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Dog aggression is a major problem everywhere, sometimes between dogs and sometimes resulting in dog bites on people. A high percentage of the people who get bitten are children, often quite young. In this article, I’ll give you three tips for handling it if your dog should become aggressive and I’ll give you a resource for more tips and information on all aspects of this problem.

The first thing to do if you have an aggressive dog is to manage his living arrangements. You need to create a situation where everyone is protected from further harm: you, your family, the dog, and any other people or dogs who come in contact with your dog.

Crating your dog is an excellent way to increase safety. However, if he doesn’t like being crated or simply isn’t used to it, you will have to take it slowly, step by step, using food treats or toys — a Kong is excellent. Only leave him in the crate for amounts of time that he accepts willingly, or he may injure himself or the crate in his attempt to escape. Do not put him in the crate for long hours, unless he is used to sleeping in it overnight, for example.

Another way of handling your dog’s whereabouts is by choosing his location in your home, which might be in a dog yard, an extra bedroom, or whatever you can put into service this way. You could do this in addition to using a crate or instead of it. If you have to keep two dogs apart because they have been fighting, then try to create something where two doors are between them. That way, you will be able to go between them much more easily than if you only have them one door apart.

The second step is to have a good veterinary exam for your dog. It may be that your dog is in pain or has some other physical condition that led to his bad temper. If so, once you get it solved, the aggressiveness itself may cease. If your veterinarian finds nothing, then you know that anyway.

Third, keep a log of what incidents and near-misses occur. It is very easy for details to get jumbled in our memories, particularly around stressful matters like this. A small notebook, or just a paper and pencil kept handy, will come in very useful as you move into longer-term management and training routines.

And that is what you will want to do next. Research shows that when the owner of a dog who shows aggression takes an active role in managing the situation, the outlook is far, far better for the dog and those who love him.

Tags: Dogs

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