How to Deal With Your Dog's Aggressive Behavior
Aggressive behavior in dogs can be caused by many factors, including fear, poor training techniques and problems with other animals. There are many steps you can take to change your dog's aggressive behavior to help ensure the safety of both you and your dog.
Starting Early
- Start training the dog when it is still a puppy by teaching it what behavior is acceptable and what behavior is unacceptable.
- Attend a puppy training or obedience class for dogs. This will teach your dog critical socialization skills and make it less likely to behave aggressively toward other people and animals. These classes may also teach bite inhibition, which teaches dogs to use a soft mouth when they bite.
- Avoid playing rough with your puppy, or playing games with it that may teach aggressive behavior, such as tug of war.
- Teach the puppy not to bite by firmly telling it no and leaving the room for a short period. This will help it to understand that biting is unacceptable behavior.
Training Dogs
- Avoid yelling or punishing the dog for aggressive behavior. This will only add to your pet's nervous or scared feelings, and can cause it to become even more aggressive.
- Seek the help of a professional who is knowledgeable on aggressive behavior in dogs. They will be able to help you determine the cause for the aggressive behavior, and teach you the best ways to deal with it.
- Use the counter conditioning method to train dogs who are behaving aggressively. This works by introducing something positive, such as a dog treat, to the dog when it experiences situations that trigger aggressive behavior. Eventually, the dog will associate what triggers its aggressive behavior with something positive, which will produce calm feelings in the dog.