The Root Causes of Aggression in Dogs

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Exploring the behavioural, Environmental, and Psychological Factors Behind Canine Aggression and How to Address Them 

📧barbara.j.hardman@brighthorse.ie

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:17

Hi everyone, I am going to start this podcast or blogcast because it is based on the blog, and I think blogcast is probably a good enough word, I might as well roll with it, by heavily caveating that aggressive behaviours in dogs are hugely underpinned by underlying medical issues. A lot of the aggressive behaviors that we see are because the dog is in discomfort or pain and is trying to avoid it in the best way they know how. This blog doesn't cover that. I do encourage you to go and have a look at some of my other blogs, and they are linked in this one here that talks about if the behaviour your dog is presenting could be medical. But for the sake of clarity, I am solely talking about what we deem as aggressive behaviours rather than aggression in regards to the current literature. So at the end of this blog, you'll see there's a number of re references there from the paper, and this is where this blog comes from. It is effectively a literature review on aggressive behaviours, demographics, environment, the different factors within purebred dogs that we see and we can measure, human interactions within a domestic setting between dogs and humans, the occurrences, what kind of different context we see, and what are the risk factors. Also, the studies of what we call associative factors for responses in pet dogs. So what associations happen with that aggression, the prevalence of it within society, and then the different sort of behavioural variations that are there, and also what we understand about socialization, activity, living in different environments, human versus rural, and also our impact and how we work around dogs and how that can influence. So this is very much a literature review that I have put together just outside of medical factors. So this is very much if there isn't anything underlying happening. But there is also other blogs there that talk about that. So with that in mind, I'm gonna get started and talk about ultimately the root causes of aggression. So what is aggression? Um throughout this blog, I will move between saying aggression and aggressive behaviors or distance-based behaviors as well, because they all kind of they're all kind of similar, but they have their own sort of different definitions. But ultimately, aggression or aggressive behaviors in dogs is probably one of the most concerning and frankly scary behaviors a dog can perform. If you have ever had me out for a consultation with a dog who will lunge and bark, I will still jump. I've been doing this for a very long time, but I will still jump, you know, because it is designed to create distance. And we know instinctually it is very hard not to. If you get a loud bark in your ear, you are not gonna be so stoic that you do not move. Uh, and if you don't move, it's probably a bad idea because the dog wants to get distance away from you. So it is a really scary behaviour. You know, barking dogs, lunging dogs, biting dogs are scary, of course they are, and it's not only scary for the pet owners but also visitors, families, and it's dangerous to just generally society at large. So what's important as well to consider here is it kind of gets a bit complicated with the Irish legislation, and we sort of step into the Dangerous Dog Act, and it goes beyond the scope of this blogcast, gonna just roll with that name, to talk about that. But it is very important to just say that if your dog has bitten and broken skin or has bitten someone, there are ramifications within the legal system. It is very important that you get a professional in to help assess the dog and that you follow safe steps to ensure that that dog does not bite again because there are legal ramifications, and that is important to talk about. Because even if your growl is just your growl, growling, snapping, and even more severe incidents like biting, these aggressive behaviors can disrupt everything and as say create a public safety risk. In extreme cases, it can lead to legal cases, uh, both civil and judicial, and or the dog's euthanasia. So understanding the root cause of aggression is crucial to prevent those outcomes and ensure safety for both us and our dogs. Canine aggression or canine aggressive behaviors are influenced by a variety of factors. And again, I'm not speaking about underlying medical issues in detail here. You can scroll through the blog, you'll see there's a link to another blog that I've written, and there's also a blogcast for you to be able to dive into that a little bit more. But for this purposes of this blogcast and blog, we're going to talk about genetics, environment, socialization, and also the relationship between dog and its owner. Although this is a new concept within behavioral sciences, we do know that that has an impact. Now it's very clear, important, and clear to say here that the dog is not attempting to dominate you in any kind of situation. That is not why they're performing that behavior. And this idea of alpha is long been debunked. You know, while we view aggression in general or aggressive behaviours as a negative trait, it is really important to understand and remember that it is a normal behavior in an animal's repertoire. Um, it's highly linked in the dog to survival instincts, protection, self-defense, and in the domestic dogs, aggression can be problematic when it's misdirected or triggered too easily, but it's coming from the genetics and that evolutionary pathway. So the first thing I want to talk about is understanding the different types of aggression because, as I say, aggression itself is a very umbrella term. Um, aggressive-based behaviors is probably more accurate, and I think as I said before, distance increasing behaviors I think personally is more accurate. For the sake of this blog cast and blog, I'm going to continue to use aggressive, so we all are on the same page. I personally prefer to use the the term distance increasing behaviors because the aim of the behavior the dog is performing is to increase distance away from something. Like they're not trying to necessarily start a fight, they would rather de-escalate the situation with calming signals. They want to go, okay, bro, sell down. It's okay, we don't want to start a fight. Like they would prefer to do that when that no longer works. They also want to try and avoid and they'll walk away. And then when we get beyond that, then they feel like they have to step it up to uh I need to get this person, I need to get this dog, I need it to get away from me. And that's why I prefer personally to call it distance increasing behaviors because I think it's far more accurate. But again, for the sake of this, we're gonna call it aggressive because I think that's what we all understand what that looks like. So the first one is fear-based aggressive behaviors. So fear is one of the most common triggers for aggression in dogs, and this is why, straight off the top, it's important not to look at it from a dominance or an alpha perspective. We need to go, do you know what? Is my dog actually scared of that? Is that why they're like, whoa, get away from me? And they're so scared that that is their only recourse. If a dog is so over-threshold and afraid of something, they may feel like they have to a quote unquote lash out because they feel threatened or they feel cornered. Now, what's very important to understand here is it doesn't matter if the threat is real or not, it's their perception of whether it's real. Okay, it's what they feel is a real threat. And however well-meaning, when we do recognize our dogs are scared of something, what we tend to do is go, it's okay, don't worry, like I got you, it's fine. Dogs don't understand English, and it doesn't matter how much we tell them it's okay, you know, without the right behavioural modification in place, they're still going to perceive that as a threat, even if it's not. The best example is ultimately vets aren't terrible evil people, they're not threats, they're trying to help your dog, you know, give them a vaccination, take their bloods, do their dental exam, whatever it is, they're trying to make them well. Okay, they're doing good things, but a lot of dogs are scared of the vets. There's no two ways about it because pokey needles hurt, sometimes they have to have examinations with or broken their leg, and that creates this association with, oh, do you know what the vet might actually hurt me? Um, and regardless of whether they're going to be hurt by the vet or not, because that's not their intention, there is a perceived fear there of oh no, I'm in the vets, oh no, and I need to protect myself from that. So it doesn't matter how much the vet or you tell them that the vet is a good thing, that perceived threat is there. And in order to protect themselves, we may get these aggressive behaviors. Again, distance increasing. I need to increase my distance away from what I perceive is a threat. The next I'm going to talk about is territorial aggressive behavior. Now, it's very important to understand that yes, dogs are naturally territorial animals, but this stems from the genetics and the evolution. My cat is messing around, and so if you can hear noise in the background, I do apologize. He is a menace to society, he's trying to climb under a shelf. Is that your territory? Right, okay. They want to try and protect themselves, and oh my god, if you could only see it, he's an absolute menace of society. Totally derailing what I'm trying to say. It comes from genetics, it comes from an evolutionary background, but we have highly domesticated the dog. Now, some dogs we have tried to breed in order to heighten that particular asset. Some dogs we have bred to highlight other facets from their evolutionary lineage. So there is a genetic a huge genetic component to this. However, I would really caution against looking at certain behaviors that are deemed as aggressive as oh, they're defending their territory. It is very important for you to get a behaviorist to be able to accurately assess what's actually happening and put something in place. Um, because we may end up misdiagnosing that, and it might be the incorrect behavior, and then we're not providing the correct support that the dog needs. So, in a general sense, what this can look like is barking at intruders. Uh, my dog is very good at telling me when the postman's here, uh, marking with urine and feces, so if we get indoor elimination and dogs feel like they need to mark, that can be part of it as well. And it can also escalate into physical aggression. So, while territorial behavior or territoriality is an important part of the survival instincts for the lineage of the dog, it can intensify and also can vary greatly between different dogs, even within that particular breed, and sometimes needs to be managed differently through socialization and training. So, this is why I'm saying it's very important that you don't just go, oh, they're just being territorial, and that's fine. I want them to bark with the postman, and actually it might be something completely different, and they might be scared of strangers. So it's very important to make sure that that is actually recognised. So possessive aggression or possessive aggressive behaviors, yay, lots of words, or what we also call as resource guarding, and is more known as resource guarding, but we can also call it pog progressive, progressive aggression, um, is when a dog becomes aggressive or possessive over certain objects it values. This could be food, toys, or even the owner's attention. Um, my little lady gets very resource guardy if uh I tell my horse she's a good girl and give her a cuddle. Um, she gets very, very, very possessive about that. Um, but we can also see it escalate into more than just barking. Normally she just barks at me and tells me that, you know, obviously she's brilliant and the horse can also be brilliant, but she also needs to be the best brilliant. So resource guarding when it manifests into growling and biting, particularly when they have illegal items. Um, I prefer to call it illegal rather than stolen. So we've got the legal items that they can chew and then the illegal ones. And the illegal ones tend to be dangerous for the most part, or it is something that you're like, please, for the love of God, that is my favorite pair of socks, do not chew them. So this develops when the dog feels that that resource is of high value. So the way we need to think about that is is it a resource that has limited, is it a limited resource? You know, and that makes it high value for them. Um, for example, if you know, we were in a drought and we didn't have enough water, water would suddenly become a very important resource. So when we look at this type of aggression, we need to go, okay, well, what's the root cause? It is it's highly valuable for that animal. Why is it valuable? Okay, and if it is a random item every single day and it changes and it doesn't have any like pattern, then again, we need to go back and look at medical stuff, and I do encourage you to go and look at those blogs. But if it is the same thing every time, particular types of food, you know, we know. I mean, I I have three cats in my house and a dog, and everyone loves cheese, and there's definitely a there's definitely some possessive-aggressive behaviours between cat and dog, and all sorts when cheese is on the table. Uh I'm pretty sure they would push each other off a cliff for cheese. So, highly valuable resource, they don't get cheese very often, that's not very good for them, and uh cheese is super tasty, and I'm pretty sure I would fight someone for some cheese too. So, valuable resource, highly valuable for that particular animal. That's why we're seeing it. It's when it is sporadic and it is when it has no obvious trend, and it doesn't seem to be like it doesn't seem to feel like it has a pattern, that's when we need to investigate a little bit further. So I am going to talk a little bit about social or quote-unquote dominance-related aggression, mainly just because it is something we talk about a lot. Um, and this is often completely misdiagnosed, okay? So we either see resource guarding or we see the territoriality or we see fear-based aggression, and we misdiagnose it as that dog is trying to dominate the situation, okay. I'm here to tell you that is not the case, and what we actually would prefer to call it is you know social aggression, okay. And and this comes down to sort of resource guarding. Like if you've got a friend or a colleague that you really value or a family member, and there's a very strong bond with that, you know, that social side of things, and they're really important to you, that's a valuable resource to you, so it can connect to that, or you could be really afraid that something's gonna happen to your friend, and that's fear-based. Does that make sense? So when we refer to social aggression, it's the conflict that arises in social situations. So this could be between dogs in the same household. Uh, if they're negotiating access to a resource or a space, that can sometimes happen. They're not dominating it, but they both really want that. I talked about, you know, my cats and my dog all wanting cheese. That is them negotiating who gets the cheese. But again, that is not a dominant-based behavior, that is them all wanting that resource. We can really mistake a lot of these behaviors as dominance or attempt to try and be the alpha. Honestly, dominance theory has been well and truly debunked. It's not an explanation for canine behavior. We should not be looking at it as a way to train our animals to dominate them or as an explanation for what is happening. Instead, these behaviors are usually part of fear, insecurity, competing motivations, or the desire rather than the desire to control other people. My cat is back. Um, can you tell it might be dinner time? So, social aggression often that manifests towards humans is more about the dog feeling confused, threatened, as a medical issues, I've talked about that, or uncertain about expectations. Now he's trying to climb on my lap. The microphone is here. Honestly, he's not trying to dominate me by the way by sitting on my lap. He's just going, you there, wench, food. So redirected aggressive behaviours before my cat disrupts the whole situation. This happens when a dog is unable to direct the aggression from all everything else that we talked about above towards the source of their frustration or fear or whatever it happens to be, and instead, quote unquote, lashes out about a nearby target. What I call an accident, you know, very much so. So sometimes they can, for example, get like, you know, frustrated that they can see crows outside or magpies in the back garden and they're barking and they're like, Oh my god, I want to get to it. Oh, let me out the back garden, and you go to open the door, and they're so pent up they accidentally barge into you or snap at you or do something else. It is very much kind of that pent-up frustration, and it might look like we're not meeting their needs in other areas, and then it becomes unpredictable, you know. So we would look at supporting them in different ways. So those, so those are the kind of the main like definitions, and and that's based on the current research that we have. I'm sure as we learn more, hopefully they'll get redefined, because that's how good science works. But for now, we're going to talk about the behavioral and environmental factors that influence aggression. So while I talked a lot about genetics and breed, it's not just about that, it's also heavily influenced on behavioral and environmental factors that are happening in that dog's life. The dog's upbringing, their living conditions, their social interactions, and all of their experiences play a significant role in shaping what their aggressive levels are like or what type of distance increasing behaviors they perform. So understanding what contributes to these factors helps us manage it, but also can help us prevent it if we can understand what the root causes might be. So I'm sure you're aware of this. We talk about it all the time as behaviorists and training and trainers, so I do apologize, but early socialization. Puppies have a critical socialization period where they're exposed to various people, dogs, environments, and experiences, soundscapes, like light, everything, everything. And the more they're exposed to during those critical socialization periods when they're flexible and adaptable, the less likely they are to develop fear-based aggression later in life. So socialization helps puppies build confidence and learn how to effectively react appropriately to unfamiliar situations. On the other side of that, dogs that miss out on those early socialization experiences during the critical early learning stages of their life may become more fearful and anxious. And as we talked about, that is one of the biggest reasons for aggressive-based behaviors. So if we fail to expose our dogs to different animals, humans, environments, they can become uncertain, and as a result of that uncertainty, become defensive. And that defensiveness and need to protect themselves is what can lead to a lot of those behaviors. The environment that a dog lives in also has a significant impact on their behavior. Dogs that are isolated, confined, only have small spaces, or have inadequate physical or mental stimulation, so it's not just about walking them, it's also the mental stimulation, are more likely to exhibit frustration-based behaviors, boredom, and then you get the redirected aggressive behaviors. So while we recognize that dogs need regular exercise, they also need mental enrichment and opportunities to be around other people and be around other dogs. We also know, based on the research, that urban environments like cities where dogs face a constant exposure to new people, loud noises, cars, alarms, cities never stop, and unfamiliar animals, it can actually be more stressful and then they're more likely to show signs of aggression, particularly if we haven't set them up for success in those situations. So the studies really do show that living in an urban environment, the dogs can often be more reactive and display higher levels of aggressive behaviors than dogs living in. Rural settings. So stress is a major trigger for aggression in dogs. I mean, just like humans, frankly. Like when I don't know about you, but if I'm overwhelmed or I'm stressed, it can make me just lose the plot altogether. Okay, I really do apologise. My cat was screaming blue murder, and I had to stop all proceedings to go and feed him, because I am just the wench that feeds the animals. And if I didn't do it, all you would have heard was a constant chorus of screaming on the back. And I'm pretty sure most of this recording has just been my cats being my cats. So I can't remember what I was talking about. Um so give me a second. I think it was stress as a major trigger for aggression in dogs. So yes, I think it was. Okay, so dogs, just like humans, get overwhelmed in stressful situations. Um, and that can lead to quote unquote aggressive outbursts. So common stressors include loud noises, uh, unfamiliar places, changes in routine, and chronic stress is a lot different from acute stress. So if I go, you're like, oh, what was that? What's that big noise? Um, that is an acute stressor. You're just it might make you jump. You might have been like, meh, I'm not phased by that. A loud bang or something that goes on suddenly, just once, you might go, Whoo, that's a stressor. Chronic stress, however, is if I just kept clapping in your face day after day after day after day, it starts to become chronic. So it's not just a one-off, it's continuous. And if we don't address those stressors, and sometimes we might not even be aware that they're affecting the dog, they can build up over time and lead to basically unpredictable aggressive reactions. In addition to stress, anxiety, in particular, separation anxiety, can cause a dog to become destructive and aggressive when they're left alone. So the absence of the owner themselves, because it's part of attachment and that stress, impacts their routine, triggering anxiety and can lead to behavioral issues that may like escalate into aggression. So training plays such a critical role in shaping your dog's behavior. I think we we know that fundamentally. Dogs that are raised in environments where training is inconsistent or overly harsh, coercive, or aggressive in its own tr its own right, they are more likely to develop aggressive-based behaviors. So if you have someone who is constantly yelling at you, constantly penalizing you or correcting you, you are gonna reach the end of your tether and you're gonna snap. It's that simple. Because not only is it frustrating and you can't express yourself, but also if that's the environment you're in and that's what you know, that's what you're learning. So punishment-based methods, yelling, hitting, using shot collars, they all increase fear and anxiety in dogs. They don't let them express their normal behavior patterns, it's always coercive and effectively yelling, hitting, punishing is all they learn. And that leads to defensive or fear-based aggression because they feel like it's their only option. On the other hand, we know that if we use positive reinforcement methods, which are good behavior is rewarded, and we encourage that behavior to happen again because we reinforce it with treats or play or cuddles or whatever the dog wants, we know that this encourages trust, reduces fear, and ultimately results in a calmer, happier, less aggressive dog. We know that owners who are consistent and patient when it comes to training like this see fewer aggressive related issues. So now I want to move on to part of the research that talks about the role of the dog and owner personalities in what we see for aggression. Now, this section is not in any way to shame people who have greater anxiety, mental health issues, are neurodivergent. I myself suffer from depression, I also have ADHD and dyslexia, and I have my own anxieties, but the research shows that it does the personalities and the way we see life and the way we come and the way that we work from our behavior does have an impact on what our dogs do. So this is very much coming from the research side of things. It is going to be very sort of empirical and objective, and know that it's more just there as a isn't this interesting? And at no point is it designed to make people feel like the way they behave or their own mental health struggles, neurodivergency, or anxiety is to blame for what is happening to their dog. It is just a this is interesting from the research perspective. This next bit very much comes from recent studies that suggest that aggressive behaviors can be linked to the emotional and social traits of both dog and the person caring for them. So the personality and behavior of the dog's owner can significantly influence the likelihood of aggressive behaviors. So the studies have found that dogs are more likely to exhibit aggression when their owners display certain personality traits. So this could be high levels of neurocism or anxiety, and the owner who is anxious may unknowingly transfer those feelings to their dogs, leading to an animal that becomes more reactive and stressed. However, owners who are owners who are overly controlling or distant in their interactions with their dogs are also more likely to see aggression in their pets. For example, owners with insecure attachment styles, and this is characterized by excessive control or emotional detachment, are more likely to have dogs that display aggression. So these dogs may feel insecure about their role in the relationship, leading to more defensive or possessive behaviors. Dogs are highly attuned to their owners' emotions, and we know that they often mirror them. This is a phenomenal phenomenon. This is a phenomenon known as emotional cognition. So this leads to an increase or can lead to an increased aggression in dogs when their owners are frequently stressed or anxious or angry. Remember, I talked about the environment. If we're around all of that all the time, we start to pick up a tense environment, and this can cause the dogs to feel unsettled, leading to reactivity and aggressive behaviours. Best example I can give is if you've ever had somebody watching a football match and there's a dog there and you get really irate because the referee did it wrong, and the dog just starts barking or gets upset about it because they are feeling all of that. They know all of what that they have associations with what the sounds of the elevated voice, those stress behaviors, all look like because they've learned to associate them with certain things. In contrast, the research shows us that calm, confident owners often happen to raise dogs that are more relaxed and are less likely to show aggressive behaviors. So positive emotional connections between dogs and owners, including a secure attachment, consistent and gentle handling, has been shown in the research to reduce the likelihood of aggressive behaviours. We also know that the owner's level of experience with a dog can also shape their pet's behaviour. So first-time dog owners are more likely to experience aggressive behaviours in their dogs compared to owners with previous experience. And inexperienced owners may struggle to recognise the early signs of stress or fear in their dogs and therefore not provide the training and socialization needed to prevent that aggression. Experienced dog owners, on the other hand, tend to have more knowledge about dog behaviour and are better equipped to manage potential situations or at least recognize when it might be going wrong and get professional help. The chances are as well, what probably influenced the research here is if you are an experienced dog owner and you spent more time with them, you have probably done a lot of learning and self-development yourself and learnt positive reinforcement techniques, and therefore we know that that reduces aggressive behaviors in dogs, so that could potentially be skewing this data. That all being said, this is what the research tells us. So, what can we do about it? So if we're feeling anxious or we're struggling in this particular situation, then it's a great time to go and look for help and support, just like we would for anything else, because then we're in a better place to be able to support not only ourselves but our dogs, and recognising that anxiety and stress in ourselves can help support our dogs and reduce the risk of aggressive behaviors. I'm going to talk briefly about breed, age, and some physical factors that affect this type of behavior in dogs. So we know that there's a huge genetic factor here, as well as breed, because that plays into genetics, age, sex, health, and so on and so forth. So we know that certain types of breeds have a propensity for aggressive behaviors. Now this comes down to the genetics, but also the historical role and how we bred them. So breeds that generally originated from guarding or protection, such as herding, you know, breeds, have a higher tendency for, say, territoriality or territorial defensive aggression. The research sort of highlights German shepherds as an example of having more of a protective role in comparison to golden retrievers. There was a very large study done on aggressive behaviours, and it found that breeds such as rough collies, mincher poodles, and mincher schnauzers were significantly more likely to display aggressive type behaviors in comparison to labradors, golden retrievers, which were known for sort of being a little bit calmer. Now, while these tendencies didn't meet the any specific specific breed isn't inherently aggressive. I've known plenty of golden retrievers and worked with Labradors who will perform these types of behaviors. They did indicate that some of these characteristics are influenced by the genetics and certain situations. So we need to be careful about how we just label certain breeds. Age is another key factor. Ultimately, a mouthing puppy, the reason behind their biting is going to be very different to an older dog who might have a bit of arthritis and is biting for a different issue. Older dogs also can deteriorate due to sensory decline, so that is hearing, sight, smell, and also other cognitive dysfunctions, dysfunctions, cognitive issues such as dementia. This can result in more aggressive responses, particularly in certain situations where they feel stressed. Again, we go back to that fear, stress, what is happening. So regular veterin checkups are really important, particularly as your dog ages. Now, there's quite a lot of conversations about spain and neutering and whether male dogs intact and not neutered are more likely to display aggressive behaviours. There is a cognitive bias here in a lot of the studies, but it is worth noting that males do come up out on top. However, female dogs also display some redirected aggression, and part of this could be displays of maternal aggression protecting young. So there isn't a huge amount, we wouldn't turn around and say, Oh yes, spaying and neuterine will definitely get rid of the problem. If anything, we see that sometimes it's it's neutering or spaying can actually increase aggression because we've applied the wrong treatment for the wrong type of aggressive behaviour that we're seeing. And I generally speaking wouldn't recommend spaying or neuterine in the hopes that the aggression would just stop without doing a full behavioural assessment. Interestingly, body size is another massive factor linked for dogs with aggression, and again, this is where the research is kind of like is this correlation versus causation, and are we finding the are we actually looking at it correctly? So, generally speaking, smaller dogs are perceived as less aggressive. I know about you, but there's many Yorkshire Terriers and Jack Russell's that I'm like, oh, they could take me. Um, but the research has found that smaller dogs exhibit less aggressive behaviors uh compared to larger breeds. Now, the one thing that's important to say is smaller dogs may not be perceived as quote unquote dangerous, even when they do show aggressive behaviors, which means it could lead to a bias that the smaller dog is not performing these behaviors. So it's it's important to not just think, oh, larger dogs are more aggressive than smaller dogs. The research itself could have its own bias. And I've talked about it a few times here. The dog's physical health has a direct impact on the behavior. Pain is a major trigger for aggressive behaviours. Um, as I say, goes out of the scope of this blog. I do encourage you to go and read um one of my other blogs if you want to learn a little bit more about that. So, what about managing and preventing uh aggression? I think we've talked at length about how we can prevent it. So, you know, when that comes to socialization and puppies and environment and meeting their mental and physical needs. But like genuinely, one of the most important preventative measures you can do is to socialize puppies and make sure that they're exposed to a variety of environments, people and animals to develop their skills and set them up for success. We can do things like puppy socialization classes, structured play with other dogs, supervised visits with other people, and help build their confidence. Socialization and lack or lack of socialization, I feel is probably one of the biggest reasons that dogs are prematurely put to sleep or re-homed because we miss that window. Positive reinforcement techniques where we reward the desired behaviors helps shape a dog response and makes them more resilient to stress, reduces the likelihood of fear and anxiety being an issue as they grow. It's very important to avoid punishment-based training, yelling, hitting, shot collars, or escalating with the with the aggression. Do not match like for like. It is a bad call. The dog is not trying to be dominant, and you are making a situation far worse if we do that. We know that these methods cause increased fear and anxiety, which are key drivers in aggressive behavior. It's very important to use positive reinforcement training, which are proven methods to support your dog, build trust, and reduce the likelihood of an aggressive incident. I would say here, if your dog is exhibiting severe forms of aggressive behaviors, such as biting, lunging, and you have had multiple bites, it is very, very important to seek help from a certified behavioral dog trainer or a clinical animal behaviorist or a dog behaviorist. These professionals can help you develop a personalized plan, behavioral modification techniques, desensitization, counterconditioning, and also recommend whether or not the pain is being mediated by fear, stress, pain, and then provide the appropriate interventions. They may even recommend that you go to your vet and that we look into potential health issues, but ultimately it's important to find out what is actually causing this type of behavior, it have we diagnosed the correct one, and to provide the correct treatment plan. I would say just to wrap up, aggressive behaviors in dogs are challenging. The reason I've done this is a literary review is to give you a full understanding of where we're at, but it doesn't negate the stress and the fear that you feel in those situations. They are challenging behaviors, they are difficult to manage, and sometimes it can be really complicated as to what is going on with my dog. I give them everything in the world, I love them so much, why is this happening? And it is very scary. At its very, very core, we want to try and prevent the situation from happening in the first place, but then we want to try and manage it, and we need to find out what the root cause of that is, and you can really only do that with a professional to be able to assess it fully and make sure that you have a good veterinary team on board if there is an underlying condition to seek professional guidance if and when it escalates. At the end of this blog, I've just included a little guide about reactive dogs. This is particularly for dog-on-dog aggression, which we are seeing an increase after COVID. Um, inside of that guide, there's just a checklist about we just dive into that particular issue in a bit more detail. You can unsubscribe unsubscribe anytime. There's no pressure to stay on the email list. You can get the guide, learn a little bit more, and if you don't like it anymore, you can just unsubscribe, it's no problem. And at the very end of this blog, there are references to all of the papers that I discussed. If you want to dive into them in a little bit more detail, and yeah, thank you so much for hit and play today. I hope you found this interesting, and I hope the rest of your day is lovely and full of rainbows. There's a rainbow outside my window at the moment. We've been getting double rainbows at the moment because there's been so much rain and sun. I don't know about you, but I get very excited with a double rainbow. It's the joy. So I hope you've got a rainbow right now, and even better if you got a double rainbow.