Aggression in dogs is part of their natural instinct. In the wild aggression was very helpful, it helped dogs to hunt, to defend themselves from other creatures, and to protect their food. Selective breeding over many years has reduced this trait significantly. Still dogs are physically capable of inflicting serious harm( just look at those teeth!). There is a lot that we can do to prevent aggression from rearing its ugly head, or steps we can take to get it under control.
Different Dog Aggression Types
There are several different types of dog aggression. The two most common ones are aggression towards strangers, and aggression towards family members. Each type of dog aggression stems from very different causes, and therefore require a different treatment.
Dog Aggression Towards Strangers.
Let’s start with dog aggression towards strangers. It’s pretty easy to tell when your dog is uncomfortable around a stranger. She could be pacing around barking and whining, constantly fidgeting and can’t sit still, or jumping at the smallest sound. Or she could just be sitting in one place but staring very hard at the person of suspicion, a visitor or someone approaching her on the street.
The one major reason why dogs don’t like strange people is they’ve never had the chance to get used to them. Your dog relies 100% on you to expand her horizons. By taking her on lots of outings to see the world she will soon realize that the unknown ( strange people and animals) is a lot of fun and not to be feared.
This is called socialization and is a very important aspect of raising a dog. Starting your dog at a very young age and exposing her to a variety of new experiences, new people, and new animals will prevent stranger aggression. The more types of people and animals she meets(babies, toddlers, teenagers, old people, men, women, people wearing uniforms, people wearing motorcycle helmets, people carrying umbrellas, etc.) in a fun and relaxed manner, the more at ease and happy she will be around strangers.
Dog Aggression Towards Family Members.
There are two common reasons why a dog would be aggressive towards family members. The first one is known as resource guarding. The term refers to being overly possessive, for instance if your dog snarls at you if you approach her while she’s eating or giving you the eye(a flinty-eyed direct stare) if you reach your hand out to take toy away from her.
This comes down to an issue called dominance. Dogs are pack animals, this means they are used to a very structured environment. In a dog pack each dog is rank in the hierarchy of position and power in relation to every other dog in the pack. Each dog knows specifically how to act in any given situation, whether to back down, whether to push the issue, whether to muscle in on the other dog’s turf, etc. Your dog has ranked each member of your family and her own perception of where she rankes in this environment as well. If your dog was clear that she is not the leader of the family she would not even dream of trying to prevent you from taking her food or toys.
The best way to overcome the dominant dog aggression is consistent obedience work. You can accomplish this with just two 15 minute sessions a day, this will make it perfectly clear to your dog that you’re the boss. By using positive reinforcement training you can show her that it pays to do what you say by rewarding her with treats and lavish praise when she obeys the command, and by isolating her for misbehavior by putting her in timeout either outside the house or in a room by herself.
For more information on handling aggressive and dominant behaviors, as well as detailed information on other common dog behavior problems check out Secrets to Dog Training. It’s a complete owners guide to owning and training your dog, and it deals with all aspects of dog training. You can visit Secrets to Dog Training by clicking this link.
