How to Stop Dog on Dog Aggression

Have you ever brought a new dog into a house and your dog becomes extremely angry and begins barking and nipping at the other dog. Suddenly your gentle and affectionate canine has become the neighborhood tough dog and none of the other owners wants your pup to play with theirs. Many people tend to blame the owner of the dog for dog on dog aggression and while they are partly to blame, there is more to the story than that.

Dog on dog aggression is very common and it is something that many owners are embarrassed about. In addition, dog on dog aggression can manifest in a multitude of ways and many owners aren’t even aware that there is a problem until it is too late. Take Petey, a young Labrador Retriever, that suffered from dog on dog aggression. Even after being neutered, Petey would continuously jump onto the back of any dog he met and begin to hump the dog, growling if the dog tried to fight him off. While many people thought that Petey was just overly affectionate, what was happening was Petey was being the equivalent of a bully. He was being aggressive and while there were no signs of biting, there was a definite undertone of aggression under it all.

Unfortunately, Petey’s owners were unsure what to do with this and they did one of the worst things that they could do, they stopped trying to socialize their dog and he began to grow even more aggressive whenever they saw a new dog, until they had no choice but to enrol in serious obedience correction for the dog.

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And the main point that I want to stress with this story, is that dog on dog aggression can start very small, with only a seemingly small problem, and it can quickly escalate to an unmanageable problem.

But enough about the story, and let’s actually look at what dog on dog aggression really is. Before I begin, I want to mention that there are several different types of aggression and it is important to realize that a dog can have more than one form of aggression. It can also be quite common if a dog only has one form of aggression.

With dog on dog aggression, a dog is aggressive to other dogs, plain and simple. It can be seen in a variety of ways from barking at other dogs to full on attacks and it should never be encouraged or taken too lightly. This is a serious problem and can lead to the dog being put down eventually.

Generally, dog on dog aggression is primarily caused by improper socialization. One of the greatest misconceptions about socialization is simply that a dog needs to get out amongst other dogs. However, there is much more to this than simply mixing, and it is up to the owner to set the tone and the rules for all interactions with other dogs.

First, dogs should only interact freely if they know each other and the owners know the dogs. Before then, all interactions should be kept on a leash. Second, the owner should correct any misbehaviour in the dog. Finally, the owner should protect their own dog and remove them if something negative is going to happen.

Usually, if a dog is socialized and dog on dog aggression does occur, it is caused by a negative experience the dog had as a puppy. This experience has caused him to become distrustful of other dogs and that distrust has grown into dog on dog aggression.

However, poor socialization is not the only reason as to why your dog is aggressive towards other dogs, and in our next article we will view some of the remaining causes: How to Stop Dog on Dog Aggression – Part Two

Click Here for the Ultimate Way to Stop Dog on Dog Aggression