The majority of training regiments will include positive reinforcement – the process of providing treats and praise to a dog when they act as you want them to act. One common way to do this is to have your dog on a leash and stand far away from the source of aggression.
Give your dog treats and praise and then move closer to the source of aggression. They will eventually start to see that source of aggression as a source of reward and get excited rather than angry when they see it.
The important thing to remember here is that your dog will not react well to negative reinforcement. Punishment will escalate and can result in aggression or violence. You might even cause your dog to bite, as most aggression is a result of fear and anxiety – violence and anger only heighten that fear.
Additionally, never punish a dog for growling. That growling is scary, but it is a warning sign of discomfort. If you remove it, your dog may simply bite instead without the warning needed to remove them from the situation.
Food Aggression – If your dog shows signs of food aggression, there are a few things you should do. To start with, never punish the dog for that aggression. Instead, you need to retrain them to think differently. This starts by setting up a feeding schedule. Stop filling the bowl at all times, and start feeding them only 2-3 times a day with the same amount of food.
By becoming the source of the food, they look to you for the food rather than attempting to protect what they feel is theirs. Additionally, you can try feeding your dog in a different room to remove the sense of ownership over that location, and you should always remove any other dogs from the room and feed them separately if necessary.
Aggression with Other Dogs – Another common source of aggression is towards other dogs. If you have another dog in your home, this can be resolved by going on a walk together and letting them get to know each other on leashes. If the dogs have been around each other for some time, it can be a sign that your dogs do not have a clear leader in their pack and are fighting with each other for that role.
When this happens, you need to step up and take the alpha leadership position. Often times, simply by showing clear leadership, you can negate any negative behaviours in the dogs of your home towards each other.
Avoid Rewarding the Behaviour – The number one thing that all dog owners need to remember is that aggression is not acceptable and cannot be allowed. If your dog snaps at someone, don‟t pet them afterwards or try to be reassuring. It will only reinstall the behaviour. Don‟t punish them either as it can be confusing and create worse situations. Your goal should be to address correcting the behaviour, not directly reacting to it.
As you can see, there are many ways a dog might exhibit aggressive behaviour and many ways to stall or eliminate that behaviour. The one constant among it all is the need of the owner to be consistent in their actions and to provide strong, alpha leadership for the dog. Training your dog through obedience training is another important step as well.
