If you think your dog is the aggressive kind, you need to address that behavior before it gets worse. This is compounded by the fact that it is challenging for many humans to read a dog’s body language, which could put them in harm’s way.
While dog aggression serves the original purpose of gathering food and ensuring pack safety, this is imprinted on their genes and can cause them to lash out without warning. You can’t cure it, but you sure can follow some strategies that will help your dog become more comfortable when placed in a situation that could result in him reacting aggressively.
Dog Aggression: The Common Signs
The first step is to always be aware of the usual signs of aggressiveness in a dog so you can address it right away before it reaches a raging point. If it gets to that, it will be very hard to reason with your dog.
Fortunately, there are some signs that you can look out for to know when you should already intervene: growling, body stiffening, raising its hackles, exposing its teeth or curling its lips, prolonged eye contact, and snapping.
You also need to know why your dog is being aggressive towards people. The usual reasons for this include:
- Being fearful and anxious. A confident dog will not feel any need to intimidate other people with its growling and barking. If your dog acts the opposite, he may be feeling scared or distressed. To avoid this, you need to properly socialize your dog as a puppy, especially at the impressionable 8-16 weeks of age.
- Having irresponsible breeders. Breeders’ primary focus is making money and not seeing to a puppy’s well-being. Their irresponsibility is rooted in not making efforts in improving a puppy’s socialization and interaction with other animals and humans.
- Medical and genetic issues. If you do everything to help your puppy socialize and he still exhibits signs of aggression, there might be an underlying condition you haven’t addressed. Your dog might be in pain or is battling a disease that clearly bothers him. The irritating pain may translate into aggression.
Top Two No-No’s in Dealing with Dog Aggression
There are two things you absolutely have to stop yourself from doing in your desire to address and manage dog aggression, which are:
- Dominance theory. Never resort to punitive methods because these will lead to dangerous consequences. If you try to display dominance, you could end up making things worse.
- Yelling at and intimidating your dog. It is never helpful to intimidate or yell at your dog when he is acting aggressively, especially since your dog might not even provide you with a warning prior to attacking. If you yell, he might work out the conclusion it is better to strike without warning because giving a warning could only bring about trouble for him.
The opposite of these two no-no’s is to develop a strong bond with your dog – which is absolutely the most important thing to do.
Managing Aggression Towards Other People
The “other people” mentioned here are usually people outside your home (strangers), guests, and perhaps even members of the family.
When it comes to strangers, your dog might see them as a threat and thus cause aggression that is rooted in the desire to protect the family. If you are out on a walk, you need to remember to keep your dog on a leash – especially if your dog has a history of unpredictable aggression.
The need to analyze dog behavior then arises, which should have you thinking about the kinds of people that make your dog act aggressively, or the situations that prompt aggressive behavior.
Avoid getting into these setups or running into these kinds of people as your dog is not ready to respond to them properly. You can also make your regular walks a lot more fun and by trying out new routes and changing the pace, which can help prevent the aggressive behavior by putting the attention on you and not on the things that make your dog feel aggressive.
When it comes to guests at home, your dog will be able to sense it if they are afraid of him. The best thing to do is to keep your dog in a crate or put him in another room.
This can help lessen your dog’s anxiety because he will not see the interaction between you and your guests, and therefore not come to any conclusions which he might think will require aggressive behavior on his part.
A dog that displays aggression towards any of your family members is perhaps the most challenging of all situations, especially if it is a person who is easing his or her way into your family like a fiancé or an in-law. It might be stressful for your dog to see that other person becoming close to you, which is especially true for a dog that has trust issues.
What you can do is to tell that other person to ignore your dog and not make eye contact with him. To a dog, eye contact is equal to making a challenge, which can lead to aggression.
If the aggressive behavior is directed towards children, you must remember to tell the young ones to stop behaving inappropriately in the presence of your dog. You might have to ask them to stop hugging the dog or squishing it if you observe that doing so just makes your dog feel even more nervous and agitated.
Managing Dog Aggression: A Professional Approach
It might seem like it will only take a few days to treat your dog’s aggressive behavior, but the truth is that it can take several weeks or even months to see results. You might even find the need to consult with a behaviorist to help with your efforts.
This professional can help further analyze and breakdown your dog’s behavior and condition, and then suggest a personalized fixed routine as well as some guidelines you will need to follow and implement.
Summary
An aggressive dog is a challenging dog, but there are things that you can do it help ease that behavior out of him. While it may take some time, it will certainly be worth it. Avoid punishing your dog and putting him in stressful situations will do a lot, along with really putting more effort into analyzing his behavior and figuring out where his aggression is rooted in.
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My dog (1/3 great pyraneese, 1/3 boxer, and small part blue heeler and american bulldog) was lost after a motor vehicle accident in which I was injured, and lost in the countryside for 35 days before I was able to get her to come to me. She was not the friendliest dog to others before this, but now she will not tolerate strangers of any kind. She is a great dog otherwise, and we play, get along with 2 other dogs in the house and my husband and daughter. She is the best dog I have ever had except for this one problem. I would like to have her get along with other people so I could at least walk her on the street. She is 8 years old, and was lost from thanksgiving to near Christmas of 2019. What should I do?