What Causes Excessive Dog Aggression?

A very frequently asked question that I get asked is how to reduce and eliminate excessive aggressive behaviour in dogs.

Very recently, England was rocked by news of dogs attacking children. In two of those cases, the same breeds of dogs were involved.

These attacks resulted in at least one child fatality, and following these incidents, the dogs in question were put down.

The underlying causes of a dog’s aggressive behaviour to other people who are not members of his owners’ family is the dog’s own insecurities in his relationship with his owners.

These dogs have frustrations with the people surrounding them. They are probably maltreated, put behind barriers, restricted to confined spaces and habitually put on leashes.

When maltreatments are the probable cause of dog aggression, more often than not the owners have no idea and therefore do not do anything to alleviate their dog’s maltreatment, which frustrates the dog even more.

Dogs show signs of hostile behaviour toward strangers who are perceived to threaten what he considers his family or pack, his possessions or territories.

These aggressive tendencies begin to show up at around 6 months of age and begin with the dog wanting to protect his owners and their property.

My dog training videos further explain how to identify and deal with some of these triggers.

The examples below show the extreme circumstances that may trigger aggressive behaviour in normal dogs:

1. The dog lacks a unified figure of authority and as a result fails to show submission to anyone who tries to exercise control over it.

2. The dog is not exposed to enough family visitors.

3. The dog is exposed to feelings of fear and aggression as expressed by other members of the family towards strangers and people without.

4. The dog has been encouraged to cultivate and exhibit aggressive behaviour by its owners.

5. The dog has been subjected to teasing and aggression by strangers or people outside its home.

6. The dog has been cast away by its previous family members because of probable misbehavior in the presence of guests of the house.

The six points outlined above show the commonly found reasons why dogs act in such an aggressive behavior and I hope they help you in further understanding dog behaviour in general.