How to break pack mentality in dogs?

To manage pack drive aggression, you can use a combination of three options: expending the energy, suppressing the energy, and switching the drive. Depending on the situation, you're going to use a combination of the three options in your management program. When Buddy growls at another dog, for example, he's in defense drive, to manage the situation, switch him into pack drive. Cheerfully say something like "You must be joking" and walk away in the opposite direction. Aggression toward other dogs, especially if the aggressor has had a few successes in his career, isn't so simple to resolve. Prevention here is the best cure: Keep your dog on leash, and don't give him a chance to bite another dog when you're away from home. To calm dogs with aggressive tendencies, get some essential oil of lavender from a health food store. Put just a couple drops on a small cloth, and wipe it onto your dog's muzzle and around his nose. Lavender has a calming effect where one dog aggresses at another dog.

Your mantra for addressing this is “walkie time is fun time!” It’s very important that you are engaged with your dogs during their walk—you need to be more valuable and fun than the temptation to terrorize other dogs. Fill your walks with games like tug, short distance fetch, and obedience practice. Your dogs must see you as something other than the anchor at the end of the leash. Be sure to always have an exciting toy and enticing high value treats, the stinkier the better! Each dog must learn “look” or “watch me.” To begin, place a high value smelly treat crumb at his nose and bring it up to your face, saying, “look!” When your dog’s head follows that treat towards your face, mark the behaviour with a clear, “yes” and reward him immediately. As soon as YOU spot another dog in the great distance, ask your dogs for a “look.” Stay happy, loose and positive! Continue to keep your dogs’ attention and reward, reward, reward. BEFORE you get too close and lose your dogs’ attention, do a “let’s go,” and walk away from the oncoming dog to allow your dogs some space as the other dog passes. Gradually work up to passing by other dogs while your dogs are staring every so politely at you. If your dogs explode into ferocious furies during one of your walks, just realize they were pushed too far and next time give them a “let’s go” at a greater distance while continuing to practice “look at me.”

While human beings prefer a more relaxed, laid back lifestyle, Dogs (especially a pack of dogs) respond best to clear, confident leadership. Not only do rules and structure let the dogs know what is expected from them, it can often build up their confidence and they no longer “wonder” what is and is not allowed. I suggested their owners start to incorporate a few rules to help the dogs start to see their humans as their pack leaders. The first rule I suggested was to make the furniture off limits. Because dogs often perceive their authority as tied to the height at which they sit, keeping them off the furniture helps define a leader follower dynamic. By literally adding a difference between the humans and the dogs, we can help change their behavior. Next I demonstrated a leadership exercise that helps the dogs learn to focus, see their humans in a position of authority and restrain themselves. By repeating this exercise with each dog a few times a day, their owners will be seen as holding more authority while the dogs learn to control themselves, staying calm and returning to balance. Walking dogs together in a structured way is one of the best rehabilitation methods an owner can use to help the dogs learn to tolerate and not be aggressive to one another. I suggested their owners only allow them to be together when they were there to supervise. As time passes and the dogs start to see their humans as their pack leader and each other as members of the pack they are familiar with, the aggression should dissipate and eventually stop completely.