Aggression - what should I do and how can I stop it?

AGGRESSION - an aggressive dog, is an unhappy dog!

What is it? Well we could say that it is an inappropriate response to something that causes you concern.  With your dog that could be just barking or it could be something much worse…..like a baring of teeth or a bite. And what level of a bite?  Is it just mouthing or as some would say puppy biting or something much worse.

Usually we see the word aggression used when a dog has “gone for” another dog or person.  But we have reason to believe that the law goes much further than that and under the Dangerous Dog Act of 1990, a person only has to show that he or she was afraid for the law to kick in and you as the owner are in deep trouble.  So it is our responsibility as dog owners not to put our dog into a situation that it cannot cope with.

 For example, you know that your dog cannot cope with lots of excited children running about – so don’t take them to a place where they have to face that.  Your dog does not like walking along a road – the noise of the traffic is too much for him – so avoid this as much as possible.  If you have to walk along a road, then choose your time and try and act as matter as fact as you can.  Your dog hates dogs rushing up into his space – so don’t take him to the park on a Sunday afternoon, where he is likely to meet lots of “out of control” dogs. It is up to us to allow our dogs to cope with what they can and not expect too much of them.  This should not be a problem until you find that you cannot take your dog anywhere at all.  Then it is a problem and it is up to you to try and do something about it. 

Firstly, does your dog believe that you have the right to lead him??

Are you really the leader of his pack? If you have any doubts and by now you will have had the opportunity to discuss this with us, then you need to read our flyer “Are you the leader your dog deserves?” and then put into practice each of the 4 steps listed there. No point in only doing one or two, you need to do all four because it works.

Remember your dog needs a leader and if you fail to be his, then he has to take all the decisions in the pack including dealing with all those silly people who want to pat him on the head, allow their dogs to jump all over him and generally control who comes to the “den”. You have given him that right and you need to take that back.  After all how can he make decisions like that when he is just a dog?   And once you have regained control, then you will see that he starts to relax a lot more, may even put on a bit of weight – he has stopped worrying and start to play and enjoy life again.  And even better, the aggression has stopped.

In our experience, aggression is usually caused by FEAR but not necessarily fear of what is actually happening at that moment but fear of the consequences of what might happen.  A young puppy that has been properly socialised will have less fear than one that has not. But fear is normal that is how they learn so we need to be careful how we react when they are fearful. A mother dog is usually brilliant at bringing up her young – but then we interfere and “screw” it up. Take for an example, the young dog the first time it is frightened, what we do – try and reassure it and pet it.  But in fact you need to be saying – oh dear never mind, lets go and move off in another direction – certainly not bending over and making a fuss – to a dog it seems as though you are telling it that it is ok to be worried and so next time, it will look to you and start shaking – you then reassure it and wham – you have reinforced the reaction which soon becomes the norm.  We are all guilty of this especially when you see your precious dog scared, being beaten up by the local bully dog, or showing fear of fireworks or thunderstorms.

Training is fine but we need the dog to learn how to react when you are not giving it a command. That is behaviour and that is learnt by example and by experience.  So we need to get your dog to make better decisions, in a safe and secure environment which we can control.  To do this, we use our trained teaching dogs to help your dog and we will help you know that you are making the right confident decisions.  There will be a lot of laughs, lot of hard work, but the hardest thing you did was come here today and ask for help. Now you can see that you are amongst friends who are all in the same boat as you. We can all help each other and your dog can learn to relax and just be a dog.

©walkaboutgroup.co.uk 2010

Initially we suggest a 121 meeting with the trainers and their teaching dogs.  Here you will have the opportunity to discuss all your worries and fears about your dog's problems without feeling as though you are being judged. We can carefully assess your dog and discuss all the ways you may have tried so far. Then working with you we can discover what we should do next which is suitable for you and your dog. A 121 meeting can be booked most days of the week and with the longer evenings during the summer, some evening sessions can be booked. 

Once you have been to our initial meeting, we can offer you lots more support to practice, so dont leave it, call now to book your first meeting.  You can be assured of a warm friendly welcome.