What You Can Do About Dog Aggression

It can be extremely upsetting when your dog suddenly starts showing signs of aggression. Whether this aggression is directed at other dogs, other people or even yourself, it is important to deal with it as quickly as possible. Dogs are extremely powerful creatures who are capable of causing a lot of harm. The last thing you want is for an attack to get out of control, winding up causing serious injury or even death.

Curing dog aggression starts by first identifying the underlying cause. There are typically two reasons that dogs lash out: they have too much energy or they lack a clear pack leader. Let's take a closer look at both of these scenarios.

Too Much Energy

Dogs -- some breeds in particular -- require a lot of exercise to burn off their excess energy. When they are cooped up all day with little more than a short walk and a few minutes of play time, this energy begins to build. Eventually, it reaches a tipping point where it spills over and manifests itself as aggression.

The best way to deal with this is by finding ways to give your dog more exercise and stimulation. Try playing with them more often, taking them on longer walks or even taking them to dog parks where they can run around and burn off steam. You may even want to look into signing them up for dog agility training since this can keep both their bodies and minds working, reducing boredom while burning energy at the same time.

Lack Of A Clear Pack Leader

Dogs are pack animals. Their instinct is to rely on a pack leader to guide and protect them. If you have not established yourself as pack leader, they will try to fill the role. Oftentimes this means lashing out aggressively at people or dogs who seem as if they pose a threat.

Overcoming this problem begins by clearly establishing yourself as the leader of the pack. There are a number of different ways to do this, and it is not an overnight process. However, once your dog gets the message that they no longer have to defend the pack, their aggression may naturally fall away.

Finally, an aggressive dog is not something that should be taken lightly. Make an appointment with an animal behaviorist or qualified trainer today to start addressing the problem before it is too late.

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Taking Your New Puppy For A Vet Check

You just bought a new puppy from a breeder or perhaps you adopted it from a shelter or rescue group. The first thing you should do is make arrangements to take the puppy to your vet for a wellness examination. Most breeders allow a certain number of days to accomplish the wellness exam and you want to make sure that you have a healthy puppy. This is especially true if you are going to bring this puppy around your other pets.

Your vet will be able to make sure that it is free of ticks and fleas while at the same time doing a fecal exam to make sure your new family member is free of internal parasites as well. Treating for internal parasite is easy and it will be nice to know if there is a worm problem so it is not spread to your other dogs.

Of course while you are with your vet he will inspect your dog's eyes and ears to make sure everything looks clear.

I'm sure your vet will mention it, however if he doesn't be sure and ask when you should start giving your dog heartworm medication. Heartworms can be a very serious problem however with a very simple monthly treatment you can avoid the pain and expense of heartworms later on.

If you have any shot records that came with your pup make sure you leave a copy with the vet. He will be able to recommend a vaccination schedule for your new dog and it is very important to follow his recommendation and keep your dog healthy and safe.

This is the time to ask questions. Vets are always happy to giving good useful pointers for raising that new dog so that it stays healthy.

Discussing which dog food is the best for your dog is a common question with new puppy owners. Your vet will have some good information to guide you in the right direction.

Now that you know your puppy is healthy it's time to start looking for a dog trainer that can give you advice on all things relating to raising a puppy to be a confident well behaved adult dog and member of your family.

Most trainers have a short puppy lesson program for puppies that will help with puppy problems and socialization. Later when your dog is 4 months old the trainer will be able to help you with the formal obedience training that will give you the dog you have always wanted.

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Obedience Training Is Great For Your Dog

Owning a dog is a great way to have a constant companion, but you need to realize your companion can easily get hurt if he does not listen to you. This is when you should know how important obedience training is for your dog. When you start to realize just how important this is, you will want to get your dog enrolled in the first training course that you can find and ensure he is properly trained.

Obedience training is the way to establish the master-dog relationship. It allows the dog to learn what is right, what is wrong, what you'll tolerate and what you won't tolerate. Quite often I hear people say I don't need obedience training because I don't want Fido to be a show dog he simply a pet. Obedience training is in for show dogs obedience training is for well-behaved pets.

Having a well-behaved pet will allow you to take your dog places that poorly behaved dogs can't go. Having a well-behaved dog will allow you to go for nice walks through the neighborhood without your dog acting like to Cujo and wanting to attack everybody and everything he sees.

So how does your dog get obedience trained, simple you're going to do it. There are several different ways to go about having your dog trained but the best and easiest is to use the help of a professional dog trainer. There are several options even when you use a trainer. You might consider group obedience classes, which I feel are probably the worst choice because of all the distractions. One of the better options is private lessons in your home because that's where you want your dog to be the most well-behaved. And then of course there's the board and train option that's where you send your dog off for four weeks have somebody else train it and they send you back a well-trained dog.

The board and train option is great if you simply don't have the time are the desire to do any training. You'll have a professional who will do the training for you and if you choose the right trainer you will actually guarantee that your dog will do a certain list of exercises. When your dog completes the training the trainer will teach you how to handle the trained dog. Does that sound simple, it is.

However if you asked me which method I prefer it will be private lessons every time. That allows you to do the training and for your dog to learn to recognize you as the master and the alpha of the pack. Remember a well-trained dog is something that you will enjoy all of its life and a poorly trained dog is something you will regret ever getting.

Happy training!

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