Reactive & Aggressive Dog Training South Orange County

It can be hard to know where to start when living with reactive or aggressive dogs. This dog’s aggression and behavioral issues might stem from a lack of young puppy training or obedience training during their early years, but it can be a real struggle for the dog owners. Regardless, now their behavioral issues have gotten out of control, and you need a certified dog behavior consultant to help change your animal’s behavior.  Luckily, our professional dog trainers are experts and have successfully dealt with many different behaviors, including a dog’s aggression issues. We will develop tailored solutions for every individual dog, making life easier for both you and your dog, whether this is your first dog or you have issues with two dogs.

Experienced Dog Trainers

Sit Means Sit offers training for dogs and puppies of various ages, breeds, genders, and life circumstances across the Orange County area, from Lake Forest to Newport Beach. Whether you are looking for home training, a puppy session, or obedience dog training, a great education will only improve your dog’s behavior. Training creates a solid foundation so your dog or puppy learns to listen, does well with other dogs, and behaves in the home and public places!

Not every dog is lucky enough to have a great start at training. However, our dog trainers are experts in all animal behavior, even aggressive dogs. We offer a doggy boot camp to help change your dog’s aggression or reactivity with behavior modification. The behavior we work on changing at the aggressive dog boot camp includes:

• Stop barking and excessive barking
• House training
• Behavior issues like anxiety and fear
• Public settings
• When your dogs destroy things
• Fighting off bad habits like food aggression, jumping, and barking
• Reactivity towards other animals or strangers
• Separation anxiety
• Leash skills

We train with positive reinforcement techniques while using gentle training tools. We want to change their behavioral issues so they come home as the well-behaved family pet of your dreams. Dog owners trust us with training their pets because we deliver results. Contact us to learn about our services and sign up for your first training session!

Example Dog Training Program for Aggressive Dogs

Our professional dog trainers highly recommend our boot camp training courses for clients looking for a difference in their dog’s behavior in a short time. Besides aggressive dogs, we also work with pups suffering from separation anxiety, reactivity, and fear issues. We teach basic obedience and behavior modification, allowing you to learn to communicate with your dog to achieve good manners and excellent behavior. While many dog owners come to us for help with aggression, we can work on many different behavior concerns at doggy boot camp. We cannot wait to hear from your family and go over all our training services.

Our team of experts like to start out with a five-day training program, although training often takes longer. However, 5-days is a good place for your trainer to start working towards a solid relationship with your dog as well as begin to improve problematic behaviors.

Your professional dog trainer will work closely to assess your dog’s aggression. Then they will use proven training techniques, expert knowledge, and obedience to start to change your dog’s behavior. Let’s break down the training process and look at some of the tools they might use to turn your pup into the most well-behaved canine companion!

Phase 1

Sometimes the first day can be the most difficult. We are patient with your pup since we know how stressful it is to be in a new environment with strangers. We will work through any separation anxiety and help create a safe space for them.

By the end of the first day, we want your dog to begin to trust your dog trainer. Dog training cannot be successful unless your dog has a trusting relationship with the trainer. Only then will we start working on behavior modification and training basic commands. We want to work on building trust and confidence first, and later train using gentle training techniques so your dog will be well-behaved around any humans or animals.

Phase 2

Once your dog is relaxed, we can begin to assess their abilities and behaviors. For dogs with extreme aggression, we might work with training tools such as the muzzle. Not only is this for the safety of their trainer, and for the reactive dog. From there, we can begin behavior modification training.

Obedience training does wonders for a dog’s confidence. We like to train basic commands like “sit,” “heel,” “stay,” and leash skills. Instead of being distracted or reactive, your dog can focus on these commands instead. Let us know if there are any special commands or tricks you want your dog to learn during these sessions!

Phase 3

When your dog is ready, we will begin working on off-leash commands. This includes advanced heel and recall so your dog can be well-behaved when you do not have a leash. Our dog trainers like to go to new environments that are dog-friendly, allowing your pooch to practice these skills in real-life situations. When they go home, they should be able to join their families on afternoon walks and favorite off-leash hiking trails without reacting to strange humans or animals.

Phase 4

Using the muzzle if needed, we will continue to slowly introduce your dog to new distractions. The goal is to introduce other dogs and new people while the dog trainer keeps your dog’s behavior under control. Eventually, your dog will generalize these new good behaviors and maintain excellent manners in every situation.

Phase 5

During the last few training sessions, we assess how your dog’s behavior has improved by practicing their basic obedience, behavior modification skills, and focus and attention. Depending on how they have improved, we remove their collar, muzzle, and leash and see if they can maintain their focus. Our mission is to send home a well-behaved dog that shows no aggression or other challenging behaviors, whether you are in the family living room or going for a walk around the block!

Whatever your training needs, whether it is puppy training, struggles with dog aggression, or issues with a dog from the shelters, Sit Means is excited to offer our positive dog training services to pet owners in need. Our goal at Sit Means Sit is to teach clients how to effectively communicate with their pets and build a healthy relationship based on trust and confidence.