Just two fifteen-minute sessions a day will make it perfectly clear to your dog that you&China Automotive Accessories Mould Factory8217;re the boss, and that it pays to do what you say. Selective breeding over the centuries has minimized and refined this trait significantly, but there’s just no getting around it: dogs are physically capable of inflicting serious harm (just look at those teeth!) because that’s how they’ve survived and evolved. The two most common ones are:- Aggression towards strangers- Aggression towards family membersYou may be wondering why we’re bothering categorizing this stuff: after all, aggression is aggression, and we want to turf it out NOW, not waste time with the details – right?Well … not quite. Practice picking up his paws and touching them with the clipper; practice taking him into the bath (or outside, under the faucet – whatever works for you, but warm water is much more pleasant for a dog than a freezing spray of ice-water!), and augment the process throughout with lots of praise and the occasional small treat.Why? Because dominance and aggression are the exclusive rights of a superior-ranked animal. This is extremely painful to a dog, and is a sure-fire way to cause a long-lasting aversion to those clippers. This is an incredibly important aspect of your dog’s upbringing: in fact, it’s pretty hard to overemphasize just how important it is. For an older dog that may already have had several unpleasant handling/grooming experiences, things are a little more difficult.Why does it happen?It all boils down to the issue of dominance.
Even though the obedience work is very helpful and is a great way to start your puppy on the road to being a trustworthy adult dog, really the best part of puppy preschool is the play sessions: several times throughout the class, the puppies are encouraged to run around off-leash and play amongst themselves.You can make this fact clear to him by rewarding him (with treats and lavish praise) for obeying a command, and isolating him (putting him in “time-out”, either outside the house or in a room by himself) for misbehaviour. The more types of people and animals he meets (babies, toddlers, teenagers, old people, men, women, people wearing uniforms, people wearing motorcycle helmets, people carrying umbrellas, etc) in a fun and relaxed context, the more at ease and happy – and safe around strangers - he’ll be in general.- Brush up on your understanding of canine psychology and communication, so that you understand what he’s trying to say – this will help you to nip any dominant behaviors in the bud, and to communicate your own authority more effectively- Train regularly: keep obedience sessions short and productive (no more than fifteen minutes – maybe two or three of these per day).Another common cause of handling-induced aggression is a bad grooming experience: nail-clipping and bathing are the two common culprits. The term refers to overly-possessive behavior on behalf of your dog: for instance, snarling at you if you approach him when he’s eating, or giving you “the eye” (a flinty-eyed, direct stare) if you reach your hand out to take a toy away from him.- Different aggression types -There are several different types of canine aggression. Remember not to overwhelm him: start off slow, and build up his tolerance gradually. More frequently, however, resource-guarding becomes an issue over items with a very real and understandable value: food and toys. The instant he starts to show signs of stress, stop immediately # and let him relax.
There’s a lot that we can do to prevent aggression from rearing its ugly head in the first place – and even if prevention hasn’t been possible (for whatever reason), there are still steps that we can take to recognize and deal with it efficiently.) Others – usually the ones not accustomed to a great deal of physical contact from a very young age – aren’t comfortable with too much full-body contact and will get nervy and agitated if someone persists in trying to hug them. Let me take a moment to explain this concept: dogs are pack animals.Take things slowly. And he needs to do it from puppyhood for the lesson to sink in. As far as washing and brushing goes, the dog-grooming business is a flourishing industry: for a small fee, you can get your dog washed, clipped, brushed, and whatever else you require by experienced professionals (again, make sure you tell them about your dog’s reaction to the experience first!)For more information on handling aggressive and dominant behaviors, as well as a great deal of detailed information on a host of other common dog behavior problems, check out SitStayFetch.First of all, you should take him to puppy preschool. This is an ideal environment for them to learn good social skills: there’s a whole bunch of unfamiliar dogs present (which teaches them how to interact with strange dogs), there’s a whole bunch of unfamiliar people present (which teaches them that new faces are nothing to be afraid of), and the environment is safe and controlled (there’s at least one certified trainer present to make sure that things don’t get out of hand). You need to undo the damage already caused by those bad experiences, which you can do by taking things very slowly – with an emphasis on keeping your dog calm. This means that they’re used to a very structured environment: in a dog-pack, each individual animal is ranked in a hierarchy of position and power (or “dominance”) in relation to every other animal.It’s a complete owner’s guide to owning, rearing, and training your dog, and it deals with all aspects of dog ownership.What’s resource guarding? Resource guarding is pretty common among dogs.- Aggression towards strangers -What is it?It’s pretty easy to tell when a dog’s nervy around strange people. This only adds to the dog’s sense of panic, and reinforces his impression of a wash as something to be avoided at all costs – if necessary, to defend himself from it with a display of teeth and hackles.
How does socialization prevent stranger aggression? When you socialize your dog, you’re getting him to learn through experience that new sights and sounds are fun, not scary. No underdog would ever show aggression or act dominantly to a higher-ranked animal (the consequences would be dire, and he knows it!) Resource guarding is a classic example of dominant behavior: only a higher-ranked dog (a “dominant” dog) would act aggressively in defence of resources. In the wild, aggression came in very handy: dogs needed aggression to hunt, to defend themselves from other creatures, and to defend resources such as food, a place to sleep, and a mate. When you clip a dog’s nails, it’s very easy to “quick” him – that is, cut the blood vessel that runs inside the nail. These two different types of aggression stem from very different causes, and require different types of treatment.Your vet will clip his nails for you (make sure you tell him first that he gets aggressive when the clippers come out, so your vet can take the necessary precautions!).To get the inside word on preventing and dealing with problem behaviors like aggression and dominance in your dog, SitStayFetch is well worth a look. Don’t push it too far: if you get nervous, stop. Each animal is aware of the rank of every other animal, which means he knows specifically how to act in any given situation (whether to back down, whether to push the issue, whether to muscle in or not on somebody else’s turf, etc etc). It’s an ongoing effort throughout the life of your puppy and dog: he needs to be taken to a whole bunch of new places and environments.To your dog, the family environment is no different to the dog-pack environment. - If you’re not entirely confident doing this yourself, you may wish to consider enlisting the assistance of a qualified dog-trainer. Young dogs generally enjoy being handled – it’s only older ones who haven’t had a lot of physical contact throughout their lives that sometimes find physical affection difficult to accept.
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