My abused dog is aggressive. How do I make him feel safe and loved?

Aggression is complicated because it can be playful aggression, dominance, possessive or anxiety. Unless you are very familiar with canine behavior, training and body language, this is a situation that requires a dog trainer. The trainer will watch Trevor’s behavior and then will teach you how to modify your behavior to change his. You should also get a few books about dog behavior and training so that you can learn how to recognize the body language as this will help. Neutering Trevor can also help to decrease unwanted behavior. I hope this is helpful and please feel free to post any additional questions.

This behavior can be hard to correct especially since she is an adult. I would talk to your vet about getting her started on an anti-anxiety medicine like fluoxetine or trazadone. These will help to calm her nerves, but you will also need to start a training program. This would be best started with an behaviorist or dog trainer. This will be a long road and unfortunately, there is no easy fix. I hope this helps and she starts to improve.

Poor Rocky! I'm sorry to hear that he has this problem. To get a veterinary check-up, I would recommend calling your vet to discuss your concerns and make a plan for how to have him seen safely. This may involve having you train him to wear a muzzle at home, so that you can put this on before he arrives at the veterinary clinic. The veterinarian may prescribe some anti-anxiety medication for you to give prior to coming in, and he may also need injectable sedation once he arrives at the clinic so that he can be handled safely. For the future, I would strongly recommend making an appointment with a veterinary behaviorist who can help you put together a detailed training plan to work on his aggressive behavior. Most aggression towards strangers is fear-based, so this normally includes using positive reinforcement (food rewards, etc.) to help the dog learn to be more comfortable with the things that scare him. Punishment-based training (prong or choke collars, shock collars, etc.) are NEVER recommended for the treatment of aggression issues, as this does not address the underlying problem and has a high risk of making the aggression worse over time. You can search for a board-certified veterinary behaviorist in your area here: www.dacvb.org or ask your regular veterinarian where the nearest one is located.

This sounds like a vet difficult situation and there are a lot of factors that can be contributing. Firstly, I would recommend a consultation with a veterinary behaviorist right away to see what can be done. In the mean time, avoid all situations in which he's showing aggression (yes I realize this will be really really hard). He may need to be in a crate, or in the room on his own with some amazing treats whenever you are both home. If he's not showing any aggression towards your SO, she'll need to be the one to move him around. Don't use an punishments, because this could make things worse. Don't try to fix this on your own, you need professional help to avoid potential injury. Wishing you the best of luck.

Oh dear! This is potentially a very dangerous situation for your cat, so I would definitely recommend making an appointment with a veterinary behaviorist if you want to keep both pets - he/she can evaluate your dog in person to help determine the level of risk involved, and will put together a detailed training plan to work on the problem. Generally, treatment for this problem would involve rewarding the dog for calm behavior around the cat, while also managing the situation carefully to ensure that there are no injuries - this may mean that the dog needs to be on-leash at all times around the cat, or they should be separated using a baby gate or some other physical barrier during training sessions until things are calmer. You can search for a board-certified veterinary behaviorist in your area here: www.dacvb.org

Separate them for a few days then gradually reintroduce them. First with a door between them so they can hear and smell one another then separated so they can see but not reach one another and finally a supervised physical introduction. Use leash, collars and muzzles if necessary. Pheromone products such as the Adaptil collar or DAP plug in diffuser may decrease any anxiety or aggression. Provide adequate numbers of bowls, beds and toys to prevent food aggression or resource protection.

Hi there! I'm sorry to hear that you're having this problem with Buffy. It's not unusual for behavioral issues to take a few weeks to show up in a newly adopted dog - there is often a "honeymoon period" while they're still getting comfortable and adjusting to their new home, before these issues start to emerge. Aggression towards other dogs and humans is a complex behavioral issue that's difficult to address properly in a forum like this, but I can try to give you some general information that may be helpful. Treatment for aggression issues is generally based on identifying what situations tend to trigger the aggressive behavior - then either finding ways to avoid them, or working with the dog to teach her to respond differently using reward-based training techniques. If this is something you want to work on, I would recommend making an appointment with a veterinary behaviorist who can evaluate Buffy in person and help you put together a detailed treatment plan to address her aggressive behavior. For now, if the aggression only happens with dogs and people she doesn't know, I would recommend keeping her separated from visitors for now until you are able to get a more detailed plan in place to work on the problem. You can search for a board-certified veterinary behaviorist in your area here: www.dacvb.org