Fear Aggression: How To Help Your Dog

Fear is a common trigger for aggressive behavior in many animals and even at times in people. If the fearful dog is on their own territory or constrained so that they are unable to get away, the result is often aggressive behavior.

It can be tricky to know definitely whether this is the cause of your dogs aggression unless you have some expertise in this area, as the only indicators are behavioral and postural.  Aggression has a number of known triggers and there are often at least a couple of triggers combined in any aggression display.

Fear aggression is often, but not always, a factor in dog to dog aggression.

Fear aggression may be the result of a previous bad experience with other dogs, people or objects. Dog owners can make this type of aggression worse if they punish the dog physically or inadvertently reward this behavior.

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If you are fearful, when you dog is passed by other dogs, your dog will sense your trepidation and react accordingly. Compounding the problem your instinctive tightening of your hold on the leash further restricts your dog and adds to their fear.

Tightening the leash also raises your dog into to a more upright assertive posture which can attract unwanted attention and give aggressive signals to the passing dog.

On the other hand if you are confident and not exerting any unnecessary pressure on the leash, your dog will know this and in tern be more confident and relaxed about the situation.

As with most types of aggressive behavior the most important thing you can do to prevent this type of behavior is to obedience train your dog. Then when you spot any signs of fear aggression or impending triggers of aggressive behavior you will be ale to command you dogs attention and divert them from impending trouble.

At the first sign of trouble give a “Sit “or “drop and stay” command. This will distract your dog and put them in a submissive posture which is less likely to arouse the other dog. When your dog obeys reward the dog with praise or a treat which further distracts them from the cause of their fear.

This distract technique is preferable to removing the cause of the fear, as removing the other dog is exactly what you dog wanted to achieve by aggression. So removing the object of fear re-affirms the aggressive behavior.

As your dog has more and consistent good experiences where the cause of their fear no longer appears threatening or as threatening, your dog will become happier,more confident and less likely to react aggressively out of fear.

Click here for the best dog training guide to fix your dog aggression problem