If you are struggling with an aggressive or reactive dog, the Rising Canine team welcomes you and your dog with open arms.  

 

It is not hard to argue that aggression is becoming an epidemic as more dogs and humans are being impacted. We are unequipped and ill prepared for how to handle the rising numbers as no one ever expects that the dog they love could develop such a staggering issue.  I believe that we as a society lack a fundamental understanding of the root causes of aggression and therefore are using the wrong approach and tools in our effort to train an aggressive dog.  As a result owners are being blamed, dogs are being blamed and the population of dogs showing aggression are becoming more ostracized, marginalized and under-served .  Rather than taking a step back and admitting that we might not have all the answers, we are digging our heels in and designing harsher and harsher methods to correct the aggressive issues in our dogs.  If a training model is on the right track, your dog will let you know because they will flourish.  If your dog is not improving, then it becomes time to question the model not the dog or yourself.

 

Aggression is all rooted in panic and fear; an instinctual state of flight turned fight.    The aggressive dog is acting proactively to keep people or dogs away because inside it is terrified. It feels like it is about to experience a loss of control and most often these dogs are reliving a traumatic experience.  Perhaps your dog had bad experiences with other dogs and or humans somewhere in their history.  When we look at aggression through this lens, we see that the dog is not wrong for feeling the way that it does, so correcting does not make sense nor does positive reinforcement drill deep enough to reach the deepest instinctual feelings of survival that aggressive dogs are struggling with.  

 

Video (Why you aggressive dog is NOT acting dominate)

 

Video (Top three reasons for aggression and what you can begin doing today to help your dog)