Training an Aggressive Dog
When it comes to aggressiveness in a dog this is a very serious problem. There are new laws that state dog’s owner can be charged and the dog put down if the dog bites someone. Of course with some serious dog training our dog can learn to enjoy people not turn on them.
There are lots of reasons why dogs are or become aggressive. Maybe the dog feels his territory is being compromised, or he feels threatened. A lot of aggression comes from lack of confidence and insecurity. Simple obedience will not solve your dog’s aggressive problems only some serious dog training will do the trick. Aggressiveness doesn’t just mean biting; it means barking and lunging at people as well. This type of behaviour needs to be addressed as soon as possible to prevent anything serious from happening to someone or another dog.
Your vet can recommend you how to go about finding someone who can work with aggressive dogs. Training aggressive dogs is a speciality and unfortunately could cost you a fair amount of money, but the end result is well worth it and you do not have to worry about losing your dog. Most obedience and training schools won’t take aggressive dogs as most of the places run classes with other members and won't let them be endangered. The best thing you can do is to take him to a proper dog school. Look in your yellow pages for one.
Always check the techniques used by schools on how they train aggressive dogs as training an aggressive dog can be dangerous some places may use out of date methods which could be harmful to your dog, although this isn’t always the case it is always better to be safe than sorry. I wish I could say it was easy to train your do not to be aggressive but it is not.
At the end of the day what counts is that your dog stops attacking and he starts loving. An aggressive dog can halter the relationship that you have with him therefore you and your dog are not having the best time together as you are always worried about him biting you, other people or other dogs. I recommend that you do what it takes to get the problem sorted!
Training Older Dog
They say that you can not teach an old dog new trick, are they right? They are partly right. An older dog will take a heck of a lot more training and dedication from its handler than a younger dog will, basically because an older dogs mind is a lot more “set” in its ways. An older dog will have passed that crucial period in its life that influences what the dog will behave like when it is older, therefore it already thinks it knows how to behave and trying to teach him other ways to behave can take a lot of time and effort.
It is not impossible but you ca not train an old dog like you train a puppy. You have to be a little bit stricter on an older dog because they have a lot more intelligence than a puppy and know how to drive you round the bend. An older dog will more likely do something if he thinks its his idea rather than yours, for example if he goes to sit , say sit and then praise him, he will think it was his idea and if you keep on repeating this process sooner or later you will have him sitting on command. This process will work for many of the commands, like fetch, come, stay and heel.
In saying that you may find that your older dog is particularly easy to train, some dogs have a streak of stubbornness which means they do not train as easily as others but some are a lot more susceptible to training methods. Training an older dog will of course be difficult but bad habits need to be broken and long term habits need to be stopped. Your dog will thank you for it in the end and the end result will be well worth the trouble.
Training an older dog can be a grueling task but try making it fun by joining a class (they are not just for people with puppies) or try to get some support from family or friends, invest in some training products like toys and treats, or even go as far as a training school, but one thing is for sure once you have taught your dog what he needs to know the bond between you will grow and you will become inseparable.
