Aggression: An All Too Common Dog Behavior Problem

Aggressive behavior is usually caused by a dog's fear, stress and anxiety in a particular context. It can also be influenced by early socialization deficits as well as a dog’s genetic tendencies.  Aggression is a normal evolutionary behavior in dogs that becomes a problem when dogs begin using it as an habitual way to resolve conflicts, protect access to resources or defend territory within their domestic sphere. Using aggressive behavior does not make a dog "mean" or "vicious."  A dog's use of aggressive behavior is also not a permanent character flaw. Remember that aggression is a category of behaviors such as growling, lunging, biting,tooth displays and so on; it is not a mental state. The best way to look at aggressive behavior is as a series of actions, not the emotional values that are often imposed on those actions. 

Aggressive behavior in dogs is most frequently caused by:

1. Lack of proper and early socialization

2. Lack of training

3. Unskilled use of aversive and punishment-based training methods

4. Traumatic experience

5. Genetic predisposition (poor breeding)

What are NOT causes of aggression:

• "Spoiling" the dog
• Playing tug games
• Not being a dominant enough pack leader

If your dog is showing any signs of aggressive behavior, please contact me as soon as possible. I work with all forms of canine aggression, from resource guarding to dog-dog and dog-human biting behavior.

TRAUMA & AGGRESSION IN DOGS

A Not-To-Be-Missed webinar now available for purchase on Thinkific!!The live version of the Trauma and Aggression in Dogs webinar was a huge success ! I am so grateful to the almost 150 people who signed up and especially to those who were able to attend the live event. Because of the enthusiastic response, I have decided to make the recordings of the live webinar event available as a standalone course on Thinkific at the same modest fee of $50 US. This Thinkific short course has been approved for 2.5 CEUs by CCPDT, 2 CEUs by the IAABC and 2 CEUs by Karen Pryor Academy.  . Hope to "see" you there! Presented by Dr. Laura Donaldson, PhD, CDBC, KPA CTP, CCUI this 2 hour webinar will offer a deep dive into the relationship of traumatic experience and aggressive behavior in dogs. Trauma is a frequently overlooked as well as underreported motivation for canine aggression. My webinar aims to bring canine traumatic experience as well as the intertwining of trauma and aggression into greater visibility, whether this be for our own dogs or the dogs of our clients. No previous knowledge about trauma or aggression is necessary or presumed. I view this offering as a public service, so I have tried to keep costs minimal (the Thinkific learning platform is expensive, though, so I do need to charge a bit to recover costs). Topics I will cover in Part One include canine PTSD and defining trauma as well as the information processing and neurobiology involved in canine traumatic experience. In Part Two, I will present several detailed case studies of trauma and aggressive behavior in dogs as a way of highlighting the real-life importance of becoming more trauma-informed companions to and caretakers of our dogs.  Keep the canine faith!!!