Help! My Dog Hates One Family Member!

If your dog is showing aggression towards yourself or another family member, you have a big problem on your hands.

There are many reasons why your dog may hate one family member in particular. In this article, we will be discussing potential reasons as to why this is happening.

If your dog is showing aggression towards yourself or someone else, you need to get a professional dog trainer to help you before it is too late and the dog hurts someone.

When Your Dog Is Aggressive Towards One Person

If your dog has shown aggression towards another person, there are a few questions that you need to ask first –

Is this a new occurrence? If this is the case, then what has happened to sour relations between your dog and this person? Does the dog associate this person with something unpleasant, like a trip to the vet? Or has this person done something unpleasant, like shouted at your dog?
Or has the dog always disliked this particular person? If this is the case, then it may have something to do with jealousy, and the dog feeling insecure about its place in your world.

With either scenario, if aggression is involved, such as barking, snapping, snarling, baring their teeth, or lunging then you have no choice – this dog needs to go to a professional dog trainer for assessment and re-education pronto.

Otherwise, this behavior could end in the dog biting; someone could get hurt, and your dog could end up having to be euthanized.

Dogs As Pack Animals

Dogs are pack animals, they have been since day dot. And every pack has a leader. After that, there is a pecking order.

If you have a dog with a dominant personality and the person that they are trying to dominate has a softer nature, then the dog may think it is above that person in the pecking order and therefore exhibit negative behaviors around them.

This is not uncommon when a couple gets a dog together, then the dog bonds with one person in the couple but not the other then starts to see the partner as a threat to its position in the pack. This can express itself as the dog growling at the ‘weaker’ person, especially if they try to go to a shared area such as a bed.

If this is the case, let that person take over dog duties. Have that person feed the dog, walk the dog, and take care of the dog. You know the old saying, ‘never bite the hand that feeds you. Dogs understand this!

Learn more about: Husky Training For Dummies

Dogs as Protectors

Some dogs may also be overly protective of their owners and families, and show this as aggression towards people outside of the family unit. This can make it really hard if you want to have visitors to your home.

Dog Get Jealous Too

Consider the fact that your dog sees you as their world – you are the one who provides food, toys, walks, and comfort. It makes sense that they get jealous of other people who could potentially get in the way of that. But even though this makes sense to them, their disrespectful behavior to others in the household is never acceptable.

Dogs and Children

Some dog breeds do really well with kids, and if you have children you need to get a kid-friendly breed. But every dog is unique, and the key to having dogs and kids living happily alongside one another is to raise them together. Getting your dog when they are still a pup will mean they know their place in the family pack.

Learn more about: How To Care For A Husky Puppy

However, children should always be supervised with dogs. No dog is ‘bomb proof’. Children don’t mean it, but sometimes they can be too rough or fast-moving, or unpredictable, making a dog feel unsafe.

You can read more about dogs and children here.

The Sad Outcome For Some Dogs

Dogs that are truly aggressive have to be euthanized, for the greater good. Depending on where you live, you might not have a choice. Often in cases of a dog attacking another dog or a person, local laws will seize the dog and it has to be destroyed. If a person has presented to a hospital with a dog bite, they are legally bound to inform the police.

Hopefully, your dog does not fit this category, and this article is not meant to encourage people to keep a truly dangerous dog.

But, if your dog has just shown a few little negative signs of aggression, then it is not too late to nip this in the bud and correct them. Sadly, some families make the choice to surrender their dog to a shelter at the first sign of trouble. Then the dog becomes someone else’s problem.

Always keep in mind that when a dog shows aggression, most of the time it is doing this out of fear.

You need to ask yourself, what is my dog afraid of?

Is It Something Else?

If your formerly placid dog has started snapping at everybody when they are stroked then take them to a vet. They may be in pain, and their snapping is a pain reaction.

What Can A Professional Dog Trainer Do?

Professional dog trainers usually come to your home, assess the dog in the home environment, and in some cases, they will take the dog away with the for a period of time to re-educate them at a training facility. They will talk to you and work out why the dog seems to hate that one person, whether it be your partner, child, or you yourself.

Once the dog has learned how to behave, they will bring the dog back home for reintegration with the family, and to show the family what the dog has learned, and how to continue training at home.

This is the key part of having a professional train your dog. They can re-educate the dog, but once the dog is home then it is up to you and other members in your household to keep up the training otherwise the dog will revert back to old habits.

If the dog is only showing minor bad behaviors, then the trainer may come and work with you and your dog at home one to two times per week over the course of a month or so.

You can read up about how to find a good trainer here.

On A Final Note…

You are not alone. A naughty dog can disrupt the entire household. Take a deep breath, and know that things can and will improve, once you engage a dog trainer.

To that end, do your research when choosing a trainer to ensure that they have good reviews and that they use methods that you are comfortable with. Go and visit their facilities and see what they can do for you and your dog before you commit.