Dog aggression is a major problem everywhere, sometimes between dogs and sometimes resulting in dog bites on people. A high percentage of the people who get bitten are children, often quite young. In this article, I'll give you three tips for handling it if your dog should become aggressive and I'll give you a resource for more tips and information on all aspects of this problem. The first step is to organize your dog's living situation so that he can't attack anyone. You'll need to be protecting yourself, your family members, all other pets you have, and of course the dog himself. Everyone needs to be safe.
Crating your dog is an excellent way to increase safety. However, if he doesn't like being crated or simply isn't used to it, you will have to take it slowly, step by step, using food treats or toys -- a Kong is excellent. Only leave him in the crate for amounts of time that he accepts willingly, or he may injure himself or the crate in his attempt to escape. Do not put him in the crate for long hours, unless he is used to sleeping in it overnight, for example.
Another way of handling your dog's whereabouts is by choosing his location in your home, which might be in a dog yard, an extra bedroom, or whatever you can put into service this way. You could do this in addition to using a crate or instead of it. If you have to keep two dogs apart because they have been fighting, then try to create something where two doors are between them. That way, you will be able to go between them much more easily than if you only have them one door apart.
Second, get your dog to your veterinarian for a thorough check-up. Many times, the cause of aggression in a dog is pain. Veterinarians can find many possible causes that you might never think of, such as dental pain. If this is the case, once the pain is gone, the dog will be a much happier camper and the aggression may go away completely.
Third, keep some sort of written record of the aggressive incidents. This is specially helpful later, because it is natural for us to forget whether the dog bit Mary before or after it growled at Bob, especially when the topic is plenty stressful. A handy notebook, or even just some paper, is recommended for this little project. These notes will be used as you begin to consider your longer-term options for dealing with the situation.
After getting this far, you have really just begun. What you do next will have a huge effect on your dog's future. Interesting, research has proven that when dog owners are pro-active in dealing with aggression problems, the dog is much more likely to be manageable long term. And that's good news if you love the dog!
