One of the first animals domesticated by our ancient ancestor was the dog. Thousands of years have passed, but even to this day dogs faithfully serve man. In recent years, due to their natural qualities, they have been very widely used in the Ministry of Emergency Situations, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the customs service. The devotion and loyalty of dogs was noted in monuments erected to the dog in many cities - in the village. Pavlovo near St. Petersburg, in the city of Sukhumi, in the village. Bobino, Kirov region, and in Tolyatti there is a 1.5-meter sculpture, for the sculpture of which funds were collected by the entire city, and on the pedestal of the monument there are only 2 words written: “Monument of Devotion.” The dog has firmly entered our lives; it can be found everywhere: both in the company of movie stars, for whom it is just an object to create a friendly image, and in the form of various funny toys for children and adults.
A dog in the house is a faithful companion in our increasingly urbanized society; its appearance in the house has many positive aspects - it is an additional incentive for family members to communicate (talking about the dog, caring for it, general interest shown in the animal), and for For lonely people, a friendly relationship with a dog is especially important, this is the release that walking, playing with the dog brings, and the feeling of security that the family experiences in the presence of a dog guarding the house. With the acquisition of a dog comes a sense of responsibility, and this is an invaluable aid in raising children. Social contact is facilitated in a society where people rarely talk to strangers (at the same time, walking the dog is a great opportunity to chat with other dog owners). In addition, a dog is a kind of prestige that some owners strive for when getting a dog of a certain breed.
At the same time, having a dog in the house is not only a pleasure, but also a very big responsibility; you should seriously think about it before getting one. It is necessary to take into account that a certain restriction of freedom of movement will be required, since the dog requires constant care even on holidays and weekends; these are the financial costs and time required to raise a dog; compliance with hygiene rules that must be followed when a dog appears in the house; these are problems with neighbors and the risk to which others will be exposed. Therefore, you should carefully consider all aspects of bringing a dog into your home before getting one.
You should also understand that what kind of owner you, your dog, will become, this is how it will be, and for it is the owner who must develop rules of behavior for the dog, hygiene standards, lifestyle, diet and respect it in the role assigned to it under the sun. A dog is a dog, not a person. She is speechless, but despite this, she has her own, no less effective, means of expression. People should treat their dog in a way that it understands them.
Like any other living creature, dogs can be dangerous to others. After all, any dog, feeling threatened or frightened, is capable of biting, even if under other circumstances it is a harmless creature. Therefore, it is up to dog owners to take basic precautions, especially in the presence of strangers or children, who (in the absence of bad intentions) may accidentally startle the dog, causing it to bite.
To avoid negative consequences for yourself, family members and others, it is necessary to educate the dog in the correct behavior from the moment the puppy appears in the family.
Reasons why a dog growls at its owner
Aggressive behavior of an animal can be expressed in various ways. The dog’s anger can be manifested not only by barking or baring its teeth; the animal may not obey, not follow commands, or not allow the owner to approach its habitat, bowl, or toys, which it considers its own.
Doberman is a guard breed
Note! Sometimes a dog snaps at its owner when he is trying to perform the hygiene procedures necessary for the animal - when combing the fur, brushing the teeth, examining the ears.
Experts believe that there may be several reasons for a pet to show aggression, including if the animal:
- protects himself from people’s hostility towards him;
- shows his superiority, tries to dominate the family, which he considers a subordinate pack;
- reacts to the pain that a person causes him without even suspecting it;
- defends his prey, which for him is food in a bowl;
- protects its offspring.
Important! By removing factors that irritate the animal and correcting mistakes in upbringing, you can stop the animal’s inappropriate behavior.
Professional dog training and education experts will help you understand the prerequisites for vicious behavior and what to do if a dog bites and growls at its owner.
Aggressive behavior in an animal can be caused by fear
Physical punishment
Fear of physical punishment is one of the prerequisites for the evil behavior of a four-legged pet. Negative actions of a pet can be caused by unreasonably strict behavior of the owner:
- spanking not only with your hand, but also with a newspaper, a leash;
- jerking the leash;
- beating in the neck area;
- grabbing the face;
- using shock collars or choke collars.
Any beatings from people have a negative impact on the mental state of animals. Selected toys and food, chaining, long-term isolation in a cage, enclosure, locking in a room without the opportunity to communicate with family members can also cause negative behavior and the destruction of normal relationships between a dog and a person.
Constant indulgences
Unacceptable actions of an animal can be provoked by a person. Without thinking about the consequences, the owner of the animal himself creates the conditions for the dog to growl at the owner when he shows his boundless love for the pet.
Note! You should not allow your dog to sleep in a place it is not supposed to, eat food at any time, or ignore commands.
Many kind-hearted people try not to get angry with their pet even when it commits dirty tricks, thereby creating the preconditions for the animal to feel like the leader of the pack.
Inappropriate place for a dog to sleep
Lack of socialization
Most purebred dogs require early socialization. Accustoming to cohabitation with people and pets, conflict-free presence on the street, on a walking area should begin immediately after the puppy is torn away from its mother and it finds itself in a new habitat. Isolating an animal from the problems of existence at this age is unacceptable.
A puppy aged 2-2.5 months should already be familiar not only with the tray and simple hygiene procedures, but also with objects and phenomena with which he will have to interact in his future life.
Note! A three-month-old puppy may growl from fear or misunderstanding; this is a completely justified situation, but with a six-month-old teenage dog, its caregivers are obliged to actively engage in training the necessary skills.
By the age of one year, the owner must teach the foolish child to obey, perceive reality as a person needs, and wean him from negative behavior. But the person himself is obliged to follow the rules of favorable cohabitation with the animal: feed the pet at the same time, often walk the pet, arrange its resting place, scold only when there are good reasons for this.
Even a dwarf dog can be disobedient and angry
Help from a dog handler
Dogs are pack animals and in nature obey a mature, strict leader. It happens that in life a dog in a domestic pack does not see in the owner an individual who can subjugate him, but on the training ground he encounters a trainer who becomes a leader for him. After meeting a strong person, the dog changes his views on the people he lives next to, and the owner completely loses his authority in the eyes of the animal.
To prevent this from happening, it is not enough for the animal owner to know what to do if the dog snaps at the owner. The owner of the dog, especially if it belongs to a breed whose genes contain the inclinations of independence, must be an experienced dog breeder, have a strong character and skills in socializing and training dogs.
Classes with a dog handler are held several times a week
Encouraging aggression towards other animals
The manifestation of aggressive behavior of one's own dog towards other people's pets sometimes becomes a source of pride for some dog owners. Setting a small but lively Chihuahua against the neighbor's good-natured French bulldog, who will only wag his tail when he meets the small dog, may seem like a joke.
For your information! The first place in viciousness among small breeds is taken by dachshunds.
For barking at a large animal, the owner of a small dog can even praise and stroke it. But the result, most likely, will be the formation of a conditioned reflex in the animal, when an attack on street four-legged and feathered animals is regarded as the norm. The owner of an angry dog should remember that aggressive behavior tends to develop. If there is no target for attack in the bully’s field of vision for a long time, then he is able to direct his energy towards members of the household. First of all, the small child living in the family may suffer, and the dog may even bite him.
The owner himself is to blame for the dog’s aggression towards the child.
When to reward and when to punish
Dogs are very sensitive and understand when they are treated fairly, and when they are offended for no reason, they are not just pets, but four-legged friends who deserve fair treatment.
Has your pet earned praise? He must definitely get it.
Guilty? Punishment is inevitable, and the dog must understand what is happening.
You need to be more careful with punishment and better use the leader’s method. In a pack, the offender is grabbed by the withers, pressed to the ground using pressure, and held for some time in this position.
If the dog tries to resist, then he should be sharply lifted into the air, this will give him a feeling of helplessness and reduce arrogance. A limp animal is considered to have yielded, recognizing the authority of a stronger opponent.
This technique will give more positive results than swearing, insults, and shouting. It can be used for any disobedience, both during training and in everyday life.
If the dog is too aggressive, you can use a muzzle to protect yourself.
It is always easier to prevent any behavioral problem than to correct it later. In addition, some breeds are practically impossible to re-educate, while others will have to be worked with by specialists.
Therefore, it is worth paying special attention to the early socialization, upbringing and training of your pet while it is still a puppy. In this case, it is much easier to correct behavior and, if necessary, remind who is the leader.
Dominant dog aggression: causes and signs
Dominant dogs not only try to disobey their owner and attack a person, but also show great independence in everything, deciding for themselves when and what needs to be done. Often, owners part with such animals because they do not pay attention to the pet’s formed habits in a timely manner.
Why does a dog growl at its owners and what to do about it?
The reason for an animal’s viciousness is always its owners themselves, who did not pay due attention to raising the animal. Therefore, if a dog rushes at its owner, you don’t need to ask what to do, but you need to ask yourself the following questions:
- how the situation occurred when the dog attacked the owner;
- why trust has been lost in your relationship with your pet;
- when the moment came that the dog stopped obeying;
- How did it happen that the pet’s dominant tendencies were ignored.
After analyzing the problem and receiving honest answers to the questions, you should figure out how difficult it is to change the dog’s behavior for the better. Signs of an animal's dominance will be a growl, a bark of teeth and barking at the owner when he refuses to give toys, letting the dog lie down in an inappropriate place, in a room, when approaching the animal at the moment when he is eating.
Note! A dominant dog, in response to the owner's commands, may pretend that it does not hear them. An extreme case of dominance would be an attack on the owner and household members, causing pain to people.
General Remedies
There are no universal ways to wean a dog from aggression. The owner needs to look for an individual approach in each case, and together with the dog handler.
But there are general tips for correcting behavior:
- identify why anger arose and eliminate its source;
- exclude possible diseases;
- do not beat, humiliate, punish or yell at your pet;
- establish leadership;
- encourage kindness and obedience.
Children should be taught the rules of behavior around animals as early as possible. They must treat the dogs kindly and approach and pet them only with the permission of adults.
Separately, there are medicinal methods that can help remove aggression.
The first is taking sedatives. They relieve increased excitability and anxiety, and facilitate behavior correction.
The second includes castration. The method is used when a dog shows competitive, social, or sexual aggression. Moreover, the method works better with male dogs - their androgen levels drop after surgery.
In bitches, the level of hormones remains almost unchanged, so sterilization is effective only during estrus or false pregnancy.
What to do if a dog growls at its owner
The cat attacks the owner: the main reasons and options for what to do
A disobedient dog will not be able to live in a pack, because the leader is always able to prove his superiority to all his relatives at the same time. A willful pet must also understand that on the ladder of the family hierarchy he is the lowest. To do this, dog experts recommend the following techniques:
- the dog should never be fed before all family members have eaten;
- the animal for a walk should be the last to leave the door, and not ahead of everyone else;
- You should always look at the beast from above, you should never go down to the level of his eyes;
- as a last resort, it is necessary to use the wolf method of forcing submission, when the leader of the pack lightly strangles the offending animal by the neck and presses it to the ground. If a member of the pack resists, the offender is lifted by the scruff of the neck and strangled again. This is repeated until the wolf goes limp, thereby showing that he has admitted defeat.
Important! The process of coercing a pet based on the principle of relationships in a wolf pack can only be carried out after the dog is muzzled.
To demonstrate the superiority of a person over an animal, it is permissible to use special accessories - reins-noose, on which you can lift the dog and shake it in case of disobedience or aggression.
A small animal can be put into a submission position by turning it upside down with its belly. In this position, the dog is given a suggestion in a stern voice. If the animal froze and squealed, it means it recognized the primacy of the owner. The animal may begin to caress, but you cannot show that the owner has stopped being angry with him. The dog must leave the place of punishment first.
Walking the dog must be muzzled
Prevention of dominant behavior in dogs
The best friend: can a dog forget its owner?
From the first days a puppy appears in the house, the owner must do everything to ensure that the animal’s natural inclinations do not become the reason for its aggressive behavior. The animal needs to be taught discipline; it must be actively dealt with throughout the entire period of growing up.
Important! Even after an adult dog proves that it is not capable of behaving aggressively, the level of requirements for it cannot be reduced.
Without giving any concessions to either himself or the dog, the owner will ensure the pet a long life in the family, and he will receive a devoted friend with whom he can fearlessly go out or be in the company of household members, friends, and strangers.
