aggression and training

[rott&pitincali]

Why is it that most people say if a dog is aggressive they need more training? For example "Max is food aggressive" or "Pixie lunges after kids riding bikes" most people say training, training, training, or see a behaviorist. Why?

I'm not trying to start a flame contest here, I am really courious. Does training really help an aggressive dog, and can a dog be rehabilitated once it has bitten?

[DNeff]

9 times out of 10; the reason a dog is showing aggression in the first place is lack of training by the owner. Most often the owner has failed to become a leader to the dog and the dog takes over "disciplining" others and runs amok.

Training is one of the best ways to become your dog's leader, along with NILIF. Many dogs can be significantly improved if not completely turned around with enough training and effort. It does however require a huge commitment on the part of the owner, but even dogs who have bitten can be helped or rehabilitated. The hardest part is this usually means having to deal with the dog in a whole new way and many owners can't make this transition well, or can't commit to spending the time to fix the problem.

IMO very few dogs are born with aggression issues. Most develop issues through poor leadership and a lack of boundaries and guidance on the part of the owner. Training is the best way to fix this.

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[Judi W]

Effective training teaches a dog to follow instructions and to learn respect for the owner/handler. It does not turn a dog with bad character or weak nerves into a dog with good character, however it puts some controls in place. Regardless of training, a dog with poor character should not be left to make its own decisions, but good training does expand its world instead of having the dog relegated to a kennel.

[spidey]

I wholeheartedly agree with the other posts - I'll also add that training is sort of like teaching the dog English - dogs by their nature feel most secure when they know their place and understand clearly what's expected of them, and the way you establish both of these things is through training. A secure dog is far less likely to be unpredictably aggressive (assuming it's got all its sandwiches in the picnic basket). Dogs need leaders, they're hardwired that way, if you don't assume the leadership role, the dog will (not out of some need to be in control in most cases, just out of a need for SOMEONE to be in control), training is the easiest way to get the dog to see you as the leader, and to communicate to it what's expected of it (even something simple like "no dogs on the couch" is training). Imagine if you were in a strange country where you didn't speak the language or understand the customs, wouldn't you feel stressed and uncomfortable? Wouldn't you feel far more comfortable if someone taught you a few words and a few customs? That's what training does, dogs aren't born knowing how to be good pets, we have to teach them how to live nicely with us, for them AND ourselves. Not that I'm anthropomorphising, just trying to illustrate a point. I've never met a dog who wasn't improved by fair, consistent training.

As to biting - Ian Dunbar and (I think) Jean Donaldson talk about how the severity of the bite should be taken into account (did it barely break the skin or was a chunk taken out? Dunbar has a rating system), and about how all dogs have stressors which can lead to bites, and that it's often when enough of these stressors are added together in one situation that you get a bite. For example - a dog with poor bite inhibition, who's scared of thunder, who's never met a child, and who's stressed by people around its food dish may never bite if any one of those conditions were present, but if ALL of them are (kid around food dish during a thunderstorm), the dog may well bite - this is why you often hear of bites from dogs who "never showed any signs of aggression before". So you have to consider what the circumstances were - was the dog trained and properly socialized, etc.

[tugger5000]

I can't add much more than what was already said except our experience with Aedia... We adopted her about a year ago and discovered that she was a fear biter (clipping the nails freaked her out), she didn't break the skin when she nipped. Through training, lots of patience, a few treats and lots of praise, she lets us clip her nails with almost no problems at all (we still need to get her to learn to lie still). We think the people who had her before us dropped her off because they never trained her properly and were physical with her (she was hand shy for a few months). We've gotten her to the point where she has self discipline (ie: not chasing the cats) and having to work for everything (NILF).
She truly is a wonderful dog, her biggest issue is that she is agressive torwards other dogs, but even those situations, we've been able to work with her enough where although she is interested, she's not lunging at the leash.

[jasper's_mommy]

There are dogs who are simply wired wrong. I got a pit bull puppy once years ago who at the age of 4 months was very sweet. I found out very quickly that something was just not right with this dog. No amount of socialization, training, reprimand, sweet talking, or otherwise was going to make this dog NOT vicious. I even thought about anti-depressants (not for myself, for the dog). He was a very, very sweet dog whilst alone with me, but enter another person, or gawd forbid another dog, all bets were off. Come to find out, he had been inbred for fighting and aggressiveness, and I hadn't been told when I got him.

I don't know what happened to him because my boyfriend at the time took him back to California, but I have no doubt in my mind he should have been to sleep. Poor guy.