Agressividade
How rehabilitation works — the right logic
Serious rehabilitation does not start with commands. It follows a hierarchy of intervention, in this order:
1. Safety — making sure nobody gets hurt while we work, through distance and environment management.
2. Regulation — teaching the dog to lower its own state of arousal and stay below the threshold where it can still think.
3. Direction — giving the dog clear information about what to do instead of reacting.
4. Pressure and limits — communicating fairly what is and isn't acceptable, at the right moment.
5. Obedience — only at the end, once the dog is emotionally available, do commands become reliable.
Technically, this rests on two processes: desensitisation (exposing the dog to the trigger at an intensity it tolerates, increasing very gradually) and counter-conditioning (changing the association — the other dog starts predicting good things instead of conflict).
Both done with precision in distance, timing and body-language reading.
Need help with your dog? André Alves works at home across Greater Lisbon and online worldwide.