Dog Training Basics On Aggression

When it comes to dogs or maybe any other animals, there are always room left for aggression, so here we are not going ignore it but instead were gonna talk about it, yea, this is dog training basics on aggression behavior to be precise... Were all familiar with basic dog training commands. Were speaking about "sit", "stay", "heel", and so on. These fundamentals are not convenient skills; theyre the foundation of a lifelong relationship together with your dog. They set the tone for the remainder of your dogs life.
Canines that are trained properly - were speaking about positive reinforcement techniques - assume their role as the lesser pack dog. Lowest on the totem pole. Canines are social animals with a hierarchy.


Dog Aggression Training Fundamentals


Its important for their safety and yours that you are thought about the alpha dog. This isnt accomplished with choke collars, yelling, and physical dominance but a structured surroundings where behaviors signal that youre in charge. This means the dog is greeted last, fed last, and not allowed in the bedroom and so on.


When it comes to training, it means setting boundaries. For example, teaching your dog early on what theyre allowed to chew on and what isnt appropriate. This is basically accomplished by basically replacing an unacceptable item like a shoe, book, hand or even the furniture with a bone or toy.

Says Fisher, "Sit and stay are important however of my favourite commands is the settle down command." With this command you have your dog on a leash, you have it lie down beside you, and you put the leash under your foot so that if the puppy tries to get up, it self-corrects it.

It takes diligence on your part, patience and constant supervision however its important to teach your dog what can and cannot be chewed on. In the event you fail to set these simple boundaries youll finish up with a house filled with chewed up stuff as well as a dog that pushes the limits in other areas .

You are not pushing the dog down; the leash is holding it down. Do that for half an hour at a time each day and it teaches your dog to be calm. Lots of individuals who have a active dog think "oh my god, I have got to take it out for another hours exercise." All you are doing then is giving yourself an amazingly fit dog that needs or hours of exercise a day.

What the dog needs to learn is to settle down by your foot. Finally youll be able to take it off the leash and your dog, no matter whether your home, at the office or at a friends house, sits down by your foot and stays here.

Take long of a break from training and your dog will forget, get rusty, and start pushing the limits. Hierarchy changes in a dog pack from time to time. To establish your role as the lead dog, you must remind them whose boss with regular positive reinforcement training sessions.

Training your dog isnt something that is accomplished in a week session at your local pet store. Its a lifelong method. Its about boundaries, repetition, positive reinforcement and recalling to train often.

Aggression often stems from a dog thinking they have a higher role in the relatives than they do. Owners often give mixed signals by letting the dog sleep with them, letting the dog set the boundaries like growling when ever someone gets close to their food, defending their toys and even barking.
So, even the most calming dog will sometimes occur to be more aggressive than ever, that is where this dog training basics on aggression behavior would take part in helping out. 

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How to Stop Dog Fighting Attack or Aggression

Having problem in controlling your dogs even if you are around them? this is some tips on How to Stop Dog Fighting, Attack or Aggression


A very important rule to stop dog fighting is DO NOT jump into stopping them right away. Because the dog might accidentally bite you!

When your dog is fighting with another dog, he will lose his mind and he will not remember that you are his owner. There are many cases have been reported that the dog has bitten his owner during a dog fight and the owner has had serious injury.


So, it is a bad idea to jump in the middle of the dog fight.

Here are some methods that are able to stop dog fighting:

• If you dog has done well in dog obedience training, shout the command that you train him to come to you. Examples of command are: "back off", "come", "cut it out" and etc.

• Some dogs are scared of water, so, pour cold water from any sources that you can find around you during the dog fight. It is even more effective is to stop dog fighting if you are blasting the water from hose.

• There are sprays available in the market that is designed to stop dog fighting. This sprays are not physically harmful for dogs, they have a strong odor that make the dogs could stand with the smell.

• You also make use a stick or cane that you find around you and hit the ground near the dog fight which could make a sound that scares the dogs away.

• If you happen to own fire crackers, lit them during the dog fight is also an effective way to scare the dogs away. The sound of the fire crackers resembles sound of gun shot that is big enough to scare the dogs.

As soon as the dogs are separated, make sure that they are away from each other to prevent the second dog fight.


Hopefully the above tips on How to Stop Dog Fighting, Attack or Aggression could help even just a little.

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How to handle Dog aggression

How to handle Dog aggression

Ways of Recognizing, preventing, and handling dog aggression is to be discussed in this post.

A dog as an animal is an instinctively aggressive creature direct from its origins. In the wild, their aggression came in very handy: dogs needed aggression to hunt for food, to defend themselves from other creatures and preys, and to defend resources such as food, a place to sleep, and to mate and reporduce.

– Different aggression types

- There are several different types of canine aggression.

- Aggression towards strangers
- Aggression towards family members

Recognizing, preventing, and handling dog aggression



A dog is an instinctively aggressive creature. In the wild, aggression came in very handy: dogs needed aggression to hunt, to defend themselves from other creatures, and to defend resources such as food, a place to sleep, and a mate. Selective breeding over the centuries has minimized and refined this trait significantly, but there’s just no getting around it: dogs are physically capable of inflicting serious harm (just look at those teeth!) because that’s how they’ve survived and evolved. And Mother Nature is pretty wily – it’s hard to counteract the power of instinct! But that doesn’t mean that we, as dog lovers and owners, are entirely helpless when it comes to handling our dogs.

There’s a lot that we can do to prevent aggression from rearing its ugly head in the first place – and even if prevention hasn’t been possible (for whatever reason), there are still steps that we can take to recognize and deal with it efficiently.

– Different aggression types - There are several different types of canine aggression.

The two most common ones are:
- Aggression towards strangers
- Aggression towards family members

You may be wondering why we’re bothering categorizing this stuff: after all, aggression is aggression, and we want to turf it out NOW, not waste time with the details – right? Well … not quite. These two different types of aggression stem from very different causes, and require different types of treatment.

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How to Stop Dog Food Aggression

This time around we will learn How to Stop Dog Food Aggression as what Cesar Millan would do.


Dog Food Aggression is one type of dog dominance behavior where your dog wants to protect his food from any body else, in this case people or other animals.


This behavior is completely normal in wild life because the canines do not know when will be their next meal. The food is the main source of they survival, so, protecting the food is indirectly meant to protect their life.

When dogs have slowly stepped into humans environment, they are still carried that basic survival instinct in their brain. So, it is undoubted that this is one of the most common dog behavior problems around. It is the humans responsibility to teach the dog to behave properly in human environment. We should teach our dogs that there is plenty of food in human environment and they should not fight for food or too possessive of their food.


Dogs will only listen to pack leader and that is the reason human should take the pack leader role. Your dog should do everything you ask for, including giving back the food that you have just given to him and never fight for food with other dogs.


Normally, you can recognize the sign of food guarding when your dog is still a puppy. If you do not fix that behavior, the issue will become more serious when he grows up. The issue can be worsen from just pushing your hands away to growling you when you near the food until bite you at the end. So, this food possessive behavior should be stopped as early as possible!


"A Few Tips on How to Fix Dog Food Aggression Problem"

First of all, your dog should not have free access to food at all time. You should ONLY give him the food and water according to schedule, and take away the food and water within 20 minutes, no matter if he has finished or not. This will teach him to be disciplined and finish the food within the certain period.

If your dog has serious food aggression problem, most likely, you are unable to take the food away from him. Here is what you can do:-


Wear your shoes and jean. Then, stand above his food bowl, I believe you will hear him growl at you and may be try to bite your feet.


Slowly take away the food bowl with your feet, while making him unable to reach the food bowl.


Slowly turn your body with your dog face your back. You are in between him and the food bowl.


Lastly, make the food bowl a bit further and you can take the food bowl.


Repeat the steps until he gives up the food totally when you put in front of him. He will not even try to eat the food because he knows that the food is not possessive by him.


The above techniques were demonstrated by Cesar Millan - The Dog Whisperer during one of the episodes.


These steps will teach him that you are the pack leader and he should not act possessive towards the food that you are giving him. If you do the above step by step of fixing Dog Food Aggression with consistent, hopefully you will own a well-balanced dog again.

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Dog Training Tips For Prevention and Training of Aggression

All too often I hear "my dog is aggressive". Although this is a subjective term, I do take this matter of dog aggression seriously. As a professional certified dog trainer I feel its important to not only be able to train and educate the dog and the family, like the students who attend my Ventura dog training classes, but to help prevent such situations from occurring in the first place.

Just like we have preventative medicine for humans, we need to be more thoughtful with "aggression prevention" in our pet dogs. These are a few dog training tips that we can take to help with current, and prevention, of dog aggression issues:

• Training "aggressive" dogs is important for a few important reasons.
• "Aggression" based behaviors often get worse if not treated. It’s similar to humans that suffer emotional problems. They often dont resolve on their own. You must change the dog’s environment either through training to teach them ways to enjoy their surroundings or by removing them from the stressful situation.
• It’s important to curb these behaviors to protect the dog. Since aggression issues can often get worse, dogs are more likely to be euthanized.
• It’s also important to protect the public. Aggression that is untreated can result in dogs getting worse and responding in ways that are "normal" for dogs - biting and causing injury to humans or other dogs.
• Are there dog breeds that are more prone to aggressive behaviors.
• Dogs are animals. Dogs have specific traits that include predatory behavior. Dogs are able to "grab, shake and kill" (and ingest) other animals. Just like humans, if provoked in the right way, we will fight back or become more aggressive. Like us, dogs are a product of their environment.
• Are certain breeds bred for more of the aggressive elements of the predatory sequence? Yes. But I would look more closely at how the dog was raised, their current environment, and how they are currently treated, along with socialization as a pup.
• As for aggressive behaviors "popping up" when you least expect it - I feel this is often due to the irresponsibility of the humans to not take notice of their dogs’ behaviors and reactions to certain situations. Be aware of the dogs environment! This is often the cause of dogs behaving in undesired ways.
• Where does aggression stem from?

I dont believe there is one specific area or reason. I believe it is usually the result of multiple factors.

• Improper socialization.
• Improper training methods - aversive and coercive type methods usually train in aggressive behaviors, and often make them worse.
• "Abuse" can definitely lead to aggression in dogs. Violence begets violence.
• Illness can definitely cause a dog (or any animal) to behave in a more aggressive manner.
• I would recommend seeking help from a qualified and reputable vet, behaviorist or trainer immediately. However, it is important to make sure this person uses techniques that actually help the dog get better, not make them worse.
• To help prevent aggression from starting:
• Proper socialization as a puppy is important. 6 - 13 weeks of age is the prime socialization period for a dog - however, its never too early to start, nor too late. This way, dogs adapt to their surroundings much more easily than they would as adults. Whatever you want them doing as adults, get them used to it when they are young. Just like us humans, its easier to relocate, make friends, learn a sport when we are young versus when we are adults and set in our ways.
• Understanding canine behavior is also important to preventing aggression. This includes understanding what is normal and what you can do to teach them to live in our human world. Mouthing, jumping up to greet, barking, not knowing how to walk on a leash are all normal canine behaviors - however, these are often interpreted as dogs being "dominant," then dogs get in trouble for these behaviors.
• Teaching proper bite inhibition can help discourage aggressive behavior. Dogs use their mouths to explore their world and to play. Again, its often misinterpreted as aggression, and not normal play behavior. Best to provide "legal" outlets for them.
• Teaching resource guarding prevention exercises can curb aggressive behaviors from starting. Guarding objects is a normal behavior so it’s important to teach them its okay to have humans touch their stuff.
• It also helps to socialize them with other dogs. If they never learn how to play and be around other dogs, they become social misfits.
• Additionally, it’s key to use training methods that reward and motivate the dog (and the human). Coercive and aversive techniques can inadvertently train aggression into dogs, making matters worse.

Final notes: Aggression is a construct. A label. A very subjective term. Its often misunderstood and misinterpreted. We, as a society wouldnt think it was right to yell at someone for being upset or depressed. Telling someone their emotional feelings arent valid and that theyre bad for feeling a certain way isnt acceptable. Plus it doesnt help them feel any better. It is completely unfair of us to subject dogs to certain situations, then label them, then blame them for behaving in a way we think is wrong. Their feelings are valid too. It is up to us to take responsibility for what is far too often our fault to begin with.

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Using the Term Aggression to Label Domestic Dogs is Just Name Calling!

I hear the phrase "my dog is aggressive" or "my dog is being dominant" all too often. Before jumping to conclusions and "diagnosing" the dog, its my job, as a certified professional dog trainer, to sift through the subjectiveness and labels that go along with what the human is trying to describe. I want to know what the dog is actually doing, not what he or she might be thinking.

I know there are folks out there claiming to be pet psychics - well, Im not one of them. I dont read minds, of humans or of dogs, so I like to rely on good old fashioned science for developing a dog training plan. Is this a "cold" approach? Hmm, thats subjective too. I like to think of it more as a realistic, simple approach that can get the job done!

You want behaviors changed right? You want your dog to be or act a certain way, right? So why not get there the easiest way possible? This way, you can have more time playing and having fun with your dog, versus trying to figure out if theyre trying to take over the world. How can it be done? Simple:

1. What is your dog doing now? Describe it! Paint a picture.
2. What would you rather have your dog do instead? Describe it!
3. What do you need to do to their environment to help get them there? Set your dog up for success, not failure!
4. How do you need to let your dog know she or he made the right choice? Reward your dog for the desired behavior!

See how simple it can be? Sure you do! Now, go out there and do it! Even for fun, just practice with one behavior your dog already knows, but train him or her to perform that behavior in a different place.

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Controversy in Management Route For Dog Aggression

The July 24th 2009 L.A. Times story about a dog named Cotton whose guardian treated his aggression situation with a medical procedure called "Canine Disarming" (filing down of teeth to help prevent bite damage). She had initially tried some behavior modification, even went to the self-proclaimed Dog Whisperer. But it was the dental procedure that stirred up a lot of controversy, at least according to Craig Nakano, the journalist whose follow-up article in todays L.A. Times Home and Garden section has stated. 

When the article first came out, of course I had my two cents to add. This treatment is used as a "management tool", as opposed to behavior modification. (As a certified professional dog trainer I would have used a plastic basket muzzle and behavior mod that Cottons guardians could easily follow). 

I wrote to the editor not expecting to hear anything back. But what do ya know, Craig contacted me yesterday. He said out of all of the emails they received, mine was one that stood out from the others because I remained more "neutral". I think "neutral" in the sense that I didnt completely berate Cottons guardian. Hey folks, isnt this similar to castrating a rapist? Ruh-roh, now Im gonna stir up my own controversy. 

Anyway, although I do not agree with this treatment, and I would have completely gone a different route had she contacted me for private dog training services, I think berating her would have been too punishing, and that is not in my nature. I also believe that:

1. They still love Cotton.
2. The family probably felt this was their last resort.
3. They wanted to protect the public at all costs.
4. They didnt want to unload Cottons issues onto anyone else - which seems to be more the norm in our society, and I commend them for that. (I received three emails alone this week of people looking to get rid of their dogs because they didnt want to deal with them any longer...including one situation where one person in the household wanted for the dog to sleep outside, and the other said inside, so instead theyre going to re-home the dog! UGH, but thats a whole different post...)

Im hoping a situation like this will prompt the powers in charge to develop laws and protocols that protect our domestic pets, not only for situations if a dog end up like this, but in hopes of preventing these behavior issues from happening in the first place. Hmm, how about making it mandatory that:

• Breeding dogs MUST be an actual professional legitimate business. Not breeding out of their backyard just because the dog is cute or they need the money.
• Breeders pay a higher fee for breeding since they are contributing to the increased pet population. What, you dont think purebred dogs get dumped at shelters? HA! 
• Breeder and dog guardians MUST BE required to socialize dogs properly to our human environment so they can adapt more easily and reduce the risk of developing aggressive tendencies in the first place!!!
• Dog guardians MUST BE required to enroll their young dogs into dog training classes that adhere to humane methods of teaching. And, they must continue their dogs education (and their own, right?) with dog training classes, workshops, sports like agility or Rally-O so everyone can keep up their skills - especially their socialization skills. 
• And finally, if I may so bold: mandatory spay/neuter... Ruh-roh, more controversy! 

It would also be nice to have more dog-friendly places to take our dogs. Instead of having to either take them to the same places over and over again, or resorting to leave them at home all of the time, and not allowing them to be exposed to people and situations that we all of a sudden want them to be used to. 

Okay, now that Ive stirred up my own controversy Im gonna take Poncho out for some socialization, then have him help me set up for our Canine Circuit Training class tomorrow, while you write in with your comments. 

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Dog aggression cures

Dog aggression cures

What’s resource guarding? Why do dogs have them?

Resource guarding is pretty common among dogs and almost all k9 breeds out there.

Let me take a moment to explain this concept to you: dogs are packed animals from the wild and its implanted ion their instinct. To your dog, the family environment is no different to the dog-pack environment just like the wolves in some forest. Resource guarding is a classic example of dominant behavior: only a higher-ranked dog (a “dominant” dog) would act aggressively in defense of resources.

Socialization doesn’t just stop with puppy preschool, though. It’s an ongoing effort throughout the life of your puppy and dog: he needs to be taken to a whole bunch of new places and environments. Remember not to overwhelm him: start off slow, and build up his tolerance gradually.

- Aggression towards family members
- There are two common reasons why a dog is aggressive towards members of his own human family:
- He’s trying to defend something he thinks of as his from a perceived threat (you).

This is known as resource guarding, and though it may sound innocuous, there’s actually a lot more going on here than your dog simply trying to keep his kibble to himself.

- He’s not comfortable with the treatment/handling he’s getting from you or other members of the family.

What’s resource guarding?

Resource guarding is pretty common among dogs.

The term refers to overly-possessive behavior on behalf of your dog: for instance, snarling at you if you approach him when he’s eating, or giving you “the eye” (a flinty-eyed, direct stare) if you reach your hand out to take a toy away from him.
All dogs can be possessive from time to time – it’s in their natures. Sometimes they’re possessive over things with no conceivable value: inedible trash, balled up pieces of paper or tissue, old socks. More frequently, however, resource-guarding becomes an issue over items with a very real and understandable value: food and toys.



Why does it happen?

It all boils down to the issue of dominance. Let me take a moment to explain this concept: dogs are pack animals. This means that they’re used to a very structured environment: in a dog-pack, each individual animal is ranked in a hierarchy of position and power (or “dominance”) in relation to every other animal.

Each animal is aware of the rank of every other animal, which means he knows specifically how to act in any given situation (whether to back down, whether to push the issue, whether to muscle in or not on somebody else’s turf, etc).

To your dog, the family environment is no different to the dog-pack environment. Your dog has ranked each member of the family, and has his own perception of where he ranks in that environment as well.

This is where it gets interesting: if your dog perceives himself as higher up on the social totem-pole than other family members, he’s going to get cheeky. If he’s really got an over inflated sense of his own importance, he’ll start to act aggressively.

Why? Because dominance and aggression are the exclusive rights of a superior-ranked animal.

No underdog would ever show aggression or act dominantly to a higher-ranked animal (the consequences would be dire, and he knows it!) Resource guarding is a classic example of dominant behavior: only a higher-ranked dog (a “dominant” dog) would act aggressively in defense of resources.

To put it plainly: if it was clear to your dog that he is not, in fact, the leader of the family, he’d never even dream of trying to prevent you from taking his food or toys – because a lower-ranking dog (him) will always go along with what the higher-ranking dogs (you and your family) say.

So what can I do about it?

The best treatment for dominant, aggressive behavior is consistent, frequent obedience work, which will underline your authority over your dog. Just two fifteen-minute sessions a day will make it perfectly clear to your dog that you’re the boss, and that it pays to do what you say.

You can make this fact clear to him by rewarding him (with treats and lavish praise) for obeying a command, and isolating him (putting him in “time-out”, either outside the house or in a room by himself) for misbehavior.

- If you’re not entirely confident doing this yourself, you may wish to consider enlisting the assistance of a qualified dog-trainer.

- Brush up on your understanding of canine psychology and communication, so that you understand what he’s trying to say

– This will help you to nip any dominant behaviors in the bud and to communicate your own authority more effectively - Train regularly: keep obedience sessions short and productive (no more than fifteen minutes – maybe two or three of these per day).

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Dog aggression – what can I do about it Dog aggression – what can I do about it

Dog aggression – what can I do about it?

It’s just pretty easy to tell when your dog’s nervy and uneasy when around strange people. The more types and different classes of people and animals he meets (babies, toddlers, teenagers, old people, men, women, people wearing uniforms, people wearing motorcycle helmets, people carrying umbrellas, etc) in a fun and relaxed context, the more at ease and happy – and safe around strangers - he’ll be in general. This is the secret to socializing your dog.

- Aggression towards strangers
- What is it?

It’s pretty easy to tell when a dog’s nervy around strange people. He’s jumpy and on the alert: either he can’t sit still and is constantly fidgeting, leaping at the smallest sound, and pacing around barking and whining; or he’s very still indeed, sitting rock-steady in one place, staring hard at the object of his suspicions (a visitor, the mailman, someone approaching him on the street while he’s tied up outside a store.)



Why does it happen? There’s one major reason why a dog doesn’t like strange people: he’s never had the chance to get used to them. Remember, your dog relies 100% on you to broaden his horizons for him: without being taken on lots of outings to see the world and realize for himself, through consistent and positive experiences, that the unknown doesn’t necessarily equal bad news for him, how can he realistically be expected to relax in an unfamiliar situation?

What can I do about it?

The process of accustoming your dog to the world and all the strange people (and animals) that it contains is called socialization. This is an incredibly important aspect of your dog’s upbringing: in fact, it’s pretty hard to overemphasize just how important it is. Socializing your dog means exposing him from a young age (generally speaking, as soon as he’s had his vaccinations) to a wide variety of new experiences, new people, and new animals.

How does socialization prevent stranger aggression?

When you socialize your dog, you’re getting him to learn through experience that new sights and sounds are fun, not scary. It’s not enough to expose an adult dog to a crowd of unfamiliar people and tell him to “Settle down, Roxy, its OK” – he has to learn that it’s OK for himself. And he needs to do it from puppy hood for the lesson to sink in.

The more types of people and animals he meets (babies, toddlers, teenagers, old people, men, women, people wearing uniforms, people wearing motorcycle helmets, people carrying umbrellas, etc) in a fun and relaxed context, the more at ease and happy – and safe around strangers - he’ll be in general.

How can I socialize my dog so that he doesn’t develop a fear of strangers?

Socializing your dog is pretty easy to do – it’s more of a general effort than a specific training regimen. First of all, you should take him to puppy preschool. This is a generic term for a series of easy group-training classes for puppies (often performed at the vet clinic, which has the additional benefit of teaching your dog positive associations with the vet!). In a puppy preschool class, about ten or so puppy owners get together with a qualified trainer (often there’ll be at least two trainers present – the more there are, the better, since it means you get more one-on-one time with a professional) and start teaching their puppies the basic obedience commands: sit, stay, and so on.

Even though the obedience work is very helpful and is a great way to start your puppy on the road to being a trustworthy adult dog, really the best part of puppy preschool is the play sessions: several times throughout the class, the puppies are encouraged to run around off-leash and play amongst themselves.

This is an ideal environment for them to learn good social skills: there’s a whole bunch of unfamiliar dogs present (which teaches them how to interact with strange dogs), there’s a whole bunch of unfamiliar people present (which teaches them that new faces are nothing to be afraid of), and the environment is safe and controlled (there’s at least one certified trainer present to make sure that things don’t get out of hand).

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