Three Things to Understand about Reactivity and Dog Aggression

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Discover the secrets behind transforming your reactive dog into a calm and happy companion. Join me, Will Bangura, a certified canine behaviorist, as we unravel the complexities of canine aggression and fear-based behaviors. In this eye-opening discussion, you'll learn why punishment-based methods like prong collars and shock collars can do more harm than good, and how positive reinforcement, counter-conditioning, and desensitization can make all the difference. We'll tackle the root causes of reactivity, such as fear and anxiety, to help you understand your dog's emotional world and guide you toward effective, compassionate solutions.

Choosing the right trainer can be a game-changer in your dog's behavior journey. With no strict certification standards in the industry, it's essential to pick a trainer who uses evidence-based, force-free methods. I'll share insights into what to look for in a qualified trainer to ensure your dog receives the best possible care. By doing thorough research and selecting a knowledgeable professional, you can pave the way for positive behavioral changes and a brighter future for your beloved pet. Tune in to gain valuable knowledge that will empower you to make informed decisions for your furry friend's well-being.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Raised by wolves with canine DNA in his blood.
Having trained more than 24,000pets, helping you and your fur
babies thrive, live in studiowith Will Bangura answering your
pet behavior and trainingquestions.
Ladies and gentlemen, pleasewelcome your host and favorite
pet behavior expert, willBangura.

Speaker 2 (00:25):
Would you like to go on?
Are y'all ready for this?
Good day, dog lovers.
I'm Will Bangura, certifiedcanine behaviorist.
Thank you for joining me foranother episode of Dog Training

(00:46):
Today.
If you're listening to thisbrief podcast, that means that
most likely you've got a dogthat has reactivity or
aggression problems, and I wantto talk about some information
that's absolutely criticalcritical If you're a pet parent
and you do have a dog with thosetype of problems.
There's a couple very importantthings that we must discuss,

(01:13):
and I'm hoping that you'lllisten to this all the way to
the end.
I promise I'm going to makethis short, but there's three
things.
First of all, how do we defineand how do we understand the
problem?
How do we define and how do weunderstand aggression and
reactivity?
You know, if we don'tunderstand the problem, then we
certainly can't understand howwe're going to put together and

(01:36):
craft a solution to the problem.
Right Now, when it comes toaggression, when it comes to
reactivity, no animal and I meanthis no animal goes into fight
or flight unless they perceive athreat.
Now, that doesn't mean thatthere's a real threat, they

(02:00):
merely need to perceive it.
But I want you to hear thatagain they merely need to
perceive it.
But I want you to hear thatagain no animal goes into fight
or flight unless they perceive athreat.
Now I realize, when they'reengaged in that outward display
of reactive and aggressivebehavior, you might not see your

(02:21):
dog and think my dog is feelingthreatened.
My dog feels there's a threat,but in order to feel that
there's a threat, in order toperceive that there's a threat
with a particular trigger, thatmeans that your dog is
experiencing some level of fear,anxiety, of fear, anxiety,

(02:42):
stress.
Your dog's uncomfortable andfinds the trigger scary.
This is what's driving thebehavior.
Oh, I know the reactive andaggressive behavior is a problem
, but really that's just asymptom of the underlying

(03:04):
problem, the root cause yourdog's underlying conditioned
emotional response to thetrigger.
You see, when we change the waythat your dog feels, when your
dog no longer views the triggeras scary, when your dog no
longer views it as a threat,when we help your dog to relax

(03:26):
and be calm, when we help yourdog to not have that anxiety,
not have that stress, not havethat fear, then your dog doesn't
perceive it as a threat.
And when there's no perceivedthreat, the behavior naturally
just goes away.
There's no need to havereactive and aggressive behavior

(03:50):
.
That's the dog's response toits anxiety, stress and fear.
And the second thing I need totalk about when we're talking
about a dog that's reactive andaggressive, what is the right
way to train?
What kind of training andbehavior modification is best
for that?
What kind of tools should youuse, maybe not use?

(04:13):
Well, first and foremost, if wetake a look at aggression and
reactivity and say, hey, that isa response to the dog's anxiety
, fear and stress, hey, that isa response to the dog's anxiety,
fear and stress.
When we have trainers and,trust me, the vast majority of
trainers that are out there arejust taking dogs that are
reactive and aggressive,triggering their fear, anxiety

(04:38):
and stress by bringing out Idon't care if the dog's reactive
or aggressive towards anotherdog, they bring out a dog.
If it's another dog, they bringout a dog.
If it's another person, theybring out a person and they get
the dog to elicit that behavior,only to correct that behavior.
Now, listen, when I say the wordcorrect, I'm talking about

(04:59):
punish.
Correction is just a nicer wordfor punish.
And the problem is this they'renot correcting aggression,
they're punishing fear.
Think about that.
You're not correctingaggression, you're punishing
fear now using a prong collar,choke chain, shock collar,

(05:25):
yelling at the dog, punishment,alpha rolls.
Those type of techniques have nobasis in science.
They have no basis inevidence-based training.
There are over 40 modernscientific research studies that
all come up with the sameconclusion Positive

(05:46):
reinforcement, force-freetraining is more effective, more
efficient and produceslong-lasting results with
permanence and reliability.
Unlike punishment, unlikecorrection, which only
suppresses the outward behavior,it does absolutely nothing to

(06:11):
address the underlying rootcause the anxiety, the stress,
the fear, the dog's underlyingemotional state that's driving
those behaviors.
If you want to have lastingsuccess, permanence, reliability
, make real change.
This is not about obediencetraining.
This is about counterconditioning and desensitization

(06:33):
and it's about getting the dogto view those triggers as
something positive, that thosetriggers bring on good things
and when you can condition a newunderlying emotional response
where the dog, when it sees astrange dog or sees a strange

(06:55):
person that it used to think wasscary, now thinks it's really
great because wonderful thingshappen.
They get rewarded, they getpositive reinforcement, their
underlying emotions change,their cognitive perception of
the trigger changes and theaggressive behavior, the

(07:17):
reactive behavior, goes away.
So don't let any trainer tellyou that you need to use
punishment or that you need touse corrections, that you need
to use a choke chain, a prongcollar, electronic collar.
You don't.
For 35 years, I've beenspecializing in dealing with

(07:43):
some of the most difficult dogswith severe aggression,
reactivity, fears, phobias.
I don't have to use any force,I don't have to use any
punishment.
Everything I do is force-freeand positive reinforcement and
we have success every single day.
The last thing that I want totalk about because I get calls
about this every week, manycalls and that is should you

(08:04):
send your aggressive or reactivedog away to a board and train?
You know where you send yourdog away for training and they
take your dog and they keep yourdog for one week, two weeks,
maybe three, maybe even fourweeks.
Well, that's the worst thingthat you could possibly do if
you have a dog that's aggressiveor reactive.

(08:26):
First of all, you are not goingto resolve these complex
behaviors that are rooted indeep-seated, conditioned
emotional states and turn thataround in a week or two weeks or
even four weeks.
It's not going to happen.
There's not enough time.
It literally takes months ofintensive behavior modification

(08:50):
when you know what you're doingin order to really turn this
around.
So when you send a dog withreactivity or aggression issues
and you send them to a boardingtrain, this is what happens.
They bring out the trigger,like I was talking about earlier
.
The dog reacts.
They punish the dog.
Now the problem with punishment, the problem with corrections

(09:14):
again, it's short-lived, it'stemporary, it only shuts down
the outward behavior, doesnothing to address the
underlying emotional state and,as a result, the aggression, the
reactivity always comes back.
It's like if you're pullingweeds, if you don't get it all

(09:35):
the way at the root, that weedis going to grow back.
And if all you're doing iscorrecting or punishing the
outward behavior and you're notaddressing what is driving that
behavior, what's at the rootcore and the cause of why this
is happening, you're not goingto have long lasting change.
Oh, the dog now is in what wecall the pressure cooker effect.

(09:59):
It's already anxious andnervous and stressed and that's
why it's acting out with itsreactivity and aggression.
It wants distance and space.
It wants that thing that itviews as a threat to go away
right Now, as a result of thedog being nervous and displaying

(10:22):
reactive, aggressive behavior.
Now that dog's being punished,we're adding more anxiety, more
fear, adding more stress to thedog.
Eventually the dog can't handleit and it goes into overload.
It snaps and boom theaggression's back.
I can't tell you how many callsI get from pet parents that

(10:43):
have sent their reactive oraggressive dog away to board and
train, only to tell me yeah, itcame back and everything was
great for two weeks or a monthor maybe even two months, but
always within two weeks to twomonths that behavior comes back.
But now it comes back worse,because punishment corrections

(11:08):
make a dog more anxious, make adog more aggressive.
It's really important that youunderstand this.
It's also very important thatyou find a professional that
really knows what they're doing.
Unfortunately, you may not knowthat the dog training industry
is unregulated.
What does that mean?
That means anybody can callthemselves a dog trainer and

(11:31):
anybody can call themselves abehaviorist.
They don't need to have anyformal education.
They don't need to have anycertification.
They don't need to have anylicensure.
They don't need to have anycertification.
They don't need to have anylicensure.
They don't need to have anyinsurance.
They don't need to have anycontinuing education.
These are all things that otherprofessions mandate.
I mean, if you're going to be apsychologist, you've got to have

(11:53):
a formal education, then you'vegot to pass certification so
that you can prove that you knowwhat you're doing.
You've got to follow certainethical guidelines and standards
, a code of conduct, and you'vegot to stay current on the
latest and greatestevidence-based, science-based
practices in changing behavior.

(12:15):
That means that you need tohave continuing education.
All those things are in placeto protect you as the consumer,
but none of that, none of thatis in place in the dog training
industry.
So you've got to be verycareful.
There are a ton of very nicetrainers.

(12:36):
There are a ton of very nicetrainers with very good
intentions that know very littleand they have not gotten a
formal education and even thoughthey're nice people, even
though they've got goodintentions, they're doing a lot
of damage to dogs.

(12:56):
So make sure that you do yourhomework, make sure that you do
your research.
Don't just take my word for it.
Get out there and reallyinvestigate what I'm talking
about.
No educated, certified, moderntrainer or behaviorist uses

(13:18):
corrections or punishment orforce None, not today.
That is old school stuff.
We know that we can do better.
If you're ready to make somelong, lasting change with
permanence and reliability, andreally make this work, go ahead

(13:39):
and schedule your initialbehavior consultation with me.
Together, we will embark uponthis journey to create a better
tomorrow for you and your dog.