Aggressive Behaviour In Dogs Does Not Come Out Of The Blue

Dogs live by simple rules and to them a simple language, see how I feel because I can't tell you. They work up to big behavioural problems, they don't suddenly appear over night. It is us that have missed the subtleties and the build up over many months. 

Puppies grow up and mature very quickly, they are no longer puppies at 16 weeks old, they are teenagers with behavioural issues that need to be addressed before they reach adulthood, when it is more difficult to address. 

Like children, we need to educate them and show them boundaries and exercises appropriate to their age, personality and abilities. If we push them too far too soon, they will blow, simply because they can't deal with what we are expecting of them. 

Would you ask and expect a toddler to sit quiet in a room of 10 other children ? so when you take you 12 week old puppy to classes and make it sit and try to work on heel, ask your self if it is fair? ask yourself if it is the right place for them to learn...a strange place, new people, new puppies and you feeling anxious.

Supervised play is what they need, one to one with similar personalities and sizes. Learning is stressful anyway and to expect a puppy to learn when all it wants to do is play, is going to get you stressed and all the puppy will learn is that that environment makes you grumpy. Think and choose places of learning carefully. Dogs are made aggressive not because they have not been with other dogs, but because those early days were managed badly with the wrong friends.

The dogs I've worked with who are aggressive to other dogs are because they have been attacked themselves or have been pressured in to being close to others dogs they would prefer to be away from them. Its all in the body language and very subtle that we miss it until the dog goes off on one.

Dogs who are aggressive to people comes about from bad experiences, bad socialization and possessive of anything from owners to toys. It is us that makes dogs bad, they are not born bad.

Every living creature is good when it is born, it is a lack of understanding, poor nurturing and little or no boundaries, resulting in no respect and a non team player attitude. Look at how you have interacted with children, dogs, horses, guinea pigs etc. 

You are the key to their success, in fitting into the world they find themselves in.

So from the inside out. It is what you feed, how you communicate, how you set boundaries and how you educate that is all important. 

If you have successfully brought up children, to be polite, fit in anywhere adults, then you won't go far wrong with your dog. Don't over complicate education or expect too much too soon and you will succeed.