Having a dog presents itself with lots of different issues, from potty training, to chewing, loose leash walking, even various degrees of aggression. Also, as an owner, you have lots of questions and need answers. The answers to those questions could and likely will have an impact on your relationship with your dog and your dogs behavior as he grows.

I am on many Facebook groups for dogs and used to respond to those posts that I saw an owner really needing help and needing to do it correctly. Every single time, my advice was ridiculed and argued with. Now I no longer respond. I have no problem with people having different methods, but the ridicule is not warranted or useful.

So here’s my point. I know that most of the people on these groups are everyday owners that have trained their dogs in many, many ways. They know no more than you do. When you ask a question, DO NOT take it for valid, informed information. There are many resources on the web to get credible, authoritative information; find and use them. In the case of aggression, NEVER take advice from a Facebook group.

I just saw a post that requested information because their dog is showing signs of possession aggression (the diagnosis I gave from the post). The owner described issues with taking a bone away from the dog; he started growling and showing teeth.

Several of the responses went a part of the way. . . trade him. . . .but that’s not the whole story to remediate the issues. One suggested giving the dog the bone in his kennel. While this will keep the dog from inadvertently lashing out at people who just come in close contact, it will exacerbate the possession issue as it now has full claim over the bone. While several, to my horror, recommended domination and aggressive methods to teach the dog who’s the boss. This is so not the right answer as it will cause a confrontation that the owner will eventually lose one way or another. It will ruin the relationship with the dog and teach it that people cannot be trusted when the dog has something he covets. There are just so many down-sides to this method.

As a final thought, please if you feel you have to ask for advice from a forum like Facebook, take all of it with a large dose of suspicion until you can verify it with someone with knowledge and experience to address your issue. In the case of aggression, do not ask friends and family, ask a professional. . . . and don’t wait. These issues do not go away on their own and it takes a professional to deal with them so you have no unwanted side-effects.