How To Handle Canine Aggression Caused By A Fearful Dog
A fearful dog and canine aggression often go together. Here’s how you can tell if fear aggression is a problem with your pet.
Whenever somebody comes to your door, your dog puts on a big show of barking and acting brave, but all the time he’s backing up.If an unfamiliar person approaches, he’ll retreat to a safe place, while carefully watching this suspicious intruder. These are two classic signs of fear aggression in dogs.
What Causes Fear Aggression?
One of the main causes of this kind of canine aggression is a lack of socialization when your dog was younger. If your dog doesn’t have lots of opportunities to interact with unfamiliar people and other dogs when he’s between the ages of three and twelve weeks, he’ll have a hard time trusting people and dogs he doesn’t know.
Unfortunately, another reason for this fearful behavior is that your dog was abused at some point in his life.A dog that has suffered from abuse will need lots of love and time to overcome his mistrust and fearfulness.
Herding dogs are among the dog breeds that are prone to developing fearfulness. This aggressive dog behavior tends to run in certain breed lines, too.
Hormonal imbalances may be a factor. A dog with borderline hypothyroidism (low thyroid hormones) may display canine anxiety. Thyroid treatment is helpful in these cases.
Will This Type of Canine Aggression Go Away On Its Own?
Unfortunately, no. A dog with fear aggression may learn that he can intimidate people by barking at them. Once he figures out that this works very well, his behavior will get worse, especially around people who are scared of dogs anyway.
A dog may be so successful in hiding his fearfulness with a veneer of aggression that it’s hard to tell that fear is what’s driving his bad dog behaviors.
How Can I Train A Dog With Fear Aggression?
A reward-based technique is usually the best way to deal with aggressive dog behavior that’s caused by fear. If your dog doesn’t like people, you need to figure out how to teach him that this stranger really does like dogs, and if you dog gets close to him, he’ll give your pup a treat.
You need a volunteer for this, someone who’s very patient with dogs. Have your friend sit in a chair and scatter dry food around it.Your dog can make the choice to approach him or back off.Sooner of latger, your dog will approach near enough to get the food.
The next time, have your friend hold the kibble in his hand. Be patient and let the dog come to him to get the treat. Don’t pay any attention to the dog if he’s acting fearful.Don’t reward his canine anxiety with your attention by either reassuring him or punishing him when he’s showing fear aggression. When he gets close enough to get the food is when you want to praise him.
You can see that dealing with fear aggression in dogs can be a long and difficult process. Using a natural remedy for dogs that has been specially formulated to relieve canine anxiety can help make this process easier for both you and your pet. This homeopathic remedy is also highly recommended for dogs that have been abused, to help them relax and stay calm. Just click on any link in this article to learn how this remedy can help your fearful dog.
