Why is my 1-year-old dog aggressive after obedience training?

Question

My 1 year old mastiff has just started becoming aggressive around some dogs. We just finished a 2nd level of obedience training. What is going on? Pet's info: Dog | Mastiff | Male | neutered

Jennifer Summerfield, DVM CPDT-KA · Accepted Answer

Aggression towards other dogs is usually a result of not being comfortable around them - it can happen due to a lack of socialization as a puppy, a bad experience with another dog at a young age, or even a genetic predisposition to this problem. It usually starts to appear around social maturity, so if Max is about a year old, this would be a very common age to begin seeing this problem. Aggression issues are complex and difficult to address succinctly in this format, so I would really recommend making an appointment with a veterinary behaviorist if at all possible - he/she can evaluate Max in person and help you put together a treatment plan to work on this problem. In general, I can tell you that treatment will involve teaching him to associate good things with seeing other dogs and behaving calmly around them - we normally use food rewards and other types of positive reinforcement to achieve this. Punishment for this behavior is not recommended, since it tends to make the dog more fearful and worsen the problem over time.

Why is my 1-year-old dog aggressive after obedience training?

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