Articles DiggerSubmit Articles Free SEO friendly Article Directory

No matter where you live, you may run into dog aggression, and it may be caused by your dog. Sometimes it is between two dogs, whether neighbors or dogs in the same household. Sometimes it involves a dog attacking or biting a human, all too often a child. This article will give you three things you can do if you are dealing with an aggressive dog in your family. It will also provide you with a link to a resource that has much more information on this stressful situation. The first step is to organize your dog’s living situation so that he can’t attack anyone. You’ll need to be protecting yourself, your family members, all other pets you have, and of course the dog himself. Everyone needs to be safe. If your dog is already used to a crate, you can use it as part of your plan to manage where he is. If he is not accustomed to a crate, you can try teaching him to use it, by enticing him in with food or dog toys, but be sure that he is okay in it before you leave him alone. Even then, devise a way to check on how he is doing, such as looking in a window. Don’t just dump him in the thing for hours on end, or he may injure himself or do damage to the crate. You can’t leave him in it for many hours. If you don’t have a crate or as an adjunct to it, you may be able to confine the dog to a room in your home, such as a laundry room, a spare room, or something of the sort. If you are dealing with dog-dog aggression, be sure that at least one door, and preferably two, is between the two dogs all the time. Second, make an appointment, as soon as possible, with your veterinarian. Have him or her give your dog a complete examination. In a surprising number of cases, dog aggression comes about because the dog is suffering some pain that makes him cranky or seriously aggressive. There are actually dozens of possible physical conditions that could be causing the bad behavior. Maybe this step will solve your problem, but if not, at least you will have ruled it out. Third, begin writing down short notes about the aggressive incident and what has happened since. Use a little notepad or some paper that you can keep in a convenient place, so it’s easy to make these notes. If you try to go back after a few days to reconstruct what happened, you may find that your memory is a bit unreliable about the timing and other details. This is normal, and all the more so when a situation is stressful. But these scribbles will have a place as you begin to create some new habits for training the dog and managing the situation. And that is what you will want to do next. Research shows that when the owner of a dog who shows aggression takes an active role in managing the situation, the outlook is far, far better for the dog and those who love him.