During my routine early walk in the morning with my dog, we came across a dog running loose. Normally, that in itself is no reason for alarm. But,because I already was pretty  experienced in recognizing aggressive behavior in dogs,  I could easily tell something about this dog’s approach was wrong. the dog that was coming toward us, had the look of a dog that wanted trouble. He was heading for us with a serious look and body language that was anything but friendly. Although he wasn’t yet barking and growling,  even before this dog got close to us, it was easy to tell by his aggressive body language that his intentions were not friendly ones. I was able to change my path and thus avoid having a problem with the aggressive dog because I could read the other dog’s aggressive body language.

Your ability to recognize the body language of aggressive dogs will help you in being able to avoid the possibility of a  dog fight from happening. You have probably noticed how dogs will usually demonstrate to each other who is the dominant dog and who is the submissive dog.  If one of the two dogs remains submissive when they meet, there should be no reason that a dog fight will occur.

Use the following tips to help learn how to recognize an aggressive dog before any problems can occur. If you see these signs of aggression,  with your own or another dog, you should be ready to defuse what could turn into a dangerous situation by taking immediate action. Avoiding a bad encounter could be as easy as controlling and calming down your own dog (if he’s the one that is aggressive) or just leaving the vicinity of the other dog that is acting aggressive.

• The body language of an aggressive dog is something that everyone has seen before. One common example of this is when one dog puts his paws or forearms over the other dog’s shoulders. When you see one male  mount another it is for displaying dominance, not for a good time.  These are just some of the signs of dominance and can lead to problems if the second dog does not submit .

• If the displays now contain growling and snapping of exposed teeth, the dog (or dogs) are obviously about to have a fight. You need to be pro-active and make sure the dogs don’t get a chance to fight by either controlling your own dog, or staying away from the other dog.

• You can also spot an aggressive dog through his very intense stare and tense body movements. His tail will be up but not wagging and his ears will be back. It is clear to see he is not in a friendly mood.

• The easiest and most familiar sign of dog aggression to spot from a little distance is when the aggressive dog raises up the hair on his back-his “hackles”. For instance the aggressive dog I ran into this morning had his hackles up even before he got close to where we were walking.

When you think about it, you can see that you have observed aggressive body language lots of times, even if you didn’t always recognize what it meant. You can now spot aggressive behavior and you are also aware of the danger that this aggression can lead to, so  be pro-active in keeping your dog from getting into a fight.

With my own aggressive dogs, until I finally got serious and trained them better, I could  never take them out in public without a leash on them for fear of one of my dogs starting a fight. If you take an aggressive dog of your own with you to a public place, you must be responsible for making sure he doesn’t cause any problems.

Pay attention to  dog body language, and when you see these aggressive postures, you can avoid getting into a dangerous situation. Use your ability to spot an incoming aggressive dog’s body language to ensure that it doesn’t get a chance to come into contact with your dog. You can alter the direction of your walk, and avoid  letting your own dog get involved with the other dog’s bad energy. If the aggression problem is with your own dog, you can solve that problem by paying a lot of attention to his training (especially training dealing with aggression) so that your dog really obey your commands. You won’t be able to control your dog’s aggressive actions until he recognizes you as the boss of the relationship, and will listen to you when you want him to calm down and not be aggressive.

If you want to learn to train your dog at home, I recommend strongly that you check out my review of  the very best dog training program. I use the positive reinforcement techniques and advice it gives to make training my pets easier and faster.

For more free helpful advice for dog obedience training and solving your dog’s behavior problems, please click here to visit www.BehaveDoggy.com.