"The goal is to teach the dog that it will receive a favored treat or reward that is even more appealing than the object in its possession." Approaching calmly, offering a food reward and taking the possession, praising the puppy and returning the object teaches the puppy that your actions are not to be feared.
Why Do Some Dogs Display Possession Aggression? Possession aggression in dogs is a natural behavior that originates from the instinct to react to a perceived threat. Although it's useful, necessary behavior in the wild, it has no place in your home and needs to be managed before it develops into a serious problem.
Resource guarding occurs when dogs exhibit behaviors like growling, lunging, or biting over food or toys. This behavior is also known as “possessive aggression” and may occur in dogs of any breed. Training early and often can help discourage resource guarding before it becomes too problematic.
You should never punish your dog for growling.
Growling is an essential part of a dog's language. When dogs growl, they are trying to communicate their stress about something happening in their environment. That could be them guarding a toy, seeing a stranger, or even just excited to see someone they know.
Never ever ever punish a dog for growling. The end result will be that the dog goes right from the ignored visual cues to biting without that important vocal warning. Dogs have a right to communicate they are uncomfortable with certain things they are exposed to.
Is training an aggressive dog possible? Yes. Aggression in dogs, whether it be toward a dog's owner or other dogs, is a serious behavior that should be adjusted with the help of a professional dog trainer.
There is no real cure for inter-dog aggression. Instead, treatment is heavily focused on controlling the problem. Owners must learn how to avoid situations that encourage aggressive behavior in the dog, and to break up fights quickly and safely when they occur.
Dominance
Dominance is the most common reason why dogs are aggressive toward other dogs. While it's true that as pack animals, dogs are sociable, packs have hierarchies. And usually, an alpha establishes his dominance within a pack through either threat or physical harm.
Do not punish or reward territorial behavior; ignore it, wait for calm, then reward. Repeat often over a period of time, with various people and dogs. When your dog learns that other people and dogs are not a threat, that anxiety is not necessary, and that calm behavior is rewarded, territorial behavior will diminish.
The most common causes include conflict aggression, fear-based, defensive aggression, status related aggression, possessive aggression, food guarding aggression and redirected aggression.
Straight off the bat you should be correcting your dog's growling and/or snapping with a firm “no” at the onset of the behavior. When he stops growling, reward him with a “good boy”, or in the beginning, a treat if it's handy at the exact moment of training so that he knows what he is being rewarded for.
Methods such as alpha rolls and physical corrections (via the leash and a choke chain or by smacking the dog on the nose or by shaking their scruffs) were often recommended as a way for humans to establish dominance over their dogs.
Dogs that have a history of acting aggressively towards people should not be re-homed. Even if the dog acts aggressively towards children but does well with older people, the dog should not be rehomed for the simple fact that it is a liability.
If your dog is showing any changes in their behaviour, especially if they have started showing aggression suddenly, you should contact your vet as soon as possible. Aggression tends to get worse over time and can lead to serious injuries to you, your dog or other people and pets so getting help is essential.
Punishment should be avoided. The dog-dog relationship will not be improved if you scold, punish or hold down a dog as punishment; in fact you may make it worse by punishing the dog for signaling and communicating their aggressive intentions.
Growling is a very normal behavior for dogs. It simply shows that something is too much for them or that they feel distressed. Still, you shouldn't take it lightly, but think about how you can avoid it next time. If your dog growls at you, be sure to stay calm and never scold him.
Growling is an emotional response. It is not a "disobedient" behavior. You cannot punish an emotion out of a dog (or a human). Growling is just your dog's way of trying to tell you something important, and you should listen and genuinely thank your dog for the honest feedback.
Walk on by
Have your friend walk his dog slowly past the gap while you stand 20 feet away from the gap. If your dog starts to growl, give him the 'sit-stay' command to distract him. If he obeys and stops growling, praise him and give him a treat.
If the aggression is motivated by fear, punishment will only make the dog more fearful, and therefore more aggressive. Attempting to punish a pushy or controlling dog is likely to make his behavior even worse. In either case, the dog and owner end up in a vicious cycle of escalating aggression.
For a dog who is acting out of fear or frustration (for example, a dog who is barking and lunging on leash), using the word 'no' to stop the behavior without helping to alleviate their fear or frustration will often lead to an escalation in behavior, such as growling, air snapping, or biting.
Aggression in dogs commonly includes body language or threat displays such as a hard stare, growling, barking, snarling, lunging, snapping, and/or biting. Aggression can be a normal form of communication in dogs, yet the display of aggression toward a person or animal is often considered undesirable or problematic.