Positive Training for Aggressive and Reactive Dogs: Proven Techniques to Help Your Dog Overcome Fear and Anxiety

Do you have an aggressive or reactive dog? Learn how to turn your dog’s behavior around!

Complete step-by-step guide • to proven methods that help dog owners manage and rehabilitate a reactive or aggressive dog, whether a rescue or purebred

Behavior program models • formed by canine professionals, including Dog L.E.G.S. ® (Learning, Environment, Genetics, and Self), Fear Free, Slow Thinking is Life Saving for Dogs ™, and ACE (Animal Centred Education) Free Work

True stories • and case studies, plus the author’s experiences, successes, and heartbreaks with her own aggressive and fearful dogs

Expert interviews • with 16 certified and award-winning professional trainers, behavior consultants, and veterinarians, including Dr. Amy Pike, Dr. Laura Donaldson, Dr. Marty Becker, and more

Proper socialization • and good breeding, and their importance in forming a dog’s adult personality and temperament

Why punishment fails • and how negative training only worsens a dog’s inappropriate behavior and destroys the human-canine bond

Help your dog overcome problem behaviors and recover from fear, anxiety, and aggression!

Canine professionals are seeing increases in troubling dog behaviors, and recent studies show behavioral concerns are a large reason why dog owners surrender their pets to shelters. This professional and practical guide gives hope and encouragement to dog owners trying to eliminate unwanted aggression, barking, timidity, fear, and reactivity in their dogs.

A wide range of cruelty-free and positive reinforcement behavior training methods and technique exercises are provided with step-by-step instructions to help resolve and correct problem behaviors in your dog. Also included are real-life case studies from dog owners detailing the extreme measures they’ve taken to manage their dogs’ behavior around others, as well as interviews with top dog trainers, behaviorists, and veterinarians.

With detailed sections covering an array of topics and how-to instruction — from the qualities of a good dog trainer and the top five ways to help your dog feel safe at home, to the must-have skills your dog needs to learn and the top methods used by professional trainers to change unwanted behaviors — this resource covers a ton of ground to help your dog develop and live a better life with you and your family.

Author Leann Phenix is an industry-leading expert dog trainer, award-winning journalist, Fear Free Certified Professional, Graduate of a Schutzhund Dog Academy, member of The Pet Professional Guild, and author of The Midnight Dog Walkers, which was nominated as the best behavior book in 2016 by Dog Writers Association of America. She has personally fostered more than 400 dogs and is a lifetime advocate of training dogs without the need for fear, force, or pain, using compassion and science-backed methods.

If you’re seeking professional guidance to overcome problematic habits present in your dog, Positive Training for Aggressive and Reactive Dogs is here to help!

“A kinder and fairer way to communicate with reactive dogs, bring about long-lasting change, and build a beautiful relationship.” —Shay Kelly, MSc, Behaviorist and Trainer & Canine Enrichment Expert

This audiobook is skillfully read by Mike Fraser. It was produced and published by Echo Point Books & Media, an independent bookseller in Brattleboro, Vermont.

© 2025 Echo Point Books & Media, LLC (Audiobook): 9781666693256

Release date

Audiobook: 30 January 2025