JAck Russell Terrier

By Sandra Scott

Aggression is instinctive for dogs and everyone is aware that dogs can badly hurt people and other animals. Thankfully, there are ways for dog owners to prevent dog aggression. It is essential that dog owners who have an aggressive dog make sure that he is given obedience training, before he harms you or a member of your family.

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The most common types of aggressive dog behavior are aggression towards strangers, and aggression towards family members. These two types of dog aggression happen for different reasons so must be treated differently.

Aggression Towards Strangers

Dogs will often dislike strangers and other animals until they have a chance to get used to being around them. Getting dogs accustomed to being with people and animals they don’t know is called socialization. Socialization is a vital component of training your dog. You’re probably wondering how socialization can prevent an aggressive dog from attacking the mailman or pizza delivery boy. A dog that has been socialized will start to understand that these new encounters can be pleasurable instead of being frightening.

Your dog needs to learn this lesson as a puppy. The more your dog is introduced to various kinds of people (for example, men in uniform, elderly people, young children, teens, people carrying umbrellas or wearing helmets in peaceful and enjoyable surroundings, the less aggressive your dog is likely to be with strangers.

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Puppy group training courses (often held at pet stores or at a vet clinic) are an excellent place to socialize your pup in a controlled environment. During these sessions, your pup will be taught how to interact with other dogs. He will also realize that there is no reason for him to be afraid of the unfamiliar people at these sessions. Make sure you don’t overwhelm him – let your dog’s comfort level increase gradually.

Aggression Towards Family Members

Dogs are often aggressive to their human family members for the following reasons:

• Your pooch is guarding his belongings from a perceived threat (in his mind, that’s you!). Resource guarding is quite usual behavior for dogs.

• Dogs being pack animals show dominant behavior according to where they see themselves ranked in the pecking order of the household. To your dog, your family structure is no different from that of a dog pack. Dogs that perceive their ranking in the hierarchy to be higher than their owner or family members are likely to show aggressive behavior.

As a lower ranked dog wouldn’t behave in an aggressive manner towards a dog that was higher in the pecking order, resource guarding is a clear indication of dominant behavior.

Providing consistent dog training is the best way to stop dog aggression issues, which will ensure that your dog understands that you are the “top dog”. Your “alpha dog” status can be reinforced with rewards such as treats and praise when he reacts appropriately to a command, and with “time-out” for bad dog behavior.

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You’ve probably heard it a hundred times: “Don’t bother the dog while he’s eating.”  This is probably good advice for small children who shouldn’t be trying to play with the dog at mealtime.  However, a dog that’s always by himself when he eats may be learning a lesson about food aggression in dogs that you’d rather he didn’t.

In the wild, the leader of the dog pack is always the first one to eat, usually by himself.  It’s easy for your dog to get the wrong idea if you always leave him alone at mealtime.  This can lead to aggressive dog behavior in the form of him snapping or growling at anyone who ventures too close while he’s eating.

Don’t Let Dog Food Aggression Get Started

When your dog is still a puppy, always feed him after you and your family have already eaten.  This reinforces the idea for him that you and your family members all rank above him in the pack.

When you feed your puppy, anyone should be able to approach him while he’s eating.  Slipping a little treat into his bowl teaches him that it’s good for someone to get close.

Four Steps To Control Food Aggression In Dogs

An older dog who is already using aggressive dog behavior to protect his food will require different training.

Spend about ten to fourteen days on each of these steps.Do these things every time your feed your dog.  If your dog is extremely aggressive around food, you may need to keep him on a leash for your own protection.  

The first thing you’ll do is to put his food dish away for a couple of weeks.  Your dog will be eating out of your hand for a while.  Feed him just a few pieces of dog food at a time, until his meal is finished.

After a couple of weeks, you can progress to the next stop.  Get out your dog’s food bowl again, but don’t put anything in it.  After a while, walk by and drop a couple of pieces of kibble in it.  When he eats it, keep adding small handfuls of food every couple of minutes until his meal is finished.  At this point, he’ll probably be begging you to walk up to his bowl.

In about ten days, you’ll progress to putting a half-filled bowl of dog food on the floor.  Walk up to him as he’s eating, and as you go by, drop in a couple of treats.  Then walk up again and add the rest of his food.

The last step is to put a full bowl of food down for him while he’s obeying the sit-stay command.  He does not eat until you release him.  This is where the leash comes in handy, as you have control over him for this step, but hopefully you won’t need to use it.  Once or twice a week, call him over to you while he’s eating and reward him with a treat he really likes.  

Always use the sit-stay, wait, and take-it commands when you feed him so that your dog understands that you’re in charge of the food.  This reinforces your status as the alpha dog for him.

If your dog reverts to his old dog food aggression behavior, start again at step one.  

Look For A Good Dog Training Course

Food aggression in dogs is a dominance issue that’s usually a symptom of other problems in the relationship between the owner and the dog.Seek guidance from a good basic dog obedience course.  

A consultation with an experienced dog trainer should be included in the course.  Check for testimonials from satisfied customers who have used the course material already.

Take this advice to begin solving your problem with dog food aggression now.

Tell me, does this describe your dog?  Whenever somebody comes to your door, your dog puts on a big show of barking and acting brave, but all the time he’s backing up.If an unfamiliar person approaches, he’ll retreat to a safe place, while carefully watching this suspicious intruder.  These are signs of fear aggression in dogs.

If you don’t deal with this problem now, it will only get worse as your dog gets older.  In this article, we’ll take a look at what causes this type of aggressive behavior in dogs, and what to do about it.

Causes of Fear Aggression In Dogs

One of the main causes of this kind of canine aggression is a lack of socialization when your dog was younger.  If your dog doesn’t have lots of opportunities to interact with unfamiliar people and other dogs when he’s between the ages of three and twelve weeks, he’ll have a hard time trusting people and dogs he doesn’t know.  

Unfortunately, another reason for this fearful behavior is that your dog was abused at some point in his life.A dog that has suffered abuse will need lots of love and attention to overcome his mistrust and fearfulness.

Herding breeds tend to be more prone to developing fearfulness than other breeds of dogs.  This aggressive dog behavior tends to run in certain breed lines, too.  

Hormonal imbalances may be a factor.  A dog with borderline hypothyroidism (low thyroid hormones) may be anxious and fearful.  Thyroid treatment is helpful in these cases.

Will This Type of Fearful Canine Aggression Go Away On Its Own?

Unfortunately, no.  A fearful dog may learn that he can intimidate people by barking at them.  Once he figures out that this works very well, his behavior will get worse, especially around people who are scared of dogs anyway.  

A dog may be so successful in hiding his fearfulness with a veneer of aggression that it’s hard to tell that the fear is what’s driving his bad dog behaviors.

How Can I Train A Dog With Fear Aggression?

A reward-based technique is usually the best way to deal with aggressive behavior in dogs that’s caused by fear.  If your dog doesn’t like people, you need to figure out how to teach him that this stranger really does like dogs, and if you dog gets close to him, he’ll give your pup a treat.  

You need a volunteer for this, someone who’s very patient with dogs.  Have your friend sit in a chair and scatter dry food around it.It’s up to your dog to either get closer or farther away.Your dog will eventually get close enough to get the food.  

The next time, have your friend hold the kibble in his hand.  Be patient and let the dog come to him to get the treat.  Don’t pay any attention to the dog if he’s acting fearful.Don’t reward his bad dog behavior with your attention by either reassuring him or punishing him when he’s displaying fear-based aggression. The time to praise your dog is when he approaches close enough to get the food.

You can see that dealing with fear aggression in dogs can be a long and difficult process.  A good dog training course can be a very helpful guide when working with a fearful dog.Choose a course that includes a free consultation with a dog trainer with years of experience.

Tell me, does this describe your dog?  He’s very attached to you, but is leery of strangers,  He may go as far as growling and snapping at unfamiliar people or dogs who get too close.  Friends say he’s a “one-person dog,” but actually he’s a shy or fearful dog.

It’s important to work on training shy dog before his behavior escalates to fear aggression in dogs.  This type of aggressive dog behavior is characterized at first by growling at people he doesn’t know, and can quickly progress to snapping and biting.

Why Is My Dog Shy?

Sometimes a dog is shy or fearful of strangers due to a bad experience somewhere along the line.  Some cases are due to genetics.  But most cases of shyness in dogs are caused by one thing; neglecting to socialize a puppy in his first few months of life.  It’s also very important not to stop socializing your dog too soon, as many dogs go through a shy period around six months of age.

Are You Teaching Your Dog To Be Shy?

Speaking softly and reassuringly to your fearful dog in an attempt to calm him down is a mistake.First, your dog is learning that if he hides, growls, and even snaps at someone, you’ll reward him with your praise and attention. 

Second, listen to how your voice sounds when reassuring your pooch.  To your canine, it sounds like a dog’s whimper.Your dog is attuned to the sound of your voice, even though he can’t understand what you’re saying.Your dog will become even more nervous about the stranger because he thinks your voice is a whimper.

Training Your Shy Dog

Socializing your dog when he’s a puppy is the best way to prevent your canine from becoming a shy dog.  He needs to be exposed to a wide variety of people, places, and dogs so that he can learn through experience that there’s nothing to be scared of.

If your canine friend is already a shy adult, it’s still possible to socialize your dog.  It takes longer, and you’ll need lots of patience, but  it can be done. 

The important thing to remember with training shy dog is not to rush him.  If you try to force him into socializing with unfamiliar people or dogs, all you’ll do is reinforce his belief that these things are scary.  Plus he may feel that he has no choice but to defend himself, which leads to aggressive dog behavior.

It’s not a good idea to allow a stranger to approach your dog and try to pet him.  Let your dog make the first move.  If he doesn’t want to, that’s fine.  If he’s hiding, don’t try to coax him out, as he’ll think you’re praising him for hiding out.

Ignore your dog when he acts shy or scared around strange people or dogs.  Keep him on his leash, and don’t let him get close enough to start displaying fear aggression in dogs.  Let him hang back and check out the situation from a distance.  When he’s ready, he’ll get closer on his own to the stranger.  This is when you praise him lavishly.

A Good Dog Training Course Can Work Wonders With A Shy Dog

You can see how easy it is to give your dog the wrong idea.  The fact is that dogs just don’t think like people do.  Understanding how your dog thinks is crucial to training shy dog properly. 

Investing in a good dog training course is essential.  You’ll want to find out what other dog owners who have used the course think of it.You’ll want to check for testimonials from people who have used the course to see how satisfied they are with it. 

You’ll also want to look for a course than includes a free consultation with an experienced dog trainer.  This benefit alone may pay for the cost of the course. 

Believe me, once your start to apply this advice, your problem with your fearful dog will be solved.

Visit No More Bad Dogs for resources to help your fearful dog.

At the start you may enjoy your puppy jumping up. “Oh, how cute”. But it’s not so amusing when your fully grown dog begins to jump up on people with dirty paws – very embarrassing. So I recommend that you stop this inappropriate behavior while he is still young. It’s a big mistake to encourage it and then later have to try to stop the behavior.

The most usual circumstance for this behavior is when someone enters your home or when you come across someone while you’re taking your dog for a walk. So, it’s a good idea to train your dog to sit in these circumstances.

Often the jumping up is a greeting but in some circumstances it can be that your dog is trying to become dominant over you. Other problem behaviors can be caused by dominance and this should be prevented. The ideal situation is that you are always the dominant one, the alpha dog.

You need to understand the principle of positive reinforcement. This can be tasty treats or praise and affection. You have to stop giving any reward for this behavior. So instead of giving your dog a lot of affection as he jumps up, you must ignore him as long as he is excited. Avoid giving him any eye contact.

Instead, when he is no longer excited and has all his feet on the ground you can give him affection.

Hopefully, your dog may already sit on command. If so it’s a good idea to get him to sit as your enter the house or as guests arrive. As soon as he sits, give him a affection or a tasty treat. If you haven’t already trained him to sit, you should work on this and other obedience training. Start training him in obedience with short sessions away from distractions. Make sure you and your dog have fun in your training sessions.

It’s important that you get everyone’s cooperation who comes into contact with your dog, so that they don’t upset all your work. Get them to agree not to enthusiastically greet your dog. They should not give eye contact to your dog.

Initially, it may be worth putting your dog in another room when visitors arrive, so that you avoid the stimulating situation at the door.

I hope that this helps with the dog jumping up problem. Read more about other problems in dog behavior such as dog aggression.