Dog Aggression Case Study

Canine aggression is a difficult problem to deal with, but it’s far more difficult to overlook. Aggression one of the few behavioral problems that can cause significant harm to another living being (either dog or human), and that can result in grave consequences—hospital bills, surrendering the dog, or worst of all, euthanasia.

Luckily, all of this stress is avoidable.

Aggression is not a personality trait; it’s not something that owners just have to deal with. Even though it is a scary and serious behavioral problem, it is simply a behavioral problem—and behavior can be changed. If you’ve noticed aggressive tendencies in your dog (growling, lunging, biting), don’t lose hope and don’t settle for complacency. Hampton Roads Dog Training is here to help.

I’ve dealt with many aggressive dogs in my time as a trainer, most recently a small dog named Tatiana. Tatiana’s owners contacted me because she was being aggressive toward other dogs during daily walks and was beginning to growl and nip at people. Tatiana’s owners recognized the growing problem and decided to nip it in the bud.

When I arrived for the in-home consultation, Tatiana was very excited and jumped and barked to greet me. She didn’t show signs of aggression toward me, but it took her about half an hour to relax. Again, this isn’t a personality trait; this is a dog’s response to his or her environment. If a dog shows signs of fear, anxiety, or hyperactivity—all of which can lead to aggressive behavior—it generally means that dog requires more structure.

In a home setting, the owner must take on this role. An owner’s job is also to love, feed, shelter, and show affection to their dog, but first and foremost the dog needs to know exactly where he or she fits into the family structure.

In Tatiana’s case, we used a mixture of basic obedience training and roaming limitation. Basic obedience training teaches the dog to focus on the owner. Roaming limitation keeps the dog on a predictable schedule, furthering the focus on the one deciding that schedule—the owner—and making the dog feel secure in his or her routine, trusting of his or her owner, and more relaxed overall.

These in-home training techniques worked wonders for Tatiana. To find out what training techniques would be beneficial to your dog’s individual behavioral challenges, call Hampton Roads Dog Training at 800.649.7297.