Is It Something I Do? Human Factors In Dog Aggression

In this article I want to share with you some interesting headlines from a recent research paper about aggressive behavior in dogs. Aggressive behavior isn’t something that’s pleasant to think about, and hopefully it’s something you’ll never encounter. But we all share the potential to become better dog owners by understanding why dogs sometimes resort to aggression, and how we can reduce the likelihood of it happening.

It’s important I start by stressing that the underlying reasons for aggressive behaviour are often complex and overlapping. None of what follows is intended to provide a cut-and-dry reason for canine aggression in any individual situation. If you’re struggling with aggressiveness from your dog, please talk to their vet or an experienced force free behaviorist as soon as possible. Your vet will rule out underlying medical issues or pain which could trigger hostile behavior. They can probably recommend a good behaviorist too, if you don’t know where to start. The behaviorist will meet you and your dog to build up a complete picture of their behavior and what’s behind it. Then they’ll give you step by step instructions for achieving change.

On to the new research…

Previous research into canine aggression has focussed heavily on what the dogs themselves had in common. For example their breed, whether they had been adequately socialized as puppies, or if they had a history of reactivity. This new paper from the University of Lincoln, England, offers a fresh perspective. It takes a look at what the owners of dogs displaying aggressive behaviours have in common. And the results are certainly food for thought…

Aggressive dogs are more likely to belong to first time dog owners

Intuitively, this makes a lot of sense. The more dogs we get the pleasure of owning, the more experience we gain of how to minimize unwanted behaviour. The researchers in Lincoln found that first time dog owners were particularly more likely to report their dog being aggressive at meal times and during handling. Which suggests they (the owners) might have had limited understanding of resource guarding, and how to successfully acclimate their dog to being handled.

Aggressive dogs are more likely to belong to people under 25, and least likely to belong to people over 60 years old

This sounds partly like a logical extension of the point above. Older people are more likely to have owned other dogs before, and have more experience of what increases and reduces the potential for aggressive behavior.

But the researchers speculated that lifestyle factors could also be relevant. Dogs in households with older people are likely to enjoy more predictable daily routines, more time for exercise and training, and more time for simply hanging out. Dogs thrive off the stability of a consistent daily routine, which translates into a reduction in stress. Likewise, successful training sets dogs up to win, and gives them faith in their own ability to make rewarding decisions, which reduces stress. And previous research has already pointed to a link between relationship-building interactions like petting and talking, and reduced signs of stress in dogs. In all these scenarios, it’s the reduction in stress which also decreases the likelihood of the dog resorting to aggression.

Aggressive dogs are more likely to belong to people who often feel tense, irritable, discontent, moody or lacking in self esteem

This is a fascinating correlation, not least because it seems to lend credibility to the old wisdom that if you act calm and in control, your dog will follow suit. But the researchers were at pains to point out that just because two things coincide, it doesn’t necessarily mean one of them caused the other. In this case, they also noted that the stress of owning an aggressive dog could be why their owners reported a low mood. So we don’t know for sure if the two things are linked, and if they are, which causes the other. It would be great to see more research in this field in future.

Aggressive dogs are more likely to have been trained using punishment

The strongest link the researchers found was between physical punishment or dominance-theory based training, and increased human-directed dog aggression.

Pippa has written about this in depth elsewhere on this site. And here at Labrador HQ we’re glad to see the connection is being studied and gaining wider recognition. The researchers found ‘robust’ evidence that punishment in dog training increases aggression. This wasn’t limited to training based entirely or mostly on punishment for getting it ‘wrong’. Even positive reinforcement training combined with some punishment was linked to increased reports of aggression. We’d add to this that it also slows down training, because dogs learn to fear making the wrong choice, and that puts them off acting at all. And finally there’s a high propensity for ‘mild’ punishments to spiral into more severe ones, which people are just as miserable delivering as their dogs are to receive.

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Are people to blame for aggressive dogs?

Before I close, I really want to emphasize that aggressive behaviour is rarely a straightforward consequence of just one thing. The patterns observed by these researchers are interesting to consider. They help us to understand how we can support our dogs to live happy lives, in which they don’t feel the need to resort to aggression. Both of you deserve to feel happy and safe in each other’s company, and if you’re struggling, please talk to your vet, or a behaviorist.

Is It Something I Did? Human Factors in Dog Aggression