Dog aggression is natural. This attribute of dogs evolved over many centuries ensuring their survival in the wild. Some instinctive traits such as aggression have been minimised through selective breeding techniques. Read on to understand why dogs behave aggressively.

What makes my dog aggressive?

Many factors can cause aggression in dogs but the most common is not a lot of socialisation with other people and the issue of dominance.

Aggression directed at strangers:

Caution and wariness are natural behaviours for dogs. If your dog isn’t used to being in unfamiliar situations it may become quite apprehensive around strangers and new environments. If you increase your dogs knowledge and consistently reinforce 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 it?

Start with your dog when it’s young and expose it to a wide range of experiences. 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. Socialising your dog doesn’t need to be worrying. At puppy pre school your dog will meet new people and new dogs. When you and your puppy feel at ease around new dogs and people you will be able to increase your area of socialisation. Socialisation is a necessary process for the rest of your dogs life.

Aggression around family members:

When dogs feel they need to protect something that is theirs, they can react aggressively towards their family members. This is known as resource guarding. If your dog gets snarly or growls at you when you are near where it is eating or playing with a toy, then you know you have a resource guarding problem. Your dog will behave like this if it thinks it has dominance over you. Pack animals such as dogs need to know who is the boss. Packs are structured according to power and position in relation to everyone else in the 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. If on the other hand, your dog percieved itself to be a lower ranking member of the family, it wouldn’t dream of growling at you when you are near 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.

What can I do to change this?

Re-establish your authority with your dog by regular and consistent obedience training work. Regular behavior modification sessions are key to positive and effective progress. 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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