This inappropriate and often distressing behaviour is common and is often a cause of great concern to owners, especially when directed against people. Aggressive behaviour usually falls into one of the following categories. Choose which description best matches your dog and follow the link to read more.
 

Territorial Aggression - The dog defends his or her territory e.g. garden, house, car, by barking or attacking people who intrude upon it.           OR   Dominance Aggression - Fights between dogs, either within or outside the household. Usually either  :-

With dogs in the same household - males or females                    OR With dogs from different households - care must be taken to distinguish between the three different reasons why a fight may start between two strange dogs :-

a) Predatory Aggression - An attack by the problem dog is preceded by a chase triggered by the victim running (usually another dog but may be a child or adult). There is no 'squaring up' or threatening behaviour before the attack.   b) Inadequate Juvenile Socialisation - the problem dog never approaches another dog in an aggressive way, but lacks the appropriate submissive response to a dominance display or attack from the other dog - a fight ensues if the other dog is anything but submissive.   c) Dominance Aggression - the problem dog initiates dominance aggression towards other dogs. This problem dog has an uncontrollable urge to dominate other dogs and doesn't readily observe submissive gestures made by other dogs.

1

Symptoms
The dog defends his territory e.g. garden, house, car, by barking at or attacking people who intrude upon it.

Cause
The dog has probably been left alone for long periods in his territory and has come to assume certain rights over it. This is the expression of responsibility that a dominant dog feels to protect his pack territory.

Treatment

• We must reduce the dog’s general dominance i.e. the owner must become dominant over the dog. This is achieved by -

  • Reducing the amount of social interaction with the dog. Stop petting, patting, talking to the dog. By being ignored the dog perceives the owner to be more dominant and is also more rewarded when the owner does respond.

  • Only reward submissive postures taken by the dog. Getting the dog to sit before you give him what he wants is the easiest way of making the dog submissive.

  • Do not allow the dog to take up dominant postures e.g. paws up, sitting on lap, lying on the bed.

  • Have a daily session of obedience training. In these situations the owner is clearly dominant and the dog learns automatically to respond to commands.

• Whilst reducing the dogs dominance within the family unit it is wise to avoid the situations that trigger the territorial dominance aggression i.e. remove the dog from the territory when visitors are expected.

• Undertake a program of systematic de-sensitisation during which only good behaviour in the face of a challenge is rewarded e.g. the dog is told to sit and is rewarded with titbits or petting whilst he remains calm and seated and a stranger approaches his territory.

2

Symptoms
The dogs may fight at any time or only under certain circumstances e.g. when left alone, when owner present, when in the kitchen, at feeding, when on a lead.

Cause
There is usually some ambiguity or a change in the relative dominance status of the two dogs e.g. sexual maturity being attained, change in the makeup of the human family, owner supporting the under-dog, thus increasing this dogs feeling of dominance and making a challenge situation more likely.

If both dogs regard themselves as the dominant member of the household then there is likely to be trouble. Top dogs are always fighting to maintain dominance. If the owner can become more dominant over his dogs then fighting would be less likely as under-dogs do not feel the need to fight as much to maintain their lowly position. Life at the top is hard and has to be fought for, life at the bottom is easy but carries few rewards.

When there is uncertainty in the family or ‘pack’ about leadership then the under-dogs see an opportunity to better their position in the pecking order and will consequently fight more. It may well be that when dominant owners are always quarrelling it encourages the dogs to become unsettled and challenge each other in an attempt to better their social standing.

Treatment

Do not let the dogs settle the matter out amongst themselves. This may well lead to serious injury especially if -

• Either dog is of an aggressive breed e.g. Bull terrier

• The dogs vary greatly in size - one bite from the Wolfhound will soon quickly settle the Yorkie's bid for dominance

• Either dog has had an early history of poor socialisation with other dogs such that he cannot understand or recognise the other dog’s body language.

Do -

• Reinforce the dominance of the dog that is naturally dominant, i.e. feed it first, reward it first, ignore the under-dog whenever it makes a bid for dominance. Remember that the under-dog can still be very happy as long as he remains unambitious.

• Increase your own level of dominance over both dogs. Increased dominance can be achieved by -

  • Reducing the amount of social interaction with the dog. Stop petting, patting and talking to the dog. By being ignored the dog perceives the owner to be more dominant.

  • Only reward submissive postures taken by the dog. Getting the dog to sit before giving him what he wants is the easiest way of making the dog submissive.

  • Do not allow the dog to take up dominant postures e.g. paws up, sitting on lap, lying on bed.

  • Have a daily session of obedience training. In these situations the owner is clearly dominant and the dog learns automatically to respond to commands.

• Avoid the situations of high conflict until you have enforced the dominance hierarchy.

Oral progestagens or possibly a hormone injection could be given to the under-dog to try and reduce his dominance challenge if your vet feels it may be beneficial.

Castration of the weaker dog ONLY - this may stabilise this situation. If the more dominant dog is castrated then the situation will most probably worsen.

 3

Symptoms
The attack by the problem dog is preceded by a chase triggered by the victim running and there is not ‘squaring up’ or threatening behaviour prior to the attack.

Treatment
Difficult because the victims are animals or children and their behaviour e.g. running away is hard to alter and encourages the predator. Predatory aggression is an instinctive behaviour pattern in many breeds e.g. Greyhound, and carries its own inbuilt rewards - dogs enjoy chasing rabbits even though they may never catch one. In many instances the effect of the behaviour is so disastrous that treatment has failed if it occurs again, even on one occasion e.g. a savaged dog.

• Dominance - The owner must improve his control over the dog by increasing his dominance over the dog and by improving his physical control e.g. Halti collar, Extending Lead. The owner should always reward obedience in the face of challenge and try to initiate control before the dog notices ‘his prey’. Increased dominance can be achieved by -

  • Reducing the amount of social interaction with the dog. Stop petting, patting and talking to the dog. By being ignored the dog perceives the owner to be more dominant.

  • Only reward submissive postures taken by the dog. Getting the dog to sit before giving him what he wants is the easiest way of making the dog submissive.

  • Do not allow the dog to take up dominant postures e.g. paws up, sitting on lap, lying on bed.

  • Have a daily session of obedience training. In these situations the owner is clearly dominant and the dog learns automatically to respond to commands.

• De-sensitisation - With the dog on an extending lead so that control is possible if needs be without the dog feeling restrained the dog is subjected to increasingly exciting stimuli and is rewarded for sitting and remaining calm. If the dog fails to remain calm then a less exciting stimulus must be tried. De-sensitisation requires considerable time, patience and ingenuity on the part of the owner.

• Punishment - This is one of the situations in which punishing the behaviour may be an effective way of eliminating it. Punishment should not be seen to be administered by the owner as this will upset the pet / owner relationship and may be inefficient when the owner is not present. Suitable punishments include throwing water, flapping umbrellas and anti-mugging alarms. The dog will not associate the punishment with the owner even if it is the owner that throws the water but will if the owner inflicts physical abuse upon the dog.

4

Symptoms
The problem dog never approaches another dog in an aggressive way, but lacks the appropriate submissive response to a dominance attack or display from the other dog - a fight ensues if the other dog is anything but submissive.

Treatment
The problem of a lack of early learning of the social repertoire is difficult to overcome. We can try to allow play with another dog that is non-dominant, but it is doubtful whether an adult experience would ever compensate.

5

Symptoms
The problem dog has an uncontrollable urge to dominate other dogs and doesn’t readily observe submission gestures made by other dogs.

Treatment
Treatment of the dog that initiates dominance aggression is difficult since the owner is not directly involved in these encounters. A combination of the following can be tried -

• Castration will bring a favourable response in 60% of inter-male aggression cases.

• The owner should increase his own dominance over the dog to enable the owner to exert more control over the dog and help prevent a fight. This is achieved by -

  • Reducing the amount of social interaction with the dog. Stop petting, patting and talking to the dog. By being ignored the dog perceives the owner to be more dominant.

  • Only reward submissive postures taken by the dog. Getting the dog to sit before giving him what he wants is the easiest way of making the dog submissive.

  • Do not allow the dog to take up dominant postures e.g. paws up, sitting on lap, lying on bed.

  • Have a daily session of obedience training. In these situations the owner is clearly dominant and the dog learns automatically to respond to commands.

• Avoid challenge situations until the owner's control is adequate.

• Muzzle the dog to prevent damage to other dogs.