Introduction
It is very important, at the outset, to understand that dogs are pack animals and that their behaviour relates to their position in their pack. Your dog sees the human members of its family as members of its pack. There can only be one leader in the pack and it is natural for your dog to push for the position of “top dog”.
Dominant dogs are those with the strongest instinctive drive to push for the top dog position. These dogs see kind owners as weak and, if given the chance, they will take advantage of them and move toward the top dog position. Once the dog has reached the top dog position, it will expect its owners to respect its wishes and follow its directions. When humans try to win a dog’s affection by petting, spoiling it, and allowing the dog to get its own way, this merely serves to reinforce the dog’s position with all the problem behaviour that accompanies it.
Dominance aggression directed at people is normally directed toward family members or people the dog is familiar with (i.e. members of its pack). Usually, the aggression is expressed to people the dog perceives as threatening its social position (e.g. by hugging, petting on the top of the head, standing over or direct eye contact). The events can range from a growl to a bite and usually occur when there is a conflict over a resource (e.g. food, toys or bed), when the dog does not get its own way, or when the dog is protecting a group member, object or territory. Very small children are rarely attacked.
The attacks of a dominant dog frequently seem unprovoked, fast and often are not accompanied by a growl (i.e. there is little or no warning). The dog often has a glazed look to the eye before and during the attack. Immediately after, the dog appears contrite, remorseful, or unaware of exactly what occurred.
It is vital with a pet dog that a human assumes the position of top dog. Initially, this should be the most dominant person in the house. Once the dog has been dominated by this person, then the process can be generalised to the other members of the family including any children.
The process of dominating your dog is relatively straight forward providing that you follow the basic set of rules given below. The main concept behind this treatment is to teach your dog that nothing in life is free. He/she must learn that you control everything that he/she values most such as food, attention, touch, exercise and freedom. It is vital that you be consistent with his/her training.
Training and Obedience
You should train your dog to sit, stay, come, down-stay and heel in that order. This should be accomplished with the use of rewards, a head collar and extending lead. It may be useful to join a good dog training class where you, the owner, does the training.
Initially, all the exercise should be carried out on a lead. This restricts his/her freedom and reinforces your dominance over him/her. If your dog pulls, then he/she is in control of you. You must make a dominant dog obey the heel command. If you have difficulty training a dog to heel, then use a head collar (such as a Halti) rather than a check chain.
You should always walk ahead of your dog, especially when going through doors. If your dog tries to push past you, shut the door in his/her face.
It is very important that you enforce every command. You are the boss. You make the rules and you must ensure that they are obeyed. Otherwise it is better not to give commands and to remain silent.
Maintain a Height Advantage
Never allow your dog on chairs, your lap or beds since this brings him/her up to your height and, in his/her eyes, reinforces his/her dominant position. Also, avoid allowing your dog upstairs or into bedrooms.
Avoid Any Confrontations
Remove all valued assets such as toys and bones. This will remove the possibility of your dog being able to try and protect things from you. At the same time, it will also show him/her that you control his/her toys. If grooming nail clipping or other similar activities are essential, then you should first muzzle your dog.
If you allow confrontations to occur, losing any of these will lose you all the benefit of the training you have done.
DO NOT DISCIPLINE YOUR DOG. If he/she is doing something he/she shouldn’t, divert his/her attention by telling him/her to come and sit or go to bed. Then you can reward your dog for following your command.
Do Not Be Pushed Around
If your dog initiates any activity, even friendship, you must ignore it. Touch is a very important reward for your dog If your dog jumps up, rests against you or demands petting, you must totally ignore it and avoid looking at him/her. Move away yourself and tell your dog to go to his/her bed.
No Games
Because games only go on as long as your dog wants them to, your dog will end up winning all the games you play. It is therefore vital that you especially avoid games such as tug-of-war, wrestling or rough and tumble and chasing balls.
Control Food
Feed your dog only when he/she responds to a command. He/she must realise that you control all the necessities in his/her life, including food. Make your dog sit or lie down before giving his/her meal. Never reward begging. Never feed scraps from the table. It is advisable to feed a basic complete dry food rather than human-type food or high protein commercial canned foods.
Usually, it takes around 6-8 weeks to establish dominance over a dog. After this time, you can revert to a more normal relationship with your pet. However, you should always remain alert for the reappearance of dominant behaviour and put a stop to it immediately using the techniques above.
The above techniques will work, but only with commitment from you. If you do have any problems, then please feel free to call the practice on (01243) 842832. Please note that in order to comply with the ethical guidelines set out by the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons, this service is only available to registered AlphaPet clients.
Once you have started the training programme, we usually request that you give us progress reports approximately every 2 weeks. Additional techniques may be necessary if you are not getting satisfactory results.
Working together, we are confident that we will be able to eliminate this dominant aggressive behaviour and that you will start to enjoy a more rewarding relationship with your dog.
