Recognize Aggressive Dogs and Avoid a Dog Fight

This morning, as my dog and I took out regular walk, a loose dog came running over towards us. Normally, that in itself is no reason for alarm. But,because I already was pretty  experienced in recognizing aggressive behavior in dogs,  I could easily tell something about this dog’s approach was wrong. the dog that was coming toward us, had the look of a dog that wanted trouble. Instead of looking friendly, his appearance was quite  aggressive-and he was heading straight for us. The approaching dog wasn’t barking, but just by looking at his intense body language, I could see this wasn’t going to be a friendly visit. I was able to change my path and thus avoid having a problem with the aggressive dog because I could read the other dog’s aggressive body language.

You should also be able to recognize aggressive behavior in dogs, so you can avoid potential dog fights. When dogs first meet, you’ll notice that they quickly sort out who is the dominant dog and who is the submissive one.  If one of the two dogs remains submissive when they meet, there should be no reason that a dog fight will occur.

Use the following tips to help learn how to recognize an aggressive dog before any problems can occur. If you can detect the signs of an aggressive dog, you can take action to avoid a bad encounter from taking place. That may be as simple as  calming and controlling your own pet, or finding a way to avoid a close encounter with the other dog by leaving the area.

• Everyone has seen aggressive dog body language many times already. If is common to see the more dominant of the two dogs putting his head above the other dogs, and maybe jumping up to place his paws and forearms over the second dog’s shoulder area. The more dominant dog might even try to mount the other dog, not because he is feeling sexy, but because that’s one way to show dominance.  These dominance displays can cause some problems if one of the dogs does not feel like being submissive .

• When the dominant dog starts to snarl and displays some teeth while doing this, (perhaps even snapping his jaws) it means he is now in a very aggressive mode (not just demonstrating dominance) and this can become  a very real problem. Make sure you control the situation and avoid any chance of the two dogs fighting.

• You can also spot an aggressive dog through his very intense stare and tense body movements. The aggressive dogs tail will be held up (but it will not be wagging, unfortunately) and his ears will be held back. It is pretty obvious, even from a distance, that this dog is not in a good mood.

• When a dog puts its hackles up (raises the hair on his back) if is a form of aggressive body language visible even at quite a distance. During my morning walk, I could tell the approaching dog was clearly aggressive, as his hackles were already up before he even reached us.

Even if you didn’t always know what these aggressive displays meant, you have seen them all many times before. You can now spot aggressive behavior and you are also aware of the danger that this aggression can lead to, so  be pro-active in keeping your dog from getting into a fight.

With my own aggressive dogs, until I finally got serious and trained them better, I could  never take them out in public without a leash on them for fear of one of my dogs starting a fight. If you have an aggressive dog, it is your responsibility  always have control of your pet when he is out in public.

Pay attention to  dog body language, and when you see these aggressive postures, you can avoid getting into a dangerous situation. Use your ability to spot an incoming aggressive dog’s body language to ensure that it doesn’t get a chance to come into contact with your dog. Just veer off the course that will bring you into contact with the problem dog, and avoid the two dogs coming into contact with each other. If the aggression problem is with your own dog, you can solve that problem by paying a lot of attention to his training (especially training dealing with aggression) so that your dog really obey your commands. You won’t be able to control your dog’s aggressive actions until he recognizes you as the boss of the relationship, and will listen to you when you want him to calm down and not be aggressive.

If you want to learn to train your dog at home, I recommend strongly that you check out my review of  the very best dog training program. Using these tips and positive reinforcement techniques, training my own dogs is much easier and effective than it used to be.

For more free helpful advice for dog obedience training and solving your dog’s behavior problems, please click here to visit www.BehaveDoggy.com.