Does positive reinforcement work with aggressive dogs?
A1. I believe that the vast majority of, if not all, aggression issues are rooted in fear. Positive reinforcement training is based on calm, kind techniques that eliminate fear and uncertainty. The last thing you want to do with a scared dog is punish him. Can you imagine how you would feel if you are already frightened and somebody then proceeds to jerk you around, hit you, or yell at you? It’s only going to intensify the ‘scary’. Additionally, if an aggressive dog is challenging a human, and the human proceeds to confront the dog, it’s a volatile situation at best. Dogs are hard wired with two choices – flight or fight. If you remove their ability to flight via a strong, physical, aggressive confrontation, you have left them with no choice but to fight it out. And dogs are faster than us and have powerful jaws, so humans are generally going to be on the losing end of a dog fight.
