Dog Training Article: Solving a Fear or Aggression Problem

By Jess Rollins
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• Begin by contacting your regular veterinarian to rule out medical problems. Consider contacting a Veterinary Behavioral Specialist for a consultation and possibly medication.

• Try safe anxiety reducers like herbal calming supplements, DAP (Dog Appeasing Pheromone) or an Anxiety Wrap.

• Feed him a high quality diet free of artificial additives, wheat, corn and soy.

• Make sure he gets enough activity and stimulation. For guidelines click here.

• Teach him to wear a muzzle if there is a possibility he could hurt someone. (Muzzle = treats!)

• Be a good leader to make it worth while for him to listen to you.

• If he is afraid of people, do not allow unfamiliar people to approach him, instead, reward him for any social or friendly behavior with a treat. Put him in another room with a great chew if he will be upset by the presence of guests. It will help him to feel more secure if the guests pretend that your dog is invisible.

• Keep yourself calm and upbeat at all times and tension off of his leash. Use the "Jolly Routine": act happy and joyful when you see something that you know your dog will fear.

• Do not use physical punishments (yelling, hitting, collar corrections, etc) as this can convince him that what he is afraid of is even more scary than he first thought, or may cause him to hide his discomfort from you which can lead to what appears to be an unprovoked bite later on.

• Learn about canine body language so that you can tell when he is becoming upset. A great book and video for this is called Calming Signals by Turiid Rugaas.

Work to change his mind about his fears.

Example, helping a dog that is fearful of cars:

1. Get some fresh meat or cheese and walk in a field near a street.

2. Discover how far into the field away from the traffic you must go until your dog can pay attention to you instead of the cars.

3. When your dog looks at a car going by, praise and then give him a treat.

4. Gradually move closer to the road. If your dog cannot attend to you or is reacting to the car in a negative way you should retreat farther away.

5. Soon your dog should see a car coming and happily look to you for his treat. Be patient, as teaching him to change his feelings about something scary can take longer than regular "trick" training.

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