Any kind of dog aggression, and there are close to 20 different kinds of identifiable dog aggression can have serious consequences.

Dogs clinically diagnosed with dominance aggression, which can also be called conflict aggression, obsess about rank order.  In other words they are in conflict with their owners over control of the environment (the home, the back yard) and the dog is ready to do battle over this at any given moment

The dog has no normal social tolerance for people who invade the dog’s own personal space as well.  This would show up as an intolerance by the dog to being touched when you try to pet him, especially on his backside.  And, in some cases the dog might be insistent on being touched ONLY to turn and snap or bite if your do indeed try to touch him.  These dogs seem to lack any other tools or methods to resolve dealing with owners, owner’s friends, or people who tend to get in “the dog’s” home or yard during daily, normal home activities or even the dog’s personal space. 

Working with this dog as a puppy to begin desensitizing him to being petted, correcting any inappropriate nipping or biting and redirecting to a sit or down, would, in the long haul, prevent snapping or biting as an adult dog.

Other tools an owner could give their dog that would be more appropriate than snapping or biting are commands such as sit, down, leave it, come, go to your bed or “look at me” - all adequately taught by the owner over time since puppyhood.

Providing this type of dog with clear expectations and boundaries on “who does what for whom” (dog sits to earn food, petting, toys, etc) will provide owners with more of a hassle-free life with their dog.

A total lack of structure or “owner leadership” from the very beginning begins to set this dog up for endless indulgence of food, space, toys and love and affection.  He never develops a way to cope with the frustration that eventually develops in his mind when he doesn’t get what he wants right away?  Remind you of raising kids?

Set boundaries for your dog right away.  Put your dog on a learn-to-earn program of sits and downs for everything they need from you i.e. food, treats, praise, love, affection, walks, potty breaks etc.  Begin early and avoid conflicts later!

Be as comfortble with the trainer of your dog as you are the teacher of your children.  And remember, “Opportunity Barks!”

Jim Burwell, Jim Burwell’s Petiquette

I got a call on a backyard dog, apparently too bossy as an adolescent to be inside, according to the owners.  The dog was barking a lot - especially at dogs on the other side of the fence on 2 out of the 3 sides of the back yard and at passer-bys in the front room facing the street, when the dog was allowed inside. 

The owner was fed up which, by way of interpretation, meant that the dog was literally one vet visit away from having her vocal cords severed to prevent the nuisance barking.  This poor dog was extremely frustrated and insecure with her back yard status.  After all, it was HER backyard!  But she was constantly being reprimanded for being vocal with the neighborhood dogs.

I discussed the need to have the dog be inside on a regular basis and the relevance of the earn-to-learn program.  That is, for everything she wanted, she had to at least do a sit and a down as well.  I also explained that having the dog on a leash when in the home WITH the owners (never on a leash inside when alone or unattended!) could help them establish better control with the dog.  Dogs are much more compliant when on a leash or line.

Happily, this young dog is now in the house full time and can still bark fluently, but only on an approved, limited basis.

Be as comfortable with the trainer of your dog as you are the teacher of your children.

Jim Burwell, Jim Burwell’s Petiquette

Having trouble with your bossy or alpha type dog?  Is he out of control and taking over your household?  It could be easier than you think to begin turning your “untamed adolescent” into your price charming or little princess in no time at all.  How could this be possible you ask?

Simple structure and training will usually do it.

• Structure:  put your wild child on a learn-to-earn program.  That is, immediately start requiring a sit for everything:  food, access to you, toys, or love and affection.  As soon as you can, teach your dog down, add that to the earn-to-learn requirement creating “doggie push-ups” 
• Training:  work a short 2 minute regimen on the basic commands 3 times a day with your dog, (who can’t give 6 minutes a day to their dog?).  A morning workout on commands is best as it starts each day with expectation of who’s doing what for whom.

Here’s the reason obedience training works so well.  As dogs interact daily with each other, often in subtle competition for some resource, (food, toys), there is a stimulus-response pattern with dogs that, to a large extent, determines leader-follower relationships in any given moment between the dogs.  If a dog has a bone and another dog approaches, the dog with the bone growls (stimulus-leader) and the other dog backs off (response-follower).  We can see it best explained between dogs and humans in the “nudge”- pet activity that goes on between owner and dog.

As the dog nudges the owner to stimulate a response, this is usually followed by the owner who obliges with a petting response, setting the dog up as the leader and the owner as the follower.  Definitely not the “order” you want.

This can systematically be reversed through the use of obedience commands,  If in the case of the “nudge” by the family dog, the owner says “Sit” (stimulus) and the dog complies with a sit (response) then in this case the leader-follower relationship has been put in it’s proper order.

And, if done on a regular basis with consistency and repetition, you will be well on your way to getting your bossy dog under control.  You might be surprised how easy it can be!

Jim Burwell, www.petiquettedog.com

When it comes to the touchy subject of dogs on the furniture, my vote is to YES, have dogs on the furniture.  Yup, you heard that right, on the furniture.  I would however, present the following clarifications:

• There should be rules.  Dogs should earn the privilege of getting on your furniture by at least, doing a sit.  This should be followed by a command to get them on the sofa, like the command “Up”.  After your dog performs a sit, simply pat the couch and say “Up”.  So his getting on your couch is on YOUR terms, not his.
• You should teach your dog a “relocation cue” (another place to go other than the sofa) and train this command frequently.  Examples would be, “go to your bed”, or once off the couch just place your dog in a down by your feet in front of the couch.  This teaches him that you can let him up, BUT, you can also tell him to get off and go somewhere else.  If your dog has a tendency or potential to “guard” the sofa, doing this exercise frequently would help to minimize any resource guarding that could develop. 
• Dogs with strong leader type personalities or temperaments would have a greater tendency to resource guard space.  The stronger this tendency, the more I would tend to limit time (IF ANY AT ALL) on the furniture. 

Jim Burwell  www.petiquettedog.com

Amazing!  You would have thought cancer, certainly not behavior problems in dogs as the #1 killer.  However, the American Veterinary Society of Animal Behavior has validated that “behavior issues” not infectious diseases are the number one cause of death for dogs under 3 years of age.

That is a crime.  Why?  Because behavior issues arise due to  lack of primary socialization when puppies are in their first three months.  Behavior issues arise because of lack of training.  Behavior issues arise because of lack of leadership.   So the crime in all of this is behavior issues are preventable with owner involvement, and owner responsibility to give their puppy what the puppy needs.

If owners provide early education for their puppies and start off on the right foot with their puppy, many if not all behavioral issues can be thwarted.  Puppies need to learn to be around all kinds of people, all kinds of kids, all kinds of places, all kind of noises, car, strollers etc.  All of this is possible even before they are fully vaccinated.  By second round of vaccinations, your puppy has a lot of protection.

Just use common sense.  Don’t take your puppy to a dog park, don’t take your puppy to a public pet store.  Take your puppy around other dogs you know, to other people’s homes, have people over to your home.  Let your puppy get used to kids and other dogs.

If your dog should develop behavior issues, don’t ignore them.  The longer you let it go, the more the dog gets to rehearse the bad behavior and the more difficult it is to fix.  Have a positive reinforcement trainer come to your home to work with you and the dog immediately.  You wouldn’t ignore your child’s problem would you?

Be a resposible pet owner.  Socialize your puppy, get training for your puppy and if issues develop - fix them.  If you’d like great free info on puppies, fill in your name and email and we’ll be happy to send it to you.  We will never give out your personal information.

Be as comfortable with the trainer of your dog, as you are the teacher of your children. And remember, “Opportunity Barks!”

Jim Burwell, Jim Burwell’s Petiquette