Meanwhile, the more you can avoid problem situations, the fewer opportunities Denver will have to rehearse his aggressive response to Bulldogs (and possibly begin generalizing it to other flat-faced dogs). What we don’t want to happen is to have Denver’s behavior escalate and/or generalize as this will make it harder to begin the process of learning non-negative responses.

Punishment, of course, is contraindicated. It won't teach Denver what you do want, and it certainly won't do anything to improve his opinion of Bulldogs if something bad happens to him every time one appears. Imagine that you, like me, detest cockroaches. Every time you see one, you scream and try to chase it away or kill it. Then your best friend steps in and shouts at you or hits you. Now not only do you hate cockroaches, but you're not so comfortable anymore about your friend. The take-home message: get good professional help and be nice to your dog.

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