Dog bites occur for a variety of reasons. But one of the most {isolated} deserted reasons why your dog bites is FEAR. We might think of them as being aggressive but in reality it is fear that rules over their actions. A fear response in dogs is a mixture of emotional, physical, and physiological reaction designed to help protect your dog from harm. When fear is one of the reasons your dog bites, it can be because it is afraid of certain sounds, sights, smells, or touches. And though these sensory things may make sense to us as causing fear, it can often be the generalized fear that causes us to get the wrong impression why your dog bites.
Generalized fear is an unpleasant, or more often, a strong emotion caused by anticipation or awareness of possible danger. This fear may come from a response to a sight, sound, smell, or touch that we, as people can understand. In other instances, when those things occur on our pets, it could be a basis for their anxiety on sight, sound, smell, or touch that happens at the same time that they can be in connection it with fear. This is why you may not be able to recognize the reason why your dog bites, because the fear seems so irrational to you.
If one of the factor why your dog bites is fear, then you need to realize that training your dog not to bite will take time and dedication from you. Dog bite prevention caused by fear begins with responsible pet ownership. It's the owner’s responsibility to make sure that his dog is properly obedience trained and properly contained. Patience really is a virtue when training your dog not to bite, because their fear may be very ingrained. A dog acts at a level of a two to three year old, so reasoning is not natural to him or her. If it was, then your dog would probably not be biting out of fear. They would be able to reason their way through the fearful situation. Instead, desensitization and conditioning should happen to break the connection between the fear and the biting behavior. Training is the first step at reducing dominance levels in all dogs. It is not the only solution to eliminating attacks but it is an integral part.
Desensitization training to control biting behavior is a little different for sounds, sights, and smells as it is when humans are the source of your dog's fear. This is why it’s very significant to understand what exactly the source of fear in your dog is. The desensitization process may take several days to several weeks, depending on your dog and training sessions with him. The process requires a great deal of patience and dedication. Now, here is an exercise that you can begin with training your dog to do a “sit-stay” at your side; for sound you need to train your dog to sit-stay for 20 minutes, and for fear of people you have to train him for a 10 minute sit-stay.
You too, can train your dog by letting him to lie down and stay. Then produce the stimulus at a low interval so that it barely raises your dog's attention. Then gradually increase the stimulus, rewarding your dog each time they have no fear response. If your dog does show fear response, stop training and start up again later with the sound, sight, or smell at a lower intensity. Train in different places with different people, but anytime you change any factor in your training, make sure you go back to the lowest intensity.
Have your pet stay to a "safe" area where they can be calm and not likely to show fear. Then have the dog sit-stay next to you while you allow a person they know to approach. When the person is twelve feet from you, award your dog. Have the person wave their arms around. If your dog shows no fear reaction, reward him or her. Keep having the individual do this as they gradually come in close enough to touch your dog. You can also let them try the exercise with funny clothes and movements.
Lastly, if your dog is showing good performance , take your pet to a more threatening location and begin the training. You need to take a 10 minute break by walking away and ignoring your dog at any time your dog shows a fear reaction. These techniques need to occur for twice a day, 30 minutes.
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