Hello,
I have a 17 month cardigan welsh corgi. First dog in my 'adult life'.
We are having some agression issues. I have been doing lots of reading, watching and am working with a professional trainor.
Just recieved my DVED clicker magic (not viewed yet) and click to calm (on page 20something). The dog described in the introduction of the ebook is very much like my Jake except that I do not believe that Jakes agression is fear based.
IS clicker training effective if agression is not fefar based. (I am basing my belief on the fact that he is an extremely confident dog and other cd's/books that help define cause of agression)
Have my clicker in hand and an anxious to get into the material. I am concerned because most articles on agression come from a fear perspective.
Thanks in advance to your help and comments.
elaine
Clicker methods should work very welll.
Hi Elaine!
I am so sorry that nobody else has replied to your post. Anyway, I expect you will find the methods Emma Parsons outlines in Click To Calm will work very well.
Regardless of what is triggering a dog's aggression, it generally helps to do the following:
1. Teach the dog appropriate behavior to perform in the presence of whatever is triggering the aggression.
2. Change the dog's emotional response to whatever is triggering the aggression.
Depending on the case, you may wind up focusing more on one or the other of the two things mentioned above.
Without seeing your dog in person, I cannot tell you what the source of the aggression is, but making Jake feel happy and comfortable around his triggers should help reduce the aggression. Teaching him appropriate behaviors that he can do in the presence of his triggers, so he has something to do other than aggressing, should also be very helpful.
Is the trainer you are working with well-versed in dealing with aggression using clicker training?
For some reason, I could not see the other replies until after I replied. My apologies to all who took the time to reply before me.
One of the best things about using the clicker as compared to other methods is this: It doesn't hurt to try. The worst that is going to happen is the behavior stays the same
As compared to 'other' methods, especially those dealing with aggression... can make the aggression worse, you could hurt the dog, damage the relationship between you and your dog... and a variety of other deleterious effects which you do not.
Clicker training the aggressive dog
Clicker training can be very helpful in all types of aggression, of course depending on the skill of the trainer you are working with and your own dedication to training. With positive reinforcement you can't go wrong as you are doing no damage to your dog or your relationship with your dog. Click to Calm is a wonderful book that will give you a path to begin on (you have to find a starting point before you can begin, and tacking an aggression can be a seemly daunting task). Clicker magic is an excellent video and will be helpful to your program. In 17 years, I can name several clients with extreme aggression, that would happily tell you it is worth the time and effort they put into it. In some of those cases, their owners willingness to put away the pinch collars and pick up a clicker saved the dog's life. Good luck on your journey!