01.05.2024
What to do if your dog is all but breaking off the leash when it sees other animals, growling, barking and trying to bite? Why does the dog behave this way and what to do about this? We asked Maryna Boiko, a dog handler, Daryna Vasylchuk, an animal psychologist and an expert in canine behaviour, and Yuliia Marunych, a licensed dog handler instructor of the highest category in the Ukrainian Kennel Union, as well as the founder and director of Humans & Dogs Dog Training Centre.
What is animal aggression
Our experts explain that the term “animal aggression” is a contextual one, as it can mean a number of different things. Most often, specialists use it to refer to the aggression that a dog displays towards other animals. There are also those who apply this concept to aggressive reactions of dogs towards people. And some believe that animal aggression can occur not only in dogs, but also in other animals, including cats.
“In general, animal aggression is the aggression of one animal towards another, which can be caused by many different reasons. It can be territorial aggression, when a dog doesn’t want anyone to enter its territory, or sexual, when a dog does not get along with members of the same sex, or just a reactive response to a stimulus,” explains Maryna Boiko. “But currently, there is no clear definition for this phenomenon.”
Daryna Vasylchuk thinks that it is worth distinguishing between animal aggression and certain peculiarities of the animal’s behaviour. For example, if a dog reacts to representatives of a specific breed or to all large dogs, or regularly attacks cats while leaving other animals alone, this is not animal aggression. These are individual reactions that can be corrected if the owner is willing to do so or needs it. This will not be “working with an aggressive dog”, but working through a reactive response.
Experts advise owners against calling their pets aggressive ahead of time. Instead, they recommend trying to understand the reasons for this behaviour.
Causes of animal aggression
There are a lot of reasons for dogs to display aggressive behaviour. In order to understand what affects your dog without provoking aggression yourself, before adopting it’s important to consult specialists and acquire basic information about dogs in general and about the specific breed, if the dog is a purebred. You need to understand the peculiarities of your dog’s development, its age-related crises and how they manifest, how its nervous system develops, how to feed the dog, etc.
Yuliia Marunych thinks that one of the main errors made by dog owners is that they do not turn to dog handler instructors in time. Even in order to visit one of them if there are problems, you need to understand when something is going wrong.
If you suspect that your dog displays animal aggression, specialists will collect as much information as possible about the dog: how it was adopted into the family, its health, what it eats, etc. It’s also important to observe how the owner treats the dog in different situations. Only then can a dog handler or animal psychologist draw conclusions and start selecting individual correction methods. Among the most common causes of animal aggression, the experts list the dog’s pain and fear, anxiety of the owners and their mistakes when raising an animal.
Pain
It is natural to defend yourself from pain and try to prevent it from getting worse. In dogs, perhaps the most effective way available is what people usually consider to be a manifestation of aggression. A dog may first bare its teeth, then growl, and if these signals don’t work, it may even bite. So when your pet starts showing signs of aggression, especially if it was rare before, you should visit a vet clinic. In fact, any sudden changes in the pet’s behaviour, not only aggressive ones, are the reason to make an appointment.
“The first question I ask people who come to me because their dog is behaving aggressively is whether they have been to the vet, had an ultrasound and a clinical blood test. In most cases, the aggression disappears after treating the cause of the pain,” says Daryna Vasylchuk.
Aggression can also be provoked by pain caused by a human or another animal: tugging, pulling, beating. So it’s worth analysing and correcting your own actions.
Daryna notes that pain can be caused even by a regular dog collar, if the dog is not trained not to pull at the leash. The expert recommends picking out an anatomical harness for walking your dog.
Maryna Boiko emphasises that it’s important not only to choose the right equipment to fit your dog’s individual anatomy, but also to put it on correctly. A dog collar should be fixed under the dog’s chin so that it fits tightly enough — there should be room for two fingers between the collar and the neck. Maryna also thinks that a harness might not be the best fit for everyone, so it’s important to consult experts when picking out accessories for your pet.
“If a dog is pulled on a collar or tugged at from a young age near another animal or, let’s say, children, it forms an associative bond with the animal: when these objects get close to me, I feel pain and should defend myself,” explains Daryna Vasylchuk.
Our experts also believe that the mindless use of special equipment (choke or electronic collars, noose collars), that is still used for correcting animal aggression, can be considered animal cruelty. The Ukrainian law provides for punishment for this.
“In exceptional cases, when all other methods fail, special equipment can be used. But it should be done under professional supervision and only in a very limited number of situations,” notes Yuliia Marunych, “for example, when it comes to life or death cases. I do everything I can to make sure the need for this never arises.”
Yuliia also emphasised that choke collars (par force) hadn’t been created to correct aggressive behaviour. They were used to protect shepherd dogs from wolves, with the spikes facing outward for protection. However, later people started inverting the collars to push their dogs towards developing guard habits or encourage their fight response.
In other words, a choke collar is not the kind of equipment that can be considered effective in correcting aggressive behaviour. On the contrary, it can be the cause of it.
A dog that is constantly experiencing pain quickly gets used to it. Therefore, supporters of training through pain sooner or later run into the issue that pain no longer restrains an agitated dog.
“The worst thing dog owners can do is to put a choke collar on their dogs and use a retractable leash,” says Yuliia. “It’s very painful to watch!”
Negative experiences can also cause animal aggression. For example, if a dog has already been bitten by other dogs, there’s a high probability for it to develop an aggressive reaction towards them.
Dog’s fear
Another reason for canine aggression is cowardice. This is a common strategy for animals to attack when they’re scared, and if a dog is fearful from birth or due to training, it can be labeled as “animal aggressive”.
Fits of fear can prompt aggression even in normally fearless dogs. And that’s why it is important to analyse whether your calm dog was scared before it displayed signs of aggression.
Our experts believe that although many people still consider fear-based training as part of the norm, such an approach is unacceptable in the modern world.
“You need to negotiate with the dog and treat it humanely,” says the dog handler Maryna Boiko. “In that case, the dog will be loyal to you and trust you. Fear will not lead to love, and therefore the dog will not protect its human if necessary. A frightened dog can just be waiting for the right moment to express itself the way it wants. And the owner is unlikely to be pleased with it.”
Owners’ nervousness and fear
Another reason for canine aggression is the emotional state of the owner. Even if a person is not usually aggressive, does not use intimidation as a method of training, does not hurt the dog, but is often nervous or full of fears, this will affect the animal as well.
“If the owner is constantly stressed and smells of adrenaline, a dog that is sensitive to smells will begin monitoring the situation and try to understand the reasons. In such a situation, the dog’s nervous system is overloaded, so it will react to stimuli in a completely different way than in a calm state,” explains Maryna Boiko.
“It’s important for owners to learn how to calm down when they are with their dogs. During lessons, I often ask owners to just start breathing deeply. It’s a very simple method, but it helps,” adds Yuliia Marunych.
Human mistakes at various stages of canine development and interaction
Our experts listed the main mistakes made by dog owners that can lead to animal aggression — from the moment they choose to adopt a dog and to the dog’s training in later years. However, there is also a universal mistake in interacting with a dog of any age — when the same thing is one day allowed, another day forbidden. This happens due to inconsistency or lack of coordination in the actions of people who interact with the dog. Therefore, it’s necessary to have a common training strategy from the very beginning.
When choosing a dog
Even when choosing a pet, it is possible to reduce the risks of animal aggression in the future. The first thing to consider is whether you and your dog are a good match. There are dogs that need high daily activity for proper development and life. If you aren’t ready to constantly satisfy that need, an animal overwhelmed with emotions and energy can display aggression.
If you’re planning to adopt a purebred dog, pay attention to the characteristics of the breed, ask the kennel owners or in the shelter how the dogs usually behave both as puppies and adults, and draw your conclusions after interacting with the dog. A good thing to do would be to have a dog handler present when making a choice.
Another cause of dog behavioural issues is a violation of the rules of breeding and training in the first months of life. In particular, early weaning of a puppy from its mother.
“The first important stage of socialisation in the context of aggressive behaviour occurs at the age of up to three months, when a puppy learns how to communicate with adult (through its mother) and small dogs (siblings). A human cannot teach a dog everything that its mother can,” emphasises Yuliia Marunych.
That’s why, if possible, a puppy should be left with its mother for up to three months.
Right after adopting a puppy
Entering a new home is the next stage in the animal’s socialisation. If you lack the experience and knowledge for this, it’s important to contact specialists who share your views in advance. For example, those who will not teach you to scare or hurt an animal. We are talking about training for owners, without a dog for now.
“Training is not as important as socialising, since a dog should know the whole world around it: what people, other dogs, cats, birds and cars are like. It’s just to make it comfortable during a walk. As when a dog feels uncomfortable, it is frightened, overexcited and cannot control itself,” says Maryna Boiko. “For this reason we have to walk with a puppy every day — each time a little farther from home, to places with a little more stimuli. It’s also important to explain to it how to react properly.”
It is recommended to take the dog to the first lesson with a dog handler or animal psychologist only after your puppy has adapted to the new family and when quarantine following the vaccination is over.
Adolescence
Another important step in the dog’s development is adolescence, which occurs between the ages of 6 and 11 months. During that period, young dogs, as in the case with human children, go through a very complicated stage of development. Displays of aggression during this time are a common phenomenon.
“During puberty, your previously adorable puppy can turn into a dinosaur,” jokes Yuliia. “But if the owner is aware of this possibility, they will not be scared, but will know how to react or when to ask for help.”
“If at this age a young dog acts aggressively and the owner doesn’t react in any way, this behaviour will become standard for it. Your teenager should hear right away that this kind of behaviour is not permitted,” adds Maryna Boiko. “It’s easier to prevent such things than to correct them afterwards.”
Though, all experts emphasise that, in most cases, it is possible to correct an adult dog’s behaviour, although it requires more time and effort. However, it is usually not possible to completely change stereotypes. And it is not always appropriate to retrain a dog. For example, it makes no sense to start correcting a dog that has been interacting aggressively for all of its 9-10 years, if its owners have tolerated it. This is a very big challenge for an animal of respectable age.
Ways of preventing and correcting animal aggression
Yuliia Marunych emphasises that it is not appropriate to give advice in general. Each dog requires an individual approach.
The bottom line is, our experts say, that the main objective of any kind of training is to teach the dog to focus on its owner.
Maryna Boiko explains, “Executing commands is not the main thing. What’s important is how the dog can focus on its owner in such a way that, in any situation, hearing the owner call out its name will be enough to instantly switch over. To that end, a person has to be more interesting than everything around. It’s quite difficult, as the world is so big and attractive! That’s exactly why we start training dogs from an early age to reinforce the skill.”
Owners need time to get to know the animal, to learn themselves and to teach it. A good strategy is to show the pet that being with its owner is advantageous: “Look at me and you’ll get a treat, affection or a game…” For different animals, different sets of rewards can be developed.
“One should start with simple trick commands to get the dog interested. It might be easy to teach a puppy to sit still, but it won’t be interesting,” says Maryna. “So we break up the basics with tricks: do a snake run, do a spin, give a high five or show your nose.”
When a pet is trained to see and listen to its owner in all situations, even in case of aggressive behaviour, it will be easier to handle.
“One of the simplest teaching techniques is to stop and stand still, not to react emotionally and not to pull a leash. Just let the dog run around and then call it over, give it a treat and then command it to go back in its place,” says Maryna. “But this may not work, and then you’ll have to look for other methods.”
It’s necessary to teach a dog how to behave when there’s a stimulus. If you understand what exactly can provoke certain reactions in your pet, you need to work out an algorithm of its behaviour. For example, it should come to its owner, sit next to or between their legs, and then play when the ‘stimulus’ passes by to release the tension. This is just one possible action protocol Maryna Boiko told us about. This is the one her Corgi Lucky has. But there can be a lot of them, and each dog has its own. Your hard work and support of an expert will help you form the one that will be effective for your dog and easy to understand.
Daryna Vasylchuk also recommends self-education: listening to lectures or reading books such as, for example, Oksana Galan’s “Who Do I Live With? A Short Course To Understand the Dog.”
Whether training is successful depends on the persistent systematic work of the owner, the desire to stay in contact with the dog, read its signals and understand its personality. And this is only possible with unconditional love and the desire to do everything in the best way for your friend.
Content
