Dogs are by instinct aggressive creatures. In the wild, dogs needed to hunt, to protect themselves from other animals, to guard their food, a place to sleep, and a mate.

Discerning breeding over the past centuries has greatly minimized and polished this characteristic without a doubt, but as a matter of fact dogs are still physically capable of injuring because it is how they have survived and developed.

That does not mean that dog owners are completely clueless when it comes to controlling their dogs.

There are plenty of tricks to keep back aggression and even if prevention has not been successful for some reasons, there are still effective steps to take in order to curb and deal with it.

There are diverse types of canine aggression, the two most common being aggression towards unfamiliar people or complete strangers and aggression towards known people like family members. These two types of aggression originate from very unrelated causes and entail a different kind of treatment.

What is aggression towards strangers? It is quite easy to see when a dog is nervous about a stranger. He is tense and on guard: either the dog can’t sit still and is constantly agitated, scared by the smallest sound, and moving around barking and whining, or the dog is completely still, sitting in one place, staring at the suspicious stranger.

What is aggression towards family members? There are two main reasons for dogs to be aggressive towards members of their own human family: they are trying to protect something they think is a threat to you, or they are not comfortable with the treatment they are getting from you or the other members of the family.

(To be continued)

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