01/03/2026
Aggression Is Not a Training Problem
When aggression shows up, the conversation almost always moves quickly toward training plans, tools, and techniques.
What cues should we teach?
What skills should we strengthen?
What’s the fastest way to stop the behavior?
That response makes sense. Training feels actionable.
But aggression isn’t actually a training problem.
It isn’t a lack of cues.
It isn’t stubbornness.
It isn’t a dog “blowing you off.”
Aggression is information. It reflects how a dog is experiencing their environment, their relationships, and their internal state at that moment.
When we focus only on obedience, we risk missing critical pieces of the picture: emotional regulation, stress, context, overall welfare, and even pain.
Skills can sometimes change how behavior looks on the surface, but they don’t resolve fear, discomfort, or conflict on their own.
Lasting change starts when we slow down enough to understand why a behavior exists before deciding how to address it.
