Understanding Dog Aggression: A Trainer's Guide to Positive Solutions

As a dog trainer I deal with many behavior problems. Aggression is one of the most common reasons I get called to someone's home, whether it is aggression directed towards a person or another animal (usually other dogs). In my 25+ years’ experience as a dog trainer I have found that aggression is usually caused by one or more of a few things:

1) under-socialization/fear
2) a traumatic experience when the dog had little to no "padding" of good experiences
3) mishandling of the situation by the owner
4) genetics

Why You Should Be Concerned About Your Dog’s Weight

I saw this article yesterday and just had to write something about it since obese dogs are one of my biggest pet peeves. About 20 years ago when I graduated from school my very first client had a huge German Shepherd. When I say huge, I mean *huge*...

Dog Leash Aggression: Causes and Effective Training Strategies

One of the calls I get most often is about dogs that are leash reactive and dog aggressive. This could mean they make noise, bark & lunge because they are happy to see the dog or person approaching, or it could mean they are not so happy to see what's coming towards them or behind a fence they are walking past...