Dogs have been one of the humans’ most loyal companions for thousands of years. The bond that owners create with their dog can grow as they spend more time together, which leads to a more special relationship. This can help owners figure out what their pet wants in a specific context.
The best way to develop this relationship is to train the pet until it develops an exclusive way to communicate with its owner. However, if the owner doesn’t train their pet to show what it wants but still spends time taking care of it, giving it treats, and showing affection, it may still find a way to show its feelings.
It’s important to tell the difference between protection and over-protection since the latter could lead to aggressive behavior, translating to dangerous scenarios with another dog or owner. Dogs are not complicated to understand; if the owner can take enough time to spend with their pet, it’s going to become easier to figure out what they want.
Protective Dogs vs. Over-Protective/Aggressive Dogs
Not all pets show the same behavior, which means that each owner needs to work with their dogs to know how they can communicate what they want. While it’s a good sign to have a pet that’s always looking out for its owner, it’s not as good if they feel a threat in every scenario since it can lead to aggressive behavior. Thankfully, it’s easy to tell if a dog is over-protective with its owner. It’s also vital to take notes and try to correct any early indicators of aggression or potential aggressive behavior.
General Signs
The best way to tell that a dog is over-protective or aggressive is by analyzing how they change their behavior whenever they’re close to another person or animal. The most common way to test this is by placing the dog in an environment with different people or animals. If the dog starts stressing out or growling to everyone who comes close to the owners, it may be an over-protective dog.
Socialization
This is an important aspect of training a dog to behave correctly without any aggression signs. If a dog isn’t well socialized, it may become aggressive whenever a different person comes near it. To avoid this, the dog must be socialized from a young age to make it less likely to react with aggression in some circumstances.
Distance
Whenever a dog walks into a new family, it’s common for the family to stay as close to the dog as possible. While this is great for the dog to help develop a loving relationship, it’s not recommended that the family is always near their pet. If there are many people in a single home, it’s great to make the dog spend time with everyone at separate times so it can trust them equally.
If the keepers don’t do this early on, it can make the dog engage in aggressive actions with other people in the house.
Affection
Some dogs may ask for attention or treats by barking or nudging people. Giving affection and treats for no reason is fine up until a certain point. If someone’s dog gets accustomed to this, it may get aggressive if that person ever refuses to give it attention.
A good way to correct any aggression caused by this is to make the dog earn those treats by doing a trick or sitting.
