Dog Behavior

Most dog owners who complain about their pet's over-protective behavior are usually concerned that their dog may bite someone. In most cases they state that the dog's on-guard behavior is acceptable and even desirable. However, the possibility of a lawsuit or the fear of being maimed usually motivates the owner to seek help. This type of ambivalence relative to the dog's behavior indicates some basic insecurity in the owner. When this can be brought into the open through consultation, the total problem can be placed in proper perspective and a corrective program becomes possible.

Who's In Charge?

In the daily interaction between a dog and its owner, most overprotective animals have devised various ways of telling the owner when to get up in the morning, when to open the doors out or into the house on cue, when to pet and stroke in response to nudging, etc.

On the other side of the ledger, these dogs only do something on command when they want. Commands to Come when called, Sit, Stay and various other commands are rarely if ever obeyed, except when the dog happens to be in the mood. In other words, the dog is in command and is naturally going to become upset when some outsider interferes with its concept of how life ought to proceed. The dog's response to such intrusions can range from submissive recumbency to a vicious attack on the incoming party, be it other dogs or other people.

An overprotective animal usually combines its jealousy of its owner's attentions with overdeveloped active defense reflexes. Overly developed defense reflexes usually result from the owner's deliberate encouragement of early signs of aggression toward strangers, lack of any attempt to control this tendency, or an excessively physical or emotional response when the aggression begins to emerge. In fact, most cases that are encountered involve dog owners who have committed all of these errors.

In such cases, the dog behaves as if it feels responsible for rather than to its owner. Most of these people can see the value of having a dog take its cues about protection from the owner, rather than allowing it to make the critical decision regarding toward whom it should be aggressive. The corrective procedure requires that both the owner and dog possess one vital personality factor: a sense of humor, an element missing in some older dogs. If this is absent, then devices must be improvised to develop it.

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