Aggression Goes to the Dogs

A survey of dog owners who use confrontation to train pets has found that most of these animals will continue to be aggressive unless training techniques are modified.

If you are aggressive, your dog will be too. A University of Pennsylvania survey of dog owners who use confrontation to train pets has found that most of these animals will continue to be aggressive unless training techniques are modified.
But non-aversive or neutral training methods, such as additional exercise or rewards, elicited very few aggressive responses. Confrontational training methods would include staring down dogs, striking them or intimidating them with physical manipulation. In the questionnaire, dog owners were asked how they had previously treated aggressive behaviour, whether there was a positive, negative or neutral effect on the dogs’ behaviour and whether aggressive responses resulted from the method they used. Owners were also asked where they learned the training technique they employed.
Several such methods like ‘hit or kick dog for undesirable behaviour’ (43 per cent), ‘growl at dog’ (41 per cent), ‘physically force the release of an item from a dog’s mouth’ (39 per cent), ‘rolling the dog onto its back and holding it’ (31 per cent), ‘stare at or stare down’ (30 per cent), ‘physically forcing the dog down onto its side’ (29 per cent) and ‘grab dog by jowls and shake’ (26 per cent) elicited an aggressive response from at least 25 per cent of the dogs. In addition, dogs brought to the hospital for aggressive behaviour towards familiar people were more likely to respond aggressively to confrontational techniques than dogs brought in for other behavioural reasons. So, treat your dog well

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