Tag Archives: Aggression

My Dog Is Aggressive Towards Other Dogs! Dog Aggression Training in Northern Virginia

dog aggressive dog northern virginia

Dog aggression is something that we literally deal with on a daily basis at our facility in Northern Virginia. If you go to our YouTube channel, you can see countless dog aggression before and after videos.

Just like with our blog on people aggression, we do not base your dog’s severity based off of the number of incidents, but we based it off of the severity of the incidents.

If your dog has been in “a lot of dog fights” or “attacked a lot of other dogs” (as we hear on a daily basis), we always ask about the SEVERITY. Severity of the “attack” is all that really matters, in our opinion.

If your dog has been in “a lot of fights” or “attacked a lot of dogs,” I would ask:
-Did at least two of the dogs have to go to the vet due to damage?
-Did the vet bills of 1 or more dogs total over $1000.00 in damage done by your dog?

If your answer is “no” to both, I would generally say that you do not have a “dog aggressive” dog. Your dog may be a dick, but I wouldn’t say that he or she is necessarily aggressive. What people do not realize is that is VERY easy for your dog to do damage (punctures) to another person or a dog; therefore, if they are “getting into fights,” but they are NOT doing damage, this is generally by the CHOICE of your dog. They could have easily done damage if that was their intention. So, your dog is showing great restraint and bite inhibition.

Also, it may not necessarily have been YOUR dog’s fault. Maybe another dog challenged him, postured up on him (etc) and you just didn’t notice this, and your dog reacted.

So, I would say that your dog is generally safe with other dogs, he just may not get a long with all dogs he meets. Here’s a big secret that many people do not realize, “YOUR DOG MAY NOT LOVE OR GET ALONG WITH EVERY DOG THEY MEET!”

Let me say that again, “Your dog will probably not like every dog it meets.” Shocking, right? Why is that true? You socialized them a lot when they were young, you do on-going socialization with them, etc. Let me put it to you differently, were you raised well, did you have a lot of friends growing up aka were you well socialized growing up? If you answered, “Yes,” then should it be safe to assume that YOU like every single person you meet? Ah hah! There you have it! It’s really that simple.

So, to get back to the main point, your dog’s dog aggression. From a training perspective, if your dog has not: 1) put two dogs in the vet or 2) given vet bills over $1000.00, we would say that your dog is definitely workable and can be taught to be better behaved and proper interaction.

If your dog HAS met two of these standards, I would generally say that your dog would not be safe around other dogs, regardless of training. We can still give you CONTROL over your dog with other dogs in their presence. Meaning, we can generally take your highly reactive dog who is going out of his way to attack another, and give you a dog that will stay in a heel, sit, down, place (etc) while another dog walks by without reacting. With that said, I still wouldn’t ever TRUST them with another dog, you just have control over them with other dogs around.

So, this is a good measuring tool to see if your dog’s dog aggression is fixable or just manageable. I would also strong encourage reading my blog, “Dog Aggressive Dog Training.”

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-Nick White
Owner/Founder
Off Leash K9 Training

My Dog Bit Someone Unexpectedly! Dog Bite in Northern Virginia

As the highest rated dog trainers in Northern Virginia, we deal with a wide variety of people and dogs on a daily basis. We are known for our high-level of obedience training; however, one common issue we also deal with is aggression in dogs (towards people and other dogs).

When dealing with aggression, the owners are almost always in a frenzy, stressed, and find themselves and their dogs hiding away from people and society. One thing that we commonly hear in aggression cases (mainly with people) is, “There was no warning sign, he just jumped up and bit the guy.”

What they are saying is, “There were a lot of warning signs, but none “I” noticed.” Once we really start breaking down the incident (how, what, where), then we can generally easily formulate a “why.”

Say for instance, a scenario that we may hear is, “I had a friend come over, out of nowhere, he jumped up and bit him.”

*Note, I say “him” because my experience shows me that generally dog bites tend to happen more on men than women*

I almost never find a dog bite to be “that” cut and dry. All dogs have what we refer to as a “bite threshold;” meaning, under what circumstances does it take for me to react with a bite. If you think about it, many people have this same “fight or argue threshold.” You do, I do, and every one of your friends and family have this. Think about this for a minute to help you better understand what I mean.

Do you have a friend who gets upset far quicker than you? Do you have a friend or family member that the smallest thing can set them off and they are ready to fight or punch someone? Do you have a friend or family member who can take A LOT of abuse (physical or mental) and they still keep their composure and remain calm?

If you answered “yes” to any of these, you now see that EVERYONE has a different amount of “pressure” before they react in a certain situation, some it takes very little and some it takes an enormous amount. Also, you see that people react DIFFERENTLY once this threshold is met. Welcome to your “threshold.”

Now that you understand the point I am trying to make (if you did not initially), dogs have this same threshold for reacting and HOW they react, just like with people.

So, you see the chart I illustrated below? This is to give you an example of how a dog doesn’t normally “just bite” someone. Generally, when we actually break down the event, the dog’s background or temperament, and the sequence of events that led up the bite, we can see what actually occurred.

Again, to jump back to the initial call or email that, “I had a friend come over, out of nowhere, he jumped up a bit my friend.”

After discussing their dog with them, we are able to see what “actually happened.” So, here is an example conversation below:

“Well, Rex can sometimes be shy/sketchy around new people. He also has growled at us on rare occasion if we push him off the couch or try to take his ball. He has also growled at the vet when they clip his toenails or mess with his paws. However, Rex has never bit anyone! I cannot believe he would do this!”

Then, I begin to break down the series of events that took place which led up to the friend being bit.

“Rex was laying on the couch, had his ball between his paws, and was just laying their playing with this ball and Mark (stranger) walked in, sat down on couch beside of Rex, and started petting him. Then, he went to move Rex’s paw so he could throw the ball for him and that’s when Rex just bit him out of nowhere.”

Do you all see what just happened? It was a bunch of minor events that normally gets a reaction out of Rex; however, all of these events came together in one scenario in order to create “the perfect storm.”

He didn’t like when the stranger came in (gave him anxiety), then he sat down next to him on the couch (which owner acknowledged he can be territorial), then he moved his feet WHILE Rex had a ball (again, both things the owner knew Rex doesn’t like).

Again, this is a very generic scenario; however, this is generally what dog bites break down to. For the severity of the reaction and the bite, I would recommend reading my blog on “How Fixable Is Your Dog’s People Aggression?”

So, it is YOUR responsibility as a responsible pet owner to find out what (if any) your dogs triggers are, get them addressed, and ensure that they never come together to create “the perfect storm.”

If you need help, contact us at:

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-Nick White
Owner/Founder
Off Leash K9 Training

Northern Virginia Dog Bite

My Dog Is Aggressive Towards People: Trainers Dealing with Aggression in Northern Virginia

Dog Trainers for People Aggression

At our Northern Virginia dog behavior training facility, we deal with dogs who are aggressive towards people on a regular basis.

One thing that everyone asks is, “Can you fix my people aggressive dog?” That’s a very tricky question to answer until we really start working with your dog.

First, you must understand WHY your dog has aggression towards people: abused at a young age, lack of socialization at a young age, or bad breeding (genetic predisposition)?

I would say about 90% of the cases is lack of proper socialization at a young age; unfortunately, this is sad because this is the EASIEST and most preventable thing to do with your dog (that is 100% free and cost-free). We will discuss proper socialization and desensitizing your dog to “trigger points” in a different blog.

We (as in Off Leash K9 Training) do have a classification system that tells us the likelihood of being able to completely fix (or address) your dog’s people’s aggression.

We base this system NOT on the number of incidents your dog has had, but the “severity” of the incidents. This is the grading scale assuming that your dog has no medical issue.

Level 1 Aggression:
-Growls and barks at people, but has never actually put teeth on a person.

Level 2 Aggression:
-Growls, barks (not necessary), and has put teeth on someone but has never actually punctured a person’s skin

Level 3 Aggression:
-Growls, barks (not necessary), and has left 1-3 shallow puncture marks on someone. *Shallow punctures meaning not deeper than half the length of the dog’s K9 teeth*

Level 4 Aggression:
-Growls, barks (not necessary) and has left 1-4 deep puncture wounds in a single bite. *Deep punctures meaning deeper than half the length of the dog’s K9 teeth*

Level 5 Aggression:
-Growls, barks (not necessary) and has left multiple Level 4-type wounds on a person.

Level 6 Aggression:
-Has severely wounded a person (long hospital stay due to the dog bite) and/or even killing a person.

Dealing with Level 1 and 2 Aggression: This is the easiest type of aggression. At our K9 Training facility in Northern Virginia, we work with this on a daily basis. We are almost always able to completely fix this, give your dog amazing obedience, higher confidence, and stop their reactivity to people. What this tells us is that your dog may be reactive towards people; he/she has learned GREAT bite inhibition (which we will talk about in another blog).

Dealing with Level 3 Aggression: This is still very workable from a training and “fixability” perspective. We have a lot of steps that we will go over with you in order to get this issue fixed and bring the level down until it’s a level zero. This means that your dog has SOME bite inhibition.

Dealing with Level 4 Aggression: This is where it starts to get a little tricky. This is where we will ask about the specific situation and story behind the bites. Generally, with a level 4 aggression biter, it is workable with the family and people living with the dog (assuming the dog did this with someone in the family). Generally, would not recommend this dog interacting with anyone outside of the people working directly with the dog on a daily basis. This is a dog who has A LITTLE bite inhibition.

Dealing with Level 5 Aggression: Okay, at this point, you have a dog that we would classify as a dangerous dog. Your dog has NO bite inhibition whatsoever, and we would say that they are not be trusted around people.

Dealing with Level 6 Aggression: Your dog is a VERY dangerous dog and training would not help whatsoever. Your dog could never be trusted around anyone and would recommend this dog being put down for public safety.

So, if you have a dog in the level 1-3 zone, this is definitely workable, trainable, and more than likely completely fixable.

We would say that level 4 can generally be managed and controlled and a good possibility of fixing this behavior.

If you have a level 5 biter, we would never trust this dog around people; however, we can give you control over the dog. Depending on your specific situations with a level 5, depends on what course of action should be taken with this dog.

If you have a level 6 biter, training would not even be a viable option for your situation.

Hopefully this blog on dealing with your people aggressive dog will help you in having realistic expectations from training. Also, it will help you realize exactly how severe your issue really is from a professional training standpoint.

If you are at a level 1, 2, 3, or 4, I would HIGHLY recommend getting training as soon as possible, as it is very possible (with time) for your dog to move up the aggression scale.

I would also recommend reading our other blog on dealing with people aggression.

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-Nick White
Owner/Founder
Off Leash K9 Training

How To Fix My Dog’s Toy Aggression – Northern Virginia

Toy Aggression is a behavioral issue we deal with a lot at our dog training facility in Northern Virginia.

First, we will start with prevention, to ensure you never have this problem with your dog.

Anytime we do our puppy training classes at our Northern Virignia facility, I always tell the owners to get their puppies used to them taking away their toys, giving them back, etc. So, as your puppy is playing with a new toy, bone, Kong, etc, I will just walk over to them, take it away from them, praise them, and then give it back. This gets your puppy at a young age conditioned and used to you taking things from them, I talk about this in my Pack Leadership Blog, as well. Essentially what you are doing is desensitizing them to people taking stuff from them while they are small and manageable, that way they think nothing of it when they are older and larger.

Also, what I’m a huge advocate of that most people do not do is I always recommend keeping all toys put up. Meaning, if you come over to my house, you will not see one dog toy on the floor. I only get out a toy (tug or a ball) when I’m working with my dog and he is doing well on obedience, then I use the toy as a reward. This does two things: 1) It helps build his drive for the object and 2) It teaches him that all of the toys are MINE and he only gets them when I give him access to them. I talk about building drive in your dog in my blog “Should I Play Tug With My Dog?”

Dogs who are toy aggressive see these toys as THEIRS and “you” are trying to take away THEIR toy. This is a very bad state-of-mind for your dog to be in. That shows that they do not respect you as the owner of these objects nor do they respect you as the pack leader.

Lastly, get your dog some obedience training so they have a solid “out” command or “leave it” command and you have control over your dog’s movement. Now, you can eliminate the issue by telling them to “out,” calling them away from it, and picking the toy up.

So, in summary: start desensitization work with your dog to get them used to you taking things away, find an obedience trainer to gain solid control over your dog, teach the dog that the toys are YOURS and not theirs by limiting their access to them, and start incorporating all of the pack leadership things discussed in the blog above.

My Dog Has Toy Aggression, Now What?

Your first course of action would be to find a qualified dog trainer in your area. As I tell people on a daily basis, “You cannot fix any issue in a dog that doesn’t listen.” To me, obedience and control over your dog is paramount for fixing almost any behavioral issue in your dog. As I’ve said before in another blog, “I have never seen an amazingly obedient dog with major behavioral issues and I have never seen a dog with major behavioral issues that was amazing in obedience.” Generally, all of these things go hand-in-hand. Obedience is a natural confidence builder for a dog, as well as a natural pack leadership bolsterer for you.

Now that you have control over your dog and you are working on the pack leadership issues that you have, now we can concentrate on correcting the behavior.

(Start Side Bar Topic) Here’s where it gets controversial, in my opinion, most dogs with aggression issues have to have a correction for the behavior! We work with 65 dogs per week, many of which went to some “positive reinforcement, clicker and treat, give him hot dogs until he’s full and falls over” trainer. Once they paid money, wasted a few weeks of time, and received no results, THEN they called us.

I think that dogs, much like humans, have to have a balanced approach of training. There has to be positive and praise when a desired behavior is achieved, and there has to be a correction for an unwanted behavior such as your dog trying to bite you or someone else. You cannot raise highly intelligent kids solely based off of positive reinforcement and ice cream, so why people think you can dogs is beyond me. As I say, the most confident and obedient dogs in the world are military, police, and ring (Mondio, ScH, French Ring) dogs, right? Not ONE of them solely use positive reinforcement. End of debate. (End Side Bar Topic)

So, while working with your toy aggressive or toy possessive dog, there has to be a correction for the unwanted behavior and positive reinforcement for the desired behavior. This will help teach your dog what is acceptable and unacceptable. Find a qualified trainer to work with your dog on these issues, do not try to fix this on your own.

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Got Bit While Breaking Up A Dog Fight

dogattack

At our dog training facility in Northern Virginia, we hear stories of owners getting bit while breaking up a dog fight on a daily basis.

Once this happens, the owner usually calls us for two reasons:
1) Because their dog got into a fight with another dog and they want to help ensure it doesn’t happen again.
2) Their dog has never bitten them before, and now they are afraid that this will become a problem. They are completely shocked that their loving and friendly dog has caused them to get stitches.

First, your dog being dog aggressive could be a legitimate concern and training could definitely help with that, you can read our blog post training fixing your dog aggressive dog.

Second, chances are that you never have to worry about your dog biting you or someone else again, assuming that this was an isolated incident and the only time he/she has ever done this was while engaged in a dog fight. So, do not let that be a fear of yours.

As I always say at our dog training facility in Northern Virginia, “If you have broken up a dog fight and you did NOT get bit, I am far more surprised than if you broke up a dog fight and you DID get bit.”

What I’m saying is that if you break up a dog fight; improperly, by yourself, and without knowledge of “how” to break one up, there is a very good chance you will get bit.

Keep in mind, your dog (or the other dog), has no malice intent towards you; however, it’s the “heat of the moment” type-of-situation. Your dog is engaged in a high intensity fight, and all they do is “react” to something grabbing them from a different direction.

Here’s the analogy I use on a daily basis with at my private dog training sessions in Northern Virginia, in order to help make this thought process easy to understand. I was a US Marine, everyone know’s Marines for: being awesome, drinking, and fighting, right? 🙂

So, imagine you are in the middle of a bar and you get into a knock down, drag out, very heated fight. In the middle of this, someone comes up and grabs you on your arm or back, most people’s instant reflex is to swing around, elbow back, throw a punch that way, etc. Welcome to the world of “Why You Got Bit While Breaking Up A Dog Fight.”

Now, this could have been your best friend, your brother, or your father reaching in to grab you and get you out of there; however, you were in the heat of the moment and just reacted. Your dog simply did the same exact thing, they just reacted without thought.

How Should You Break Up A Dog Fight Properly?

In order to properly break up a dog fight, you really should have two people. If your dog and another dog gets engaged into a dog fight, generally, both owners are present. So, you may have to be calm to instruct the owner of the other dog to do this drill, as well.

First, you both reach in and grab your dog by their hind legs! This is important, do not grab their collar, do not grab their chest, and do not grab their mouth, all of these will probably result in you getting bit. So, grab their hind legs and lift them up as if you are holding your dog in a wheelbarrow position (front legs on the ground, hind legs around your waist to chest level). Each owner does this with their dogs and start pulling apart.

Second, as soon as the dogs release their hold, now you start slowly turning in circles while still holding your dog’s hind legs off of the ground. What this does is it prevents them from redirecting and biting you. Since their legs are off the ground and you are turning, you are forcing them to continuously move their front paws side-to-side in order to prevent from falling on their face.

Do this as you each move your dogs further and further apart. Do not release them, or chances are they will go right back into fight mode. You should continue this wheelbarrow and circular motion while moving the dogs apart until you each have full control over the dogs, or until you are able to put one of the dogs in a safe spot (kennel, car, different room, etc).

Now, it is possible that you could be the only person present and nobody is around. You could be a kennel worker, it was a lone dog that came out after yours, etc.

How To Break Up A Dog Fight Alone:

Loop a leash around the first dog’s hind quarters (stomach area), make a loop with the leash; meaning, thread the end that attaches to the dogs collar through the handle of the leash creating a loop. Put thread this around the dog’s stomach and start pulling him back with it. Pull him back until you can attach the connector (that is in your hand) to something to secure the dog in place (kennel, fence, etc). Now, that first dog is essentially anchored to whatever you attached him to.

Then, go behind the second dog and do the drill described above when two owners are present.

Doing this drill, may take a few more seconds; however, it will help ensure that you do not get bit which is well worth it.

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Dealing With Leash Aggression in Dogs – Northern Virginia

We deal with leash aggression in dogs weekly at our dog training facility in Northern Virginia.

An important study to first reference is one which was recently done on 2000 dogs at Mendel University in the Czech Republic. In 2000 dogs of varying breed, age, and size; researchers noted that dogs who were ON a leash were twice as likely to become aggressive with dogs as dogs who were off leash were.

Now, we must decipher the burning question, “WHY?

-The on leash dogs were restricted by the confines of the leash, which inhibited their ability to circle around the other dog, get a “feel for them,” and give them a proper greeting in order to determine if they were friendly or not. When the dog is not able to determine this, they often times gave a defensive posture since they could not establish the other dog’s intentions.

-Flight or fight. When a dog isn’t sure how to react in a certain situation (just like with people), flight or fight kicks in. By being on a leash, you are restricting your dog’s ability to flight, so he immediately kicks in fight mode with an aggressive response.

It’s also important to note that the 2000 dogs were FOUR times as likely to be aggressive on a leash when a male was walking them as opposed to a female walking them. Many would assume the opposite because many would see the male as more the pack leader and in-charge, but they believe the reasoning is far more simplistic than that.

Women are often more friendly and inviting to passerby’s and their dogs. Meaning, often times when will smile, say hello, and exchange pleasantries with the oncoming person and their dog. They believe the dog picks up on this nice, calm, friendly demeanor from the owner, so they too feel more relaxed and at-ease with the situation. Whereas men are more macho, not as socially friendly, and not as warm greeting with strangers as women; therefore, when someone is approaching, the men often times will just not pay attention to the oncoming person and their dog, avoid eye contact, no smiling (etc) and the dogs can interpret this “avoidance” as a problem and go on the defensive with the oncoming dog.

What Can You Do To Help With Your Dog’s Leash Aggression?

Obedience Training: This is essential, having control over your dog, pack leadership, confidence building, and correction for negative behavior. All of these are things that will undoubtedly help with your dog’s leash aggression.

-Be aware of your surroundings. When you see a stranger and their dog approaching, be friendly, polite, warm, and welcoming. This can help you translate your warm and relaxed demeanor onto your dog.

-Do not tense up on the leash when you see another dog. This tension travels down the leash straight to your dog and tells them, “I need to be on edge for something coming up.”

Pack Leadership. Letting your dog know that you are in control of the situation and them controlling the situation is not necessary nor needed.

-Try to give your dog proper space for interaction with the other dog so they do not feel confined and do a proper introduction.

-Watch the other dog’s body language. You may be able to avoid a bad situation just by YOU being observant and see if the other dog appears to have good or bad intentions.

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Why Does My Dog Get Aggressive At Dog Parks?

At our dog training center in Northern Virginia, we always tell people to stay away from dog parks.

Many people wrongly assume that dogs parks are great for socializing, letting their dog burn off energy, and playing; however, more often than not it will eventually end badly.

Do not take your puppy to dog parks for socialization. Yes, you read this correctly, dog parks are a bad idea in my opinion. Again, we receive many e-mails from people whose dogs are now aggressive toward other dogs after being bitten at a dog park. People do not realize that this happens all the time, and they just do not hear about it. Only attacks on people make the news, not attacks on other dogs. The dogs at dog parks come from a wide variety of backgrounds and their owners often know very little about their own dog. Unlike a doggy day-care, in a dog-park environment, there are no trained supervisors walking around, ensuring the play is safe. Also, no evaluations are done in order to accept the dogs into the dog park. Essentially, you are taking a big gamble by exposing your dog to other dogs you know nothing about.

Usually, the dogs in dog parks are of various sizes, backgrounds, and levels of training. Essentially, they are a pack of dogs. Dogs usually consider themselves a pack when there are four or more dogs present. As you know, any time there is a pack, there has to be a pack leader. In order for a dog to become the pack leader, he has to assert his force onto other dogs to show them he is in charge of the pack. The end result is a dog getting bitten. Now, your dog that you have done so great with is now dog-aggressive because he was bitten by another dog at a dog park, and now he associates dogs with being harmed.  You can read my blog post on dealing with a dog aggressive dog here.

There are numerous other ways to socialize your dog without the use of a dog park, such as taking them to a doggy day-care. As I mentioned above, doggy day-cares evaluate dogs before admitting them into their facility, drastically reducing the chances of a dominant dog being there. Additionally, they have trained personnel constantly monitoring the dogs’ behaviors. In the event that a dog does start displaying any dominant characteristics, they are immediately corrected or separated from the group. Another good way to socialize is one-on-one with other known dog-friendly dogs. Or take them to a pet store on the weekends so they can interact with other dogs and people in a controlled environment.

So, my best advice is to avoid dog parks with your dogs, you and your dog will be glad you did.

 

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Dog Aggressive Dog Training – Northern Virginia

Literally every day owners contact us and ask, “Can your dog training program in Northern Virginia fix our dog aggressive dog?”

I always respond with the same answer, “It’s impossible to guarantee that our training will make your dog love other dogs. What we can guarantee you is that you full CONTROL of your dogs when other dogs are present.

I always give the analogy to people that aggression in dogs is a psychological issue, just like issues with certain people. No psychiatrist in the world will tell you that he can take a serial killer, pedophile, etc and guarantee he can fix their issue. So, the analogy I like to use is, “If you cannot guarantee it with a highly intelligent adult human being, there is no way you can guarantee it with a domesticated animal.”

With that said, I like to give a 70/30 rule dog aggression at our training facility in Northern Virginia. The equation I generally find is that 30% of the dog aggressive dogs you can completely fix and rehabilitate and 70% of the dogs you can make much more manageable and controllable. Meaning, 70% of the dogs we train who used to see another dog and bark, lunge, and growl, will NOW walk by that same dog without any reaction. Also, he/she will listen and perform flawless obedience with other dogs being present. Below, is a good example of this. See this 1.5 year old Golden Retriever “Guinness” who could not be around other dogs or would react violently like you see 1:40 portion of the video, then, you will see the same two dogs at the 2:00 minute mark of the video:

To point out my 70/30 rule, those Golden Retrievers still could not be left alone in a kennel together overnight; however, this is just after 14 days of training and you can clearly see the difference in their behaviors.

So, this is an example of what 70% of the dog-on-dog aggression cases will look like at our dog training in Northern Virginia. They still won’t love each other and sleep on the same bed together; however, they are clearly much better and more manageable than they were prior.

To clarify, of the 70% of cases like this, some of them “could” shift over to the 30% with more time, patience, training, and consistency.

The key to getting your dog over his/her dog aggression is confidence building drills, obedience, pack leadership, and getting him/her around other positive dogs (muzzled if needed). You will never get a dog over their dog aggression by keeping them isolated from other dogs, generally this will only make the problem worse.

You can click here to see the importance of socialization and confidence building drills such as object desensitization and noise desensitization you can start doing with your dog.

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