John Brooks submits another guest post.
To be honest, I much prefer guest posts, even ones with a commercial aspect to them, than the republication of articles from other blogs.
This is an excellent example of what I mean.
John has written down all the key aspects of treating this, luckily uncommon, trait in a dog. It is his second guest post. The first one is here.
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How to Get Rid of Your Dog’s Aggressive Behavior
By John Brooks.
“Dog: a man’s best friend.”
The quote says it all.
A dog is a very lovable four-legged pet that cares and loves its owners. But what stands out the most is the loyalty of the dog towards its owners. You probably have heard of incidents where dogs have saved their owners from many unwanted threats, and even in some cases, they risk their own lives while doing so.
A dog can only do so much for you, so, therefore, it becomes your responsibility too, to take care of your dog as your child. It needs your time and attention, and just like a human being, it can even express emotions of love, sadness, and anger.
But this doesn’t mean that your dog doesn’t like you or anything. Dogs can experience different moods depending on many things. If your dog has been aggressive lately, then you need to find out the right reason and treat the cause immediately rather than just putting up a thick dog collar around its neck.
Reasons for Aggression
First of all, you need to find out why your dog is behaving the way it is. There may be many reasons for the cause like:
He may be Afraid
Fear may very well be one of the reasons why your dog is behaving in such a way. He may have a fear of suddenly seeing a lot of strange people at once. Or children might be poking him and irritating him to the point that he has become afraid and has developed aggression to counter that fear.
Lack of Socialism
If your dog fears crowd places, the chances are that he has not been exposed to a lot of crowds, beforehand and now this has made him anti-social and therefore has developed fear as a result.
Depression
Depression is a real thing not only for humans but also for dogs. Depression may cause your dog to be frustrated internally, and slowly that frustration might creep and turn into aggression later on. The cause of depression can be anything like being beaten up, fear, etc. But these problems should be addressed as soon as possible.
Punishment
Punishment is the last thing you want to do. Beating your dog will drive it to develop fear against you, and this fear will cause it to express in the form of aggression.
Almost in all cases, fear is the one main factor that drives a dog to be aggressive towards its owner or any stranger. It can be a fear of any previous experience when he was a puppy and had to go through any trauma. A fear of anything that he finds unpleasant or unwilling. He may also face fear when he thinks that valuable resources are being taken away or are under threat.
Signs of aggression
You may see some other sign too like the dog may start to crouch with his tail between his legs, or may develop tension around his mouth and jaw. You may notice him becoming stiff and still. Don’t just assume that if your dog is wagging his tail, it means that it is a sign of friendship. A stiff wagging of the tail or a dog wagging tail in crouched position is all signs of him that he is in a state of confusion or fear.
The last stage before attacking will be growling. It is the final stage of warning after which the dogs are sure to strike if the irritating factor is not removed.
How Do you Counter such Aggressive Behavior?
There are many ways you can do to prevent the aggressive behavior of your dog.
Remove the Cause
Immediately remove the cause of its aggression or the thing that is making him frighten or take your dog away from that situation as soon as possible.
Do not Punish him for Being Aggressive
Punishing your dog for being aggressive in the form of beating, yelling or any other bold tone manner will only make the dog more frightened and more aggressive the next time and may directly bite. The proper way to do this is just to show him that you don’t approve of such behavior either by shrugging your shoulders or by leashing only slightly. This behavior makes your dog believe that the owner doesn’t accept its action.
Train Him
You should train him to face his fear in a more fun and less aggressive way. Train him to be less violent and manage his stress. Try to play with him, hang out, and spend time so that he knows that his owner is always there with him so that he can have more confidence when next time he is around stressful situations.
Consult a Professional Dog Trainer or Veterinarian
Sometimes, even with the hardest of your efforts, things don’t work out and then it is time for you to visit the professionals who have been doing this for so long. They can guide you in many ways and help your dog to be better again.
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John’s bio is as follows:
John Brooks is the Professional Content Marketer. He writes a lot of articles on his carrier. Last one year he is working with Orbeen.com as a digital marketing expert. The company provides various types of Digital Marketing services i.e, Search Engine Optimisation (SEO), Search Engine Marketing (SEM), Social Media Optimization (SMO), Web design & development, Link Building, Content Marketing & blogger outreach.
I found this a most useful article. I hope you did as well.
Learning from Dogs 
My American Bulldog had that tendency but she acted that way only when her sisters were around. We started taking her to more places where she could become socialized. It worked. Great article.
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Thanks Susan. You clearly knew that socialization was the answer and I’m so glad it worked. Well done!
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