Can You Re-educate An Aggressive Dog?
Aggression in dogs is a common problem, especially among those who did not have good socialization or were traumatized as puppies. However, one can re-educate an aggressive dog by determining the source of the problem and contacting the right specialist.
What is aggressiveness in dogs?
Aggression is the tendency to act or react violently. This behavior is a normal response to fear in threatening situations in any animal species. To some extent, a small level of aggressiveness is natural for an animal to survive in the wild.
However, if the aggressiveness is part of the dog’s daily life and occurs in normal situations, this becomes a problem for the animal and also for the dog owner.
Aggressiveness is a behavioral disorder that makes living together very difficult and can also be dangerous. Other disruptive behaviors include poor social skills, anxiety, inappropriate games, or poor stress management.
Causes and Types of Aggression
The aggressiveness can have different causes depending on the individual. Establishing the cause is very important in re-educating an aggressive dog .
- Physical causes: pain, nervous system problems, or physiological problems
- fear
- Order of precedence
- Avoidance: Learned helplessness or anger from frustration arises when the animal tries to avoid a situation from which it cannot escape.
- Territoriality
- Motherhood to protect the young
- Protection of resources
- Forwarding: The aggression is directed at another individual who was not involved in the conflict.
- Hunting instinct: instinctive reaction that is very pronounced in some dogs or breeds.
- Idiopathic: Without clear causes, the aggressiveness is not attributed to a clear incident. They are dogs that jump on almost anything. If you dig deeper into the case, you can find the cause, but it’s not a very common type of aggression.
- Made by the game
- Intraspecific: Targeted aggressiveness on certain dogs
Stress is a very powerful precursor to aggressiveness in dogs: a dog that has accumulated a lot of stress due to its lifestyle, lack of stimulation, or an enrichment of the environment, or a dog who does not know how to deal with these situations can become aggressive.
How do you re-educate an aggressive dog?
As the word itself suggests, the elimination of aggressiveness consists in “education”. It is necessary to train a dog so that he can enjoy all situations around him. Therefore, an aggressive dog needs a professional educator, not training.
Dog re-education techniques can be dangerous if practiced by someone who is not skilled. It is best to go to an expert who will determine the technique that best suits the dog.
There are several techniques for re-training an aggressive dog. You always have to start from observation and communication with the dog. These are some of them:
- Therapy to reduce stress. This therapy requires a lot of work, but it can reduce anxiety and stress in various situations. For example, you use slow food as food, take time for the animal, socialize it, take the dog for long walks, let it run and smell, etc.
- Habituation and desensitization. If the dog is gradually exposed to the same stimulus over a long period of time, it will gradually get used to it.
- Conditioning. They can be used to educate the dog in a positive way by increasing or decreasing the desired behavior.
By lacking reinforcement in certain reactions, behavior can be changed. For example, if your four-legged friend starts to bite in a game, you just stop playing. An alternative solution is also possible: you give him a bite toy. There are several methods that you can gradually control your pet’s impulses, biting, or fear.
