Aggression in dogs is rarely unpredictable. To prevent it, it is essential to know how it works
A What is aggression in dogs
Always keep in mind that aggression is part of the dog's mode of communication. All dogs can bite at one time or another. A dog that has never bitten might do so, and a dog that has bitten before might never bite again, as it might start over.
The reason why some dogs are very aggressive, while others absolutely cannot be, is explained, among other things, by what is called the tolerance threshold. This is about what the dog can endure, in absolute terms, but also from the point of view of questioning his hierarchical rank. For example, a dog with low temperament will turn to aggression after being pushed around 50 times, while a dog with a strong temperament will use aggression at the first push. Aggression is not at odds with sociability.
Very sociable dogs can be very aggressive. Sociability is defined as the ability to be able to communicate and since aggression is an integral part of communication in dogs, an aggressive dog is not an unsocial dog. Aggression is not an end in itself, but it is a means. A way to maintain or acquire social status. As such, aggressiveness has a social function, that of maintaining cohesion within the pack. Aggression is used as a defense against fear or when a dog is injured or feels diminished. It is used to catch prey, this is called the predatory instinct. This instinct is present in all dogs, but more or less strongly. Aggression also serves to defend one's territory. Aggression is therefore used to resolve hierarchical conflict, to defend oneself, to defend one's territory and to control or kill prey.
B Who is attacked by a dog and why ?
A large part of the attacks are directed towards the family and close entourage, these are attacks related to the hierarchical status that has been granted to the dog or to the place to which the dog wants to reach. A dog will use aggression to control what gives him power, and power remains his main pursuit, especially since he no longer needs to worry about his meals, which in the wild state took a lot of energy from him and he had to save some to hunt. A dog will therefore bite to defend its status or to take a new one. After their first heat, females suddenly enter an adult hierarchy. They will therefore suddenly defend the hierarchical status they will have thought they have acquired or attack to take a new status. There is a peak in aggression in females after the first heat. In males, assertiveness attempts are much more gradual. They happen at several times that correspond to surges in testosterone. And at social maturity between one year and two years old, the dog will more fiercely defend the status it has acquired. The status of a dog is defined by the places it occupies in the territory, by the place and order it occupies to eat, whether or not it has the initiative for physical contact and by sexuality. . In your home, entering visitors, or passers-by, may be victims of aggression, because the dog is defending its territory. The people your dog will meet on a walk, especially joggers, cyclists because of their rapid movements, tend to arouse the predatory instinct in dogs. The dog might run after them and even bite them to catch what they consider to be prey. Children are often the victims of two-period sensitive dog bites. The first when the child is traveling alone and the second at puberty. A study carried out by the Canadian Hospital Information and Research System in Injury Prevention clearly demonstrates this. All ages combined, bites directed at children under one year of age account for 6.5% of bites and this percentage rises to 22.1% for the 2-4 age group. For 10-14 year olds this percentage is roughly similar since it is 23.6% has dropped to 5.3% for 15-19 year olds.
Children who acquire motor skills explore the universe they have been able to observe for months on end, and the dog is one of them. Children grab objects and will want to grab the dog and even climb on top of them in a burst of discovery. The dog could then be aggressive in repelling unpleasant contact or in subduing a child. A dog with a strong temperament will not always accept, for hierarchical reasons, a contact initiated by a puppy or that the puppy puts a part of his body above one of his own (which is perceived as domination) and will use aggression to set limits. The attitude of a dog is the same whether it is a puppy or a child.
Dog fights are common, two dogs fight when neither of the two wants to submit, then they fight until one of them submits. Some fights can go quite far if neither dog submits, however as soon as a dog submits, the fight should end as soon as possible. A dominant will assault a subordinate to call him to order. A dominated will attack a dominant to take his place. Puberty in dogs is a critical age from an aggressive standpoint. This is an age where the puppy that has become an adult will have to position itself vis-à-vis its peers and aggression is the main means of this.
C Aggression in dogs as a pathology
This chapter is purely informative and will not be developed since when faced with pathologically aggressive dogs, their reactions are often unpredictable and difficult to control. But rest assured I have only met very few dogs in this case, apart from the cowardly dogs. Aggression takes on inordinate and unpredictable proportions when the puppy has been poorly socialized, socialized and poorly imbued with.
When the dogs are in a group, there is a pack effect which does not stop the aggression of even a submissive individual. When a dog has been poorly impregnated, that is to say his living environment at the farm has deprived him of solicitations and stimulation, the dog will develop fearful behaviors in multiple situations. This is called sensory deprivation syndrome. The fearful dog has a strong tendency to bite in defense. He will feel assaulted in multiple situations. Although this attitude is natural, the bite is no longer a ritual because the dog no longer controls the pressure exerted by its jaw. That is, there is no longer an inhibited bite. These bites often cause very serious lesions.
When the dogs are in a group, there is a pack effect which does not stop the aggression of even a submissive individual. What is pathological is not group aggression, but that this type of aggression violates a golden rule in dogs: submission stops aggression. When a dog has not learned the canine codes, because he has been deprived of contact with his congeners from an early age, his propensity to be aggressive increases dramatically. However, studies have shown that for a dog deprived of contact with its species and developing in a sociable group, but of another species, this dog could later socialize with its fellows. I met only one dog that was not sociable. It was about a male who assaulted females for no reason and kept biting them when they submitted. This dog also wanted to assault humans for no reason.
There are dogs that aggress because of biological dysfunction which makes the bites completely unpredictable, if there is no cure, euthanasia seems inevitable.
How to prevent aggression
A To dominate your dog
To control and channel your dog, it is essential to dominate him. To let him dominate you would give him the heavy responsibility for the survival of the group. He would be in charge of handling everything that is vital in your home and one of the ways the dog has to do this, and will use it, is aggression. To dominate his dog is to relieve him of the management of the group so it considerably reduces the risk of aggression which then becomes almost zero for the family unless the dominated dog tries to assert himself. In general, attempts to gain power from a dominated dog if taken correctly are not often a problem. What is more problematic is wanting to assert yourself against a dog who dominates in adulthood and it becomes very difficult if the dog has a lot of temperament and it becomes almost impossible if your dog threatens you and that he has more physical strength than you. Today a client of mine is looking to place her dog, a two year old golden retriever. She was aware of the hierarchical rules to be imposed on her dog too late because he was aware of his physical superiority. This dog has already bitten her twice when she tries to stop her from doing something. With a dog of this type, when he uses aggression to try to submit you, it would be necessary, at that precise moment, to dominate him physically by tackling him to the ground, otherwise, he will always have the upper hand. on you and you will never properly control your dog. If the entire family dominates the dog, the risk of bites becomes extremely limited for its members. On the other hand, this in no way removes his instinct for guarding, predation, his aggressive reactions in case of fear and the dog's will to want to assert himself outside the family circle, although for some dogs this tendency to want dominated may decrease if he does not see himself as the dominant in you. But to master your dog in the face of outward attacks, excellent obedience is essential. This obedience cannot be acquired without domination by one's dog. If your dog dominates you it is completely incoherent for him to have to obey you and if he has a strong temperament you will only have brutality to make you obey it and you will never obtain the same degree of obedience as if you dominate your dog.
So how do you dominate your dog?
Dominating your dog does not mean being stronger than him, moreover in packs of wild dogs it happens that a very small dog dominates hounds. It has more to do with strength of character, intelligence, and your ability to be more stubborn than him. To dominate a dog you have to control what is vital for him. So you have to show him that you manage food, territory, contacts, sexuality, movement and to a certain extent the game. Dominating your dog does not necessarily require physical force, however, in some situations it serves to signify and confirm our status of dominant. If you give in in a physical duel that begins it will encourage your dog to use aggression in a subsequent conflict.
B Make your dog obey
Getting your dog to obey is going to be necessary to prevent aggression towards outsiders. You will never take away a dog's predatory instinct, but you can prevent it from leaving after prey or call it back if it is already running after it. To prevent him from defending the territory, represented by the house, you will force him to stay in a specific place, such as on his basket for example. This will relieve him of having to decide who can enter or leave your home. If a dog has a very strong temperament he should stay in his place when strangers come and go in different places of the house. Obedience will also serve as a reminder of your dog during tense interactions with his peers. Obedience will also help you channel your dog when he is afraid. When heckling physically with other people, it is important to keep your dog away as he may defend or attack someone. It is also important to keep a dog away that is in the middle of a group, person or dog, as this central position will give it the power to manage interactions between individuals. It is not easy to make your dog obey in all of these situations. To achieve this level of obedience your dog must be submissive to you, and that goes through the rules of house life. You will also need the help of a competent professional.
C Control a dog's interactions with those around him.
In general, you should never initiate physical contact with a dog without calling him and never go to a dog lying down. When a dog is lying down, you will necessarily approach it by being higher than it which can be perceived as a posture of domination especially as you are going to stroke the upper parts of the dog. When petting a dog it should always be done under the mouth or on the sides, again putting your hand on the head, neck or back and a sign of domination. What significantly reduces the risk of bites, although they are real, when you pet the upper parts of a dog, is that the dog often associates contact with petting and the petting is pleasant for him. There is danger with dogs with a strong temperament. Never allow someone to make brutal contact with your dog. Again it is best for people to call a dog when they want to pet it. A dog is not a soft toy and should not be forced into unwanted contact. After being called, if the dog feels like it, he will come in contact and if not, it will prevent him from using aggression to refuse. Although a large majority of dogs readily accept spontaneous human interactions, let us not forget the hundreds of thousands of bites annually in France and that it is better to be too careful than not enough. Your dog should never be left without your supervision if he is in contact with someone who does not know him and if he is among your close entourage, he is good, even if you think you have the sweetest of dogs, to recall certain elementary rules. Do not remove a bone or toy from its mouth, do not disturb it when it is resting, always have physical contact with it after calling it, do not go to an injured or weakened dog, do not l 'to step over or grab it. Do not let a dog get involved in games that mimic chases and brawls. A very important rule to follow is that a cowardly dog should never be cornered. If he doesn’t have the possibility to run away, he will aggress to get out of this situation and we have seen that when a cowardly dog bites, he no longer controls the pressure exerted by his jaw. You should never leave a dog alone with children. Let’s not forget that according to this Canadian study, in 71.2% of dog bites directed at children, the abuser dog is known to the child and lives in its immediate environment. When dealing with a dog you meet and whom you do not know, to avoid any risk of biting, it is best to adopt as neutral an attitude as possible. Before you realize if he's more of a "friendly" demeanor, ignoring him is the best course of action. All of these rules would make sense if we saw the dog as a wolf. So never forget that the dog is a domestic wolf.
D The importance of breeding conditions
The breeder is almost entirely responsible for the sociability of the dogs and their balance, the future owners will only help to continue the work done at the breeding. Some shortcomings within the breeding may be, or will be, irrecoverable. Two very important points must be respected by breeding. The first and that the puppies should never be separated from their mothers until they leave with their new owners. If for various reasons the mother cannot take care of the puppies, they must be in contact with adults. Indeed, it is the mother, for many who will teach them the inhibited bite. Around 5-6 weeks of age, puppies' teeth erupt and during play the puppy will tend to hurt other puppies but also during suckling. The pain felt by the mother and the cries caused by the puppies bitten too hard by a member of the siblings will cause a reaction from the mother who will growl at the puppy who is biting and biting him if he does not submit. . When the bite is painful, the bitten puppy will also bite, but harder. These interactions will teach the puppies to control the pressure of their jaw but also that submission stops the aggression. Without this learning, the dog's simple pinches would be serious bites. Unfortunately, many breeders separate the puppies from their mothers. Either by ignorance or not to damage the breasts of mothers brought to participate in beauty contests. The second very important point is what is called the impregnation period. This period ranges from age 3 weeks to 3 months. This period will serve as a frame of reference for the dog's entire life. During this period the puppies must be very stimulated, independently for each sense, and a lot surprised. The more they will be during this period, the less they will be in adulthood. It is considered that a puppy raised in the countryside up to 5 months in a setting poor in stimulation will not be able to adapt to city life and to the changes. If this period of impregnation is essential, it is because it conditions the dog's balance and his degree of fear in absolute terms. We have seen that a cowardly dog is often made to bite in defense and he will no longer ease the pressure on his jaw. The more fearful a dog is, the more likely it is to bite and the type of bite is then dramatic. It is therefore essential to choose the right breeding.
