For a very good guide to all sorts of dog training processes and dog behavior challenges, I use and recommend Clickertraining ...that link goes to the description of this terrific ebook you download immediately, wherever you are! -- Rosana

In doing some research for my recent articles on aggression in dogs, I’ve found some other websites that are worth your attention.

1. The San Francisco SPCA (Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, a non-profit founded in 1868) has several useful pages. Start here: http://www.sfspca.org/behavior/aggression.shtml and there are also good pages on understanding dog aggression and curbing it at home.
2. Here’s a site that was created after the people suffered from sending their dog to a “board and train” facility that didn’t work out. They have created quite a comprehensive site, good for anyone with an aggressive dog, lots of good basic information as well as many scholarly footnotes that actually are linked to places the articles can be found. I used to be a librarian, and I was impressed with how this site was put together. It’s not easy to find all the pages, though, so keep looking around. They also run a support group on Yahoo groups. I tend to be a little leery of websites with K9 in their names, as often they have a different training philosophy than mine, but in my browsing around the site, I didn’t see anything I disagreed with. http://www.k9aggression.com
3. Wikipedia is a website that is an online encyclopedia that anyone can help edit. It has a basic article with more links to other sites: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dog_aggression They use the term “dog aggression” to mean only between dogs, but here I use it in a more general sense, to include attacks or bites on people as well.
4. Stan Rawlinson is a British dog behaviorist and trainer who uses pain-free methods. His article, Interdog and Human Aggression, is at http://www.doglistener.co.uk/aggression/interdog.shtml The title made me wonder if the article would cover humans being aggressive against dogs, but it didn’t! Interestingly, he comments that the most aggressive dogs he has encountered have been Toy Poodles or other small breeds, because owners will tolerate behavior from tiny dogs that they would not accept from larger ones.
5. This last website is not actually about this topic per se, but I found it so pertinent that I am adding it here: http://www.clickersolutions.com/articles/2001/dominance.htm is an article that gives terrific background on how the “Wolves are Pack Animals — Dogs are Wolves — You Gotta be Alpha” school of thought (my description) came to be, and why it is not accurate. The article is titled The History and Misconceptions of Dominance Theory and it is by Melissa Alexander, author of the excellent clicker training book, Click for Joy! This is her website and is worth looking around.

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When I went to spell-check this article in the blog writing software I use, I accidentally hit a button I didn’t know about, which allows me to easily add links to books at Amazon. I’m sure I’ll be using it a lot. Here is Melissa Alexander’s book, admittedly not on the topic of dog aggression but it does follow from the last paragraph!

Click for Joy! Questions and Answers from Clicker Trainers and Their Dogs (Karen Pryor Clicker Books) by Melissa C. AlexanderRead more about this book…

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When you first start dog training, simple commands are the best ones to use. Generally, that remains true even as your skills improve over time. Dogs learn simple commands more easily than complex ones, though of course a working dog such as a Border Collie herding sheep will be able to perform very complex behaviors. Then again, so can your domestic dog once you have worked with him or her for a while! But your commands or cue words remain simple.

So what are the dog training simple commands that every dog should know?

I would make a case for: sit, down, stay, and come. There are plenty more, of course, but these four are often the basis of obedience training classes, and all are very useful in daily life. The heel is taught too, but for daily life walking with a loose leash is even more important.

SIT: You can use this from the very first day your puppy comes home. It’s easy to teach the sit by holding a morsel of food over your dog’s head and as he looks up at it, he may sit. You give him the food if he does, and very soon he’s got the idea. This command is useful constantly, like when your dog is about to put his muddy paws on the sofa. I always ask my dogs to sit and stay before they get their meals.

DOWN: This is a particularly useful dog behavior at times when you want your pet to stay put somewhere for quite a while in the “long down.”

STAY: What you frequently want the dog to do with both the sit and the down. Some dog trainers use the word “stay” while others include the concept of staying in their use of the commands sit or down. I like that second idea but I had already been using “stay” for many years when I came across the concept, and I found that my habits were hard to break. Consistency of what you do is important in evoking the canine behavior you want, so I kept on using “stay.”

COME: It’s got to be obvious why you need to train your dog to come. Again, this is an easy one to use early in your puppy training. Just stand near your dog so he can smell the treat in your hand, call him by name and say, “Come!” Give the treat once he comes. Make your distance apart greater as you continue.

For more information, see my review of one of my favorite downloadable ebooks, by Silvia Kent: Dynamic Dog Training.

In potty training a puppy, there are several things you need to do, but first here is an essential bit of preparation: Arrange a place in your home where your puppy can be confined when you are not watching him or her, whether you are at work or when you are asleep at night. A crate is the very best choice, and I have information on crate training puppies you can get to by clicking on the picture of the puppy in the crate. Other indoor choices are x-pens, laundry rooms, and bathrooms. Depending on the weather, you may be able to do something out of doors, at least part of the time. Whatever you do, be sure your pup — with his boundless curiosity, abundant energy, and sharp teeth — will be safe there when you aren’t around. Okay, that’s really another topic, but you do need to have a place to leave your puppy before you begin to potty train him. Leave him there as little as possible. You will be cleaning up his messes in this space, because chances are he won’t always be able to hold it.

One more point before we get into the process: your puppy’s body will mature at its own rate, and different breeds tend to mature at different times. Nobody would expect a human baby to be potty trained in its earliest months, and it’s the same with your new friend. I had one puppy, an Australian Shepherd, who never once did his business in our house from the day we got him at eight weeks, but that is very rare. All my other puppies took a lot longer to be full housebroken.

Okay, so the name of the game with house training your puppy is to know when he is most likely to need to go potty and to be sure and take him outside then. When is that?

• Anytime he wakes up, be it after a nap or early (often VERY early) in the morning.
• After he has eaten, within just a few minutes.

So watch him like a hawk at those times and go right outside — or at least, be ready to scoop him up or coax him to run outside with you.

Also, plan on taking him out just before you go to bed. This gives you the best chance of a good night’s sleep! It’s your call whether you get up in the middle of the night to take him out or not. I do, because it does seem to make the potty training process go faster if my puppy doesn’t go in his crate in the wee hours, or should I say wee-wee hours?

Once you get outside, it may take a while. Be patient. Do some exercises or pull a few weeds, so long as your attention is on your dog and you see when he does go potty. By the way, if you want him to use a particular part of the yard, go there. If you don’t have a yard and are walking him on leash in your neighborhood, choose some good places and keep your pup off your neighbor’s prize petunias! I wear a small fanny pack with plastic produce bags from the grocery store for collecting any poop.

Once your puppy pees and maybe poops, praise him warmly. Play a little more before going inside so he doesn’t associate doing his business with having to stop having fun in the yard.

What if you live in an extreme climate or in an apartment where you can’t just run out the door? Or a place that isn’t all that safe? Paper training is another method that can be used in potty training a puppy. I haven’t ever used this method, as I have always had yards when I started my various puppies, but it’s quite useful in many circumstances. For small dogs, there are even devices that you could graduate to where they would do their business most of the time indoors. If you do go that route, just be sure to train them to use the great out of doors as well, in case you are on a car trip or something of the sort!

What about when your puppy does make a mistake in the house? Just quietly clean it up in a matter-of-fact manner. Just about any pet supply store will have enzyme cleaners — there are numerous brands — that will cut the odor and thus reduce the change of the puppy picking the same spot over and over. Do not scold your puppy, as he really won’t understand. But if you happen to catch him in the act, firmly say NO! and take him outside.

Well, in a nutshell, that’s all there is to it. I’ve written about this topic in other articles, most notably at my page on potty training dogs, which is pretty much the most popular page I’ve written on this site! But it’s such an important topic for the for the future well-being of your new little friend, that I’ll probably keep writing now and then about potty training a puppy. Adult dogs really need to be potty trained, housebroken, or housetrained — whatever you want to call it!– to have a good life. So be patient and keep at it.

For more detailed information and lots of great tips on potty training a puppy, I really like a downloadable ebook by Martin “Scoop” Olliver which spells out how to choose whether to use the direct method where you take the puppy outside for his training or to use the paper training approach. Then there is a step-by-section for either approach. So whether you are house training a puppy indoors or out, you can just print out the pertinent pages of the ebook if you want to. His website explains about using ebooks, if you haven’t done that before. To see what others say about his guide to potty training a puppy or adult dog, just click on the image:

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Recently a friend’s dog bit one of the children in the family, after seven years of living together without any aggression from the dog. The eight-year-old boy tends to be hyperactive and the dog tends to be nervous, and one day when they were alone in the back yard together, the child pulled the dog up on its back legs and hugged it hard. The dog bit the boy’s nose. In another situation I heard about, two female dogs in the same family who were good friends began to show jealousy and abruptly one day had a fight which led to one of them needing stitches. They couldn’t be trusted together after that until a lot of training and stress management had taken place.

Any dog can bite, of course. The number of biting incidents every year is astonishingly high, and a high percentage of those bites are inflicted on children. Dog-dog aggression is also a serious problem which can flare up suddenly or build gradually. Depressing.

But there is a lot you can do if your dog shows aggression. Here are nine tips.

1. Immediately manage the situation for safety. Don’t risk injury to yourself, other people, the dog, or other pets. Use a crate if the dog is used to one or if you can train him to accept it. (See my page on crate training.) It may be quite inconvenient for you to provide the necessary level of supervision while you consider your options, but it’s essential. For example, if two dogs in your house are not getting along, you may have to keep doors closed between them. You are avoiding dog bites and more in this step.
2. Start a log. Use a notebook or a clipboard with paper, something you can keep handy with a pen there too. Much as I love writing at the computer, in this case, I don’t recommend it as your primary log, because it is too easy to think you will write something the next time you turn on the computer and then not get around to it. Better to jot down short notes daily, or more often. Note any problems and also note successes. Don’t think you will remember it all later, because it will blur over time.

3. Take your dog to your veterinarian for a check-up. Pain anywhere in the dog’s body can make the dog very irritable. There are literally dozen of causes of dog aggression that veterinary attention can find. The veterinarian may suggest temporary medications for the dog, and you can consider that. (Only a small percentage of veterinarians at present would be able to make suggestions for herbal or homeopathic remedies, but some of those who do will consult by phone. This would be best after your regular vet has seen your dog.)

4. Be sure your dog gets plenty of exercise and healthy food. This may require some significant changes in your habits — you could get a lot more exercise too! — but a tired dog is typically way less likely to misbehave. If your dog’s aggression comes out when you walk him, you can get him used to a head halter such as a Halti or Gentle Leader which gives you more control without aggravating the problems. You may need to drive him to a different area to get good walks if your neighborhood isn’t optimal. Small dogs can get a good bit of exercise if you play with them in your house or apartment. (By the way, many small dog owners let aggressiveness go unchecked that they wouldn’t allow in a larger dog. Don’t make that mistake.) Regarding the food, the usual grocery store brands are full of chemicals which can affect behavior negatively. See other pages of this website for more on the importance of healthier dog food, or search the internet.

5. Avoid situations that bring out the aggressive behavior in your dog. Research shows that your vigilance can make all the difference in the long-term outcome of a dog aggression problem. If the issue is in your home, pay attention to what resources your dog may be guarding — things like access to you, a comfortable bed, food, toys, etc. This resource guarding can be relative to another dog, or relative to a cat or a person. I once had a rescue dog who tried to guard me from my husband Kelly when Kelly would enter my home office; it took a while, but after my husband had patiently given the dog many treats in the hallway before the growling began, the dog realized that there were two nice people in the family!

6. Train your dog. Go back to the basics of sit, stay, down, if you haven’t been using them a lot lately. If you do train your dog regularly, keep it up. Train tricks like shaking hands or rolling over, if you wish. The core idea here is to help your dog to use his mind and to enhance the relationship between you, THEN over time you can get better behavior in the stressful situations. Whatever you do, be sure to use pain-free training methods; not only are they more humane, they are actually more effective too. I highly recommend clicker training in this situation — here’s one outstanding book:

Click to Calm: Healing the Aggressive Dog (Karen Pryor Clicker Book) by Emma ParsonsRead more about this book…

7. Diminish your dog’s fear. Recognize that in most cases, fear is a big part of why your dog is aggressive. Do what you can to diminish his fear. I’m thinking here of things like massage and Tellington TTouch. Since every dog has a different handling threshold, that is, a different level of acceptance of being touched at all and of being touched in particular parts of the body, don’t push beyond what the dog likes. You will also be diminishing your dog’s fear by doing things mentioned in this article, such as more exercise and avoiding stressful situations.

8. Seriously consider hiring a really good dog trainer for a series of sessions. Many dog aggression situations are going to be somewhat beyond the ability of the owner to handle alone. In choosing a dog trainer, be very careful. Ask a lot of questions. You may be shocked at the cruelty of some of the methods that are commonly used to “break” a dog. Also, you may be vulnerable emotionally to a trainer who promises you that everything will be just fine, but be wary of anyone who promises you the moon. Be sure to ask the dog trainer about their background, professional training, and philosophy. Ask for at least three references, and phone those people. One resource for starting your dog trainer search is the list at the Association of Pet Dog Trainers, a group I belong to. Don’t be in a hurry to send your dog away somewhere for training or “rehab” because the aggressive behavior happens in the context of your world, and in general it’s much better to work with someone while the dog stays at home. Real improvement is almost never going to happen in just one or two sessions. When the trainer evaluates your dog, discuss with them how many sessions they recommend, knowing that it’s hard to predict. This is likely to make a dent in your wallet but can make it possible to save a dog.

9. Consider your options and commit to a plan. This last tip is one of the most important, because no matter what difficult emotions you go through –anger, sadness, frustration, denial — if you keep working with your dog, revising your plan as needed, the outlook is much brighter than if you let things slide.