Nobody wants to deal with an aggressive dog. When shopping for your next furry companion, the last thing you want is a dog that will frighten you or your children with its behavior. You want a well-trained pup that will come when called and give you loving companionship. Yet, despite what people want, most dog trainers are called in due to an aggressive dog. If you’re struggling with this, you’re not alone.
What Are The Different Types of Canine Aggressive Behavior?
There are many reasons why a dog may snap and react aggressively. The most common cause has to deal with fear. When a dog is pushed past its threshold of tolerance and is unable to escape, it will lash out. All dogs have the capacity to bite if pushed to the limit. So, what can you do to keep that from happening? The most important thing is to understand why your dog feels the need to lash out. Once you understand that you can work to curb and help the behavior.
Aggressive Behaviors in Dogs
- Territorial Aggression – Exhibited by a dog that runs around the perimeter of what they view as their domain. If taken to the extreme, a dog will lash out at friend or foe that tries to cross into their territory, except for members of their pack.
- Protective Aggression – When a dog takes their protective instincts too far and won’t let anyone near their person.
- Possessive Aggression – This is displayed when a dog snarls, snaps, or lunges at someone who tries to take something that the dog has placed a high value on. This could be a bone, bed, toy, etc.
- Fear Aggression – Usually exhibited by a dog that hasn’t been properly socialized. They’ll retreat from unknown persons or situations. If they can’t retreat, they’ll react aggressively in order to force whatever is scaring them away.
- Defensive Aggression – Similar to Fear Aggression, this is a dog that’s afraid, but instead of retreating, will face the threat head on. They’ll posture and act big in order to make people or other animals leave them alone.
- Social Aggression – This is a pup that constantly bullies and hasn’t learned the proper social cues to give and take deference. Most dogs will place value on different objects. Some dogs may value their bed and not let others get too close, while other dogs place high value on food. This dog places high value on everything and will display aggression when things don’t go their way because they haven’t learned a proper way to interact via socialization.
- Frustration-Elicited Aggression – When a dog is held back from something that is exciting or frustrating, they may lash out at whoever is holding them back. They want to approach, but are unable to which causes a great deal of anxiety and frustration for the dog.
- Redirected Aggression – This is when a dog lashes out at you for getting in the way of them striking at something they were targeting. This is why it’s so important to never get in the middle of a dog fight. The canines are so focused on fight or flight they can’t discern between friend or foe.
- Pain-Elicited Aggression – This is a dog suffering some kind of pain that is forcing them to snap and react because they don’t know how else to respond. All of their focus is on the pain and they want to get away from it. They don’t want the pain to increase so they’ll do whatever they can to lessen and take the pain away.
- Sex-Related Aggression – More common for intact males, these are dogs seeking a mate and will react to other male dogs. They display aggression because they want to hash out breeding rights and the dog that appears to be the strongest and fittest gets to mate. A rare case is females fighting each other for mating rights to a male.
- Predatory Aggression – This appears in dogs with high prey drives. Their aggression will appear towards smaller animals and occasionally children. It’s important to understand the breed of your dog because their genetics will make them more prone to attack certain animals. Retrievers love to chase birds, same with spaniels. Terriers will attack smaller rodents and even cats.
How To Treat An Aggressive Dog
If your dog begins to display aggressive behavior, first take them to the vet to rule out any neurological or chemical changes in your pup. There’s also a possibility that your dog is hurting somewhere and fixing that problem will make the aggression go away.
If the vet rules out all possible issues, then it’s time to do some more investigating. When does your dog show aggression? Is it to specific individuals? Is it around certain objects? Look at all the clues. Also, aggressive behavior is a serious matter that shouldn’t be taken lightly. Even if you believe your dog wouldn’t hurt a fly and is just posturing, most dog bites occur from animals you are the most familiar with, family pets. According to a study done by Max Law Firm, more than half of all dog bites occur in children under the age of 10. It is your responsibility to train your pet to know how to act and react without causing injury.
Treating an aggressive dog is a delicate business. You need to have a firm grasp on why your dog is acting aggressively before finding a solution and this can get tricky. There is no quick fix or end all solution in treating aggressive behavior. Each dog is different and simply stating that a dog is aggressive because they are dominant may not paint the whole picture of the situation.
Punishing or using harsh methods can and will make the matter worst. More often than not, the best course of action is hiring a dog trainer or behaviorist who specializes in positive based techniques. Using methods of desensitization, socialization, and rewards can help your dog overcome their fear and aggression.
If a dog reacts aggressively, it’s important to defuse the situation. Remain calm and pull your dog away from whatever is making them react to deescalate the tension. Do what you must in order to keep yourself and others safe, but avoid reacting angrily at your pup. Your dog is doing what it feels it needs to do in order to survive and doesn’t understand yelling or hitting.
In Conclusion
As previously explained, there are many reasons why a dog may choose to react aggressively. Learning the reasons behind the behavior can help you find the right treatment method. This often involves teaching your dog to associate negative experiences with positive things, but it’s important that you hire a dog trainer that understands dog behavior in order to treat this problem. Aggressive behavior is complicated and dangerous. It’s important that you do everything that you can in order to train and help your dog remain calm in all situations and to help your dog stay away from any situations that may cause them to react aggressively.