Aggressive Dog Training Tips

Having an aggressive dog as a pet is no fun at all. For one, the sweet, nice, obedient, well-trained pet that one looks to find in their pet dog is shot to hell and two, it also makes it clear in the course of the training that a dog who has a lot of aggression in him makes for a very difficult target to train. Not only can you not train the dog effectively well but your entire set routine to train him or the decided goals of what you expected your pet to do are not fulfilled either.

In such a scenario, many of us will think of quitting and not going through the aggressive pet training at all. But that does not have to be the natural course of things. There are ways in which the training for an aggressive dog can be carried out and that is by using certain specialized methods of the same.

Aggressive Dog Behavior

Before starting the training, it is important to know what causes aggression in dogs. This will help you understand your pet better. Some reasons that lead to aggression in dogs are.

• Sometimes, the pet owner's behavior to the pet dog will lead to aggression. This includes instances like - constantly chaining the dog, excessive punishments or poorly feeding the dog.
• Aggression can also come about as a reaction to other dogs and pets. This is because the dog wants to prove its territorial rights and be recognized as the alpha male.
• Being in an unfamiliar situation, surrounded by unknown people might lead to aggression in a dog.
• Suffering from a disease or being affected by an ailment might cause the dog to exhibit aggression as a result of the pain that he is experiencing.

Aggressive Dog Behavior Training

These were some of the reasons that could lead to aggression in a dog. Once you realize that your pet dog has aggression, you will have to carry through training to correct the same.

Prevent Aggression
It is possible to prevent the onset of aggression in your dog from early on. When the dog is new to your family, make sure that you introduce him to a lot of people. This will train the dog to not show aggressive behavior traits when he meets new people or is taken into unfamiliar territories. So also touch him in a cuddling manner as often as you can. This will help the dog to become habituated to being handled.

Recognize Aggression
A dog will exhibit aggression by exhibiting signs like barking, growling, barring his teeth. More subtle signs include - standing rooted to one spot, pinning its ears to the head, stiff body, a hard, long stare. These signs of aggression are given as a signal to tell others to 'back off'. Learn to recognize these signs in the dog.

Never Punish
When a dog shows these signs of aggression, never ever punish him/her. That will only stop the dog from giving any signs and rather leading to a direct attack. Punishing a dog is not the correct way of dealing with aggression.

Stop the Biting
Training a dog when he is a puppy is the best way of ensuring success in training. At this stage, when a puppy starts to administer bites on your hands or nips at your toes playfully, it can lead to the bites developing into something more aggressive. When this happens, use this method for employing effective dog obedience lessons - After he bites you, be firm and say 'NO' loudly. Usually a pup will get the message. But if the biting still does not stop, then put him in a room and lock it for 30 seconds. This will make him realize that this behavior is not acceptable. So also, making the dog understand that you are the alpha leader and not him, is very very important.

Conditioning Behavior
A very popular method that is used in psychology is called the conditioning method. In this, you condition the mind to think in a particular direction. In aggressive dog training, it works this way - if you find that the aggressive behavior of the dog is caused due to territorial aggression and the other presence of dogs, use the same aggression to change his thinking. Associate that aggression towards other dogs to a positive thing. For example, whenever you find that there is barking, fights or the dog lunges at other dogs, simply give him a treat. With every incident that this happens and you give him food in the form of a treat, he will start associating the presence of other dogs to being treated and the time will come when he will no longer bark at other dogs but simply expect a treat when other dogs come onto the scene, thus changing his behavior for the better.

Reinforcing Good Behavior
Whenever your dog follows an order or behaves according to the way in which he is trained, reward him. This will help to reinforce the good behavior and ensure continued good behavior.

Dog Training Class
It is always a good idea to sign up a new puppy for a behavior training class. This is because , the trainers are professionals who can teach your dog the proper and right manner of behavior. The practice and bringing the behavior into practice can be done by you at home.

These were some training tips that you can use for effectively training an aggressive dog. Be assured that if you train your dog well, the returns of having a well trained, obedient and well behaved pet are incomparable. And will lend you many moments of happiness and stress busting activities.