Dog Aggression - Cesar Millan

Well known for his dazzling abilities to calm aggressive dogs, Cesar Millan is probably the most recognizable dog trainer/rehabilitation expert out there. What can we learn from Cesar for dealing with dog aggression? Quite a lot, including the following...

Be the Pack Leader

Establishing yourself as the top dog checks dominant behaviors in your pack while getting them used to following your orders.

Exercise, Discipline and Affection

Cesar stresses meeting your dog's needs in this order. First get him out for exercise, especially long walks. Then bring him back to the house and establish clear house rules that you consistently enforce. Finally, provide affection when he is in a calm state of mind. Discipline ties in with "rules, boundaries and limitations," which boils down to establishing house rules, teaching them to your dog and then enforcing them on a regular basis.

Red Zone Dogs Need Extra Help

Cesar demonstrates that low level aggression can be worked with directly and he is often able to snap a dog out of it before he gets going. But for red zone dogs that are a threat to harm people or other dogs, the rehabilitation process takes longer and requires counter-conditioning efforts. These are sometimes seen when the dogs are observed as part of his pack back in Los Angeles. The takeaway point is that even for Cesar a red zone dog takes special handling, so if your dog is at that level of aggression, call on a local trainer for help.

Fear Aggression is Common

Cesar often diagnoses cases of aggression as being based in fear and a lack of confidence. For Cesar the rehab usually begins with the walk. He also encourages owners to project a more confident attitude about themselves and toward their dogs.

Humans Feed Dog Behavior Problems

Often on The Dog Whisperer we see that it's the actions of the people in the house that are influencing the dog's behavior issues. Once the people stop acting neurotically, the dogs make a speedy recovery back to being dogs.

Excuses are the Biggest Training Problem

When it comes to dogs and their aggression, their destructive behavior or any other problem, owners tend to have 101 excuses for why they haven't been properly exercising the dog, enforcing the rules or working on training. Many of these excuses are valid, but the bottom line is that dog behavior problems can be fixed and usually are once the excuses are set aside.

When it comes to dog aggression, Cesar Millan has provided dog owners with a lot of helpful advice. The gist of it is this - train your dog, provide him with adequate exercise and mental stimulation, set clear house rules and reward the behaviors you want.

I'm Jon Dakins, Director of Training Education at Dog Academy, http://www.dogacademy.com/. We provide online dog training programs for basic obedience, tricks and more. Got a dog with a behavior problem or two? Please check us out at http://students.dogacademy.com/assessment.aspx to register for your free online course.

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