Aggression

Have you ever met a dog with aggression? Does your dog or do you know a dog that has aggression?

My Story

First off, I have lots of compassion for my canine friends. One of my family members rescued a boarder collie mix. The first time I met her was like this: I drove up and parked the car, got out and the dog ran up, more like charged me. She began to bark as if she would bite me if I took one more step. The owner came out and called her off.
I had to share with them that if this was not taken care of NOW it would only get worse. But they didn't know how, and they didnt want help. She did get worse.
One day the owner took her for a run. A dog off leash came running up to say hi. Her dog began to fight this dog. She was now dog aggressive. The owner never took her for a run again.

On a given weekend I was taking care of the dog so the owners could go away to a  place they couldn't take the dog. I have taken care of her before, no big deal. But this time it was different.
I take full responsibility for what happened, because as a dog trainer, I knew better. I have to think like a trainer every time I'm with a dog, even a family dog.
This one day i decided to take her to the river. Didn't know if she liked water or not. I made a leash out of rope. She loves to ride in the truck so away we went.
When we got to the park/river I put on my home made leash and we walked on the grass near the path. As soon as she saw another dog, she wanted to kill. She lunged and pulled me down and tried to get out of the leash by twisting all around. She was barking with her teeth showing and her hair on her back up. I jumped on her with my body so she couldn't get away. I waited till she calmed down then we left.  I am sure people at the park were not sure how this would go. They just kept walking by.
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What i did wrong was to take her into the "war zone" too fast.. It needs to be done in small steps, not one big jump. Every dog has a behavior threshold and i did not take the time to find hers. Big mistake on my part.
As a rescue dog i didn't know her past. But i can say that she did not have the leadership she needed to feel safe. She took the lead some where along the way and started to get issues because of it.

ISSUES
Most dogs are born naturally balanced. In nature the dog packs spend their days in peace and fulfillment. If any dog in the pack becomes unstable, that dog will be forced to leave the pack or will be taken out by the other pack members. It sounds harsh, but it's the way of ensuring that the pack survive for future generations.

When we adopt dogs and bring them into our lives and homes, most of the time we have the dogs best interest at heart. We try to give them what we think they need. The problem is that we are making assumptions based not on what dogs need but on what we need. That is humanizing dogs. By doing this we damage them psychologically. Unless we know how not to do this, it happens unknowingly. This is how issues begin. It begins with an imbalance of information from us to our dogs.

Aggression is the outcome of issues not taken care of right away. The dogs frustrated energy has no release. Aggression escalates if left unchecked. The worst case would be your dog bites someone. My hope is that every person with a dog would take more seriously the early signs of aggression and seek a professional right away.

Dominance Aggression
Aggression is not a natural state of being for a dog, but dominance is for some dogs. The dog may be high-energy and that has to be taken care of right away. What this all means is that you have to be a very reliable source of calm-assertive pack leadership, 100%  of every day. A leader is a leader around the clock, no matter how tired you may be or if you want to watch a game on tv. You have to continue to send that calm leadership energy to your dog.

High energy dogs must be given many ways to release it. If they don't get enough physical and mental challenges they can indeed become very dangerous animals. If we bring a dog into our lives we must provide the stimulation and the challenge they need.

Contrary to what many people believe, there is no such thing as an aggressive breed. There are powerful breeds such as pit bulls, Rottweilers, German shepherds. But it's up to the pack leader of the breed to direct that energy into healthy outlets. If you have a powerful breed make sure you are the pack leader. Think long and hard about the dog or dogs you live with. If you can't handle them at all times and in all situations, it's not good for you, your dog, and society.

Humans can worsen dominant aggression in a number of ways. The first is by allowing dominance in the first place. Remember, if you don't set the agenda for the things you do with and for your dog, then she is the pack leader! Another way is by playing dominance games and letting the dog win. If you play tug of war with your puppy make sure you win the game. If she gets used to winning, she may begin to see this as a sign of her dominance over you. Also roughhousing with puppies or grown dogs, can be laying a groundwork for aggression problems later on. If your dog starts to get possessive or growls during a play fight you could be creating a problem. Stop this play right away and don't play it any more.

Fearful Aggression
Most aggression is caused by fear. Often, fearful aggression will begin with just a snarl or showing his teeth. If your dog shows these signs when you take him to the groomer or when you try to get her out from behind the couch, your dog and you need help, now. Like all forms of aggression, fear aggression always escalates.
The dog learns he can keep people away by showing his teeth. This behavior will escalate and soon he will be nipping. Their goal is for you to go away and leave them alone. But, any aggression can turn into something worse quickly. Your dog is unbalanced and needs help.

Now I will remind you again....one of the most common ways a dogs mind gets unstable, is when we share affection at the wrong time. Affection is great, but when we give affection to a dog that is unstable his mind interprets it as "its good to be unstable, i get affection". I know it's hard to understand, but we need to hold back on affection sometimes. This is dog psychology. Aggressive dogs are not healed because we love them.
Love is not meant to enhance instability. Love is meant to reward stability. Give your dog as much love as you possibly can muster up. Just do it at the right time! Dogs need leadership before affection. Let the affection be the reward for good behavior.

Never attempt to handle an aggressive dog on your own. Call in a professional dog trainer or animal behaviorist, for the good of both you and your dog.