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Territorial behavior in dogs occur for a lot of reasons, but as always, there is something that your could do in order to prevent your dog from misbehaving. While still a puppy, it is ideal that you would socialize him a lot. And being an assertive owner, you can also stop his aggression behavior even if he is already an adult. Time, safety precautions and patience are the three most important things when it comes to dealing with a dog that is territorial.

Territorial Behavior Signs:

Barking and charging at the fence if other people or dogs pass by.

Urinating things during walks or the ones in the yard.

Low, guttural growl given to the person or animal approaching/entering your property.

Aggression towards other dogs or person when entering your property.

Growling or barking at dogs or people when you take him for a drive.

Stiff body language, hard eye contact with the people who you allow to enter your house or yard.

Territorial Behavior in Dogs

Territorial behavior in dogs can lead to aggression, not only to the Dog’s family but also to children and members of the public. This behavior can be an attempt by the Dog to establish its Pack Leadership over its Human Pack. This behavior is more likely to be exhibited in an entire male Dog than a female Dog although it sometimes does occur. This behavior must be thwarted by one carer exhibiting Pack Leadership over the Dog’s inappropriate aggressive and intimidating behavior, in a firm, educated and respectful manner. Source: Wolf Web, http://www.wolfweb.com.au/acd/territorial.html by Janet Crease

Misconceptions

Reprimanding violently like shouting or hitting him won’t help remedy the situation. If you instill fear in him, it would worsen the situation since he would eng up being more aggressive. Another misconception is that people tend to generalize that all terriitorial dogs are bad. That is not so. Most of the time there is a reason on why a certain dog would turn out that way, however dogs are innately good, peace-loving creatures not unless someone trained them to be bad.

Considerations

If you go to your vet, he would advice you to give medications to your dog. Think about this 100 times and try to look for an alternative first. Drugs that are mood enhancers will affect his liver thus posing a health hazard in the near future for your pet. I suggest you try using flower essences like lavender and chamomile since it has calming effects as well as safe and non-toxic for your dog.

Solution/Prevention

If you want to end your dog’s territorial behavior, then step up and show him that you are the pack leader and not him. Like what Cesar Milan (Dog Whisperer) would advised Be always calm and assertive in dealing with territorial dogs. Temporarily put a harness and muzzle on him until changes are observable. Get a modern muzzle that are designed more comfortably. Take him on a walk and be sure that you are the one ahead of him. If he is aggressive towards your visitors, then put him behind the gate until he calms down and let him sniff your visitors through his muzzle. One way to prevent this nasty behavior is to socialize your dog a lot when he is still a puppy.

Territorial behavior in dogs is considered as a normal behavior by the experts since they are known to be protecting everything that they believe to be theirs. Dogs are bred to protect and sadly sometimes it is the issue of training and learned behavior. If you are a responsible pet parent, then right from the start you know what to do so that later on your dog won’t be posing any behavioral issues. A dog doesn’t only need food, shelter and toys; they greatly need your affection, time, love and proper training.

Is your pekingese territorial? I know some who are territorial but not that aggressive. Tell us your story so that we can also learn from your experience.