Aggressive Dogs and How to Rehabilitate Them

If you own a dog, you have probably seen your cuddly pet do things you've never really understood. Ever notice your dog turn into a feisty pet at the most inopportune moment. It could be around your guest, around other pets and even around members of your family.

Dogs who suffer from aggression adopted this behavior from thousands of years ago. This is because their ancestors helped wild dogs form hunting down packs that can bring down their game. Your dog will never outgrow this characteristic. On the other hand, your dog can be trained out of this habit.

Keep in mind that aggressive dog behavior doesn't come from our behavior. That means that dressing them up in cute little dog clothes will not help make a dog more human like. Also, be aware that a dog can read a person’s body language as a test of dominance. Your dog is working hard to mold you a new position in the hierarchy of the pack.

Many dogs are okay with allowing their 2-legged pack mates handle things for them so-to-speak. When puppies socialize, they connect to us the exact way they normally would bond to a large dog in the pack in the wild. They basically get rebuked as well as rewarded. As a result, they learn about good dog behavior

When your dog gets his instruction mixed up and doesn't notice the family members within a home as being the leader in the pack. So, basically, the dog takes full advantage of his aggression so that he can intimidate the true leader into doing what he wants, instead of the opposite.

This type of behavior happens when an animal is being overly protective their dog beds, his food and the kind of dog clothes you make him wear. Your dog isn’t against the kind of clothes he’s wearing and he’s not complaining about his dog bed, he just doesn’t want to be obedient to you.

This is very foreign to many dog owners, who expect that by showing the dog love and affection that the dog will respond to this the same way a human being would. Rectifying this problem is not an overnight process. This normally begins when the dog is between 1 – 2 years of age. So he needs to be restrained as soon as possible.

If you are noticing this pattern of behavior, take your dog to his veterinarian. Make sure that he is physically examined; there are some health issues that can trigger canine aggression. This includes dental problem, hyperthyroidism, epilepsy, etc. Now, with older dogs, hip dysplasia or arthritis can be a major trigger. If your dog is always in pain, some dogs will take it out as aggression.

If your dog doesn’t have any physical issues, the next thing to do is seek the advice from a dog behavioralist; these are specialists who know exactly how the dog is behaving, and many specialists can read dog body language to find out what’s really going on in their mind and work out a solution for your dog’s situation. Here are a few tips, after checking your dog for medical problems:

• Make sure that you get help early, before the problem gets worse. Even though you can recondition your dog out of bad habits, the longer they are embedded in their mind, the more difficult it is to break.

• Never assume that your dog that growls over a food bowl would never take that aggression out on a person, like a stranger or a small child.

• Make sure that your dog gets plenty of exercise. One of the most common contributing factor to dog aggression is dog’s who are locked up in the house all day. Allow your dog to run and exercise – this will make him happy and content. Dog trainers suggest 45 to 60 minutes of exercise to the point where your dog is panting at least two times a day.