Dog aggression is natural. Dogs evolved this trait over centuries to survive in the wild. Selective breeding and domestication processes have lessened and refined dog aggression. Read on to learn about why dogs behave aggressively.
What is the cause of dog aggression?
Factors such as lack of exposure to other people and dogs as well as dominance are the most common causes of dog aggression.
Stranger aggression:
It is instinctive for a dog to be cautious and suspicious. Inexperience with strangers and unfamiliar situations will almost certainly make your dog feel apprehensive. If you increase your dogs knowledge and consistently build on positive experiences your dog will feel at ease when confronting a new situation. Take a look at our Review of Dog Training Zone for inspiration to deal with aggressive dog behavior.
What can I do about dog aggression?
The key to your dog feeling comfortable with a wide variety of experiences is starting from a young age. In your choice of experiences include other people, places and animals. Positive experiences like this will reinforce in your dogs mind that meeting new people and going to new places is ok. Make socialising your dog fun and you will soon see how easy it is to do. At puppy pre school your dog will experience new people and new dogs. Exposure to new people and other dogs will build your confidence about where you can take your dog. Your dog will continue to need socialisation, to stay stranger friendly.
Dogs who are aggressive towards family members:
Dogs are often aggressive towards members of their own human family when they are trying to defend something they think of as their own. This is known as resource guarding. Resource guarding usually appears as snarling, growling or over possessiveness. Your dog will behave like this if it thinks it has power over you. Dogs are pack animals and packs are structured differently. Dogs are used to organisation and are ranked according to a hierarchy of position and power in relation to everyone in their family or pack. Dogs rank themselves against their human family as a substitute for a dog family and their ranking tells them how to behave in any situation. If your dog is behaving aggressively then it perceives itself to be at the top of the pack. A lower ranking member of the pack will behave in a passive, submissive way and would never growl or snarl at a higher ranking member if you approached its food or toys. The message to your dog must be clear, that you are the boss and your dog is a lower ranking member of the pack.
Is there anything I can do about this?
Working with your dog regularly and consistently in obedience training will help to re program your dogs preception of you as the pack leader. Short and regular training sessions are the key to effective behaviour modification. Make each training session enjoyable: play a game by giving your dog lots of praise, pats and treats when it has worked well with you.
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