If you are holding onto your dog’s leash for dear life on every walk because your dog tends to bark, lunge, or growl at each passerby, your dog could be displaying leash reactivity. This can make daily tasks like exercising your dog; or taking your dog to potty nearly impossible and oftentimes, embarrassing. However, people rarely know that there are actually two emotional states that can cause this behavior and it doesn’t always mean that their dog is a truly aggressive dog. This blog post will discuss two types of leash reactivity, frustration-based reactivity, and fear-based reactivity, and their differences.

Owning an aggressive dog can be a life-changing experience. A dog owner can quickly go from being the central hub for their entire family at Thanksgiving to never having anyone enter their home because they fear what their dog might do. Oftentimes, when a dog exhibits aggression, dog owners start to think euthanasia might be their only option after training technique after training technique fails. Before making this difficult and painful choice, it is important to gather information from a professional dog behavior consultant (we are quite different from dog trainers!) about your dog's behavior.

Anyone who has ever owned a dog knows that they are capable of exhibiting a wide range of emotions, from happiness and excitement to fear and aggression. Unfortunately, even the best-behaved dog may exhibit aggression under certain circumstances. If your dog is exhibiting aggressive behavior, it is important to take steps to manage the aggression in order to keep both your dog and those around him safe. The best-laid training plans start with the management of the dog’s undesirable behaviors to prevent further reinforcement. In this blog post, we'll discuss three strategies for managing aggressive behavior in dogs: using training equipment like muzzles, rearranging the environment for success, and preventing your dog from practicing undesirable behaviors.

Dogs can become aggressive for a variety of reasons, whether it’s due to fear, insecurity, frustration, mistrust of strangers, or just a general lack of socialization. Whatever the reason may be, dog owners need to be aware of the signs of aggression in their dogs and how to properly (and safely) address it. One way to help an aggressive dog is through desensitization and counter-conditioning. In many cases, aggressive behaviors like lunging, barking, and growling can be decreased through a process called desensitization and counter-conditioning.