Five years ago, I rescued a 14-month-old Border Collie, who had several very severe behavioral problems. One of those problems was his fear of humans. I’d like to share with you some of the things that I did to help this dog overcome that fear.

One of the major problems Jack had was that he knew that biting and snarling, showing his teeth and growling had always worked for him when he wanted to keep people away. I had to help him get used to people being around him BEFORE he got so stressed that he’d begin to show these behaviors. ...

This article, written by Renee Premaza, addresses fearful dogs, but not dogs who will automatically go into attack mode at the sight of a stranger!! If you live with a dog who displays this behavior, please contact a professional in-home behaviorist/trainer to work on this issue!

The dogs I will be describing below are dogs who choose a flight response when faced with fearful stimuli. ...

So… you say your dog won't let you near his food bowl? And, he won't let you take something out of his mouth? Oh my goodness, he's growling at you or biting you when you do try to take something away from him? Well guess what? Your dog is just acting like a dog! His survival instincts tell him that giving something up that's valuable to him isn't normal behavior for dogs. Okay, we need to talk:

Before we tackle the guarding problem, we need to work on gaining your dog's trust and respect. In order to do this, you'll need to implement an everyday training regimen with him called "Nothing in Life is Free" (aka NILIF). This program is very simple, it doesn't take much time or additional effort to work with it, AND, you will probably see some nice results before the end of two weeks, or less. Any dog that is food or object/toy guarding has to be considered as on the verge of biting whenever someone interferes with his ownership of his possessions. I know you'll agree that this is a potentially dangerous situation, especially if you have young toddlers or small kids in your home. ...

This article is meant to give simple ideas to help some dominant dogs realize their place in the pack and to help some fear-aggressive dogs gain confidence in themselves and their people. It does not cover all aspects of, or all the different types of aggression that can be diagnosed.

Recommended Books by Brandy J. Oliver:

• Dogs Are From Neptune
• Jelly Bean VS. Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde: Written for the Safety of Our Children & the Welfare of Our Dogs

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