How
to Right a Dog Gone Wrong; A Roadmap For Rehabilitating
Aggressive Dogs
Alpine
Publications, $19.95 Buy
now
Pamela Dennison, a dog trainer and certified
animal behavior consultant, writes what she
knows. After her adopted 1 year old Border Collie "Shadow," turned
out to be aggressive toward humans, Dennison
sought methods to rehabilitate her dog. Within
18 months, Shadow had earned his Canine Good
Citizen certificate and Dennison had gained
skills and expertise that have allowed her to
help other people use positive methods to help
their aggressive and reactive dogs.
Rehabilitating an aggressive dog takes work. "There
are no magic potions, special tools, complicated
training methods or mysterious mumbo-jumbo gimmicks
I can give to you to work with your aggressive
dog," Dennison writes. She explains that
punishing aggression just suppresses behavior
- and the aggression may eventually be expressed
in other ways.
Her solution is a program of classical conditioning,
operant conditioning, desensitization and counter-conditioning
that changes the way the dog reacts to situations
that once provoked aggression toward people
or other dogs.
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 Before
that program can be established, however, the
dog must know some foundation behaviors, including
name recognition, eye contact, a solid recall,
heel on a loose leash, accept touching and a few
others. The author gives clear, step-by-step instructions
on training these behaviors. She then explains
how to design a desensitization program - "a
slow but extremely effective process."
Because she's been through this herself, Dennison
writes with compassion for the owner of an aggressive
dog and places no judgment on owner or dog.
In addition to the rehab program, she also provides
suggestions for handling real-life issues using
the foundation behaviors she suggests, such
as taking your aggressive dog to the veterinarian,
or dealing with guests coming to the door.
Dennison presents her advice clearly and patiently
and even manages to infuse humor into this serious
topic.
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