Many times, dog aggression is a misunderstood behavior.  Even after thousands of years of evolution, dogs still rely on their natural, and sometimes primitive, natural instincts.  Canines make decisions based on a choice process of what they perceive as a degree of threat. If they don’t understand what to do, they may make a choice based on their way of dealing with a situation. Even what we see as a very happy dog, may make a choice to run towards another dog or person in order to investigate. They are in a diluted forward, or fight, drive state. Whereas, sometimes dogs retreat from a situation, we may interpret this as fear, when it may just be confusion as to what to do.

As humans, we think of the obvious when it comes to aggression in dogs.  Teeth showing, back hair up, rigid posture, high energy, etc. What a dog is thinking is; how am I going to control this? They are deciding if a situation is a threat, can I mate with it, can I eat it, or do I retreat and leave it alone.

During this mental process, a dog will decide if it needs to attack. It is difficult to try and apply human reasoning into this process. This is known as anthropomorphism.  This reasoning and sometimes justification can lead to a serious misunderstanding and, as a result, wrong methods of changing the choice process in the canine.

The good news is, in most cases, dogs are not genetically aggressive! They have been allowed to learn these behaviors, either, due to neglect, or because of anthropomorphism.  Dog parents will regularly try to defend and justify aggressive behavior in their dog. Human emotional love usually only reinforces and perpetuates the behavior.

Aggressive Dog Training and Dog Training in general, can be the answer to helping and loving your dog on a dog’s terms! Properly applied balanced dog training will show you how to make the choices for your dog and redirect them to a behavior that can be rewarded!  The key is to show your dog how to pay attention to you even with distractions. Attention-based dog training puts you in the lead role, and much like a parent, allows you to make the proper choice for your dog! Then you can begin to help your dog enjoy a more relaxed and better life. You and your dog can enjoy a life together. Maybe you want to go hiking or camping or just be together in public.

Dog Aggression is often misunderstood. The choice process that a canine makes can be directed to a better choice and happiness can be obtained! Attention based Dog Training is the process that can give you the canine relationship you dream of!