Dog Fear Aggression

Understanding Dog Fear Aggression

Dog Fear Aggression is one form of aggressive behavior that can severely impact your canine. Dog fear aggression is also one of the MOST common dog aggressions out there. Seeking professional help with any aggression always seems to be a good idea. Luckily there is no shortage of Long Island dog trainers to help with your training goals.

When a dog exhibits any form of aggression, it can ALWAYS be attributed to a fearful memory or experience (environmental) or a canines’ temperament (genetics).  

Dog fear aggression typically shows itself between six (6) months & 18 months, but signs can be seen as early as eight 8 weeks.

Many people believe that dog fear aggression comes from how much a dog trusts its owner.  Often dog owner’s will mention that they feed their dog, care for, show affection & exercise them, so they do not understand why their dog in certain situations will display aggression to them and family members. But that isn’t always the case.

Sometimes, they really don’t trust their owners, but they still have a deep connection with them.

Genetics & Environmental Dog Fear Aggression

As mentioned earlier, this type of aggressive behavior is usually caused by genetics but can also be triggered by a strong environmental memory of a particular scenario that they often generalize.

An example of environmental fear aggression: maybe while walking your puppy another dog in your neighborhood runs out from a driveway and bites your dog.  This scenario, more times than not, will leave your dog suspect of ALL dogs in similar scenarios.

Dog fear aggression with respect to ‘genetics’ is usually due to a fear of something, it knows nothing about. The dog’s nervous system reacts aggressively towards the unknown object or situation.

Regrettably, most fear aggressive dogs come from genetics.   

An example of genetic based fear aggression in dogs: You have raised your canine from a puppy and he or she never had a bad experience with men; however, out of nowhere, he is fearful and showing aggression towards men.

Managing & Controlling Your Dog’s Fear Aggression

This for most dog owners, especially new owners can be exceedingly difficult to digest.  Dog owners will spend countless hours trying to figure out the “Why.”  The truth of the matter is – there’s no other reason besides genetics (what the dog is made of).

Although it is difficult to accept; it is true.  Can you make things better?  Sometimes, but in our dog training experience – controlling your dog’s fear aggression by obedience training is the way to go!

Focused Communication with a Fear Aggressive Canine

Something MANY Dog behaviorists and trainers agree on is that when canine aggression is present there’s a lack of communication between dog and owner that prevents the dog & owner to move forward and enjoy a better quality of life together.

Where the philosophy of many Long Island dog trainers differ in opinion is where that communication should be focused. 

Many dog behaviorist use terms such as:

Counterconditioning

Desensitizing  

While we believe in this type of conditioning, we do not consider it to be an end all.  It is part of our toolbox, though, not the main part. 

IIf counterconditioning or desensitization is used incorrectly or too frequently, you can be doing more harm than good to your dog and the relationship with your dog.

Leash Training a Fearful Aggressive Dog

You can talk to your dog while training him to be more sociable.  We can communicate with our dog through the leash and verbal commands.

Body language is also used to let your dog that you are the pack leader. Leash training is crucial to getting your dog to listen to you more and become obedient.

Most pet owners have a leash affixed to their dogs, but many dog owners do not “USE” a leash – it is just there.  Having a leash & leash training your dog is entirely different.  The leash is used to help your dog with follow through to commands when they are in that Zone.

The Fear Aggression and Fight Response 

Often called “fight response” is when your dog “perceives” they are challenged by another person or dog and “believe” they do not have the option to “flee” or “avoid.”

The fight response is a strong indicator that your dog is afraid. Some signs that your dog has this problem are barking, growling, lunges & air snapping.

This is where leash training your dog to commands come in.  That leash paired with commands should be used to restrict your dog from advancing and causing injury.

Dog Fear Aggression, Devastating to You & Your Dog

Dog Fear Aggression can be draining and challenging for both you and your dog. Fear aggression can be the most dangerous problem when dealing with a dog because the behavior can also be unpredictable & often results in physical injury or perhaps death to another person or dog.

If you have attempted many possible methods of training and still experiencing problems with your dog then it’s extremely likely that you have an underlying problem that needs to be tackled perhaps by a professional dog trainer. Thankfully, there are no shortages of obedience trainers.