From episode: 40 - Helping an Aggressive Dog Navigate their World
Today we're going to be talking about aggressive and reactive dogs. We did a podcast about six months ago similar to this, but this one, I'm kind of thinking we'll talk a little bit differently.
Half the problem is the human side of the leash. The dog was amazing here. The dog was amazing, not just in our facility, but out in the community with our trainer. But man, the owner really struggles sometimes at home. So that's the missing link with all good dog training, with a trained dog that it doesn't matter if we train a dog for nine straight months, eventually it has to go hom
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The owner has to basically rewrite the rules. You can't just go back to snuggling your dog. Snuggling the dog wasn't helping. Doesn't mean you can't snuggle your dog. But you don't snuggle after the growl. You're reinforcing that bad behavior. You're letting them be a gangster and you're reinforcing the gangster behavior. Because love does not fix almost anything. Structure does. Yes, structure and clarity.
You don't let your teenagers run around and break windows and throw the couch upside down when they're having a temper tantrum, refuse to do the dishes, tell you to F off if you ask them to mow the lawn. You don't let your kids do that, teenagers do that. So that's really what you're allowing your dog to do when they're expressing reactive or resource guarding behavior and you don't enforce it right away. You're letting them give you the middle finger. Doesn't mean you go over there and kick them or do something crazy. But you need to step in. The other hard part about that, too, is most people wait years of these bad habits before they try and fix it. So they have effectively trained the human's brain to react a certain way to potential situations.
Let's dig in and discuss the issues of reactivity and aggression in dogs.
K9 Culture, Helping Humans have a dog that is a Joy to live with in Dallas, TX.