This is a very common question that a lot of dog owners ask when their dogs start showing aggression as they reach maturity. One thing that is important is to spay or neuter your pets at a young age. Not only does this help keep them from developing aggression as they mature but it also does wonders for protecting your dog from different types of cancer as they age.

Let's talk about some of the reasons your dog wants to attack other dogs.

1. Lack of socialization

This is a very common reason for aggression. All puppies need to be socialized with other dogs during the period of socialization that is from birth to 20 weeks of age. If you want your pet to be around other dogs when it gets older then you better get them socialized early.

If you don't socialize your puppy before 20 weeks of age you are going to end up with a dog aggressive dog when it gets somewhere between 12 and 24 months old.

2. No Training

The second cause of a dog aggressive dog could be a lack of training. Yes, you read that right. If you don't obedience train your dog you are going to end up with a dog that doesn't know what is right and what is wrong. Training your dog will teach it where it is in the pack and of course you are at the top. If the dog has respect for you then it will not act like a crazy dog whenever other dogs are around.

3. Feeling a need to protect

The third reason is that your dog may be feeling that it needs to protect you from other dogs. Why does it act that way? Well part of it goes back to the lack of training. If you don't train your dog it feels that it must be the alpha and because of that it needs to take care of the lower members of the pack, you.

Aggression may also develop because as a pup it growled at a strange dog and you thought it was cute so over a period of time it simply grew and got worse. Your dog just assumed that it was supposed to act that way.

So now the big question, how do we fix it? Start by locating a great trainer or a behavior specialist that has a bunch of experience working with this type of problem. I will say that not every dog can be cured but with diligence and determination I think it will work to make your dog better.

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