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Canine Aggression

A dog's bark may be worse than his bite, but most of us would rather
not find out one way or the other. Growling, baring teeth, snarling,
snapping, and biting are all aggressive behaviors—but dog aggression
includes any behavior meant to intimidate or harm a person or another
animal. Although these messages are among the handful of
communication tools available to dogs, they're generally unacceptable
to humans. Because humans and dogs have different communication
systems, misunderstandings can occur between the two species.

But from a dog's perspective, there's always a reason for aggressive
behavior. A person may intend to be friendly, but a dog may perceive
that person's behavior as threatening or intimidating. Dogs aren't
being schizophrenic, psychotic, crazy, or necessarily "vicious" when
displaying aggressive behavior.

Because aggression is so complex, and because the potential
consequences are so serious, we recommend that you get professional
in-home help from an animal behavior specialist if your dog is
displaying aggressive behavior.

Types of Aggression

Dominance Aggression: Dominance aggression is motivated by a
challenge to a dog's social status or to his control of a social
interaction. Dogs are social animals and view their human families as
their social group or "pack." Based on the outcomes of social
challenges among group members, a dominance hierarchy or "pecking
order" is established.

If your dog perceives his own ranking in the hierarchy to be higher
than yours, he'll probably challenge you in certain situations.
Because people don't always understand canine communication, you may
inadvertently challenge your dog's social position. A dominantly
aggressive dog may growl if he is disturbed when resting or sleeping
or if he is asked to give up a favorite spot, such as the couch or
the bed. Physical restraint, even when done in a friendly manner
(like hugging), may also cause your dog to respond aggressively.
Reaching for your dog's collar, or reaching over his head to pet him,
could also be interpreted as a challenge for dominance. Dominantly
aggressive dogs are often described as "Jekyll and Hydes" because
they can be very friendly when not challenged. Dominance aggression
may be directed at people or at other animals. The most common reason
for fights among dogs in the same family is instability in the
dominance hierarchy.

Fear-Motivated Aggression: Fear-motivated aggression is a defensive
reaction and occurs when a dog believes he is in danger of being
harmed. Remember that it's your dog's perception of the situation,
not your actual intent, which determines your dog's response. For
example, you may raise your arm to throw a ball, but your dog may
bite you because he believes he's protecting himself from being hit.
A dog may also be fearfully aggressive when approached by other dogs.

Protective, Territorial, and Possessive Aggression: Protective,
territorial, and possessive aggression are all very similar, and
involve the defense of valuable resources. Territorial aggression is
usually associated with defense of property, and that "territory" may
extend well past the boundaries of your yard. For example, if you
regularly walk your dog around the neighborhood and allow him to
urine-mark, he may think his territory includes the entire block.
Protective aggression usually refers to aggression directed toward
people or animals whom a dog perceives as threats to his family, or
pack. Dogs become possessively aggressive when defending their food,
toys, or other valued objects, including items as peculiar as tissues
stolen from the trash.

Redirected Aggression: This is a relatively common type of aggression
but one that is often misunderstood by pet owners. If a dog is
somehow provoked by a person or animal he is unable to attack, he may
redirect this aggression onto someone else. For example, two family
dogs may become excited, and bark and growl in response to another
dog passing through the front yard; or two dogs confined behind a
fence may turn and attack each other because they can't attack an
intruder. Predation is usually considered to be a unique kind of
aggressive behavior because it's motivated by the intent to obtain
food, and not primarily by the intent to harm or intimidate.

Individual Variation

The likelihood of a dog to show aggressive behavior in any particular
situation varies markedly from dog to dog. Some dogs tend to respond
aggressively with very little stimulation. Others may be subjected to
all kinds of threatening stimuli and events and yet never attempt to
bite.

The difference in the threshold prompting aggressive behavior is
influenced by both environmental and genetic factors. If this
threshold is low, a dog will be more likely to bite. Raising the
threshold makes a dog less likely to respond aggressively. This
threshold can be raised using behavior modification techniques, but
the potential for change is influenced by a dog's gender, age, breed,
general temperament, and the way in which the behavior modification
techniques are chosen and implemented.

Because working with aggressive dogs can be potentially dangerous,
behavior modification techniques should only be attempted by, or
under the guidance of, an experienced animal behavior professional
who understands animal learning theory and behavior.

What You Can Do:

* First, check with your veterinarian to rule out medical causes
for the aggressive behavior.
* Seek professional advice. An aggression problem will not go
away by itself. Working with aggression problems requires in-home
help from an animal behavior specialist.
* Take precautions. Your first priority is to keep people and
other animals safe. Supervise, confine, and/or restrict your dog's
activities until you can obtain professional guidance. You are liable
for your dog's behavior. If you must take your dog out in public,
consider a cage-type muzzle as a temporary precaution, and remember
that some dogs are clever enough to get a muzzle off.
* Avoid exposing your dog to situations where he is more likely
to show aggression. You may need to keep him confined to a safe room
and limit his contact with people.
* If your dog is possessive of toys or treats, or territorial in
certain locations, prevent access and you'll prevent the problem. In
an emergency, bribe him with something better than what he has. For
example, if he steals your shoe, trade him the shoe for a piece of
chicken.
* Spay or neuter your dog. Intact dogs are more likely to display
dominance, territorial, and protective aggressive behavior.

What NOT to Do:

* Punishment won't help and, in fact, will often make the problem
worse. If the aggression is motivated by fear, punishment will make
your dog more fearful, and therefore more aggressive. Attempting to
punish or dominate a dominantly aggressive dog may actually lead him
to escalate his behavior to retain his dominant position. This is
likely to result in a bite or a severe attack. Punishing territorial,
possessive, or protective aggression is likely to elicit additional
defensive aggression.

Posted on SHARE Yahoo Group - May 28, 2009