By Sandra Scott
Aggression is natural for dogs and everyone knows that dogs can badly wound people and other animals. This does not mean that dog owners are completely helpless in their ability to stop aggressive dog behavior. If you are dealing with an aggressive dog, it is vital that he receives the correct dog obedience training right away, before he hurts you or a member of your family.
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Aggression towards strangers and aggression towards family members are the most usual types of dog aggression. These two kinds of aggressive dog behavior happen for a variety of reasons so must be treated differently.
Aggressive Dog Behavior Towards Strangers
Dogs will often dislike strangers and other animals until they have a chance to get used to being around them. Getting dogs accustomed to being with people and animals they don’t know is called socialization. Socialization is a vital part of obedience training for your dog. You may be wondering how socialization can prevent aggressive dogs from attacking the postman or pizza delivery boy. A dog that has been socialized will begin to realize that these new encounters can be amusing instead of being frightening.
It is essential that your dog learns this as a puppy. The more often your dog interacts with different people (for example, men in uniform, elderly people, young children, teens, people with umbrellas or wearing helmets in peaceful and enjoyable surroundings, the chances of your dog being being aggressive towards strangers are much less.
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Puppy group training sessions (often run by pet stores or at a vet clinic) are a good place to socialize your pup in a monitored environment. Your dog will learn how to act with dogs he doesn’t know. These sessions will also teach your dog that he does not need to fear people he doesn’t know. It is important that he is not overwhelmed - let your dog’s comfort level increase gradually.
Aggressive Dog Behavior Towards Family Members
Aggressive dog behavior towards human family members is usually for the following reasons:
- Your pooch is protecting his belongings from a perceived threat (to him, that’s you!). Resource guarding is quite usual behavior for dogs.
- Dogs being pack animals show dominant behavior according to where they see themselves ranked in the pecking order of the household. To your dog, your family structure is no different from that of a dog pack. If your dog sees himself in a higher position than you or your family members, he’ll become aggressive.
As a lower ranked dog wouldn’t behave in an aggressive manner towards a dog that was higher in the hierarchy of the pack, resource guarding is a clear indication of dominant behavior.
The best way to prevent aggression in dogs is to provide consistent obedience training, which will make it clear to your dog that you are the “alpha dog”. This fact may be emphasized with rewards such as praise and treats when he obey a command, and by enforcing “time out” when he misbehaves.
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