Aggressive behavior

[Roxy's CD]

Pharlap- But acting out violently won't "reinstate" his status as Alpha. Only by being in control of every resource, food/toys/love/attention etc.

Roxy is a "dominant" dog, and the only methods that have worked for me have been non-physical gestures. Body language, "looks", verbal, that may sound ridiculous, but she understands and accepts those gestures much better than if I threw a prong on her, and whipped her to the ground. I can guarentee that she would bite or snap at me if I did that.

 

[Pharlap290]

I understand the love, food and fun. But I sort of figured that with things having gotten as bad as they have you would need to bring to the dogs attention that you're not going to deal with it anymore. I understand that it requires body language and much more than brute force but it takes a fine line to undo what has become of this dog. Yes the dog will bite and snap when forced to the ground but they're going to try to keep their alpha position before finally giving up. Slowly the dog will figure out that they aren't the alpha and the looks and commands will take place what was the brute force.

 

[mojozen]

I wouldn't use aggression to address this problem. Not. At. All.

Owning a "dangerous" breed myself the last thing I would do is use aggression because then the dog will try to put you back in the place he thinks you belong in (I learned that the hard way). Better to control everything the dog does - when he eats, where he eats, how he eats, you start play, you end play, you ignore his attempts to engage you unless you choose to pay attention to him. It took me 6 months plus to set myself up as "alpha" (i hate that term), and it was slow, it was hard, but now I've got the best relationship with my dog I think I could have.

 

[Pharlap290]

I guess it's hard to say. I suppose if it worked for you. It's different with certain dogs, especially if they like to bite back. Maybe I'm thinking too far into the animalistic interpretation than the human/dog interaction.

 

[Doberluv]

Some educational links:

http://www.mnforsustain.org/wolf_mech_dominance_alpha_status.htm

http://www.barry.eaton.clara.net/pack_leader.htm

http://www.barry.eaton.clara.net/pack_leader.htm