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Aggression

Aggression towards people or/and other dogs must be dealt with in a different way to the preceding problems. This is because the effects that may be caused by an incorrect diagnosis and subsequent treatment have the potential to be devastating and dangerous to all concerned. Because of this, professional or qualified advice should always be sought following a veterinary examination. We cannot go into detailed advice on specific aggression-related problems, but we can look at why dogs become aggressive in the simplest terms and how you can avoid problems starting.

Why does a dog become aggressive?

When a dog feels threatened, like most animals (including humans) he will usually do at least one of three things. He will 'freeze' (become motionless and hope that the threat goes away), 'flee' (run away from the threat to safety) or 'fight' (show aggressive behaviour by growling, baring teeth, snapping or biting to force the threat to go away).  Dogs will naturally avoid fighting and use it as a last resort because it poses a risk to their own safety through possible injury, however, certain circumstances will enable a dog to learn that fighting will work best and encourage him to use aggression more often. Here is an example:

A dog is on his lead and is tied up outside a shop whilst his owner is inside. He has not been socialised properly with all types of people and is frightened of strangers. A passer-by who likes dogs but has never had one of his own and doesn't know how to tell if a dog is scared or happy by reading the body language, approaches the dog intending to stroke him.
• The dog sees the stranger coming and feels threatened, so he freezes.

• The stranger keeps moving towards the dog, so the dog realises that freezing hasn't worked.

• The dog then tries to flee, but his lead is tied to a metal post and prevents him from running away from the threat - and the stranger is still getting closer.

• The dog starts to growl as the stranger puts his hand out to stroke him and then as this still does not work, he lunges and snaps at the man's fingers.

• This finally brings the desired result, as the man backs-off and hurries away. The dog has learnt a valuable lesson - that snapping and showing aggression is the best way to remove a threat.
The dog is now far more likely to use aggression in the first instance, rather than as a last resort.

What makes a dog feel threatened?

A threat to a dog can be a fear for his own physical safety but he may also react aggressively to defend a threat to his valuable 'resources'. For example, if he fears that another dog or a human will take something that he values very highly - a toy, his food or a favourite comfortable sleeping or resting area such as a sofa.

Other considerations

• Dogs that are in pain or are ill may be more likely to bite if approached or touched - so owners must try to be aware of their dog's physical state at all times.

• Something that can make aggressive behaviour worse is that we tend to punish dogs and puppies for displaying the more minor threat displays such as growling, baring teeth or air snapping which dogs use as a warning. When a dog is threatened at a later stage, he may then completely skip the warnings and go straight to biting because he has learnt from experience that he will be punished for showing these ‘lesser’ displays.

• A dog that shows aggressive behaviour is not a bad dog. Biting and aggression is a normal, natural behaviour for all dogs, as are the often-preceding warning displays. However natural aggressive behaviour is, it is unacceptable when dogs live with humans and it is a sad fact that many dogs are destroyed because they have bitten when this could have been prevented.  

What can be done?

With aggression problems, prevention is definitely better than cure. Prevention in the form of socialisation of puppies is essential. They must be prepared for situations where they may feel threatened in the future. Owners also need to educate and make themselves aware of their dog's own body language and not ignore the warning indications that their dog is showing.

If your dog is already showing aggressive behaviour towards humans or dogs, then a professional behaviourist will use various techniques depending on the type and cause of the aggression involved, to solve or improve the problem.

In the meantime we would recommend that you consider using a muzzle on your dog in situations where he is likely to be aggressive - especially in public because of the legal implications involved. This is to protect your dog from getting into trouble, as much as to protect other dogs or people from being bitten. Please ask your vet or a behaviourist to show you how to safely introduce your dog to wearing a muzzle. It would also be very advisable to obtain third party insurance against your dog causing an injury.

Further information

• If you are worried about your dog's aggressive behaviour, please see a behaviourist for advice.