People constantly contact me saying they have a "very dominant dog" who is displaying signs of aggression and asking me for some tips on how to deal with these issues. There are no real "tips" that somebody can give to truely address aggression. Without knowing the dog and seeing the relationship between dog and owners, giving out tips would be like emailing your doctor saying that you have a pain in the arm and asking your doctor for tips on how to deal…maybe the doctor can get lucky and hit the nail on the head, more likely the tips you get will be dangerous and can cause more long term damage.
Here is an article I wrote a couple of years ago for the SPCA newsletter. I want to revisit it as the information contained is as relevant then as it is now. As always, any questions or feedback, fire away.
Aggression, dominance, alpha...all buzz words that send shivers through some dog owners and make the general public want to jump the gun and see a black and white solution to a very grey problem when it comes to dealing with our four legged companions. People are all too quick to label a dog as too “aggressive” or “dominant” to be trustworthy and automatically jump to putting the dog to sleep without trying to gain a very real understanding on what is going through a dog’s head in the first place and realizing that other options do exist. In this article, I want to address some misconceptions about aggression and offer some advice to owners dealing with these issues.
Firstly, dominance and aggression are often very confused and should rarely be intertwined as a truly dominant dog is seldom aggressive. Matter of fact, a truly dominant dog rarely displays aggressive tendencies as they serve no purpose.
Secondly, aggression has nothing to do with breed. Studies show that 1 percent of the dogs of any breed show aggressive tendencies
Third, most behavioral problems including aggression originate with the dog owner and not the dog. Bad behavior is often encouraged even though most owners are well intentioned. Owners need to realize that aggressive behavior is rarely random nor spontaneous.
So what is the best way to prevent your dog from developing aggressive tendencies? Early, extensive and proper socialization of your dog around all different kinds of people and other animals is a must. As well, a good obedience course can teach you and your dog so much.
What do you do if your dog is exhibiting signs of aggression? Deal with it immediately. Manage your dog’s environment, consult a quality trainer who uses a program to deal with the behavior that is based on structure, exercise, proper socialization, counterconditioning and systematic desensitization. With tools such as these and with a dog owner’s proper commitment to them, most dogs can go on toward a proper rehabilitation and lead happy and healthy lives