Just because an animal looks sweet, it doesn’t mean that he or she isn’t an aggressive dog deep down. Being able to overcome these unwanted behaviors, though, means that you will need to find out what is setting your dog off in the first place. Triggers of many types can set off aggressive dog behaviors within pets that would otherwise behave as perfect members of the family.

If Dr. Jekyll needed a potion to become Mr. Hyde, then your dog also needs certain triggers to bring out that undesirable aggression , so it’s up to you to find this trigger and either remove it, or teach your dog to deal with it properly.

What are these dog aggression triggers? Look over the list that follows to see if any of these forms of dog aggression remind you of your pet:

• Territorial aggression - Aggressive dog behavior of this kind is triggered by the dog taking issue with other people entering into his or her territory such as the house, the yard, or any place within his or her eye-line. This might be directed toward the mail delivery person, someone walking by the house or yard, guests to your home, or even someone approaching when you’re walking together down the street.

• Dominant aggression - In this case, the aggressive dog picks on family members or other animals in the household whom he or she feels are lower in rank in the hierarchy of your family.

• Fear aggression - this kind of aggressive dog is frightened, insecure, or nervous, and will growl, bark, or snap at just about any disturbance. If this dog feels cornered, he or she will be inclined to bite.

• Possessive aggression - this aggressive dog has the most Jekyll/Hyde-like behavior because he or she will seem perfectly content until you try to take food or a toy from him or her.

• Punishment aggression - Aggressive dog leanings in this style occurs when a dog has been abused, overly dominated, or has experienced too much negative reinforcement and has built up aggressive behaviors that would not otherwise have been there.

• Pain aggression - Aggressive dog inclinations of this type aren’t a result of a behavioral problem but are simply the instinctual reaction a dog has to feeling intense pain. These behaviors are involuntary and result from injury or illness.

• Predatory aggression - An aggressive dog of this nature is following hunting instincts and will interpret just about anything as prey that should be captured. This prey can consist of just about anything that moves and is usually another animal, a person, a vehicle, or something blowing down the street.

• Maternal aggression - An aggressive dog style may be adopted by a mother dog who has a litter of puppies, since she is running on instinct to protect them. Be careful, because mother dogs can often construe even the most harmless behavior as threatening.

Though this certainly isn’t a list of all of the possible reasons that an aggressive dog behavior can develop, it does give you an idea of the primary possibilities. It is possible to stop dog aggression in your pet, you just need to find out what’s causing it and then apply the right kind of behavior modification training.

If you are still struggling with your dog’s aggressive behavior, I urge you to read my review of an incredible program to train a dog that successfully helped me transform my aggressive dog into loveable pet in only few days. If you need more information about other dog behavior problems, such as excessive barking, chewing, dog digging and many more, check out http://www.squidoo.com/trainaadoginstantly

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