AGGRESSION TOWARD PEOPLE: Dominance is a popular term among dog owners today because leadership issues are the source of many behavior problems in dogs. If you are your dog's leader, you are said to be the "dominant" member of the relationship, even if this is an oversimplification. This means if the two of you want different outcomes in a situation, your dog will defer to what you want. If you are your dog's leader, you will get consistent responses from your dog when you ask him to come to you or stop an activity. If you are having problems with your dog responding to requests or your dog is guarding food, toys or members of the family, you should change your dog's perception of your leadership before you work on the specific aggressive behavior. Aggression toward strangers is not “Social” aggression since no relationship exists.  

AGGRESSION BETWEEN DOGS: Leadership also affects relationships between dogs. If you have more than one dog in your home, they have a relationship with each other that is separate from their relationship with you. If you already fill a leadership role with your dogs, then you can direct their interactions with each other. However, when you are not there to intervene, you may have problems with dog fights. If you are not able to control the dogs' behavior toward each other while you are supervising, work on your leadership issues with both dogs before you expect them to settle their own.  

Communication between dogs is very complex but subtle. For example, one of your dogs may protect a bone from the other dog by making eye contact for a portion of a second longer than is necessary. The other dog knows exactly what is being asked and looks away, yawns, sneezes or lowers his shoulders. Most dogs who live together work this out without extremes of fighting but it's much more complicated than "one rules and the other drools".  Qualification to lead is not dependent on the dog's gender, age or size or on which dog came first. Remember, dogs only fight in an unstable relationship. You might want to keep a log of when and where trouble occurs and share it with an animal training professional or veterinarian.

Once you establish your leadership, you'll need to read your dogs' body language carefully for about 6 weeks. At the first sign of a stare or stiff tail from either dog, you need to command both dogs to stop and move away from each other. Remember, when dogs are in this heightened state of arousal you do not want to grab or yell at either dog because increasing the energy of the moment can trigger a fight. It's a good idea to have the dogs wear their leashes in the house while you are there to supervise for a few weeks. This will make it possible to safely enforce your command to move apart. It'll also help if you spend time with each dog alone playing and exercising at least a few times each week. The more often they are apart and developing a relationship with you, the more secure your leadership role will be when they are together.