I have an aggressive dog. Here’s what to do with an aggressive dog.

Raising an aggressive pup can come with its own set of challenges! But don’t worry, our step-by-step guide will help you take precautionary measures, identify aggression triggers, and prevent outbursts of aggression in the future. Our step-by-step guide to dealing with aggression can make it manageable to live and learn with a reactive dog.

Aggressive dogs signs: identify triggers and predict aggression before it happens.

There are a lot of clues as to what triggers an aggressive or reactive dog into behaving a certain way. The first step towards helping an aggressive or reactive dog is to identify the reasons they are exhibiting these types of behaviors. Does your dog fall under any of these categories? We recommend consulting a dog behaviorist to help identify triggers and predict aggressive behaviors before it occurs or escalates.

Fear-Based Aggression: This typically occurs when your dog perceives a threat in their surroundings that causes them to feel fearful of the situation. For example, if you raise your hand to throw them a ball, they could perceive this as you trying to hit them.

Possessive Aggression: This typically occurs when your dog feels possessive of their toys, treats, or food. This also happens to mama dogs who tend to be protective of their puppies. Sometimes, it’s as silly as your dog valuing something that you don’t. For example, your dog might steal your sneaker or an item from the trash because they are possessive of it and think of it as a valuable item.

Social Aggression: The relationship dynamics between dogs, especially multiple dogs living in one home, can change very frequently. Sometimes miscommunications can occur depending on the situation and so it is crucial to watch the way your dogs react to one another, as well as noting the stimulus behind these responses.

Frustration: This tends to occur when a dog is frustrated by being restrained, especially when excited, aroused, or fearful of a stimulus nearby. In these cases, they tend to bite the individual holding their collar or trying to restrain them.

Redirected Aggression: This type of frustration occurs when a dog redirects their anger or fear based response to the owner, when aroused or stimulated by other stimuli nearby. This often happens when an owner tries to intercept a fight between two dogs and ends up getting bitten.

Pain-Based Aggression: This typically happens when a dog is in pain and the owner tries to touch the dog in a place that hurts. The dog might snap or bite as a warning to the owner to back off. When treating dogs in pain, it is best to put a muzzle on them before treating injuries or pains. Consult your local vet if you think your dog might be in pain.

Predation: This typically occurs when a dog is motivated to hunt or obtain food, but does not intend to harm or hurt anyone.

How to stop an aggressive dog: don’t use punishment methods with a reactive dog.

Your first priority is to ensure that your dog does not hurt or harm anybody, because you as the dog owner will be liable for it. Use a muzzle when walking your dog. Avoid situations that you know will excite your dog or bring about aggressive tendencies. Restrict access to objects that your dog tends to get possessive about.

Do not use any type of punishment method with a reactive dog. This will only scare them more, and cause them to lash out even more aggressively. Punishment will only make the problem worse.

Do not encourage aggressive behavior, such as encouraging them to bark or chase animals for sport. This type of encouragement can escalate aggression in dogs.

Reactive dog training or how to train an aggressive dog: behavior modification techniques change aggression thresholds.

Some behavior modification techniques reward the dog for moving away from a certain stimulus. Other behavior modification techniques train the dog to look at the stimulus to get a reward, changing the fear they feel when they see this stimulus into something positive.

Counterconditioning changes the dog’s emotional response to a certain stimulus and turns it into a more positive emotion. For example, a dog that’s afraid of trash cans can be counter-conditioned to think neutrally or even positively about the trash can.

Desensitization causes the dog to be less sensitive to a certain stimulus by reducing the impact of the stimulus and gradually letting the dog adjust to the stimulus. For example, introducing a person from a distance to reduce the dog’s threshold aggression level.

There are many other behavior modification methods and techniques to try out with your dog, but it is always important to consult a dog behaviorist first and work with them to manage the issues at hand.

When to put an aggressive dog down: always opt for an aggressive dog sanctuary rather than ending a life unnecessarily.

There’s always the possibility that the dog could be rehabilitated through a sanctuary or non-profit rescue organization. We urge you to look into such options before thinking of putting down your doggo!

Want to learn more about dog care, dog training, and dog nutrition?

Check out Pawsitive app to actually put theory into practice and start applying all this knowledge. The Pawsitive app helps dog parents raise happy, healthy dogs by providing community and professional support. We connect you to other dog parents and professionals. We are building a supportive dog parent community and we are better than dog social media! Stay accountable for completing wellness milestones with your dog and other dog parents, dog moms, and dog dads.