Dogs’ Aggression: How to Deal With Dogs’ Aggressive Behavior
Dogs are certainly among man’s best friends. However, in some circumstances, these animals also have the potential to be people’s and other animals’ worst enemy. As canines, dogs are equipped with sharp teeth and attacking techniques that make them dangerous when provoked and you have to deal with dogs’ aggression.
Dogs occasionally attack people and other dogs or animals. You may wonder what makes dogs behave violently. In truth, dogs are peace-loving and do not easily turn aggressive, unless provoked. Because dogs’ mode of communications and concepts are different from man’s and from other animals’, there are some actions that maybe perceived by them as aggression or dogs’ aggression.
It is instinct of any living animal, people included, to protect itself when there is imminent danger. Remember that dogs just turn aggressive whenever they feel like they are threatened. And beware of dogs’ aggression, because dogs are truly destructive and rowdy when they get really angry.
Dogs’ aggressive behavior
There are several types of aggression that influence dogs. Such dog’s aggressions are different and nature and are acquired by the dogs during different situations. To be able to learn how to properly and effectively handle dogs’ aggression, it would be important if you would understand the nature of dogs’ aggression.
The first type of dogs’ aggression is dominance aggression. This type is exhibited when the dog feels like he is the dominant organism in the area. This is not common to dogs, but studies suggest that this type of aggressive behavior is relative to the particular breed of dogs. Of course, fighting dogs are more likely to feel dominant.
If the dogs feel that someone, or some other animal, is threatening this sense of dominance, he would likely stage an attack. Several of your actions, like raising hands, clapping or tapping its head, could be interpreted by the dog as breaching its dominance or trigger dogs’ aggression, so beware.
The other type of dogs’ aggression is protective in nature. If the dog feels like you would attack it, it would surely retaliate in defense. The same goes for fear-motivated dogs’ aggression. If there is fear, the dog would not think and act naturally, making it become jittery and become aggressive.
There is a territorial sense in the dog, so if someone or some other animal intrudes its territories, the dog would turn aggressive. Dogs’ aggression could also be redirected. If the animal becomes mad at someone, but could not possibly attack him, the dog could redirect his aggression into someone else.
Dealing with the dogs’ aggressive behavior
Now that you have a brief but concise background about the nature and possible causes of dogs’ aggression, you now understand what and how dogs could turn rowdy and dangerous. Make sure you try not to arouse feeling of threat or fear into the dog so it would not behave aggressively.
For sure, you now know some of your mannerisms and actions that could make your dog behave aggressively. Avoid doing those actions when the dog is around to prevent any possible attack or dogs’ aggression.
If you could not help the aggressive behavior, it would be better to seek professional help for dogs’ aggression so your dog could not harm anyone else. Prior to doing so, confine your dog inside a secluded place or a cage. Never let it loose free because it might suddenly attack or bite bystanders and other animals.
Do not punish the dog because doing so would only make the animal behave more aggressively. Because you are the smarter between the two of you, your dog and yourself, be more understanding and patient.
Do you want to know how to curb your dog’s aggressiveness? Put an end to the stress and annoyance of your dog behavior problems and slash your dog obedience training time in half by using techniques that give you immediate results. Stop your dog’s aggression visit Dogs’ Corner
To know more about pets visit All About Pets
Gerry Restrivera
http://www.articlesbase.com/pets-articles/dogs-aggression-how-to-deal-with-dogs-aggressive-behavior-749150.html
Originally posted 2010-03-08 04:06:09. Republished by Blog Post Promoter
My dog is so aggressive to other dogs! Any advice?
I got my dog from a shelter that was being shut down. She is a jack russell terrier. When I got her she was covered in ticks, and filth and looked almost as if she was starving. I don’t know where she came from, or what she went through before I got her. At first she was terrified of men, and would get really aggressive (barking and growling) if a man she didn’t know tried to get near her. She also was not house trained. Her behaviour has greatly improved since she has been with us. She has never bitten anyone, and in general is a very sweet animal. The one thing bothers me is her aggression towards other dogs. I don’t believe she was socialized at all as a puppy. She disrupts our walks and in general makes a huge scene if we so much as walk by another dog. We have had her for a year and I do not want to give up but yesterday she got off her leash and started a fight with another dog. The other dog’s owner hit her with a rake! I can’t deal with her like this! Any advice Please!
There’s a great book called "Click to Calm" by Emma Parsons which deals with this kind of aggression very effectively. The book discusses aggression toward dogs as well as humans, especially fear aggression, and offers humane and effective advice for socialising dogs like yours.
You can buy it here:
http://www.dogwise.com/ItemDetails.cfm?ID=DTB825
or through bookstore like Amazon.
I would strongly advise seeking the help of a trainer or behaviourist with experience in rehabilitating reactive dogs. Aggression can be very difficult to work with, and bad advice can make things much worse. Besides that, a behaviourist usually has a "safe" environment in which you can work with your dog, so she doesn’t risk hurting another dog, or being injured herself.
As a note from my personal experience with an undersocialised great pyr who outweighs me: please try to stick with positive methods, even if it is tempting to try using popular correction-based techniques. For socialising a dog, a clicker and a pile of cheese bits works much faster than a chain correction. You can bully your dog into behaving a la Cesar Millan, but it won’t be a safe, long-term solution that will do any good if she is off leash/you’re not around.
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I was nervous that our new scottish terrier puppy would be agressive towards dogs as well. I wasnt sure just putting him in a room with another dog would be a good idea since I didnt want to put another persons dog in danger. So a good thing to do, might be to find a friends do who doesnt seem to have any problem around dogs, and start letting them socialize. When my pup was first introduced to another dog he growled, but now after a couple meetings, he just has fun and plays. I dont know how good the advice is, but this is worth a try! Good LUCK!
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when you take her for walks you should bring treats or bones and when she tries to get away show her the treat or bone and walk away from the other dog. this also sounds srange but you should take her to dog parks so she can get yoused to other dogs but remember to bring a treat or bone. when she is nice to dogs you should be nice to her if she is rood you should be rood to her……. also this may not be an option but getting another dog is the fastest way to solve this problem
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I’d suggest calling your vet or humane society and gettting a referral for a professional trainer. I suspect if she picks fights with other dogs, she will never like other dogs or can be trusted around them, but you may be able to train her to better follow your commands and at least ignore other dogs when out on a walk. This is probably the best you can hope for with a severely dog aggressive dog.
DO NOT sign up for group obedience classes, expose this dog to friends’ dogs or take this dog to a dog park. You are just asking for trouble. The dog has already been in a serious fight and these situations are not appropriate for your dog at this point (or possibly ever).
You absolutely have to make sure the leash stays on no matter what. The other guy really had no choice but to use the rake as awful as it sounds – sticking your hand into a dog fight is the quickest way to get bitten – breaking up fights once started is very difficult and dangerous. Your dog could get into a lot of trouble off-leash and getting into unprovoked fights if reported to animal control.
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I work with a humane society.
Sign up for obedience classes, if you can. It will give her a chance to socialize with other dogs in a controlled environment, and will give you the opportunity to learn how to teach her to "heel", and how to administer human corrections on a training collar when she acts up on walks.
Congrats on adopting, good luck
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try to treat your dog in a sweet way…. Take your dog to the park for a walk for it to learn new dogs friend…. Try to read a book that can help you to calm dogs..
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You have a dog reactive dog and need to work on desensitizing and counterconditioning her to other dogs. For now, you have to keep her at a distance away from other dogs so that she doesn’t get the chance to react at all. Once you find that distance (her threshold), you can start to desensitize and countercondition. When she is in that reactive state of mind, she is not learning anything and you will not be able to teach her anything. This website (fearfuldogs. com) is a good place to start for learning about desensitization and counterconditioning. I also recommend you join the Yahoo group for reactive dogs and perhaps even for clicker training (clicker training is often used in desensitization and counterconditioning). Good luck.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Pos-4-ReactiveDogs
http://www.fearfuldogs.com/
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ClickerSolutions
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your dog sounds like its been through some very hard times in its short life you could try a dog behavioUrist who may be able to give ur dog its confidence back as for the man that hit her with a rake i no what id of done to him don’t give up on her yet theres ppl out there who can help u with any problems ur having
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My dog has had similiar issues, and he is a husky! So you should know how I sympathize.
My husky only became dog-aggressive after he was attacked by a dog while we were jogging, but it was still a hard problem to fix! When you walk your terrier, do you notice how he acts before he freaks out? Dogs do a ton of little things before they have a full-blown fit.
For example; say you and your buddy are walking down the street, and you notice that another dog-walker is on the other side of the street, about to pass by. If you watch your dog, you will notice that he will start acting differently. His ears and eyes focus on the other dog, his head comes up, he gets totally focused, and THEN he starts the attack.
Distract him before he gets too zoned out! While you walk, dont let him walk in front of you. For some reason, they tend to ignore you a little more if they are allowed to be in front…
If he hears another dog and perks up, or sees one down the street, and you can tell that he is getting revved up, give a quick side jerk on his leash to distract him. It doesnt matter which direction the jerk is in, he just needs to snap out of it before he goes nuts. At first you might need to do the side jerk, and a tap on his flank(the soft spot where his back leg joins his hip). At the same time. Just whatever it takes to get him to refocus! Different things work for different dogs, but you have to correct him when he first starts to act up! You see him sizing up another dog, distraction/correction. A dog barks in a back yard and he responds(in any way), distraction/correction.
Make a corrective noise with your physical touch, and he will eventually behave on verbal cue.
Feel free to email me for any more questions!
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one hyper/stubborn husky, who i wouldnt trade for the world
Someone mentioned Click To Calm which will help you learn about how to change a dog’s behavior toward other dogs. You could also consider, Feisty Fido and Control Unleashed. You should also work on basic obedience commands so that the dog has a solid sit/stay when dogs are not around. Learn about triggers, thresholds, counter conditioning and desensitization so that you can understand how to change how your dog feels around other dogs.
http://www.fearfuldogs.com/books.html
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Find profetional traners that can help. If you see the dog start to stare at another, give it a "pop" to the leash. Quickly and firmly jerk the leash to the side, not the back and release it. If it escalates, try bumping into the dogs side. Saw it on that dog whispere show on TV; and it works with my granmas yorkie. But get pro training immidiatly! Make sure he really knows that your the boss of hime too.
Gil who knows cool stuff
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