I see a lot of dogs who are bought to me as showing dog aggressive behavior and with most cases its actually still very easy for me to fix.

Even though so many dogs each year are euthanized or given up. 

In most cases the problem is compounded by; lack of understanding and firm, fair and FUN leadership from the owner, not having a plan, or being able to get enough respect from the dog to communicate and shape *right answer, wrong answer* (by interruption and redirection). 

Often owners have not addressed socialization and greeting protocol enough. I hear often, that people believe the dog has been socialized properly but I see such a huge difference from that alone when I bring them to daycare, or put them through a socialization program, that I am in no doubt there is more need for education and awareness on the subject. 

I want to help people that have a dog showing those tendencies and who are still able to be turned around by the owner.

Dogs get out of balance when their needs are not being met. I call severe swings *toxic* behavior because they can almost have a breakdown and are unable to think or act according to our wishes as they are not getting enough of what they absolutely must have in order to be happy. 

Leadership, a strong, bonding relationship with their human pack and at least one human in particular. Someone they can count on to trust with their physical safety, respect and be affectionate with. Often love is not the issue at all, providing for their physical or mental needs is. 

Physical Exercise - dog's need to migrate with their pack even if that is just you and your dog! 

They cannot be content with just walking in a straight line while you think about your day. They need to explore, move at speed, sniff new areas and get physical release in a way that satiates them. 

Imagine being cooped up in bed not moving for a Month. 

To me this is like leaving a dog without walks (even IF you have a yard it does not matter) with you for a week. 

Mental Exercise/Structure or Discipline - Often forgotten about and often reminded about when behavior slips or deteriorates. 

Are you working on improving your dog's behavior, your relationship with your training commands and asking your dog to think about different puzzles such as stay, find it, wait, walk loosely, meet new dogs and people, go to new places, get up here, lie down there and so on? 

Play - JOY !! 

Training should not be all work and no play, it needs to express the fun in your relationship and be forgiving, changing and something which grows.

 Forever child like a dog in its dotage will often get the urge to play and should always, always be given outlets for this in the home and outside. 

Motivate your dog to want to be with you, to want to work with you, to be your partner and you will get joy you have never known with a dog.

Affection - Is touch.

 Is providing mental exercise and physical movement and play for your dog. 

Life rewards are those that the dog will look forward to with complete anticipation. Providing clear touch and praise whenever they do what you like and being loving enough to interrupt and redirect them when they move towards behavior that will not be favored by you. 

There are steps I go through with the owner to see where they might be missing in any of these areas. 

Where there is a break down in communication, abd what the dog's motivations are (you should always get a vet check in these cases to make sure it is not psychological or physiological) and then I will sometimes work with the dog alone, to make sure I learn which methods fit that dog best and to remove any emotional involvement or worry on the owners part. 

To be able to work with the dog without distraction and then later I bring the owner back, with the dog and try and change the patterns and habits that were triggering the response. 

I am fortunate enough to have my partner Loki, a large, confident non-aggressive Rottweiler who backs me up in every way. 

He uses his body language to communicate precisely what is and is not acceptable behavior in dogs that come to me. 

He has no desire whatsoever to hurt any dog, but he will use his strength and status (I back him up!) to interfere with boisterous or aggressive behavior and he will more importantly point it out to me before it becomes a problem. 

He also knows when to leave it to me and shows interruptibility. 

Then if he does have to interfere with a dog's overly aggressive behavior, I can call him to me and take over. 

There are two actions I take in the start of treatment in more serious cases and those are; 

Number one I remove the dog from its own territory and either bring them to the daycare center or take them for a walk on neutral territory with Loki and my pack. 

Or, even take them home and work with them there if needed, depending on the level of dog aggression.

Number two is that I remove the owner! 

Often the dog showed a level of behavior that worried the owner and now the owner is feeding into the dogs defensive drive or anxious displays and this keeps it going as a cycle. 

Even if the owner is not so much nervous but obviously and rightly concerned, they have not displayed the language the dog has needed to understand the proper protocol for greeting, who is in charge of this? 

The dog in most cases! So they have inadvertently reinforced the behavior and not known how to interrupt it. 

If you learn the philosophy around what to do, you have a much better chance of being able to communicate clearly and help the dog become much better socialized and allow you to take the lead when greeting strangers and guests.

Number three is where I put back the owner, the home environment and *disarm* old triggers with the newly trained alternative behaviors. 

An example of this is a dog that has previously been jumping on people at the door or in greeting and has not only given cause for embarrassment and concern, has caused actual damage through scratching, knocking people down or even breaking of bones! 

In this case I will take the dog and put it through the outlined program, then bring him/her back into the old environment after a few days to a month and get every single person I can to come into the home or take the owner and dog out on the old walks and interrupt any tendencies to repeat that pattern, praise the snot out of the dog for showing ability to be redirected and interrupted and give them other patterns such as sitting and laying down until asked to come greet, giving paw instead of jumping and scratching, rolling over for a belly rub ! anything that redirects to a new and more positive habit than the old one. In the case of more aggressive approaches I make sure I and then the owner have enough respect from the dog to be able to prevent them from going first or having the chance to control the greeting. 

To change unwanted behavior you need to change several factors in the dog's existence and remove temptation from the familiar pattern,teach a new one and then later go back to the old triggers and redirect behavior into appropriate and desired behavior using the program I outline. Dogs are often addicted to patterns and unless given a better one to follow as well as being interrupted in the unwanted one, will not easily change it. 

Having said all that there are of course ways to help improve this yourself if you can commit to making time, being patient and working on your own attitude in seeing it as a puzzle that MUST be worked on without getting upset or frustrated. Always accept your own responsibility for inadvertently or otherwise reinforcing it, not giving your dog enough idea what behavior you would like instead or permitting it to continue. If you feel emotional about it stop. Do not blame the dog no matter how *badly behaved* they seem when you are emotional it will not help and the dog cannot learn from frustrated people. Instead use the time to go and learn about the leaders you most admire, write down their traits, study the calm, loving attitude of the truly great humans and understand that dogs need the same attitude from you in order to respect and understand you. Dogs will do doggy things unless we take the time to teach them the behavior we desire and expect them to have in our world. 

Always seek professional help if you are seriously worried about aggression, especially in the case of human aggression! Anyone reading this may email or contact me to describe their individual situation and I will respond with a more individualized plan of action or recommend you seek local expert help. There are some cases I absolutely have to meet the dog in order to learn how best

to teach that particular individual how to trust in a human leader to the point of abandoning unwanted behavior patterns and learning to adopt friendly greeting and interaction patterns with humans and animals. Sadly there have been two dogs to date, that I absolutely could not help, or even find someone even more qualified than myself at the time to work with them. I had to euthanize them and was very sorry to do so. But there are times that I truly believe that euthanasia is our last gift rather than let a behavior escalate or let an animal truly suffer or deteriorate. In each case I got a 

vet's help in deciding that it was the best thing to do. I have also recommended that some dogs are put down rather than continue to be a risk, it is almost impossible to help every single dog when limited in resources and time. It is always a last resort and is not something I do unless I am absolutely convinced harm or death will come to other lives involved. 

The list of factors that I incorporate to change a dog aggressive dog to a well balanced, socialized dog are:

IDENTIFY THE DOG'S TRIGGERS FOR AGGRESSION AS FAR AS POSSIBLE 

IDENTIFY DOG'S MOTIVATION FACTORS AND DRIVES 

CREATE A LANGUAGE OF LEADERSHIP 

HAVING A PLAN OF ACTION

USING PHYSICAL EXERCISE AND MENTAL STRUCTURE TO CREATE BALANCE

POSITIVE ASSOCIATION WITH DOGS 

RESTRICTING THE DOG'S ACCESS TO THE HOUSE AND UNSUPERVISED YARD, IN BETWEEN SESSIONS 

USING WELL ADJUSTED, BALANCED, CONFIDENT DOGS TO WORK WITH 

USING WELL ADJUSTED, BALANCED, CONFIDENT, DOG OWNERS TO HELP 

HAVING THE FAMILY AND FRIENDS ON BOARD

Identify Reasons for Aggression, Motivation and Drive

Most common reasons:

Territorial/possessive over owner - Will often see some signs of dominance/controlling behavior elsewhere in this instance, possession over toys, furniture, owner, doorways, cars, barking at noises, arrivals, dogs in the yard etc. Can be seen in dominant or fearful dogs. Will often see this with one or more dogs in the house, where jealousy over hierarchy and status have been allowed to fester,dogs that are dominant in nature are seeing dogs that *they feel* should be lower in status are being allowed privileges and they therefore will cease on certain opportunities to control resources, and dominate the other dog/s in the household. Dogs in this category will often ignore you at times, may resist certain grooming procedures or being controlled by you. 

Sibling Rivalry - These dogs have an imbalance in the pack and are fighting for the #2 position (if you are in fact #1). They will display jealousy and resource guarding, grumble, snip or downright bite and attack other dogs in the household. This needs addressing immediately and it is imperative the owner learn how to get the respect by being firm, fair and fun with all dogs. Remove all access to the free reign of household or yard, keep a leash on them in the house for quick control and to correct them when they ignore a command. Repeating commands over and over needs to end, showing a dog physically but not roughly that you will back up what you say is critical here. Redirection is critical and you can use clicker training, motivational tools like their drives for toys, treats and play or walks etc to build up eagerness to ignore other dogs and focus on what you are asking them to do. You should be able to have a pack rule that under your roof you want peaceful co-existence. 

Fearfulness/Lack of socialization - Will often cower, snip or strike rather than rush toward intruders. Will tend to show fear in some situations then get aggressive when pushed or strangers get too close to the owner, will tense up and freeze, lowering head and raising tail, will have hard intense eyes but may look away and try and warn off unwanted invaders of space. May look for any reason to defend property and needs to be shown how not to act with jealousy or offer controlling behavior. When these dogs feel cornered or pushed, or that others are moving in on their turf, they get tense and edgy and it is quite noticeable usually. With lack of socialization the reaction to other dogs or people can vary dramatically and can look like the dog has been abused or is acting seriously aggressive. I have seen extreme cases of this and only by putting them through a socialization program will you know how much that will affect their behavior. Combine the rest of the detoxification program with this and contact help if the behavior does not dramatically improve.

Fence Fighting/Tether syndrome - This dog has been left in a yard or on a tether (the worst thing to do to a dog!) and not met the dogs but learned to bark and or rush at them to drive unwanted intruders away. This dog may not have any true aggression but has been made to feel tough and in charge of driving dogs off and so is full of un-vented energy and will have fierce reactions, often very frightening to behold when seeing another dog. When i take this dog out of its element it calms the situation almost immediately but can take up to a month for me to retrain a new pattern and this dog must never be left unattended outside again.

Owner reinforcement - Almost every concerned owner I see does this, tighten up on the leash in fear of a confrontation. This sends nervous energy to the dog and creates a claustrophobic 

like atmosphere, which serves to reinforce the dogs need to defend or go on the offensive. Holding the leash tightly and standing still watching the two dogs is the absolute worst thing to do. You need to read the chapter on Walking Loosely on the leash first and foremost to create trust, relaxation and to have real control over the situation. Turn and walk away from any situation where the dog moves out front to either over-enthusiastically greet a stranger/guest, jump up on them, act aggressively or in any way have control over a greeting. 

Chase/Prey Drive - These dogs are driving or herding away often because of a lack of outlet for their need to work in this manner or other suitable outlet. They will often chase along the fence line or after deer and other moving object, cars which is very scary behavior, moving objects and animals. It can also translate to the leash after they get used to acting in this manner and will want to chase passers by, moving objects when out walking and will commonly bark whilst doing so. Guard dog types often have a high defensive drive, territorial AND 

prey drive! This can be extremely dangerous and will often escalate from dogs or other animals to people if not redirected. 

The answer to all these behaviors can be solved with redirection and by providing a proper outlet for the dog's desired behavior. If a herding dog is given a job it adores and given the

ability to express that new behavior daily whilst interrupted and removed from the ability to act in the old manner, even if this means changing everything you allowed the dog to do for a month. It should almost completely if not entirely go away. 

STEP ONE OF THE DETOXIFICATION PROGRAM:

(This is what I use to *detoxify* dog's expressing over excited/aggressive energy)

Increase physical exercise daily for the next month, take the dog with any other dog in the household for its walks and make it as positive as possible when behavior is calm, if need be have someone else (even if you have to hire help) walk the other dog/s on a leash in front of you. Here we are trying to create PACK drive and positive association with other dogs. Every time the problem dog is getting something it loves, in this case migration with pack (you to start but eventually pack formation will include other doggy members of the household or even other dogs belonging to friends, neighbours etc). 

You can use treats to reinforce friendly behavior every time the dog looks away, do not use them to ask the dog to look away but rather, use them once the dog is acting calm or even friendly but certainly not when the dog is starting or acting intense toward another dog. it is the aggressive dogs responsibility to turn its nose away from other dogs and you must help the dog learn this by moving the dog away each time another dog comes over, without acting worried or nervous, so have someone trusted controlling other dogs until the dog has truly learned not to be reactive. 

Tools:

1/. A great tool is the gentle leader or Halti for controlling the dog's nose, make sure to practice at home and get your dog to accept it by moving briskly with it on a few steps then offering treats when the dog is not trying to remove it, do not stand around watching the dog try to roll or remove it. Dog's who have dominance or controlling behavior will tend to resist more than others because they are not used to you being in charge, are protesting at having something on their face and having you in control of their movements. Be totally confident that in a week or so you will have almost no opposition to this tool because you simply will not acknowledge any resistance.

The gentle leader is a kind and gentle tool and owners who allow their dogs to get away with more and more opposition are truly becoming part of the problem themselves, so this is a good exercise to master and a great tool to help them start to get control. Read the instructions, watch the enclosed video, make sure it fits correctly and do not leave home without it! Laziness and allowing the dog to then have a relapse or get away with aggressive behavior by allowing them to take charge on the leash again, will undo a lot of what you have done and you will have to be prepared to do it again. 

Phase Two would be to take this dog off leash in areas it does not know, once you are no longer seeing anything but friendly behavior to the other dogs and the desire to follow you has been established (see chapter on Running Off) after you have mastered following on a 20ft leash, coming when called, being friendly to pack members on a long loose 20ft leash and that 

you can employ changes of direction, going out of line of sight, how to interrupt unwanted behavior and getting your dog to come back. 

2/. A short 6 ft leash and a long 20ft or so leash are important. The short leash keeps the dog by your side but must be kept loose by you! This is THE most important rule of walking any dog, no matter how aggressive, it is up to you to take charge, move the dog in a different direction, immediately when seeing any unwanted behavior, especially when the dog tries to lead and puts tension on the leash.

3/. Slip Leash like the ruff-wear just a cinch is a great one to use because it is soft and has an adjustable knob that prevents dogs from getting out of it and yet is a slip leash able

to aid corrections of pulling. 

4/. Clicker. Often with dogs that have pulled a lot, a clicker can be a great way to get their attention but if a dog has little interest in a treat then use this in the house to build up value before

ever using outside or under distraction. Click every time the dog looks at you and treat and in this way you can build up a *checking in* behavior that is so valuable on the walk. 

5/. Daycare, Dog parks and other social places - deliberately go to as many places as you can with noise, people, other dogs, vehicles, livestock etc because this is where your dog needs to learn to obey you on a leash the most. 

Important Steps on The Walk:

When your dog goes in front;

Stop and Turn around IMMEDIATELY to redirect your energy into rejecting the dog trying to take control. 

Bend down slightly and make some noise with your lips, whistle, smooch, cluck anything to get the dogs attention (they have almost certainly ignored verbal commands from you in the past so do not be tempted to verbalize until you know how to project energy in a short word or noise to get the attention, then praise in the best possible way when they look at you even for a second) to get the dogs attention whilst you are standing still.

As soon as your dog even looks your way PRAISE, tell them good dog and move out in the opposite direction, when your dog comes ( never watch the dog when you should move out, watching the dog is following the dog with your energy and you are not offering leadership in this instance) praise enthusiastically!! Give a tasty treat like jerky or the dog's own kibble 

made up in a bag with a piece of hot dog mushed in with it or well cooked chicken etc. 

Move out quickly, with lots of changes of direction, straight lines should be banned in walks when teaching a dog to walk loosely! ( Later on its fine as long as there are changes, interesting sniff stops, new areas to explore etc).

Keep your dog next to you or behind you on a loose leash, never let them *LEAVE WITHOUT PERMISSION* which means they can go in front when behaving nicely and not acting aggressively or pulling on the leash, but as long as you allow it and the leash is loose. 

Add in a *POP* on the leash when your dog insists on pulling you, which is a release, pop, release, motion of the wrist and effectively *nips* the dogs neck. I never use this with dogs that

have pulled enough to damage their throats or if they ignore it after several corrections I will change methods. 

STEP TWO:

Mental Discipline and House Rules

Mental discipline is all about taking the time to teach your dog behavior that will allow you to get the dog to work with you, earns their respect, gives them positive behavior patterns

and builds pack drive and bond in order to increase the level of communication necessary to make your dog truly interrupt able. Touch your dog to let them know they got it right, speak to them in happy soft or excited tones. Be balanced and loving and provide ways for them to build a language with you and be *right* instead of only pointing out what is wrong. 

Once you have been adding the physical exercise in for about a week or even a couple of days, start now restricting the dog's access in the house as you may be inadvertently allowing 

dominance or control of resources that is adding fuel to the aggressive fire. Crate training is almost a must for any dog as it will help with separation, visits to the vet, travel, house training 

and overall manners. Plus it is nice for a dog to have a space they can go into and be free from any interference as naps are essential to dogs in the same way as toddlers !

If you cannot get a crate or have been unable to train your dog to be comfortable in one then you can also station them around your waist on a leash. You tie a leash around your waist and ask the dog to follow you around the house, I use a longer leash for this so I can make sure the dog has enough room to be comfortable and learn to follow me. 

1/. Get the basic commands in place:

Put a slip leash on the dog whilst you are in the house so that you can get hold of them immediately if they ignore a command or bark continuously. Each time your dog ignores you

and will not come when he/she does something you do not like, *pop* the leash to show *wrong answer* then bring your dog over to you and perform some of the obedience exercises, then put them in a crate for a few minutes or ask for a few minutes of lie down stay. 

LIE DOWN STAY - the most important one for dogs after pulling on a leash, because this asks your dog to wait calmly inside the house while you are doing your chores or 

relaxing, until you go outside to explore together or indulge in other activities as *pack*. Place a bed or crate in the main areas of the house you will be spending time in and make sure

it is inviting. Then add in a chew toy which is a superbly valuable tool for providing comfort mental release *dog telly!* for them. I will only give rawhide's to dog's that do not gulp edibles down. 

Dogs that are over eaters or chew them too vehemently will get into trouble with these and a much better chew toy is a stuffed Kong. See recipes chapter.

In the house the dog should be calm, with other dogs, animals and with you and your family. If there is not calm behavior, as long as you are providing all the other elements and having daily sessions of play, physical exercise, mental structure and affection to look forward too. There is something out of balance and you may need more help. 

COME - even more important than all the other commands when you do not have it! As this is the one that means a dog can endanger their lives or the lives of others if they get away. Especially if aggressive. do not allow your dog to go off leash at all until you have this one learned. Once you have practiced the above loose leash walking, then you can begin using the 20ft or longer leash to establish that the dog will come to you when called. 

If a dog will not come pretty much immediately when called, they are still tuning you out, so you must continue with all the other exercises until this is firmly established as a command you can 

count on. In the house, under distraction, when barking in the car etc. You will use this to get them to stop what you do not like them doing and then you will give them something to do that you DO want. Always ALWAYS praise a dog that looks at you or comes to you. So many of us learn to take for granted the behavior that is wonderful and then wonder why our

dogs are so *naughty*! when they get no affirmation from us when they do wonderful things! Never take good behavior for granted, teach your dog that you will invest in them always and that they can count on you to provide for their *needs*. 

WAIT - This means to pause before you do something else. So to pause before you go out of the door gives your dog something to think about and you can correct them kindly but firmly if the rush out ahead, bring them back and ask them to wait. I always let go of the leash or make it very loose so the dog has to think about it, putting any tension on the leash is *nagging* and doing the thinking for them. It is better to really get it and in doing so have to correct and interrupt several or many times (whilst you are learning, its mainly your progress not theirs believe it or not!) than hold them back and miss the whole point of learning that there is no reward (movement and exploration or anything else the dog looks forward to when going out) from rushing before you. 

OFF - no jumping on the furniture, people or you! at all in early stages of redirecting aggression. When a dog is out of balance you need all the leadership points you can muster and allowing them to be in charge of where and when they lay down, is not at all advisable. Especially when you have dogs that try and control who uses human furniture! Dog's growing fiercely at owner's spouses always horrified me, why do the owners not put them on the ground?! You cannot always offer your dog everything you would like without seeing *spoiled* behavior as a result. There are dogs that would like to rule over all and not kindly and these we must occupy more intently with other thoughts than those of ruling the world.