Text Box: Solving a Fear or Aggression Problem Begin by contacting your regular veterinarian to rule out medical problems. Consider contacting a Veterinary Behavioral Specialist for a consultation and possibly medication. Try safe anxiety reducers like herbal calming supplements, DAP (Dog Appeasing Pheromone) or an Anxiety Wrap. Feed him a high quality diet free of artificial additives, wheat, corn and soy. Make sure he gets enough activity and stimulation. For guidelines click here. Teach him to wear a muzzle if there is a possibility he could hurt someone. (Muzzle = treats!) Be a good leader to make it worth while for him to listen to you. If he is afraid of people, do not allow unfamiliar people to approach him, instead, reward him for any social or friendly behavior with a treat. Put him in another room with a great chew if he will be upset by the presence of guests. It will help him to feel more secure if the guests pretend that your dog is invisible. Keep yourself calm and upbeat at all times and tension off of his leash. Use the "Jolly Routine": act happy and joyful when you see something that you know your dog will fear. ·         Do not use physical punishments (yelling, hitting, collar corrections, etc) as this can convince him that what he is afraid of is even more scary than he first thought, or may cause him to hide his discomfort from you which can lead to what appears to be an unprovoked bite later on. ·         Learn about canine body language so that you can tell when he is becoming upset. A great book and video for this is called Calming Signals by Turiid Rugaas. Work to change his mind about his fears. Example, helping a dog that is fearful of cars: 1.       Get some fresh meat or cheese and walk in a field near a street. 2.       Discover how far into the field away from the traffic you must go until your dog can pay attention to you instead of the cars. 3.       When your dog looks at a car going by, praise and then give him a treat. 4.       Gradually move closer to the road. If your dog cannot attend to you or is reacting to the car in a negative way you should retreat farther away. 5.       Soon your dog should see a car coming and happily look to you for his treat. Be patient, as teaching him to change his feelings about something scary can take longer than regular "trick" training. Check out the products we offer to help train your aggressive dog! Article by Jess Rollins Pet Expertise   Text Box: Training Method:   Place your dog in his crate or pen and give his a raw marrow bone or stuffed Kong and move to an area that is just out of sight of your dog. Read aloud for 30 minutes while recording yourself. Take short breaks during this period, during which no sound will be recorded. Initially record 10 seconds of silence and build a variable increase of quiet time from there. Continue with this as you can until you have created a 3 hour long tape. Your next step is to place your dog in his "safe" area, give him his chewie and turn on the recorder. When he seems to be calmly engrossed, leave the room, get your keys and exit your home for just a few minutes. Return to the room at the end of a gradually increasing time period. When you return, switch off the recorder and calmly enter his area. Ignore him until he is relaxed. If when you return you see signs of anxiety, cut the time you leave in half next time. If when you repeat, he's still experiencing separation anxiety, cut your time in half again! Once your dog is no longer anxious, start increasing the times again. This is best to do on a vacation, but if that is not possible, start on Friday evening before the weekend. It will speed up the process if you begin this protocol by leaving him in an environment that he has not been left in before, i.e. if he had previously had a bad reaction to being crated, leave him in a different doggy-proofed area. If you know that you must leave him for longer than he is ready for, don't leave him in this new area. Use the original "bad" place or better yet, find some way to take him with you or leave him with a friend or at a doggy daycare. If the weather is cool you may be able to leave him in your car during errands. Gradually build up to being able to leave the house for the whole 3 hours with the tape on. A little extra help:   Try the other products in our Anxiety product section. Get another dog (be very careful about his option). Ask your vet about prescribing calming medication. Use "calming signals", described in the book with the same name by Turid Rugaas. Leave your dog with a bit of clothing that has your scent on it. back to top   Text Box: Tips:   Keep coming and going low key. Leave your dog in a safe environment (where he is not able to damage himself or the property). Give your dog his favorite food-related toys ONLY when you are leaving. Use a voice activated recorder to help you to monitor his distress. Practice getting your jacket, keys, etc. at random times throughout the day. Practice positive training for tricks or obedience to help build his confidence. Our training aids may help. Make sure your dog has 30min - 1 hour of exercise per day. Reinforce calm behavior by giving him extra attention when he is relaxed. See your veterinarian to rule out underlying medical cause or for additional help. Sometimes medication is needed to help your dog get through this. Feed the healthiest diet that you can afford.      

                             TRAINING