Stopping Dog Aggression

I have a big German Shepherd male who is a total sweetheart-to people, that is. He is not aggressive at all when people come by. However, when it comes to another dog, he gets very excitable and aggressive. Unless I could learn to stop this aggression, I couldn’t have a good time taking him for walks. Because of his large size it was quite a disturbance when ever he became aggressive.

There are a variety of reasons dogs may act aggressive. Dogs are instinctively aggressive. Just to be able to survive, dogs needed to be aggressive. In order to feed and protect their families, aggression was a necessary survival trait. The aggression instinct is something that remains even after thousand of years of domestication by human, but at times controlling that aggression is necessary for the dog owner. In order to control your dog’s aggression it is a good thing to know how to recognize your dog’s body language for warning signs. Learn to understand the reasons dogs become aggressive towards other dogs so that you can control aggression before it becomes a problem.Visit www.BehaveDoggy.com for more on recognizing dog body language.Recognizing Dog Body Language

If you have an aggressive dog like mine, you’ll see him immediately focus on any new dog in the vicinity and he’ll probably want to go over there and start to dominate the other dog. Dogs display dominance in a number of ways, including trying to place their head above the other dog’s head or perhaps by placing one or both forelegs over the other dog’s shoulders.Dogs will frequently raise their hackles while showing their teeth and growling. Stopping dog to dog aggression should be done before this is allowed to happen. If the second dog does not begin to act submissively at this point, there will very likely be a dog fight. Of course you have seen this type of dog behavior many times. If you notice these aggressive attitudes, avoid encountering the situation that is making our dog aggressive.

I learned a good tip about dog on dog aggression correction from reading Secrets to Dog Training, my go to source for solving my pet’s problems whenever one pops up.  By using this advise, my dog no longer has an aggression problem with other dogs. Use this advice, and I bet your dog will learn to start enjoying his new dog friends like mine did.Visit BehaveDoggy.com for more on dog aggression control.How to Control Dog Aggression

Invite a friend and his non-aggressive dog come over to visit and begin stopping your pet’s dog on dog aggression problems by introducing him to the idea that another dog can be a lot of fun.If you have a male dog, I’d strongly suggest starting this “friend” training with a female dog. It is also a good idea to meet in a neutral territory like a park, so your dog doesn’t feel like he is protecting his turf. Have both dogs on their leashes so you can maintain complete control in case your dog lunges.  Have the dogs take the sit position far enough away from each other that they cannot touch. If your dog is acting aggressive, remind him who’s the boss, and make sure he stays in the sit position. You should already have obedience trained you dog, so that he knows you are the boss. Otherwise he just won’t be listening to you and stopping the dog on dog aggression is not going to be possible. The best way to stop dog aggression problems is to begin the socializing and obedience training of your dog when he is just a little puppy. Read my  article  on Puppy Training Using Positive Reinforcement for some more information about that.  Show your dog you are happy when he stops acting aggressive by giving him a rewarding taty treat and lots of praise. It is necessary to act in a consistent fashion to obtain fast and effective results. Don’t emphasize the negatives by yelling at your dog. If you stick with using positive training, you will see better results, as your pet really does try to do what he thinks pleases you.

Dogs greet each other first by sniffing each other’s faces, so as long as they are calm it is time to let them say “Hi”. Because the dogs are calm they should now greet each other without the displays of dominance and aggressive posture such as growling or raising the hair on their backs. Your pet is already on the way to having stopped his aggressive behavior if he is still relaxed at this time.  For future meeting, try using different locations to check the aggressive dog’s attitude. Once he seemed like he enjoyed his new “friend’s” company the final test was in my dog’s own yard. Did he stay friendly even when at home on his own ground? When my dog’s new buddy came over to visit, I was relieved to see that his aggression had gone away. I was really happy to see that. My dog got excited and even wagged his tail when his new dog friend came over to visit. What a change this was to his previous behavior. By now, we could let the dogs play off leash, and there were no problems.

Now I knew how to stop my dog’s aggression problems, could take him out in public and have him be able to make new friends. I finally got to enjoy walking my dog in the park, without fear of him becoming aggressive when other dogs came around. Finally it was fun to go for a walk out in public with my dog. Now that I wasn’t embarrassed and uptight due to my dog’s aggressive behavior, it was no longer scary to take him for a walk.

Try introducing your dog to a new friend and I bet you also have good results stopping your dog’s aggressive attitude.