One of the biggest common behavioral reasons that dog owners seek out professional veterinary assistance is their dog’s aggression toward people or other pets. It’s also the third most common reason for why dogs are reclaimed or returned to animal shelters instead of adopted. Training an overly aggressive dog shouldn’t be done by yourself without the aid of an expert dog trainer, however, there are some aggressive dog training tips that can help you if you’re determined to make a change in your dog’s behavior. Read on to learn some tips for effectively training your dog to be friendly again.
One important step in effective dog training is to avoid potentially dangerous situations and make sure your dog knows they aren’t supposed to be aggressive toward people. Often times, this can be achieved with simple obedience training, so start there and build off it. For instance, always stay with your new puppy or dog when it picks up and bites another person. It’s a completely unacceptable behavior and can immediately set your dog back in its aggressive behavior category. If you find yourself in this situation, step in quickly and firmly to remove the object from your dog’s reach, and try to keep it out of its mouth until it calms down. If you have smaller children, have them sit next to you as you teach your dog the “no touching” rules, so they can see how to behave around a strange person.
If you want to teach your dog how to act more smoothly around other people and animals, you’ll need to train it according to the alpha dog concept. Dogs are social animals and, as such, respond well to a reward-based system. The more consistently you reward your dog for good behavior, the more likely he will continue on his good behavior. To do this, simply set up your yard as the type of environment that your dog will respond best to and work on raising your dog according to this concept.
It’s important to understand that body language has a lot to do with how aggressive a dog gets, too. A dog that doesn’t communicate effectively with you may very well bark and snap at you when you get too close. Some breeds that are naturally aggressive also have a bad habit of jumping when they see people or other animals, so consider this in relation to your dog’s body language before trying any obedience training. If it seems your dog gets overly excited or defensive, then you may have difficulty getting through to it using only voice commands.
The best training you can use on your dog, however, involves positive reinforcement and body language. In order to do this, make sure your dog gets plenty of attention and that you constantly praise him. Start out simple by having your dog perform a hand-eye maneuver (like lifting its paws up) for you before you give him his treats. As he performs these behaviors more, move on to more difficult commands. Eventually, you can start asking him to do basic tricks like sit, stand, and come, and eventually simple commands like heel, stay and come.
How to stop your dog from being aggressive is not a lesson that should be learned quickly. It takes patience and time to properly train your dog so that you will be able to establish yourself as the leader of your pack. Many dog owners fail to establish themselves as pack leaders because they rush into training without giving it adequate attention. Every dog needs to know who is the pack leader so that he will respect you and obey you, instead of having problems with other dogs.
One way you can quickly establish yourself as the leader is by never letting your reactive dog approach another dog or pet while on a walk. Your reactive dog may lunge, growl, or even attack other dogs while on a walk and it makes other dog owners scared. This is why many dog trainers will only allow their dog on walks if they are accompanied by a handler. The handler is not only there to keep the dog on a leash, but also to distract the dog and prevent it from lunging, growling or attacking other animals or people.
If you want to reinforce good behavior in your dog and prevent bad behavior, you should also introduce play dates. Play dates are similar to leash walks except you allow your dog to play with another dog or pet while you are free to go about your daily routine. You can set play dates during the day, during the evening, or at least one time a week. You should set the play dates before you begin to feel overwhelmed with the behavior issues your dog is displaying. For example, if you have a dog that is constantly digging holes in your yard, you can set play dates during afternoon naps when you are free to walk your dog around your yard. This will help reinforce positive behavior and reduce dog digging while you are at work or running errands.
