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Having an aggressive dog is quite a big problem for the owners. Why is your dog barking and attacking strangers? Or chasing cars aggressively? Biting if someone touches his food?
Well, that’s all the expressions of aggressive behavior. Every aggressive dog owner wants to know the tips for correcting bad behavior in dogs. Actually, a proper training routine and approach can solve this problem.
(Learn more tips about dog training and behavior at Loobani)
Now, let’s discuss how to correct aggressive dog behavior more in-depth.
A dog’s aggressive behavior refers to any behavior related to an attack or an impending attack. This includes becoming still and stiff, roaring, roaring, baring teeth, swooping, and biting.
Aggression never runs in your dog’s nature. They don’t born with aggressive issues, it always has a source, so when you see your dog with these issues, your first job should be finding the source, the origin of this behavior, not punishment.
How Do Dogs Express Aggression Physically?
Reading canine body language is crucial while examining their aggressive habitat.
You can usually determine what type of aggression your dog exhibits by observing the dog’s body language. A frightened dog will adopt a submissive posture, may often curl its tail, squat, or otherwise try to avoid contact with strangers, and then suddenly and quickly lash out from the ankle or from behind.
The dominant dog with territorial aggression will expose a dominant habitat, rush at the tourists, bark, and make firm eye contact.
Once you address the aggression reason and form, you’ll cooperate with your vet or a professional dog behaviorist and start correcting unwanted dog behaviors together.
There are several general forms of how your dog expresses aggression:
- Aggressive behavior toward other dogs
- Attacking dog behavior
- Possessive dog behavior
- Barking behavior
- destructive behavior
- Dominant behavior
All of those are types of aggression, so let’s discuss a few dog behavior correction techniques.
Correcting Aggressive Behavior Toward Other Dogs
Several different factors can cause aggression towards other dogs. However, the most common is fear, or a desire to protect you. While these reasons are quite understandable, it’s still important to teach your dog that aggression is wrong. Your dog may also be frustrated, irritable, and aggressive due to a lack of exercise.
No matter how angry you are at your dog’s aggressive behavior, yelling at them will only increase their aggressiveness. Hold your dog firmly, and continue walking calmly.
Also, If your dog can’t see the other dog, they are likely to stay calm. If you cannot get your dog entirely out of sight, just stand in front of your dog to block their presence. This can calm them down because they realize that there is no need to become aggressive.
Familiarizing your dog with meetings with other dogs may reduce their aggressiveness because they know it is unnecessary. Try introducing your dog to other dogs as young as possible in a controlled and calm environment to familiarize them with new dogs.
Correcting Attacking Behavior In A Dog
Similarly, the best way to stop attacks on strangers is to expose your dog to different situations, people, and controlled environments. If an older dog shows aggression towards strangers or attacks, someone, it needs to be trained immediately and work hard to prevent someone from getting injured.
If you have limited experience in training dogs, you may need to hire a professional trainer because this behavior is essential to prevent everyone’s safety. Training to overcome aggression includes socialization, games with other strangers, and dogs. This training will build confidence and control in your dog and prevent attacking strangers.
How To Correct Possessive Dog Behavior
Possessive aggression is expressed when your dog starts aggressively guarding his toys, food bowl, sleeping area, or owner are his own.
When a dog exhibits possessive behavior, he will growl, grit, grumble or attack other pets or people. This way, he is telling you that he feels insecure, pressured, and lacks self-self belief.
The most direct way to control a dog’s possessive behavior is to prevent contact with what he guards.
You can also use doors at home to separate your possessive dog from the resources he might protect.
If your notice your dog being possessive in certain situations, you can manage when and where to let him have his favorite snacks and toys. If there is another animal around, some dogs will protect their food bowl but won’t have any problem eating in the room alone.
Sometimes possessive dogs need basic obedience refresher courses.
Teach the meaning of leave, drop, stop, and part of correcting possessive aggression is done.
Correcting Barking Dog Behavior
In case you think your dog is barking to get your attention, forget about them until they stop. Don’t engage with them: No speak, contact or look. praise them when they finally loosen up and may even seize their breath. correct timing is vital, so make sure you praise and praise your canine only after he receives quiet. in any other case, he’s going to suppose he gets rewards for barking and misbehaving and repeat it.
Another solution is to gradually get your dog used to anything that causes them to bark. Tell him to stop barking. If he stops, give him a lot of snacks and let him see the cause of the barking positively.
Correcting Destructive Dog Behavior
Several reasons cause destructive dog behavior:
- Boredom
- Hyperactivity
- Separation anxiety
- Attention-seeking
Again, if you keep your dog active during the day, give him enough toys, walks, exercises, you will get a calm loving dog at the end of the day. however, we’re busy operating hard to feed those dummies, so we are able to’t spend the whole day around them.
In this case, you need to put away any items that you think are valuable or important to you and that your dog can reach. You need to keep doing this until you feel safe and your dog’s chewing habits focus on the chewing toys.
Keep shoes, socks, and other clothing away. Dirty clothes in the basket and books on the coffee table are perfect targets for dog chewing problems.
Also, make sure your dog or puppy has a lot of chew toys of its own. However, don’t give your dog many toys at a time. Just give them a few and put away the others.
Give your dog new toys occasionally, so they don’t get bored with the same old toy. Be sure to check the toys regularly and throw away any damaged toys to ensure that your dog or puppies will not swallow small parts that may fall off.
Correcting Dominant Behavior In Dogs
The urge for dominance often leads to aggression. What can you do? How can you act?
First of all, you want to deter dominance behavior on your canine maximally. Ignore him, tell him to stop, and if he does, give him praise and treats.
Regular obedience training and intense physical exercise might effectively lower aggression in dominant dogs. Some forms of training may be used as a distraction, diverting the dog’s attention from negative stimuli in a training technique called counterconditioning transfer.
Can Health Problems Cause Aggression In Dogs?
Yes. Medical causes of dog aggression include hypothyroidism, low blood sugar, and brain inflammation. Inflammation of the brain, which occurs in diseases such as encephalitis, is one of the most severe medical causes of aggression in dogs.
So, once you notice a sudden change in dog behavior, take him to the vet immediately. Your dog is probably in ache, and getting mad at him will get worse his state.
Should You Punish Your Dog For Aggression?
No. Punishing your dog for aggressive behavior is usually counterproductive and may increase his aggression.
If you respond to a barking dog by hitting, shouting, or using other disgusting methods, the dog may find it necessary to protect himself by biting you.
Punishment can also cause your dog to bite someone without warning. Some dogs feel uncomfortable around children or strangers. They feel awkward, bark from the fear. Punishment will only worsen his discomfort, and he might even bite someone. So, punishment is never the right way to treat your dog.
Conclusion
To cut it short, aggressive dog behavior correction is an essential part of raising a puppy. You should be aware that others are not scared of you walking with your dog, even off-leash.
Raise your pup in love, attention, affection, and you will likely avoid most of the issues mentioned above.
