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July 1st, 2009 by KittyKitty

Dog aggression is natural. Survival in the wild required the evolution of this trait over many hundreds of years. Many centuries of selective breeding techniques have reduced dog aggression traits. Read on to learn about why dogs behave aggressively.

What makes my dog aggressive?

Factors such as lack of exposure to other people and dogs as well as dominance are the most common causes of dog aggression.

Aggression towards strangers:

Caution and suspicion are natural behaviours for dogs. If your dog isn’t used to being in unfamiliar situations it may become quite apprehensive around strangers and new environments. You are responsible for making sure your dog is exposed to new experiences in a positive way. Check out our Review of Charlie Lafave’s Dog Training Zone for help to stop dog aggression.

What can I do about dog aggression?

The key to your dog being at ease with a wide variety of experiences is starting from a young age. In your choice of experiences include other people, places and animals. Your dog will learn that new situations are safe and fun. Socialising your dog doesn’t need to be difficult. You might want to begin with puppy pre-school. Once your puppy is relaxed with new people and dogs, you’ll be able to broaden this experience. You will continue to need to socialise your dog.

Dogs who are aggressive towards family members:

It is common for dogs to react aggressively towards their own family members when they feel something of theirs is being threatened. This is called resource guarding. This can appear as overly-possessive behavior, such as growling if you approach your dog when it is eating, or if you reach your hand out to take a toy away. This sort of aggression is a result of a dominance problem. Remember, dogs are pack animals. Dogs are used to organisation and are ranked according to a hierarchy of position and power in relation to everyone in their family or pack. Since your dog does not have a dog family, it will rank itself against its human family and this ranking will tell it how to behave at all times. The top ranking dog is expected to behave aggressively and if this how your dog is behaving, then it believes it has a higher ranking than you. If your dog behaves in a submissive/passive way it perceives its self to be ranked lower than other family members and wouldn’t dare growl or snarl if you approached during eating or if you took away a toy. The message to your dog must be clear, that you are the boss and your dog is a lower ranking member of the pack.

What can I do about my dogs aggressive behavior?

Renew your authority with your dog by regular and consistent obedience training work. Keep your training sessions short for effective behavior modification and control. Positive praise, treats and lots of pats are important for making your training sessions enjoyable and productive.

Take a look at Secrets to Dog Training for more information about dog aggression and a whole host of other dog behavior problems. Check out a full Secrets of Dog Training review at DogHelpdesk.com