re: Question about dog starting to growl

quote:

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No need to beat a dog at all. Train them the way their pack would train them through hierarchy and firmness to learn that they follow the packs' rules, not their own.

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This is better advice than a lot of the more recent posts. Getting physical with a dog that is aggressive or possessive is much more likely to make the problem worse than better. I'm not saying there aren't exceptions to that rule, but you should not use force to counter a problem like that. If you have a smart dog, it's also likely to severely damage your relationship with the dog too, but some may not care about that.

The "alpha roll" is a thing but it's pretty hotly debated in dog training circles. I've used it a couple of times on another dog to correct repeated negative behavior, but I can't really say whether it worked or not because I was doing that in conjuntion with other training methods.