-
Attend
obedience school
and use a training method that stresses a reward-based approach
(correction-based training methods can increase aggression).
Click
here to find
out about clicker training.
Read
an
article about clicker tricks for kids by Joan Orr and Teresa
Lewin.
-
Involve
children in
training and teach them to give the dog commands and reward the
dog for
obeying. Buy the
Clicker
Puppy DVD and learn how kids can clicker train a new puppy.
-
Child
proof your dog or
puppy (read the book Child Proofing Your Puppy by Brian
Kilcommons).
-
Prevent food bowl aggression and guarding behavior using positive
methods
-
read
article by Joan Orr and Teresa Lewin
-
Teach your dog
to accept human handling by associating all kinds of touches with
food
treats - watch a video (not a streaming video so be patient waiting for it to download) -
Accepting Human Handling
-
Teach
your puppy
bite
inhibition but do not prohibit your puppy from biting
altogether at first
- a puppy must learn bite inhibition by learning to bite more and
more
gently and then to stop biting altogether.
-
Give
your dog lots of
positive social interactions with people and other dogs.
-
Give
your dog lots of
exercise.
-
Don't
encourage any kind
of aggressive behaviour or barking in your dog.
-
Don't
chain your dog or
leave him alone in a yard for extended periods.
-
Give
your dog his own
special place and don't allow him on furniture or on the bed until he has learned to ask permission to be there with you.
-
Encourage
children and
other guests to leave the dog alone if he is resting in his
special place,
eating or chewing on something.
-
Teach
your dog to walk on
a leash without pulling.
-
Teach
your dog not to
jump on people.
-
Do not
permit your dog to
bark or paw at you or others for attention.
-
If your
dog does show
signs
of aggression toward you or others, seek the help of a canine
behavior consultant.
-
Avoid
using methods such
as the "alpha rollover", shaking or pinning the dog to the ground -
these
may reduce aggression toward you, but may increase aggression
toward
children or other weaker family members. Read about why training methods that are based on dominating or intimidating the dog are not recommended by veterinary behaviorists and other experts.
-
Do not
play out of control tug-of-war or
wrestling games with your dog and never allow children to play
this way
with the puppy or dog. Tug can be a great reinforcer and a way to exercise your dog. This is suitable for adults and older children as long as there are rules and the dog releases the toy on cue reliably.
-
Use a
crate, kennel,
gates or closed doors to prevent your dog from interacting with
visiting
children when you cannot supervise.