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Aggressiveness by Sonja Perklén
Restraining actions and conflicts With animals that follow the herd, like the dog, many intention movements have developed to work also as signals, i.e. have melted into the "language". Turning the head away, for example, has become a restraining action for aggression. When a dog turns his head away, his face and his eyes - which are important threat measure - the aggression level of the opponent decreases. A dog that gets threatened or attacked by another dog ends up in a conflict between fear for, and aggression towards the opponent. The aggression developed may get directed towards something less threatening near by, as for example another dog. Under these circumstances the dog may well attack even its owner, who under normal circumstances is not regarded as threatening.
Notice how the German Shepherd is turning away her head, from the puppy, who surrenders by showing her stomach. A correct behaviour! Another sign of conflict, which appears totally unmotivated in different situations of conflict are overstrung reactions. A dog ending up in conflict between fear and aggression, or fear and curiosity, can suddenly start to lick his nose, itch himself behind his ears, yawn or stretch. These are the most common forms of overstrung reactions. If you study your dog and his behavior carefully, you will soon learn if he is getting afraid of certain things or certain situations. When a new pack is formed, when new members turn up or when a member of the pack starts to question the rank of the leader, threatening pictures or fights may arise. These openings appear almost daily for a dog owner; when walking the dog in the woods, when the dogs are in their run etc. Some dogs are very sensitive and uncertain when it comes to ranking, others are more adaptable to a new pack. Dominance aggression may also be directed against the members of the family, as the dog considers its family, as its pack. It is of vital importance to let the dog know its rank as early in life as possible, or things may get an unhappy ending. A course participant at a basic course I held, had a Golden Retriever who, in its home, had had the opportunity to rise in rank. Owner willingly admitted he had not been very consistent in his training. The dog had already come a long way in taking over the leadership at home at the age of 1 1/2. We made great efforts to improve the owners leadership, with bites on our arms and legs as a result. If our effort were worth while, is yet too early to foretell. The problem with a dog rising in rank can be solved, but only if all parties co-operate; the family, the children and all other involved have to take their responsibility. Another course
member had a Flat Coated Retriever who had risen in rank over his
female owner. Notice the hunched up posture of the puppy when greeting the German Shepherd! The territory is the area the dog defends from intruders. A dog may, for instance, bark at the door or the boundary of the building site. This behavior has in some cases been considered as desirable and breeding to maintain this behavior has been carried out. Hangar dogs are such dogs, specially bred for keeping intruders out of the aircraft hangars. In this context I wish to mention that dogs barking at the boundary of the building site when someone is passing by, fortify this behavior if not immediately corrected. Next time someone passes by, the same behavior is otherwise provoked and the dog gets more and more confidence for each time - the dog wins! The dog’s attempt to scare off the person succeeds because the person passing by leaves! The dog registers its barking and growling as a very effective action. The form of aggression most difficult to handle is that caused by fear. When a dog gets frightened it tries to get away from whatever scares him by taking refuge. If the escape is barred there is only one way for the dog to get away from the object causing the fear - mainly through attacking. An example: At a show I visited there was a small Sheltie bitch. Owner had the dog on a leash and stood talking to some people. After a while a man with a Collie happened to pass by. The Collie - also on a leash - wanted to greet the Sheltie. Sheltie went to attack and then quickly went to hide between owners legs. The Sheltie had found it’s escape route barred by the leash - and felt it had to attack. Another example is the dog laying under the table growling, at your friends house, when you are visiting. The dog does nothing, not until you turn your back on it... that is when it attacks! Anxiety biters are dogs with a very poor nerve constitution. It can be very difficult to get rid of this kind of behavior. Treatment can be successful and is performed through building up the dog’s confidence by meeting unfamiliar dogs and humans and through "stopping" the dog through "diverting", "interrupting" and "praising". In the case of the small Sheltie bitch, I found it unbelievable that none of the parties (all dog people, some breeders), did not react even the slightest to the behavior. Instead it was commented: "look how silly she is!" A combination of fear, uncertainty and dominance can cause a dog to defend its owner, its family and the children, from unknown people and dogs. Feeling responsible for its pack and because he his "locked" by his pack belonging, unable to escape, he feels he must attack. The pack defense can also be a pure action of dominance. In these cases it is important to try to diminish the dog’s fear and clarify the family’s higher rank which makes the family responisible for all initiatives needed to be taken. Aggression can be caused by several other reasons than the above mentioned and because of this it can be rather difficult to cure aggressive behavior on ones own. It is important to ask for help at an early stage. Aggression can, for example, be caused by pain, stress ect. It may even be as simple as a tooth ache. The wave of pain hitting the dog at the same second someone touches him, may well cause him to attack even his owner. If the aggression is caused by such reasons, which of course must be taken into consideration, the cure is so much easier, but the reasons for the aggression, can be just as hard to find out about. In context I would like to finish by mentioning a Sheltie bitch of mine, in hard labor, not being able to deliver a very large puppy. She was getting more and more upset. Trying to help her was useless, as I could not get a grip of the puppy. Lifting her up, to carry her to the car for a drive to the vet, she finally managed to push the puppy out. The pain must have been incredible, and me holding her, became the target for her agony. It still amazes me this bitch never bit me - screaming out laud she just marked bites with her teeth gently on my arm. Study your dog - it is most rewarding!
http://hem1.passagen.se/nightwin/articles/engaggre.htm |
Aggressiveness
is an interesting part of our dogs language and can be caused by
various reasons. I will only very briefly clarify this behaviour
in my article.
A re-directed behavior
which does not necessarily have to show up as a form of aggression,
but can be any form of behavior, is when a dog ends up in conflict
between greeting another dog, who he, at the same time, is afraid
of. He may in this case, start searching for contact with his owner.
The dog lay on her bed
growling and biting at her, not allowing her to lay down. This was
however easily solved with the help of one of our Club’s instructors.
She went to visit and while the dog was on the bed, she took a firm
grip of the dog, carrying gloves, and literally threw the dog through
the room, away from the bed. The owner had, by this action, taken
back her position as highest ranked member.
