Can You “Train Aggression Out of a Dog?”
- Jess Feliciano
- Aug 5, 2025
- 5 min read
Take a look at this video…
If you answer with a flat “no”... then you don’t understand dog behavior. If you answer with a flat “yes”... then you don’t understand dog behavior either.
It depends. It depends on severity, history, environment, owner’s commitment to behavior modification, expectations, and so many other parameters. Furthermore, it’s the aggressive behavior that we change, which in turn alleviates the underlying anxiety. So, we have to look at everything.
If the answer was truly no, then Dracula (my GSD in this video) wouldn’t be doing Obedience competitions. Malakai wouldn’t be running up to people for attention. Rasa wouldn’t have his advanced CGC title. Bucephalus wouldn’t be relaxed in busy public places, even if someone reached for him. Trayano wouldn’t have passed his canine good citizen test. Rabscuttle wouldn’t be living with my other dogs. Elahrairah wouldn’t have enjoyed his brushing sessions. And so much more wouldn’t have been done with them and all my other dogs.
Also, if the answer was truly no then I wouldn’t have numerous clients with dogs who now walk on the leash without lunging and barking at others. Dogs who end up never biting again. Dogs who live with housemates peacefully. Dogs in rescues who successfully get adopted. And so many other accomplishments.
But you also can’t do a couple of training exercises and expect that your dog who has severely bitten five adults, can turn into a therapy dog who visits pediatric hospitals.
So, why does it depend? Here are some answers:
- Anxiety that is passed down genetically is part of that - genes - making behavior changes a little more difficult to do. Something that was learned can be a little easier to relearn.
- Working with aggression is not just about changing behavior. It’s about changing how a dog feels. You have to change the underlying emotion to truly “get rid of” the aggressive behavior. This takes longer then simply teaching new behaviors.
- Consider the dog’s personality and natural make up. It’s part of who he or she is as an individual. And individuals are just that, each one different. Just as certain people are not cut out to be a teacher, not cut out to be a scientist, not cut out to be a public speaker, not cut out to be the president, not cut out to be a doctor, and so on, certain dogs are just not cut out to be a social butterfly, not cut out to be a therapy dog, not cut out to do service work, not cut out to be a guard dog, not cut out to be a couch potato, etc.
- Dogs who want to work (and therefore learn) tend to do well in behavior modification plans. Dogs who are harder to motivate, take a little longer to move through the process. Just as people have different learning speeds.
- The more severe the aggressive behavior is, the more steps you have to work through, depending on your goal.
- Whether or not the dog has injured others also plays a role in the process. If the dog has injured others, or has almost injured others, additional safety steps must be taken, such as muzzle training.
- If the aggressive behaviors have happened for a long time, and the dog has had a lot of practice, they can also become a habit. We all know how hard it is to break a bad habit! That requires time and a lot of work.
- A commitment to management must be put in to place for the LIFE of the dog. That means controlling the dog’s environment to the best of your ability so he or she is never put into a situation where he or she can become aggressive. Therefore, not giving the dog more than he or she can handle. If there is a disregard for management, the behavior modification process will likely not succeed.
- The owner’s goals also have an affect on the outcome. If the owners are happy with doing mostly management of the environment to prevent aggression, they may see that the dog is no longer aggressive. If the owners have a lofty goal and a difficult case, it could take months to years of work before reaching that goal of “training out the aggression.”
- And so many other things that I could write a book on...
So... if you have the right combination of your parameters, the right expectations, and a forever commitment to safety, then, yes, you can.
Back to this video. This is a video of my dog Dracula working on leash as well as off leash around strangers without any training aids or food/toy rewards present. He even has to hold a stand stay and allow the judge (a stranger) to approach and touch him. You might think Drac is an ordinary dog from the video. But he’s not in the least. Dracula had a severe case of aggression towards people, especially people he didn’t know. He would bark and lunge at people from blocks away. His owners couldn’t even talk to anyone on a walk without him becoming upset. And he bit. Multiple times. Many times. Off leash he would seek people out to go after them. He got sent to a board and train facility by his previous owner to correct the aggression. He went through a shock collar program and came out of it, biting even more people. He was an easy case for the average person, or even the average dog trainer to give up on. But luckily, he had me, and an owner who knew that he needed a different lifestyle. So Drac became part of the RotNDog pack. I worked with him for three years before getting serious about doing obedience competitions. And then a little more before entering in shows. I worked hard on changing his emotional state around people, and it was worth it because he doesn’t just tolerate a stranger approaching him and petting him, he’s actually relaxed about it (note the nice loose, wide tail wag). Can he have people approach and pet him in public settings and still be relaxed? Yes. But I don’t allow it. Yet knowing that bringing a dog into public means they might get petted by rude people anyway, we’ve trained for that too. Will he allow a stranger to walk into my home? No. But I didn’t train for that, and in fact, didn’t want to. Plus it’s a common trait for GSDs. Will he act aggressively to people when I’m not around? Yes, he can depending on the situation. But I didn’t train for that either. And would I ever allow him around children? Nope. Any dog with a bite history really should not be around unknown children and if any issues involve children within the family, not without a muzzle, training, and supervision. Its just not safe, smart, or ethical. So do you see how it all depends?
Most clients don’t need to go this far with their dog and that’s ok. It’s not necessary. But incredible behavior change IS possible when you have the right parameters in check AND a commitment to safety. So, it all... depends!
