Reference Library

There are a wide variety of types of aggression [Defensive aggression, fear-induced aggression, fear-modified aggression, predatory aggression, aggressive play, maternal aggression, pain (or anticipated-pain) aggression, dominance aggression, territorial aggression, protective aggression, possessive aggression, neurologic-related aggression].

Some are learned, others are inherited tendencies… most are some combination. The targets of the aggression can vary widely as well. Family members only, only specific family members, only strangers, only other male dogs, all dogs, other male cats, only Frankie the cat, only men in uniform or people of different skin color, or 7-9 year old boys, or very big men; …you get the picture.

Fear is often a factor in aggressive situations. It can operate as an influential force, or it can be the driving force. Seldom is fear not present as a factor. But when that is the case, the results are striking. This is an animal that is acting aggressively without any fear acting to inhibit the aggressive display. This is most evident in the form of predatory aggression… “the fearless hunter”.

You see, fear in many situations acts to inhibit the aggressive urges.

The best advice anyone can give you without a true working understanding of the problem is avoiding getting into the situation(s) where you expect the animal will get aggressive.

There are certainly situations in which meeting aggression with aggression or increased aggression will help; there are plenty of other situations, however, in which you could die trying, teach the animal the wrong lesson, or create an overly fearful/submissive animal.

If you have an aggressive animal (if it growls, snarls, wrinkles its muzzle, lifts its lip, barks menacingly, snaps or bites), you are well advised to seek the assistance of a professional companion animal behaviorist.

Play is one of my favorite subjects and I could go off in all directions with it in seemingly random ways. But that’s the beauty of play.

The two favorite ways dogs love to play are chasing and mock-fighting. Developing hunting skills is the primary goal of the former, and the latter serves to develop social skills and to strenghten social ties between individuals. Through play, appropriate as well as inappropriate social behaviors are learned. It really depends on how the dogs play partners may or may not guide the interactions. Play allows animals to learn about other individuals and to sort out/advance the relationships they have with these other individuals.

For most dogs, the more physical the play is, the more they love it and the more wound up they get, or in some cases… the more they unwind. To some this can mean an out of control dog. For others, particularly those that have good relationships with play partners, the process, all in the context of play, can lead to profound levels of relaxation.

When animals get out of control in the midst of play or have not learned to inhibit the use of their mouths or claws to an appropriate degree, you have Play Aggression. If it hurts you then it is too rough, not inhibited enough, or too aggressive.

This is a readily treatable problem. The most effective solutions are inherently tied to the details surrounding the development of the problem, and information relating to the relationship(s) that have developed between the dog/cat and the individual target(s) of that aggression.

Typically produced when a dog is being attacked or when there is a threat of being attacked. This can actually occur even when there is no apparent threat. This may occur if there has been any significant past trauma, and when certain associated stimuli or circumstances are present that occurred at, or prior to, the time of trauma, the animal can anticipate a threat and act defensively at this time.

Often, but not always, defensive aggression manifests itself in situations where a dog is cornered, or its movement is restricted (e.g. by a leash or line). Usually, these dogs will provide some subset of threat displays (e.g. lifting its lip, growling, snapping out at the air). Often their ears will be back, and the hair on some portion along their back may be up. Their tails are often tucked.

Other aggressive motivational states can occur simultaneously which can act to alter the visual displays produced (body language and behaviors).

These dogs should not be provoked or antagonized. They are acting primarily out of fear for their own safety, and adding further aggressiveness to this situation can be harmful on a number of levels.

The evolutionary social system of dogs developed around a dominance hierarchy which incorporated different threat displays and inhibited levels of aggression to maintain order and limit frequent/fatal aggressive interactions between pack members.It is usually not an all or nothing thing where Dog A is top dog followed by dog B who resides above dog C…. If a generally more submissive animal is strongly motivated by food, for instance, and a generally more dominant animal is not, the more submissive animal may take a more dominant role by asserting itself aggressively.

Dominance aggression is most often directed towards human family members and other non-human members of a household. Some common presentations include aggressive reactions to being disturbed while resting or eating, attempts to take away bones or other possessions about which the dog is strongly motivated, aggressive responses to discipline (which needs to be distinguished from defensive aggression), and intrusions on their interactions with favored individuals.

The top of a dogs head and the back of its neck are areas related to dominance. This is why well-intentioned children that hug a dominant-minded dog around the neck are often bitten in the face. From the dogs perspective, this is a strong display of dominance on the part of the child, and the dominant-minded dog responds accordingly. It is essentially a communication breakdown between species.

Dominance aggression is more common in male, as opposed to female, dogs and often does not begin until dogs reach behavioral maturity (10 months to 2 years, earlier in small breeds, later in larger breeds). It is largely driven by the presence of testosterone; and it is well advised to have all non-breeding animals neutered @ 6 months of age.

Dominance aggression is common, and costs a lot of dogs their lives. It is however a very treatable problem in most instances. It requires a substantial transfer of information from owners to myself, and then in turn from me to them.

Different from fear-modified aggression, fear-induced aggression is subtly distinct from defensive aggression.

Unlike defensive aggression, in fear-induced aggression there need not be any threat of attack or anticipated threat of attack on behalf of the reacting animal. In fear-induced aggression, if a dog or cat gets sufficiently frightened (by potentially any number of things), it can go into a sympathetic response… that is fight or flight. Some fight, some flee. When an animal attempts to flee, but is unable and then opts to fight, it becomes more similar to a defensive aggression.

While fear-induced aggressions typically start as an inherited tendency, many dogs and cats soon learn that if they get aggressive in this midst of the frightening stimuli, that the frightening stimuli moves away (or the dog is removed from the frightening thing); and so by the process of association these animals learn (probably on a subconscious level) that acting aggressively around something they’re afraid of makes that thing go away, and with its going so goes their fear. As such, this becomes a self-reinforcing behavior.

With proper guidance, behavior modification, and sometimes with the help of anxiolytic drugs, fear-induced aggressions can be ameliorated.

Until appropriate treatment can be taken, (as with most situations), it is best to avoid the fearful stimuli which cause the animal to react.

Fear acts in many cases to modify animals displays/acts of aggression.

Take, for example, the dog (often little) which when greeting someone at the door has mixed motivations. If the dog is protective/territorial, but at the same time is scared, this dog may be keeping its distance (the result of fear) and even backing away as the person enters or approaches the dog. However, when the person turns their back on the dog (which makes this person a less threatening stimulus), the dogs fear declines, its courage goes up and the dog runs up and bites the person in the back of the leg or on their behind.

Lets take another situation in which a dog wants to attack someone at the door, and is not afraid of that person. Add to this picture an owner who has been consistent in effectively disciplining the dog each time it begins its acts of aggression. In the owners presence (where fear of not listening overrides the animals motivation to attack), the dog inhibits its actions. However, if those same circumstances arise when the owner is not present, that inhibitory fear will likely be lacking and the aggression may display itself fully without the fear of repercussion to modify the aggression.

Sorting out the presence of fear(s) in an animals actions is vital to making appropriate decisions in how to best approach/modify problems.

This is a highly specific form of protective aggression. That is the mother that will not allow others near her litter.

Less typically, it is sometimes used to describe the aggression of a mother towards her pups, which does not involve long dominance downs or shaking of the pups, or any prolonged harshness, beating, etc. Discipline is brief, sharp and scary. It usually involves a vocalization +/- a grab of the back of the neck and is directly associated with the maladaptive behavior of the pup.

Neurologic related forms of aggression are relatively rare. Most notable among these syndromes is Rabies, in which affected animals can become unpredictably aggressive. Their aggression is often triggered very easily by sudden noises or movements.

If you see a dog wandering the streets, appearing very alert and anxious and becoming aggressive with any individuals encountered, get inside and call the appropriate authorities. This is an emergency situation and warrants a call to 911.

Other potential neurologic causes of aggression include brain tumors and partial psychomotor seizures.

These can usually by ruled out with a good behavioral history. These disorders are completely unpredictable. That is they have no reliable situational causes or triggers.

Animals in pain or discomfort generally are more irritable and as a result are much closer to their threshold of aggression in terms of their level of tolerance.

Animals can also be quite stoic. It has developed as an evolutionary advantage to not show signs of illness or weakness. Sick and weak animals are more likely to become targets of the aggression of other animals which espouse drives to dominate and take advantage of such circumstances.

Animals that have suffered pains in a particular location (e.g. @ a vet hospital) or in the presence of a particular object/person/other animal, may become aggressive in anticipation of a painful event or when reintroduced to that location. Forcing a confrontation with such an animal is generally not a wise undertaking.

If an otherwise non-aggressive animal becomes aggressive when approached while resting, it should be checked by a veterinarian for any underlying medical/physiologic causes.

Present in animals with very strong hunting instincts.

These animals often bolt after smaller animals (squirrels, rabbits, mice, birds, cats, small dogs) in attempts to catch and kill these prey items.

Dogs may have little regard for their owner who is getting dragged down the street. There have been many owners including children who have been injured as the result of being pulled over and dragged by some very powerful dogs.

Predatory aggression in dogs pose a particular threat in situations where new babies are born or introduced into families. Most noted for this problem are Huskies… where owners have noticed nothing and one day when turning their back or leaving the baby alone, the dog rushes over grabs and shakes the baby and that’s the end of the baby, and usually the end of the dog.

Usually, there are preliminary signs that owners can watch for, and specific measures that can be taken to greatly reduce the risk of such occurrences.

In Cats, predatory aggression is a concern to those owners who also enjoy birds. I have one client who has a nice amount of land and is in a good bit of personal conflict because although she feels a strong need to let her cats out, she can’t allow herself to permit this cause they are catching and killing the very birds she is attracting into her yard with feeders.

More commonly, situations present with single cats that have grown up as the only cat in the household. Play in cats, as in all animals, functions as a potent tool for learning survival skills. Hunting is such a skill that in evolutionary terms has been of great significance to dogs and cats.

In cats, a scarcity of natural prey items often find substitutes in unsuspecting ankles walking past.

There are some very fuzzy lines here with regard to how much of this is predatory aggression and how much of it is overly aggressive play. Here the semantic distinction should not matter with regard to treatment which generally involves appropriate means of discipline, well-structured and strategically timed interaction periods, and appropriate outlets for the energy being funneled into this drive.

Protective aggression represents the display of aggressive behaviors directed towards some person/animal that is perceived as a threat to a different individual(s) [usually some member of the protectors family].

When most of these cases present to me, this protectiveness is typically a very strong instinct in the dog (it occasionally presents as an obsessive/compulsive disorder). There are psychopharmacologic substances which can be of significant benefit in some of these cases. Most of these situations require substantial guidance in managing and modifying these behaviors.

The classic case of this is the indoor cat who is highly aroused watching another cat come into his yard, and up to the window that is keeping him in. The indoor cat wants to attack but cannot. Owner walks past and the indoor cat attacks the owner. This is redirected aggression. The aggression needs an outlet, and finds it in the form of an accessible target.

Displaced aggression is more accidental. Here a 2nd indoor cat may walk up to the other cat at the window, which takes cat #1 by surprise and cat #1 strikes out at cat #2. This is a common scenario which can lead, if not addressed properly, to prolonged aggressive problems between cats in a household.

In dogs, this involves aggressive displays (any combination of menacing barking, lunging forward, growling, snapping, biting) to individuals entering an animals yard or home. It can also happen as an individual enters a room where the dog is.

Territorial aggression can usually be distinguished from protective aggression by determining whether the behavior occurs on walks away from the home area and/or in other locations (places not regularly visited by the dog). Occurrences in the car can be either, but are often territorial.

Territorial Aggression is often linked with other territorial behaviors such as urine marking.

Both dogs and cats may mark their territory. This is usually not a problem if the urine marking occurs outdoors on the property. But it becomes a major problem when animals begin doing it indoors.

This is a common complaint often associated with territorial disputes between cats in a given household.