Can mistreatment make a dog aggressive and cause them to bite?

Yes, all dogs can be trained. It's important to focus on daily exercise and training. Some dogs will have a very high exercise requirement and may require 1-2 hours a day. A tired dog is generally a better behaved dog. Also, you need to figure out if this is true aggression or simply mouthy play. Some dogs like to play rough and if they are not taught appropriate boundaries, they can accidentally hurt their humans. True aggression is more worrisome. Canine aggression is a complex behavior as it can stem from dominance, possessiveness, fear, anxiety, resource guarding or a combination. Most people are not familiar with reading canine body language and training. Because of this, I recommend to work with a professional trainer. Researching on your own will also be helpful. Familiarizing yourself with canine body language and dog training can help you to recognize what your pet is trying to say. You can find many books written on the topic and there is a trainer named Victoria Stilwell who I think is particularly helpful. Best of luck.

Hello, sorry to hear about Commander. Aggression may indeed by a difficult behavior to manage and very important as it can create a dangerous environment for himself and those around him. Here are some tips on aggression and how to manage this. Hope this helps and best of luck. Introduction Aggression is a common problem faced by many dog owners. It is commonly misunderstood to be based in dominance. In actuality, there are various reasons that dogs can react aggressively. Most commonly these acts are based in fear or anxiety. This handout, will attempt to help you differentiate whether your dog’s aggression is based in dominance or another stimulus, like fear or possession. However it is not meant to replace visits and discussions with your veterinarian. Common types of aggression • Fear aggression: Many commonplace human behaviors are threatening gestures to dogs, but their reactions are often times very subtle and easily missed by most people. Anything that can cause your dog to feel distressed or uneasy can illicit an aggressive reaction. Such things include: sustained eye contact, pressure over the top of the head, lifting the dog, bending over the top of a dog, certain force-based training techniques, or trying to take something of high value away from the dog. • Territorial aggression: Dogs can react aggressively when a person comes into an area that it regards as its home. There is often a basis of anxiety in dogs that have territorial aggression. • Possessive aggression: When aggression is directed toward a person that the dog views is approaching something of high value (food, toys, family members). • Redirected aggression: When the dog is frustrated by the inability to reach an object or person that elicits its aggression and instead acts aggressively toward a person that is within reach. • Dominance aggression: True dominance aggression is very rare. Most often aggressive acts are based out of another type of motivation. Usually what is assumed to be dominance aggression is actually based out of fear or anxiety. What is your dog’s motivation for its aggression? It is important to watch the body posture of your dog during a time of aggression to determine the underlying emotional state of the dog causing the aggression. Here are some examples of what to look for: Fearful or submissive postures • Avoiding eye contact • Lowered head and tail • T ense body posture • Ears to the side, back or down • Horizontal lip retraction • Licking lips • Yawning • Crouched body posture • Moving slowly or freezing • Submissive urination Dominant postures • Sustained eye contact • Ears erect and forward • Vertical lip retraction • Forward-leaning body posture

If this is a sudden or new behavior that happened out of the blue, and Toby is now biting and snapping when picked up or handled, I would be concerned that there is something going on such as pain or illness. Often times, a sudden behavioral change can indicate pain or another underlying condition. A good first step is to schedule an appointment with your vet to rule out any health issues that could be causing this. If Toby checks out healthy and he is still acting aggressive and trying to bite you or other animals, I would seek out the help of a trainer or veterinary behaviorist in person. Aggression is a very serious and complex issue and having someone there in person that can observe, assist and provide a tailored plan to help change Toby's behavior is best. Veterinary behaviorists are great as they are able to prescribe any needed medication in addition to a training routine to help create a safer, stress-free environment. You can visit this site to learn more about veterinary behaviorists and find one in your area: http://www.dacvb.org/about/member-directory/

It could be related to abuse but some dogs are naturally over reactive and prone to lashing out. Since Balor can't talk, we'll never know. The beautiful thing though about dogs is that they can move past issues with appropriate help. Unfortunately aggression is a very complex topic and one not likely to be fixed without a trainer. Because it is multifactoral- Balor’s temperament, your temperament, Balor's experiences, your experiences, the environment- your surest, fastest and safest bet is to work with a trainer or behaviorist. Basically, the trainer will watch watch both of your behaviors and especially how you react to each other and the environmental stimulus. The trainer will then work with both of you to modify both of your behaviors to meet a common goal. Waking up in that fashion will be challenging to change but it can be done. The humane society can often recommend a trainer/behaviorist. Otherwise go online and read ratings and reviews. There are several different training methods so you will need to find the one that works best for you and your pup. I hope this at least points you in the right direction. Please post again with any further questions.

Hello, sorry to hear about Bandit. Fearful or territorial aggression may be the cause of his snapping and biting. The following is a hand out on how to manage these behaviors. Hope this helps. Fearful behavior is very common and may manifest as aggression or the appearance of aggression towards you, the dog owner. Although your dog may show aggression towards their owners or strangers including growling, biting, or lunging, the motivation behind this is often fear related. Look at the body language of your dog—does she look scared, cowering with its ears pulled back? If you are uncertain, your veterinarian can help you to determine if your dog is exhibiting fearful behavior. Dogs can become fearful for many reasons and in response to multiple situations. It is very important to identify the cause of the fearful behavior so that you can address the situation(s) appropriately or avoid them altogether. There may be only one trigger, or there may be multiple things that cause fearful behavior in your dog. Each should be addressed separately. Some signs of fearful behavior • Ears back • T ail tucked • Fearful urination • Rolling over and exposing belly • Crouching body posture • Avoidance of eye contact These signs may be more subtle, with your dog licking her lips, panting, or yawning. Basic guidelines for working with a fearful dog • One of the most important things is NOT to punish your dog when she is being fearful. This will just make the behavior worse, or incite aggressive behavior. Punishment techniques may include tugging on the collar, verbal reprimands, or shock collars in more severe methods. • Avoidance of the situation initially will likely benefit you more than trying to use “flooding” techniques. Flooding refers to repeated and prolonged exposure to the situation that is causing fear in your dog. This is a no-no, and avoiding the situation is preferred. • Some very basic obedience training and using a “watch-me” command to divert your dog’s attention away from the fearful stimulus can also be useful. The watch-me command is used to establish eye contact between you and your dog in the presence of the fearful stimulus so she is focused on you rather than whatever may be inducing fear. • The use of non-confrontational leadership training, in which your dog must perform tasks for food/attention/toys/treats, has shown to be helpful in fearful animals. These tasks can be as simple as following a sit command before the dinner bowl is placed on the ground.

Poor thing. My two top would be that he was really sore before and/or after the surgery and remembers that being traumatic. Fear-based aggression is very common in dogs. Your comment that he seems worse than before the surgery makes me think perhaps he never loved having his feet touched, and if that's the cause, having an injury could have caused him to think "see, I was right! awful things happen when people touch my feet!" even though I'm assuming the injury itself was unrelated to a person. Since he's gotten to the point of biting, I would recommend talking with his vet about some medications (such a prozac and/or trazodone and gabapentin) to help him calm and then working with a very qualified trainer on desensitizing him to having people touch him. I would also recommend never letting kids interact with him until he's more comfortable, so that no one is in danger. Good luck with this very difficult problem.

Oh dear! I'm sorry to hear that you're having this problem with Onyx. Human-directed aggression in dogs is a complex behavior issue that can have many different causes, so I'm afraid it's difficult to say what might be causing this without a full behavior history and an in-person evaluation. This sounds like a very dangerous situation for you, so if you want to keep Onyx, I would strongly recommend making an appointment with a veterinary behaviorist who can evaluate him in person and help you determine what is causing this behavior. Aggression issues like this can be treatable in many cases with careful management and a good training plan to work on the problem, but this should only be attempted with assistance from a trained professional. You can search for a board-certified veterinary behaviorist in your area here: www.dacvb.org