people. You may have never realized it prior to this, but this is an important priority for you to include when training your dog. Beginning at a very young age, right after he’s had all of his vaccinations, he should be exposed to a big variety of different people, environments, animals, and experiences. By doing this, you’re teaching your dog early on that meeting new people and sharing new experiences is both safe and enjoyable. You want to make it a point to slowly introduce him to all types of people: the baby next door, a motorcyclist wearing safety equipment, senior citizens, both men and women, a person carrying an umbrella, teens, and a lot of others. He will learn to be less aggressive around strangers, and they won’t represent a threat to his world any longer. Waiting until he’s fully grown and then trying to relieve his fears by petting him and telling him it’s fine just isn’t going to validate it.
How can you go about socializing your puppy so that he won’t grow up with a wariness of strangers? As a start, you can take him to a puppy preschool. What this means is going to puppy classes, such as those held at veterinary clinics. A group of about ten dog owners and their puppies will get together with at least one qualified trainer who will start teaching the puppies the important obedience commands, such as sit and stay. You’ll like the fact that your puppy is learning to obey, but there’s an even bigger plus to going to these classes. Not only will your puppy develop happy thoughts about a trip to the vet’s office, but he’ll also have play sessions during the classes when he’ll be allowed to be off-leash and cavort with the other puppies.
Talk about learning great social skills right from the git go! He’ll be able to learn how to get along with a cross section of strange dogs while being exposed to a number of people he he hasn’t met before. Since a trainer will always be there, the environment will be safe, secure, and in control. Don’t imagine that puppy preschool is the lifelong answer to aggressive behavior, however. Socialization is an on-going process that you will need to work on as long as you have your dog. No matter what his age, he will always benefit from visiting to new places and being around new people. The key is never to allow him to be exposed to more than he can deal with. Start slowly, with or without puppy preschool, and slowly raise the stimulus he’s exposed to.
There are two general reasons that dogs demonstrate aggression towards those living in your household. One is that he’s defending something that he considers to be his. This may be a bone, his bed, his food dish, or another item he has come to feel belongs to him. It doesn’t sound like a large problem, does it, because you understand you aren’t opting to take away his possessions, but there are extra underlying problems that you need to be aware of. The reason that he’s behaving so possessively about his things is because he’s not comfortable with the way you and other family members are treating or handling him.
At this point, your dog is showing a trait that is often seen amongst dogs and which is known as resource guarding. This situation may include being overly-protective of his things, snarling at you if you come around him while he’s eating, and giving you cold, hard stares if you start to take a toy away from him. Dogs are much like people in that they all feel possessive sometimes, even if what they’re being possessive of doesn’t seem too valuable to anyone else. You may find your dog acting possessively about a hunk of garbage, wadded up tissues, worn out socks, and other trash items. Other times you will be able to understand his possessiveness more fully when it’s over food or toys.
Why would a dog that has seemed playful and at ease suddenly get all agitated over the ownership of a possession? In order to answer this question, we once again need to look at the beginnings of dog behavior. Originally, dogs were members of a pack which is a very controlled community. Within this group, each animal has its own rank within the power structure as compared to every other animal in the group. Each dog understands exactly where he and each other dog fits into the chain of command, and, therefore, knows whether he should back off or become the aggressor in any given situation.
As far as your dog is concerned, your family unit is just like a dog pack. He has his own ideas about the hierarchy of power within the family and ranked each member. He also perceives his own place in the rankings. Due to these innate behaviors, living with your dog can get interesting. If he sees himself as more of an authority figure than other members of the family, he’s going to become very self-assured. He’s going to act like the king and begin treating everyone with more aggression. When he has decided that he is the top dog in the pack, he’s going to behave based on that perception. He knows that none of the others in the pack have a right to aggression or to try to boss him as the one in command. As long as he thinks that no one in the family is superior to him, he feels he has a right to his aggression, and he’ll never imagine that anyone will aggressively pursue whatever he opts to have.
So what do you do when your dog starts showing aggressive behaviors that show he thinks he’s the dominant dog of the pack? The answer is that you have to repetitively work on his obedience training, and do it often. These sessions will help him to accept that you, in fact, are the authority figure of the pack. Give him two 15-minute lessons a day, and he’ll soon understand that you’re the boss and that he must do what you expect him to do. During these sessions, when he does as you want you should lavish on the praise and treats to reinforce the behavior you’re after. If he doesn’t behave as you’d like him to, put him in “time out” by shutting him outside or in another room.
It always helps to be in the know aboutany subject you’re coping with, so take a little time to get some of the basics about dog psychology and ways to communicate with your dog. When you start havingsessions with your pooch, keep them short and to the point. As you probably already know, most dogs aren’t going to give you a chance to be huggy-kissy with them. In their world, allowing you to cuddle them and put your arms around them means that they are agreeing that you are the boss. If your dog allows you to cuddle him, you know you’ve won the stature of the superior dog in the pack. If a dog wasn’t subjected to a lot of physical contact at an early age, he isn’t going to feel at ease with it as an adult. If someone tries to hug him, he’s going to become agitated and show dog aggression. If your dog’s aggressive behavior is out of control and you don’t feel you have the ability to do the training yourself, you need to contemplate employing a dog trainer to do the job for you.
A second reason that dogs become aggressive when being handled is that they’ve had at least one bad grooming session. Two of the most usual bad experiences dog have during grooming are bathing and nail-clipping. Many dogs panic when faced with being restrained and bathed. Pet owners have problems coping when their perfect pet suddenly starts to be all nervous and upset in the middle of a bath. They often think they need more restraints which only makes the problem worse. More restraint will mean more panic, and the dog will once again conclude that having a bath is not a good experience to be avoided if at all possible. He may even decide he needs to defend himself by baring his teeth and growling at his owner. Nail clipping can be even more upsetting to a dog. When clipping his nails, it’s easy to clip too far and sever the blood vessel that runs within the claw. When this takes place, it means a lot of pain for the dog and makes him even more fearful of those nail clippers.
If your dog is one of these animals that panic during grooming sessions, you might be wondering if he can be retrained in order to make the sessions less uncomfortable for everyone involved. Although it’s much less difficult to begin when your dog is a little puppy, it isn’t impossible. If you’re starting with a puppy, make sure you give him a lot of touching and rubbing all over his body so that he’ll grow to enjoy being handled. Older dogs that were never given this type of touching as puppies have a much more difficult time accepting being touched. With your older dog’s aversion to clippers, start by taking hold of one of his paws and touching it with the clippers. Teach him that clippers don’t usually mean pain. Since he’s probably already had some bad grooming experiences, you have to teach him to remain calm because he doesn’t have to worry that something is going to hurt him.
For the adult dog that dislikes bathing, you should practice the bathing process with him making it a pleasurable experience for him. Put him in the warm bathtub if you can. If you need to take him outdoors, don’t do it when the water is going to be too cold. He won’t learn to like a bath by being sprayed with icy-cold water. While you’re giving him the water bath, give him lots of praise, patting, and even occasional treats to let him know that you’re pleased with his behavior. A main factor in these practice sessions is to allow your dog his freedom if he becomes uncomfortable and stressed out. Keep the entire process fun and enjoyable for your dog. Don’t push him too far or too rapidly, and if he gets scared, stop what you’re doing as soon as possible.
There’s a reason that dogs show aggression. They’re warning you that you have to stop what you’re doing or face the consequences. If you try practicing the grooming techniques outlined above and your dog still can’t handle being groomed, it’s time to call in a professional. Your vet will be willing to clip his nails. Make sure you let the vet know that your pooch might be an aggressive dog during clipping times so that your vet will take measures against the possibility of aggressive behavior. Dog grooming services are available where for a price you can have licensed professional groomers wash, brush, and clip your dog for you. Once again, let them know in advance about your dog’s aversion to grooming.
If you’d like more information on unwanted behaviors that your dog is exhibiting, such as stop a dog from barking or dog eating grass, you’ll probably be interested in taking a look at Secrets to Dog Training. It’s a complete, A-Z manual for the responsible dog owner, and deals with recognizing, preventing, and dealing with just about every problem dog behavior under the sun. You can check out Secrets to Dog Training by clicking here: dog behavior digging.