Aggressive dog behavior can be attributed to a lot of reasons. A common issue is related to the dominance battle between you and your dog; another could be triggered from when the dog was a puppy and that was not dealt with therefore triggering aggression. The secret to handling aggressive dog behavior is to address it soonest possible because prolonged aggression in dogs can get uncontrollable, scary and very dangerous if ignored.
Aggressive Behavior in Dogs – How it Starts
Aggression in dogs starts when it’s a puppy, 6 weeks old, which is a critical age for socialization with other dogs. At this age, the dog needs to be trained appropriately to stop them from biting items and people! Socialization should be conducted until the 14th week and possibly even beyond that to ensure the best behavior.
What this means is that: First, a puppy should not be taken away from the litter before it is 8 weeks old. Avoid using harsh disciplinary words and actions towards a puppy who is 8 to 10 weeks. Instead be very gentle at this crucial age. Aggression is only enhanced when you yell at, hit or punish the young dog in this crucial period in its life.
The ideal dog needs to have gone through the proper socialization training to exist with other dogs and people no less than 14 weeks to be able to easily handle any other aggression in the future.
There are other factors that could trigger aggressive dog behavior. Of course some breeds are naturally more aggressive than others, which is purely a genetics and hereditary issue. This does not mean that they cannot be trained, though. It has also been observed that dogs that haven’t been spayed or neutered tend to exhibit more aggressive behavior than those that have been.
It has been found that the most influential factor in triggering aggressive dog behavior is the environment they live in. This, as stated earlier includes the harsh treatment, bad socialization habits with people and other dogs, fear due to previous attacks by other dogs and poor living conditions. All these will propel aggression as the dog ages.
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Since dogs have the natural wild instinct, aggression could grow from their pack pecking order which leads to posturing, biting and other forms of aggression. This is just the dog looking for its place in the pack and testing the pack dominance. If you don’t control this dominance as the young dog passes through its adolescence period, it will get out of hand. You must maintain a dominance position throughout this age so that it does not take control of the house.
Stopping and Controlling
Aggressive Dog Behavior
Consistent aggressive behavior from your dog even after the 14th month, where its sexual maturity is at its peak, and especially after it has been altered, should be handled immediately. Remember the pecking order? Have you established yourself as the leader of the pack? You must! In fact, do not try to commend or reward your dog when it is aggressive, especially when the dog is scared of something.
A strong leader of the pack in the household will ensure that the dog responds to any commands given. Dog control feeding and walking times should be instilled through continuous training otherwise the liberty it gets may lead to more aggression towards unwanted entities.
A defensive-aggressive dog will likely strike out at anything in fear, implying poor socialization. Care should be taken to keep such dogs far away from children, who due to size are perceived as direct threats. Get an appointment with a dog behaviorist or take it to a special training session that can properly acclimatize the dog to a social environment.
You must realize that aggressive dog behavior is prevalent and that many dog owners experience it. It can be controlled as you have read and should be as the dog grows. Any aggressive dog behavior that turns to violence should be handled by a dog professional to avoid unwarranted attacks which could be held against your dog.
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