Of the various types of aggression issue dogs may have, aggression towards people tops the list as the worst of these issues. A dog that has begun acting aggressively towards people may be just one step away from biting a family member or a visitor to your home.
You will need to correct your dogs behavior if you see it displaying aggression towards people. Usually a dog will have a reason that has resulted in his becoming aggressive. Often the reason for aggression towards people is that the dog has been previously abused by a former master or someone else.
It is pretty easy to be aware of a dog that is showing signs of aggression. The dog will be snarling or growling while displaying his teeth. In addition, it may raise the hackles on his back, bark and even make a lunge while snapping his teeth. At this stage of aggression there is a possibility that the dog will soon bite, unless the situation is defused.
For a dog to become this aggressive towards people, it has usually arrived at the its level of aggression because of some type of negative conditioning. If you use positive conditioning techniques to regain your dog’s trust and confidence about people, you can gradually relieve your dog of his aggression problem towards people.
Do not let your aggressive dog run loose until you have retrained him not to be aggressive towards people. Keep your aggressive dog inside a fenced yard or on a lead so that he cannot run loose and possibly attack somebody passing by.
Use this following training advice to correct your dog’s aggression. To get started, bring your dog with you on a visit to a friend of yours-someone who maybe your dog already knows may work best. By meeting away from your dog’s own territory, you are decreasing some of his aggressive tendencies. Make sure you have your dog’s leash already on him when you begin the training. The leash gives you the control you will need in case your dog decides to lunge at your friend. In case your dog does act aggressively towards your friend, you should immediately calm him down with a firm “no” and put him back into his sit position. You do not want to loose your cool and yell or hit your dog if he does act aggressive. Doing that will only negatively impact your training efforts, by keeping your dog tense.
Do not give him any praise or affection or a treat until he has resumed a relaxed sitting position. If he is doing the right thing, sitting in a relaxed posture, now is the right time to reinforce him with praise and a treat. By only praising and rewarding the behaviors you want, you are using positive reinforcement to get the responses form your dog that you want to see. When your dog shows any aggression at all, you must repeat this step to get it to eventually sink in. The positive conditioning works because you are gradually desensitizing your dog’s fear of people and his response of aggression towards them.
You will have to give your dog repeated training sessions for this training to work. Once your dog is relaxed around your friend, you can try the training with different people, until he can meet a new person without getting aggressive.
Until later in his training just introduce him to 1 new person at a time. too many people could make it difficult for your dog to relax. Once your dog has shown he can remain calm when meeting a variety of new people one on one, you may increase the amount of people around during the training. Of course, you want him to be comfortable around groups of people in every social situation, so he can be part of the family.
These simple steps should help you correct your dog’s aggression towards people, and teach him that he can relax around your friends and family. Not only is the training going to help your dog, you will finally have a pet that you know won’t be a problem and a hazard to your family and visitors, and you can begin to enjoy your dog’s company a lot more. Now you can enjoy bringing your dog to social situations, rather than always having to leave him behind.
Read more articles on solving dog aggression problems towards other dogs, dog fear aggression and dog aggression over food as well as many other articles with helpful dog obedience training advice at http:// www.Behave Doggy.com.
Please click here to read my full review of the best on-line dog training program.
I
Recommended Reading
