When two dogs “play” together, the play action reinforces instinctual behaviors such as dominance, fight, or flight and general aggressive manners. The long-term casualty of these inappropriate “play” behaviors is trust. Dogs learn to not trust each other. Once trust breaks down, the dog becomes defensively aggressive in an attempt to gain the dominant posture.
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To properly counter-condition your dog, your obedience skills must be excellent. Distraction training is also especially important. Re-socialization of dog aggression involves repeated positive exposures to dogs that show control. Medication may be necessary to help suppress the panic emotions or instinctual dominance traits.
Complete re-socialization requires many positive repetitions. Depending on exactly what your dog’s mental state was before you began counter-conditioning, he may never completely trust unfamiliar dogs. A realistic goal is to have him be in the company of dogs (all under control of a leash and collar) without acting aggressively or defensively.
If the canine aggression is between two family dogs, you will need to manage both dogs equally. Remove all triggers for aggression. Implement a 100% management protocol for out-of-crate time. Both dogs must be on-leash and each dog must have a manager. If only one person is home, then only one dog can be out of the crate.
Reintroduce the dogs slowly after a minimum of one month separation. Introduce the dogs on leash and collar. And use muzzles if necessary.
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