Aggression

Author: Denise Partlow

Instagram: @modernk9 Carolinas

Believe it or not, “some” aggression in dogs is completely natural and normal behavior. We may see two dogs going at each other, making a whole lot of noise and movements but really no one has been hurt. This really is just a ritualized way to communicate, a contest without injuring one another.

But unfortunately a lot of us witness these kinds of situations and it makes us nervous. We want our dogs to never display any of these behaviors ever. But that would be unrealistic. As humans, we can’t even live up to this expectation-many of us become frustrated and have no problem letting others know when we are feeling this way. So to ask our dogs to never display times when they feel frustrated would be unfair.

Now this doesn’t mean that it’s acceptable for a dog to go around biting and displaying forms of aggression on a daily basis. We definitely want to help our dogs through these behaviors and big feelings.

So throughout this series, I am going to focus on reactivity; specifically reactivity to other dogs. I’m going to lay out my typical plan of action to help those of you that struggle with this issue to have a better understanding of why training, time and patience is so important. Of course this is not going to be an exact template and it most certainly isn’t the only way. Part of being an effective trainer is knowing how to modify based off of what the dog is giving you. My main goal is to give you a clear idea of this lengthy process and why I choose to work on the dog’s perception and not just the behavior.

Tomorrow’s post will be an introduction to dog reactivity and the reasons behind this behavior.