Did you know there are many sources of aggression in dogs? Aggression, such as growling, snarling, lunging, and biting; are often necessary behaviors in pack oriented species such as dogs. Aggression serves many adventitious purposes but is often unsafe in our pets when it becomes unpredictable and leads to uncontrollable biting which can cause harm.
Knowing the source or reason for aggression in your dog is what will help in successfully addressing the behavior. The following is a brief description of some sources of aggression.
The most well known type of aggression is fear aggression. Fear aggression is when your dog feels unsafe and attempts to defend himself. This type of aggression can also occur when a dog feels uncomfortable but the signs he is giving about his discomfort have not been seen or respected so he escalates to biting.
Another form of aggression is territory aggression. This is common in wolves who are aggressive to other packs that our encroaching on their pack’s territory. In our pets this is often seen behind the fence and sometimes when visitors come to the door. Closely related to territory aggression is resource guarding. This is a dog who protects his bone or food bowl with aggression.
Another more complex source of aggression is dominance aggression. This is a dog who desires to be the “boss” over another and is willing to aggressively defend this status. He may or may not desire to be the pack leader over everyone in the household, he may only desire this status over the older dog, the smaller dog, the youngest child, or it may be directed toward everyone. And only certain things may illicit the behavior such as nail trimming, or being told what he can or cannot do, etc.
Sometimes aggression is more benign such as frustration aggression, where a dog really wants something but is being teased and can’t have it so he lashes out.
There are more serious sources of aggression such as social aggression where all strangers are considered as adversaries to your dog. This is much less common. These dogs often bond with one person whom they respect and they never respect anyone else. This is not necessarily an undesirable trait in a working military or police K9 dog, but it sure can be difficult to handle in a pet.
Finally worth mentioning is pain aggression. This is when there may be some arthritis or hip displasia and if your dog moves wrong and a sharp pain occurs, he may lash out. This is sometimes seen when dogs are wrestling together and someone gets too rough and inflicts pain or when you accidentally step on your dog.
All sources of aggression are workable but only when they are addressed early. Some sources of aggression start to surface as your dog matures around 2 to 3 years old. If the aggression is reinforced or has time to escalate, it can be difficult to address through training later.
For instance, if your dog has fear aggression and every time he snarls or bites the threat goes away (the person or other dog moves away), then it has been reinforced. If your dog has dominance aggression and you tell him to get off the bed and he snarls so you decide to just let him stay there, then it has been reinforced. Most pets that I work with for aggression have a combination of 2 or more sources of aggression. This can become very complex for you as a dog owner to decipher and address on your own. And some aggressive behaviors are very nuanced and can’t be neatly labeled like here in this article. It is very important for aggressive behaviors to be properly understood so they don’t get reinforced. And it is very important to address it early with the help of an experienced dog trainer.
If your dog has displayed aggression, give me a call and we can talk about it over the phone. Phone consultations are free. Call Kelly at 636-222-0876.