Dogs, Cats, and Other People by Matthew Margolis

American satirist Peter De Vries once said, "There are times when parenthood seems nothing more than feeding the hand that bites you." With owners of aggressive dogs, the witticism hardly elicits a chuckle.

There are many types of canine aggression: food aggression, territorial aggression, fear-based aggression, dominant aggression, protection aggression, predatory aggression, punishment aggression, pain-based aggression. Pinpointing the source of a dog's aggression is instrumental to developing a safe and effective training regime. But it's equally important to have realistic expectations about what it means to own an aggressive dog.

Take the following letter from a reader:

"My 5-year-old German shepherd is fine with my two roommates and me. We could take him by his back legs and drag him around the house if the mood were to strike us. I can remove bones from his mouth and put my hand in his food dish. He comes, leaves it and sits on command. If I tell him to stay, he will literally stay there for hours until I tell him to come here. I thought bringing him to college as my guard dog was a good idea, but it turns out he is too good at his job.

"If friends come over, one second they will be petting him, the next they will be trying to fend him off. As soon as I call him off, he leaves, but he has successfully bitten eight people, broken skin three times, attacked countless times and ripped one shirt when he lunged onto a friend's chest. I don't understand what kind of aggression this is. Everyone thinks he is a beautiful dog, and he really is! I just can't believe my peaceful giant has earned the nicknames among our friends (and the guys who do work around our house) as "Cujo" and "devil dog." Please help me!"

Setting Cujo loose in a room full of friends is a good way to make enemies.

There are consequences to owning an aggressive dog — physical, psychological and legal consequences. This is why it's imperative that the owners of these dogs keep their expectations firmly grounded.

If your dog has bitten, expect that he'll bite again, particularly if he has not received any training to curb the problem behavior.

If your dog has shown signs of aggression — growling, snarling, biting, snapping — expect that the possibility of aggression is always there, even if he has been professionally trained. Aggression can't be cured, but it can be curbed.

If your dog's aggression is triggered by specific behaviors or circumstances, expect that aggression to surface whenever those behaviors or circumstances are in play. It was Einstein who defined insanity as doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. Einstein, as we all know, was a very smart guy.

Finally, if you know your dog to be aggressive, take reasonable steps to protect your friends, family and neighbors. Confine the dog when you have visitors. Don't leave food out all day if he's food aggressive. Keep him on a short leash and possibly muzzled when walking him in the neighborhood. And if you have small children, relocate the dog to an owner who doesn't.

There are things we just don't do because they are widely known to be dangerous: leave an infant in a car alone, leave a small child unsupervised in a swimming pool, dive head-first off a cliff into water of unknown depth. Don't throw common sense to the wind in dealing with a dog.

Woof!

Dog trainer Matthew "Uncle Matty" Margolis is co-author of 18 books about dogs, a behaviorist, a popular radio and television guest, and host of the PBS series "WOOF! It's a Dog's Life!" Read all of Uncle Matty's columns at the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com, and visit him at www.unclematty.com. Send your questions to dearuncle.gazette@unclematty.com or by mail to Uncle Matty at P.O. Box 3300, Diamond Springs, CA 95619.

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