Category: Common Problems ¤
  Author: Esther Zimmerman ¤
   Title: Fall-Out from Corrections ¤

There has been a lot of discussion lately on how to deal with aggressive
behavior in dogs.  There have been wonderful suggestions made for the
specific situations people find themselves in, and also general ones for
counter-conditioning, etc.

The one aspect of "correcting" that I have not seen mentioned is the
potential fall-out from it.  Sometimes what the dogs learn from the
corrections is not to show that they are upset.  Instead, they bide
their time and explode.  They have learned not to show the precursors. 
It is the precursors, all the little things they do before full blown
aggression that we need to use to predict their behavior and be
pro-active.  The precursors are also all the posturings that other dogs
read so they know how to react.  

If we are observant enough to see the earliest signs of fear/aggression,
we have a chance to help our dogs choose another path.  If those signs
have been "corrected" out of existence, then the problem is even bigger
than it was before. IMHO.

Esther Zimmerman, the Schipperkes, and the token Golden
Simsbury, CT