Dog Aggression: Three Tips for Dealing with It

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.

If you don't have a crate or as an adjunct to it, you may be able to confine the dog to a room in your home, such as a laundry room, a spare room, or something of the sort. If you are dealing with dog-dog aggression, be sure that at least one door, and preferably two, is between the two dogs all the time.

Second, get your dog to your veterinarian for a thorough check-up. Many times, the cause of aggression in a dog is pain. Veterinarians can find many possible causes that you might never think of, such as dental pain. If this is the case, once the pain is gone, the dog will be a much happier camper and the aggression may go away completely.

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.