Treating your dog's aggression begins by determining the type of aggression. The cause will determine the method used to change the behavior. There are four common ways to treat aggression: avoiding situations that cause an aggressive response, training, drugs that alter behavior and spaying/neutering the pet. It is best to work with a trained, reputable professional in correcting aggressive behavior, while avoiding those "trainers" who use brutal approaches to "correct" behavior. Physical punishments are likely to only make your dog's behavior worse.
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Medical Issues
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More than half of dogs who visit a veterinarian because of a behavioral issue have a medical condition that may be contributing to their aggression. The first step in treating your dog's aggression is to rule out the possibility that a medical issue is causing the behavior. Medical issues that might cause a dog to behave aggressively include injury, dental problems, bad eyesight, joint pain, hypothyroidism, pain, brain chemistry imbalance, encephalitis distemper, hypoglycemia, epilepsy, brain tumor and head trauma.
Dominance Aggression
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Dominance aggression is the most common type of aggression. A dog who is exhibiting dominance aggression growls, snarls, snaps and bites the people (or dog) to whom she is closest---usually having a major conflict with the person she feels is closest to her in "rank." The dog's posture is confident and she is likely to exhibit aggression when her guardian stares at her or scolds her, when she is disturbed while resting, when she is touched and when she is approached while eating or playing with a toy she values. Trainers generally recommend the dog's interaction cease with everyone except the family member with whom she has the conflict. The dog is made to be dependent upon the one person with whom she has the conflict for everything---food, water, exercise, praise, affection and play. The person must train the dog to go into submissive positions, such as sit and down, on command. It is always best to work with a professional in training the dominantly aggressive dog.
Fear Aggression
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While every type of aggression should be dealt with by a trained professional, it is especially important with the fear aggressive dog. This dog becomes aggressive when he is frightened. He may snap, growl and attempt to escape from whatever is scaring him. His voice may change pitch and volume and he may urinate or defecate. His head and body will be lowered and often his ears will be flat. His hackles will raise, his muzzle will wrinkle and he will snarl. He does not want to confront what is frightening him and will attempt to back up. However, if he is cornered, or perceives that he is cornered, he will bite. Fear aggression is caused by socialization, temperament, abuse, genetics, training and other factors. If strangers elicit fear aggression in your dog, trainers generally recommend exposing him to strangers in a safe, positive, upbeat manner. Your dog will look to you to determine whether he should be frightened. If you are nervous about your dog meeting new people, your dog is likely to pick up on the signal, which will cause him to be more frightened and become more aggressive.
Territorial Aggression
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A dog that is territorially aggressive protects what is hers, even at inappropriate times. She may protect her person, home, neighborhood or car. She will often be friendly on neutral territory, however. With a territorially aggressive dog, avoid situations that cause her to misbehave. If your dog barks and growls when you open the door and will not respond to your commands to stop, put her behind closed doors or in a crate before opening the door. Banish her from situations that elicit the aggressive response until she is calm and can respond to your verbal cues. If your have a territorially aggressive dog, you should display a "Beware of Dog" sign.
Preventing Aggression
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Prevention is always better than treatment. If you have a young dog, especially a puppy, there are many steps you can take now to ensure that your dog grows up without aggressive tendencies. Puppies need to be socialized to people and other dogs beginning at about 3 weeks of age---this is when they first begin to see and hear. The socialization should continue until they are at least 14 weeks old. Between the ages of 8 and 10 weeks, puppies go through a fearful period. During this time they should not be harshly disciplined and they should be handled gently by adults and children. During these few weeks, they are imprinting behaviors they will carry with them for a lifetime. If puppies aren't socialized by 14 weeks, they may never be completely trustworthy around people and/or dogs. Until they are 14 months old, it's important to continue to introduce them to strangers---men, women, children and other animals. It's also important that some of these introductions take place on the dog's home territory.
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