Should You Send Your Reactive or Aggressive Dog to Board and Train?

In this episode of Will Bangura’s Dog Training Today, dog behaviorist Will Bangura explains what pet parents need to know before sending a reactive or aggressive dog to a board and train program.

Board and train programs often promise fast results for dogs with aggression, leash reactivity, fear, anxiety, or serious behavior problems. However, many of these programs focus on suppressing visible behavior instead of changing the underlying emotional state driving the behavior.

Aggression is not the root problem. Aggression is often the visible symptom of fear, anxiety, stress, frustration, pain, conflict, or perceived threat.

Topics covered include:

• Why reactive and aggressive dogs need behavior modification, not quick fixes
• Why aggression is often a symptom, not the underlying cause
• Why many board and train programs fail with serious behavior problems
• How punishment-based methods may suppress behavior without resolving fear or anxiety
• Why shock collars, prong collars, choke chains, and harsh corrections can worsen emotional distress
• Why dogs often behave differently in a training facility than they do at home
• Why pet parent involvement is essential for lasting behavior change
• Why aggression and reactivity usually require months of structured work
• Why general obedience is not the same as behavior modification
• What to look for before trusting any trainer with an aggressive or reactive dog
• Why force-free, evidence-based methods are safer for dogs with fear, anxiety, aggression, and reactivity

Will also explains why long-term improvement requires more than sending the dog away. Pet parents need education, coaching, management strategies, safety planning, desensitization, counterconditioning, and a realistic plan for changing behavior in the dog’s actual home environment.

This episode is especially helpful for pet parents considering board and train for dog aggression, leash reactivity, fear aggression, stranger-directed aggression, resource guarding, or dogs who bark, lunge, growl, snap, or bite.

Will Bangura, M.S., CAB-ICB, CBCC-KA, CPDT-KA, FDM, FFCP, is a certified dog behaviorist and founder of Phoenix Dog Training, specializing in dog aggression, leash reactivity, separation anxiety, fears, phobias, resource guarding, dogs fighting in the home, and complex canine behavior problems.

Official Links:

• Phoenix Dog Training: https://phoenixdogtraining.com
• About Will Bangura: https://phoenixdogtraining.com/will-bangura/
• Dog Behaviorist in Phoenix: https://phoenixdogtraining.com/phoenix-dog-behaviorist/
• Dog Aggression Training in Phoenix: https://phoenixdogtraining.com/aggressive-dog-training-phoenix-dog-aggression/
• Dog Anxiety and Fear Training: https://phoenixdogtraining.com/dog-anxiety-training-phoenix-scottsdale/
• Sniff to Soothe Book: https://phoenixdogtraining.com/sniff-to-soothe-by-will-bangura-m-s-cab-icb-cbcc-ka-cpdt-ka-fdm-ffcp/
• Facebook: https://facebook.com/dogtrainingphoenix
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@PHOENIXDOGTRAINING
• Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Will-Bangura/author/B0CH99RW7L
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/will-bangura

Hashtags:

#WillBangura
#DogTrainingToday
#DogBehaviorist
#PhoenixDogTraining
#BoardAndTrain
#DogAggression
#ReactiveDog
#ForceFreeDogTraining
#DogBehavior
#DogTrainingPodcast

Transcript

Speaker 1 0:02

Raised by wolves with canine DNA in his blood. Having trained more than 24,000 pets, helping you and your fur babies thrive, live in studio with Will Bangura answering your pet behavior and training questions. Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome your host and favorite pet behavior expert, will Bangura.

Speaker 2 0:26

Would you like to go on? Y'all ready for this? Good day, dog lovers. I'm Will Bangor. Hey, thanks for joining me for another episode of Dog Training today.

Speaker 2 0:50

Real quick, this is going to be a short, short message, but powerful About 10 minutes. I hope you'll listen to the entire thing, but if you've got a dog that's reactive, if you've got a dog that is aggressive, you absolutely need to hear this. I just got off the phone. Just got off the phone with some individual I won't say their name, keep them anonymous. Where I mentioned, I just did, this podcast, which talks to the problem that they're dealing with, because I get calls every single day from pet parents that have dogs that are reactive and aggressive, that have sent them away to board and train programs, only to have them come back and the aggression comes back. That it might have gone away temporarily, but it always comes back. That it might have gone away temporarily, but it always comes back. And also the use of aversive tools and methods for trying to deal with aggression and reactivity, which never work. So I want to get straight into it. Here you go. I hope this is helpful.

Speaker 2 2:03

Hi, I'm Will Bangura, the owner of Phoenix Dog Training and Arizona's only certified canine behaviorist. I specialize in complex behavioral issues, including aggression, reactivity, fears, phobias, obsessive compulsive behaviors and much, much more. Today I want to address something that could make a life or death difference for your dog, especially if you're dealing with aggression. So I hope you'll take the next 10 minutes to go through this entire video. I promise you the information in here is invaluable. There's a crisis in dog training and there's a crisis in sending dogs to board and train for aggression. Right now in dog training, particularly for dogs with aggression and reactivity, I get calls every day from pet parents who have sent their dogs to board and train programs hoping to resolve these serious issues. Let me tell you up front board and train is the worst possible option for dogs with aggression or reactivity. Why? Because these are deep-rooted, complex behavioral problems that require months, usually three to six months of consistent, focused behavior modification. A two-, three or four-week board and train program simply cannot address these issues. At best you're looking at a temporary fix. At worst it can cause more harm.

Speaker 2 3:39

Let's talk about what drives aggression. Before we talk about solutions, it's crucial to understand what drives aggression. Aggression is not the problem itself. It's a symptom of an underlying issue In almost every case, aggressive behaviors are driven by fear, anxiety, stress or discomfort. These are emotional states that lead to outward expressions like growling, snapping, lunging or even biting. Aggression is a form of communication for the dog. It's their way of saying I feel threatened. Whether that threat is real or perceived doesn't matter. If a dog feels afraid or uncomfortable, their fight or flight response is triggered and aggression is often their chosen strategy.

Speaker 2 4:32

Let's talk about why punishment fails. Many board and train facilities use punishment-based methods. They'll just say it's a correction, but correction is just a nicer word for punishment. They use punishment-based methods shock collars, prong collars, choke chains to suppress aggressive behaviors. But punishment is a band-aid solution and here's why it doesn't address the underlying emotional state. It merely stops the outward behavior for a short time. Oh sure, you might suppress the growling or the lunging, but the dog's internal stress and fear remain. In fact, punishment often makes those feelings worse, leading to what I call the pressure cooker effect.

Speaker 2 5:20

When you punish a dog for expressing aggression, you suppress the outward signs, but the anxiety and stress build up inside. Eventually the dog will explode and the aggressive behavior will return, sometimes even worse than before. That's why I often hear from pet parents who say, hey, we sent our dog to a board and train and within two weeks to two months the aggression came right back. The truth is the dog never learned to stop being aggressive. They just learned to suppress the signs for a short while out of fear of punishment. We have to change the dog's emotional state. If you want to resolve aggression, you must change the dog's underlying emotional state. This means moving the dog from fear, anxiety and stress to relaxation and positive associations with the things that they find threatening, whether it's another dog, a person or something else.

Speaker 2 6:19

This process is called counter-conditioning and desensitization, and that takes time. You're looking at months of careful, systematic work, not a quick-fix solution. But through counter-conditioning we teach the dog that the trigger they once feared is no longer a threat. Over time, as the dog's emotional state changes, the aggressive behaviors disappear because they're no longer necessary. The dog doesn't feel the need to go into fight or flight because they no longer perceive the trigger as dangerous. Here's why board and train fails aggressive dogs. Two weeks, three weeks, four weeks is nowhere near enough time to address deep-rooted aggression. You're talking about a process, like I said, that can take three to six months.

Speaker 2 7:11

Aggression is not a quick fix solution. It requires long-term behavior modification and, as I mentioned, many board and train programs rely on punishment-based methods. This approach suppresses behavior temporarily but does not solve the problem. In fact, as I said, punishment can worsen the underlying emotional state of fear and anxiety, which then increases the likelihood of future aggression. Sending a fearful, anxious dog away from their familiar environment into a high-stress situation only makes matters worse. The dog is likely to feel even more threatened in a strange place surrounded by new people and new animals. This added stress can exacerbate aggressive behaviors and make them harder to resolve in the long run.

Speaker 2 8:05

Let's talk about what the experts are saying, though it's not just me saying this. Leading organizations, including the American Veterinary Society of Animal Behavior, including the American Veterinary Society of Animal Behavior, the ASPCA, the Humane Society, the American Veterinary Medical Association, all strongly oppose the use of punishment-based methods. Over 40 scientific studies show that punishment increases aggression and anxiety in the long term. On the flip side, positive reinforcement methods using rewards to change behavior are faster, more effective and lead to long-term results without causing harm. Positive reinforcement helps create lasting change by addressing the root cause of the dog's emotional state. It's about teaching the dog to feel safe and relaxed around triggers, not punishing them for expressing fear.

Speaker 2 9:09

You've got to do your homework. If you're dealing with aggression, you need a professional who understands behavior at a deep level, someone with a formal education in animal behavior and even fewer, with real credentials. You would never take your child to an unlicensed therapist or psychiatrist. Your dog deserves no less. Look for professionals that are certified by legitimate organizations such as the Certification Council for professional dog trainers, international Canine Behaviorists, the International Association of Animal Behavior Consultants. True certification also requires continuing education, ethics and accountability.

Speaker 2 10:08

Don't trust trainers who use shock collars or prong collars. Legitimate certifications strictly forbid these tools because they cause harm and they're unnecessary. Look anywhere else in the world Europe, canada, australia those tools are banned. Those tools are illegal. Only in America, only in our freedom-loving country, can you put a shock collar remote in somebody's hand, take punishment and dress that up as dog training and behavior modification. It doesn't take any education, it doesn't take any skill to punish a dog, especially when you're just pressing a button on a remote. Do you really need to pay somebody hundreds, if not thousands of dollars to do that? That's not training. That's not behavior modification.

Speaker 2 11:13

If you're considering sending your dog to board and train. Please reconsider. The best place for your dog is at home, working one-on-one with a professional who understands behavior modification. If you rely on punishment-based tools, you risk damaging your relationship with your dog and worsening their emotional state. If we don't properly address aggression, the consequences can be dire. Some dogs may end up being rehomed or even euthanized. But with the right approach, using positive reinforcement and addressing the root cause, you can help your dog overcome these challenges. Thank you for taking the time to listen. If you're dealing with aggression, reach out to a certified professional who uses positive, science-based methods. Your dog's life may depend on it.