Dog Obedience Training Blog
Category : Dog Aggression
How To Reduce a Dog’s Food Aggression
When you’ve got a dog with food aggression issues, also known as ‘resource guarding, it’s important to start addressing the problem right away. The strategies I’m about to share with you are perfect for brand new puppies, as well as dogs who’ve just started to develop food aggression issues.
Please Note: If your dog has SEVERE cases of food aggression, you should seek the help of a trained professional by doing a search in google for dog behavior specialist, or dog trainer. This article is not meant to be the replacement of a professional trainer.
Also make sure you check out the type of training that the trainer you find uses. There are many different methods for training dogs, so it’s important to choose a trainer who uses positive reinforcement, and not electronic collars or punishment.
If you’d like to tackle your dog’s food aggression issues yourself, here are three things you need to do:
- Train your dog the ‘Leave it’ command. One way to train this behavior is to take something your dog likes, like a piece of cheese, and let your dog see you put it under your foot. Most dogs will try to dig out the food from under your shoe. Make sure to keep the cheese covered until the dog gives up. When your dog is no longer trying to get the food out from under your food, say “good boy” and let him have the food under your foot. If done early in a young puppies life, this stops dogs from ever developing dog aggression issues.The reason this technique is so powerful is it teaches the dog that there is an APPROPRIATE way to get the things he wants, and that he doesn’t have to growl or bite to prevent you from taking things from him… he just has to obey.
If you’d like to see video of exactly how this behavior is trained, I dedicate a video on how to teach the “Leave It” command in my course, Hands Off Dog Training program.
- Train your dog the “Drop It” command. The drop it command is easier to teach then most people realize, and is another MUST train behavior if you want to prevent your dog from developing dog food aggression. It is also based around the philosophy that you just need to teach your dog an appropriate way to get what he wants, instead of biting.Here’s an example of how this works:
Let’s say you have a dog who is chewing his bone and will growl, or nip at you when you reach down to take it. The reason the dog growls is because he values that item HIGHLY. Most pet owners will yell, swat or tell their dog that they are bad for growling or biting. But this is not a very effective strategy, and only makes the dog try to protect “His” property harder… often escalating the aggression.
Instead of making our dog feel like he has to protect an item we want to take from him, or he’ll lose it forever… we need to change his thinking. We need to teach him that giving up things he loves means he gets even more rewarding things.
This is done in a training environment where we can control what the dog receives. To start, give your dog something that he only ‘kind of’ wants like a ball for example. Tell your dog to ‘drop it’ or reach down to remove the item from your dogs mouth while saying drop it and take the item from your dog. Because we’ve chosen an item that your dog values very little, your dog shouldn’t be bothered that you’re taking it from him… and as soon as he lets you take it say ‘good dog’ and give your dog a treat.
Done repeatedly this teaches your dog that giving up things in his possession means he gets MORE good things!
As your dog becomes better and better and giving up items he likes, start asking him to give up higher valued items. By teaching your dog to give up higher and higher value items every day, always getting a better reward, you can reprogram your dogs brain to respond to your drop it commands instead of feeling like he has to protect what he has and keep you from taking it.
If you’d like to see a wonderful video on how this is done, I’ve created a step-by-step training video for how to do this in the membership section of my website. To get a free 30 day trial of my dog training video membership site you can sign up here: http://thedogtrainingsecret.com
- The third and final technique for reducing your dog’s food aggression is simple and often VERY effective. Get your dog fixed. There are many studies out about how many behavior problems, as well as health problems can be fixed or avoided all together by getting your dog fixed before they reach puberty around 6 months of age. It doesn’t always fix the problem but it’s a very good idea.
For more information on how to fix your dog’s behavior problems, check out my Hands Off Dog Training program at http://www.thedogtrainingsecret.com/tips
Fixing Dog Aggression On Leash
Fixing a dog’s aggression towards other people or other dogs while on his leash is a problem that many people try to fix the WRONG way.
Most dog owners try to train their dog the way most of us were trained by our parents when we do something bad. We yell, scold or swat our dogs for doing what we think is an inappropriate behavior.
While this is sometimes an effective training technique, you should be aware of what’s REALLY happening when you use negative punishment as a training technique for dog’s who are aggressive towards others on their leash.
What most pet owners aren’t aware of is that when you use punishment you automatically program the brain to ALSO feel a negative emotion. So while you may be able to train a dog to not growl at another dog by beating him, you may have enhanced the negative emotions your dog has for the other dog approaching… in effect, creating dog aggression where it normally shouldn’t exist.
What’s really happening when you punish a dog for acting aggressively while on his leash is to SUPPRESS his outward display of emotions. Or said another way, you eliminate the WARNING signs your dog gives off when he gets upset. This increases the likelihood of so called, Random biting attacks where the person being bit couldn’t tell the dog was upset until it was too late.
This is why I’m a HUGE advocate of what I call Emotion Training, where you reprogram your dog how to feel POSITIVE emotions instead of negative ones.
If you’re interested in learning more about Emotion Training and how it can be used to re-program your dog’s aggression issues towards others in his environment, read my free report titled, Reprogramming the K9 Mind.
Most dog owners don’t even realize it’s possible, or how easy it is to train. And to those skeptics who don’t think you can train a dog’s emotional reactions towards things in his environment I like to share a story from a great dog training book called “Control Unleashed” by Leslie McDevitt.
In her book, Leslie tells a story about how she trained her dog to stop chasing squirrels by turning the act of her dog seeing a squirrel into a cue to turn around and look at her… instead of chasing the squirrel!
Most people would think this is impossible, but she outlines a very common sense approach for how she trained this behavior that is worth picking up a copy of the book to learn.
This training philosophy works off of environmental cues that you can train your dog to recognize. In cases where your dog get’s aggressive on his leash, think about what would happen if you changed the rules on your dog…
What if instead of your dog feeling the urge to get protective of you when on a leash, you started giving him a piece of cheese every time he saw another dog from a distance?
You may not notice a change the first or second time you gave your dog some cheese, but if you consistently tossed your dog a piece of cheese EVERY time he saw another dog for the next month, most dogs start to realize seeing other dogs can be a good thing. Many dogs will even start to get excited about seeing other dogs because they realize it means a piece of food is coming their way.
Of course there are a hundred different ways to apply this method of Emotion Training dog fixing your dog’s aggression while on a leash, and if you’re interested in learning more techniques and strategies for fixing your dog’s leash problems make sure you read my report, Reprogramming the K9 Mind.
How To Fix Dog Aggression with Children
If you’re concerned about your dog’s aggression with children, then I want to introduce you to a technique for reducing dog aggression with children that I call, “Toddler Proofing”.
Toddler Proofing is a technique for re-programming a dogs emotional reaction to your child’s touch, or presence, from feelings of aggressiveness to feelings of excitment, or at the very least… tolerance.
I recently did an entire interview on this concept with professional dog trainer, Jeff Tinsley in my “Experts of Hands Off Dog Training” interview series that you have the option of listening to when you order my Hands Off Dog Training program.
In that interview Jeff talks about how he’s used “Toddler Proofing” to get dogs who growl, or nip at children who pull their whiskers & tails, or who climb and jump on your dog, to stop being so upset by your child’s behavior and actually look forward to it in many cases.
The secret behind why Toddler Proofing can be so effective for fixing dog aggression with Children is because it uses a process of giving what I call, “Hi Value Emotional Rewards”, to your dog when your child is doing something irritating to him BEFORE the dog can experience the aggressive emotions.
Here’s how Toddler Proofing works:
Step #1: Make sure you know what your dog loves more then anything in the world. In order for Toddler Proofing to work, you need to have a Hi Value emotional reward. For some dogs this could be food treats like cheese or meat. For other dogs it might be to chase a ball. You’ll be using this reward as a way to interrupt the normal emotional pattern your dog experiences when you child goes to bother him. So make sure to have this reward handy.
Step #2: Start small! Don’t try to get your dog to accept all sorts of behaviors from your child all at once. Instead pick a behavior that only mildly bothers your dog. For this example let’s say that the behavior we want to work on is allowing your dog to tolerate his tail being pulled without growling.
WARNING!!! You should NEVER do anything that puts you or your child at risk of being harmed by your dog. These techniques are for mild cases of aggression. If your dog is dangerous, or you’re afraid of being bitten you should not follow these instructions and should instead consult a professional trainer in your local area to help you with your issues directly. There’s simply too many factors for considering your safety that this article cannot address. So please be careful.
Step #3: Reward your dog while “slightly” bothering him. If you wanted to train your dog to be more accepting of “Tail Pulling” start rewarding your dog with a treat while you lightly grab his tail. When first grabbing his tail don’t pull it, just lightly grasp it. Make sure you reward your dog with a food treat, or other reward at the exact instant you grab his tail.
This FORCES your dog to feel an emotion of excitement for a reward instead of aggression when his tail is being touched, instead of feeling aggression. Done repeatedly this will reprogram your dog to get excited about having his tail touched as more often then not it leads to a reward. In effect, you’re reprogramming his emotional mind!
Step #4: Slowly add more discomfort. When your dog willingly lets you grasp his tail ten times throughout the day without growling or showing signs of aggression, it’s time to increase the discomfort. This needs to be done SLOWLY & CAREFULLY. Don’t push your dog past his comfort zone. Instead, just try grabbing your dogs tail slightly harder, while continuing to reward him with food treats.
If you notice your dog is bothered by this harder grasping of his tail, then BACK OFF, and squeeze lighter.
The goal is to slowly teach your dog that having his tail grabbed is a good thing.
By continuing to reward your dog for having his tail grabbed while receiving a treat, you’ll be able to continue to increase your dog’s tolerance threshold. If done correctly you can increase the tolerance threshold of how much discomfort a dog can feel before acting aggressive substantially. This is why Toddler Proofing is such a wonderful technique for fixing dog aggression with children.
In many cases Toddler Proofing like techniques have been used on working dogs like seeing eye dogs. In these cases the trainers need to train the dogs to tolerate having their tails stepped on or run over by wheel chairs. These handlers need their dogs to not bite their owners who might accidentally cause them pain.
If you’re interested in learning about the many different ways that Toddler Proofing can fix dog aggression with children, then consider my “Expert Interview Series” that’s available as an add on purchase to my Hands Off Dog Training program.
By using Toddler Proofing strategies correctly, you can effective fix dog aggression towards children for whisker & tail pulling, touching of their feet, and all sorts of behaviors that children do to dogs that bother them.
Here’s hoping this helps reduce your dog’s aggression towards your child!
Video Reveals: #1 Mistake To NEVER Make If You Want Your Dog To Come When You Call
Play the video below to learn how to program your dog to come EVERY time you call him… no matter how distracted he is, or how bad he doesn’t want to come:
Enjoy The Video!
Chet
P.S. Click here to learn more dog training techniques!
Training Away Your Dogs Aggression
Regardless of the size of your dog, it’s critical to take steps in the beginning to prevent dog aggression. There’s nothing worse than having your dog bite someone. It’s embarrassing, it’s frightening and it can cause your dog to be taken away from you and lose its life. Why deal with that kind of angst when the solution is actually quite simple.
There are different types of aggression but many of them stem from the same thing, a lack of socialization and preparedness.
Fear aggression while it can stem from trauma often comes from a dog not knowing how to deal with a situation. Dominance aggression comes from a dog who is confused about his relationship with the family and preparation aggression comes from a dog that is quite simply not prepared for what life has to offer.
Basic training like sit, stay, and heel are a good foundation to truly protect your dog from aggressive behavior consider undergoing a toddler training regimen.
Jeff Kinsley of SoundAnimals.com says, “Toddler training is where we do behaviors that maybe don’t have a medical or grooming purpose and they may not even seem like they are all that enjoyable for the dog. However, toddlers especially may be more apt to do them like yanking on the tail, pulling on an ear, pulling on the fur, grabbing on the dog, charging up to the dog which again some adults even will do these things with dogs they don’t know.”
He uses food as a source of pleasure for the animal thus making the dog both accustomed to having hands on them as well as associating the handling with pleasant experiences like cheese or hot dogs. While it may seem like a good idea to have children in on the training process, with toddler training how you approach it depends largely on the age, size and temperament of your dog.
“If the dog is older,” says Tinsley, “and is objecting to some of these things, you’re definitely going to want to leave the kids out of the process at the beginning until the dog will allow people to do all these things without any objection and that we start slowly back with children.”
Kinsley also recommends making training into a game. “With younger dogs that are just going through this toddler training process for the first time, I definitely encourage people, especially if they have young kids to play games with the dog. Simon Says is a great game. Simon would be one of the adults holding a handful of high value treats, like again chicken or cheese or something.
“They’re Simon and they tell the kid Simon Says pull the dog’s tail. And when they pull the dog’s tail, the dog gets chicken. They go through a little process, obviously with the understanding that we’re not going to be hurting the dog and that we’re just going to be getting the dog used to these kinds of behaviors.
Socialization plays an important role in raising calm and non-aggressive dogs. Whether you have small dogs or larger ones it’s important to expose your dog to a wealth of experiences. Take them to the park, take them to the city, take them to the dog park, to visit your family. Take your dog to the dog daycare, let other people walk them, feed them and so on. Let your dog become accustomed to as many sights, sounds, situations and experiences as possible.
The more prepared they are the less likely they’ll be to attack out of fear, lack of social preparation or even dominance. Training, toddler training, and basic dog obedience training will go a long way toward raising a well adjusted dog who can handle just about anything.
We want to thank Jeff for that valuable information!
Dealing With Dog Aggression Interview – Jeff Tinsley
If you have a dog who’s starting to show signs of aggression you’re going to love my most recent interview with Dog Training expert, Jeff Tinsley.
In this interview Jeff and I talk about how to handle dealing with dog’s who get aggressive when certain parts of their body are touched. This should be helpful for people who’s dog’s are showing signs of aggression when going in for Vet checkups where the Vet has to handle the dog.
Plus we also get into what causes different types of aggression and how to solve them.
All you have to do to is right click here to download the audio file to your computer, then just use your favorite mp3 player to listen in. It’s an hour long interview so it might take you a while to download… but be patient, it’s worth waiting for 
Enjoy!
Chet Womach
P.S. I’m really making it a priority to deliver some great free information for you, and I’d appreciate it if you’d leave your comments on what you got out of this interview in the comments section of this post… Thanks.
