Archive for February, 2010

Signs of an Aggressive Dog Who Just May be Unsafe to Have In Your Home

The new puppy was a handsome creature and displayed the finest traits to be found in a golden retriever at least in appearance. But attempting to reason with the ill-mannered puppy was turning out to be trying at best and miserable on the days that she would mind nothing that was said to her. Melinda got out the phone book and looked up dog training Philadelphia area and tried to locate an obedience school that was easy to get to from her house. She discovered one that was fairly close to where she lived and she picked up the phone and made an appointment before she decided she did not want to invest the time and money into her puppy. She somehow knew that this was something that was not an option if she wanted to continue to keep this puppy and had any hope of making her into the kind of pet that other people would enjoy. She had used this kind of puppy instruction earlier that she had discovered under the listing dog training NYC area when she lived in that part of the country and she knew she could trust this branch of the same obedience school even though it had a different owner. At the time she had owned a standard poodle who had a wild streak and she had given the school credit for making him much more easily managed. She held out hope that this would go as well with her golden retriever and teach her some puppy etiquette as soon as possible.

People like Melinda are very willing to invest money and time into forming puppies into social animals who are enjoyable members of their family. A puppy that is ill-mannered is not only a pain to have around the house but they can be a liability as well if they are aggressive with other people. Some ways to spot an aggressive canine are:

• Are they controlling of you or another member in your family? This can be a warning sign that the animal is obsessed with your company and does not want others to be around you. This behavior is manifested by intense barking when others come near and sometimes growling at people, even other members of the family, who want to sit beside you or carry on a conversation or otherwise engage your attention thus taking it away from them.

• Does your pet bark aggressively at the mailman or when someone comes to the door? This is not merely very annoying as you are attempting to conduct business with the person at the door but it also demonstrates that you have no control over animal. Your pet can lunge suddenly at the visitor and can cause anxiety and fear both to you and to your guest.

• Does your pet look intently at other animals or people without breaking eye contact? This is a sign of dominance and ought to never be ignored as it can be a dangerous sign. It has been advised that a person not be the first to break eye contact with your puppy because it is taken as a sign of weakness to that pet.