Aggression is only a symptom...........

The other day I met a gentleman, and his recently rescued dog, Rover over our local park.

I had met Rover before when he was being fostered for a few weeks so I was aware when I came across him that he had only had him a few weeks.

When I asked him how it was going he said 'fine but he is aggressive'. This prompted me to ask many questions such as to when Rover shows the symptom of aggression, how and does aggression improve the result for rover.

The gentleman was very sweet and mentioned about the training techniques the guy was using who was fostering him before and the 'aftercare advice' he was giving to this lovely family.

They had been told to stand over him and be 'domineering' and also been advised to watch the ever so popular dog training program on the TV, by the guy who I would refer to as Marmite....you either love him or hate him!

Marmite I used to LOVE years ago before I learnt and studied what I have now. I used to be the gullible dog owner who would rave about his techniques and how he would always get the dog to do what he wanted!

Little did I know then that Marmite was using the techniques of Positive Punishment and Flooding. Both of these techniques DO NOT address the lying emotion of the dog when expressing the 'problem' behaviours.

Marmite is a very charismatic gentleman and the editing of the show is somewhat 'Sexy TV', showing quick results and advises owners to not try these techniques at home.

How on earth can families modify thier dogs behaviour if not allowed to try them at home?! Surely that should ring alarm bells?

What I would like to see is an education at a media level and all Television companies, as the media has a powerful effect on the population. If Marmite wasnt aired on the TV, I am SURE there wouldn't be as many 'aggression' related problems in the world and also a lot less dogs with stupid bl@@dy shock collars around their neck, and an approach of treat the root cause NOT the symptoms.

Why mask the symptoms with intimidating behaviour, leading to further escalated problems and suppression of emotions. Shutting the dog down and making the dog completely miserable, and fearful to offer ANY behaviour in fear it will be reprimanded, and punished.

I do wish humans would obey the law and only give out behavioural advice ONLY if they are QUALIFIED and EXPERIENCED in the field and to ALWAYS sought veterinnary approval beforehand to rule out any clinical physical reason as to why the dog may be exhibiting these behaviours. You know how it is to have a major toothache, it makes you grouchy right?!.....

To address and modify effectively any dogs behaviour you need to address the underlying emotion at the time of the behaviour being displayed. This can be done using positive reinforcement and respondent conditioning, with LOTS of time, LOVE, patience, CONSISTENCY and a clear plan of how to go about it.

Afterall, EMOTIONS drive BEHAVIOUR , and vice versa BEHAVIOUR drives EMOTIONS.

Change the underlying emotion and bingo it changes the behaviour!

Aggression is just a symptom, it is NOT a reason. Look at what is driving the symptoms.....

Please note it is also important to look at this as a whole and every dog as an individual case, taking into account things such as diet, genetics, past learnt behaviours, owner intervention, management, medical reasons etc, as these can all contribute to behavioural problems.

The most important thing to remember is to always take advice from a professional!