How To Stop Dog Aggression

We all love our dogs. They are part of our family and we want them to be safe and happy. But, if you have an aggressive dog than you know that things are not well with your four legged family member. An aggressive dog is dangerous to you, other dogs, and other people and this can be very scary. You may have tried different methods to curb this aggression only to find yourself keeping your dog away from other people, other dogs, and situations where he may be aggressive. While this may prevent an attack, it does make for an unhappy dog and an unhappy dog owner. To fix this problem, it takes a real comprehensive approach to cure your dog of aggression.

Some dogs are aggressive against people; some are aggressive against other dogs. If your dog is aggressive by barking, snapping, and behaving in a menacing manner to friends, people walking by the house or that you pass by on a walk than you know that something has to change.

Your dog's health is the first thing to look into when exhibiting signs of aggression. A trip to the vet will rule out a possible health problem. A sick dog or a dog that is in pain is more likely to show signs of aggression to protect it from harm.

After ruling out potential health problems, it is time to start to train your dog. It is important that you are the dominant one in your relationship with the dog and that your dog looks to you for decisions. This takes much practice. Many use treats or some kind of other reward to teach the dog to focus on you and that behaving in a manner that you expect is what brings positive reinforcement.

A dog exhibiting dominance is a common source of aggression towards other dogs. Again, a good way to correct this problem is to train your dog to focus on you for direction. This should be done in a safe environment for the dog where he or she will feel comfortable. In this training, you focus your dog to focus on you. The dog follows your direction and is rewarded when your dog behaves properly. When your dog focuses on you, give it a reward. Soon, you can try walking past another dog and use this method. If your dog begins to show aggression, use your focus command and with enough training, your dog will focus on you, and not the other dog.