How to Calm an Aggressive Dog?

When you have a dog, you have a companion who will always love you all the same through thick and thin, direct all his/her loyalty to you, and never leave your side. Having a dog as a pet is a blessing in disguise.

Sometimes when your dog behaves unusually, and starts to show traits of anger or aggression, our reaction to it also changes. There are chances that we forget how sensitive the dogs are and use force to calm them instead of resorting love and care to help the little baby.

When a dog portrays traits of aggression, the situation becomes tense and tends to scare the person towards whom the aggression is directed. Suddenly all the attention goes into looking for a hiding place.

However, if you are a pet owner, there are chances that you use certain means to calm your dog down to ensure everyone else’s safety. It is a common behavior of pet parents to use a loud voice or even use a stick to scare the pet. This is done to ascertain a command over the pet.

These methods might give the desired results, however, are not useful for long-term results. The repercussions of this can be that your pet stops responding to your command, or leave a scar on their mental health.

Symptoms of Aggression in Dogs

Being able to judge whether your dog is calm or about to get aggressive can help you control the situation to a great extent. With the exception of Sudden Start Aggression syndrome, a dog’s aggression can always be anticipated by observing their body language. Here are the signals that you must follow to know if your dog is about to get aggressive:

• Firm posture
• The ears are pinched
• Roaring
• Tooth extraction
• Swearing
• Vigorous biting (from mild biting to biting)

Why Is your Dog Angry?

Everything has a cause and effect relationship. In dogs as well, the aggression is the effect of a cause. As a pet parent, your foremost duty is to identify the cause of your dog’s aggression. Only after this, will it be possible for you to help your dog in getting rid of the aggression.
Here are the most common causes of dog attacks:

• Pain or sickness
• Fear
• Establishing governance
• To protect property

Types of Violence in Dogs

• Local violence: Dogs generally attempt to protect what they consider to be their territory and everything in it by the show of aggression.

• Protective rage: An alpha dog deems it to be his/her duty to protect the members of the pack, be it other dogs or humans. A female dog also shows traits of aggression against anyone who tries to harm her puppies.

• Panic attack: A scared or anxious dog might resort to attack or get aggressive in panic.

• Social anger: Generally, when a dog it deprived of social situations, he/she gets uncomfortable when exposed to socialization and resorts to aggression.

• Redirected anger: It is common for a dog to be angry at someone and is unable to reach that person or dog and his/her anger gets redirected at someone else who is in sight.

• Anger in pain: A dog shows anger when he/she is injured or is in pain.

• Sexual anger: Dogs seek attention of their mates by the show of aggression.

There are ways that you can implement instead to avoid the common mistake and yield long-term results. Let us discuss how you can calm your dog if they get aggressive:

Keep Yourself Calm

The first thing that you need to keep in mind is that you have to keep your temperament when/if your dog shows signs of aggression. You cannot calm your dog if you also get aggressive.

Avoid Triggering Situations

A dog does not just run after someone or bite them straightaway. There are certain signs of aggression that they display signaling warnings to someone like barking at them. You need to recognize these signs and the situations which lead to your dog getting aggressive. This will help you avoid such situations and keep your dog calm until you can train your dog to keep calm in any situation.

Use of Calming Supplements

There are supplements available on the market which contain calming agents. You can resort to using them before taking your dog into situations that trigger their aggression. This will help you control them easily and follow your commands. You can train your dog using these calming supplements.

Give Assurance to Your Dog

Knowing that you can keep your dog safe in every situation matters. Their aggression is also an act of self-defense in tough situations. If you can assure your dog of their safety, it will lead them to keep calm.

Regular Walks

You must take your dog out for walks every day. Through this, your dog will socialize with other people and animals and get comfortable in new surroundings. The more comfortable they are, the calmer they will stay.

Expert Consultation

Consult with a behavior expert if necessary. The expert will assess your dog as an individual and give you tips to keep them calm and train them in a way that is comfortable for your dog. Using these easy tips, you can eliminate your dog’s aggression until you command them to be. A happy doggo leads to a happy life.