Dog-to-Dog Aggression

One of the most common reasons that dog owners request the assistance of a professional trainer is to address and hopefully resolve their dog's aggression toward other dogs. Often, what is presumed to be "dog aggression" is actually fearfulness (whether inherited or learned through experience), or breed-associated reactiveness/excitability (more commonly seen in the sight- and prey-oriented herding breeds). Perhaps surprisingly, it is the exception to reach a conclusive finding of true, genetically hard-wired dog aggression in most dogs demonstrating any of the variety of aggressive appearing behaviors toward other dogs.

The good news is, fearfulness and reactiveness can usually be addressed with behavioral modification, environmental conditioning, and training. The bad news is, hard-wired genetic intra-species aggression is very difficult to modify and typically presents the prognosis of lifetime vigilance, proactive controls and restraint, and ongoing reinforcement.

There are some steps that the puppy buyer can take to reduce the risk of acquiring and raising a puppy that will develop into an adolescent or adult that will demonstrate aggressive behaviors toward other dogs. The most critical aspect of circumventing potential dog-to-dog aggression occurs long before the young pup is on-lead for the first time and exposed to other dogs in public. In fact, the first step in mitigating inter-species aggression occurs before the puppy is even conceived -- when the considerations for breedworthiness include the requirement that neither the bitch nor the stud demonstrate problematic intra-species aggression.

Even when there is responsible pre-breeding screening for genetically inherited intra-species aggression, there are nonetheless a number of ways that the genesis of aggressive behavioral displays toward other dogs can begin at birth and be further exacerbated by environmental conditions and events as the puppy matures and develops.

Will all puppies grow up to be aggressive toward other dogs if all precautions and recommendations aren't followed? No. Will all pups grow up to be dog friendly if every care is taken to engineer the "perfect" environment? Unfortunately, no. Each puppy or dog is a unique creature, and there are so many different elements and experiences that shape each dog's creation, development, and learning that the most we can do is evaluate carefully, select based on all the information at hand, appropriately and responsibly guide and steward the puppy into adolescence and adulthood to the very best of our abilities, and take immediate action if behavioral issues do indeed arise.

At the end of the day, Mother Nature still holds the final say. The happy-go-lucky puppy possessing the genetic code that dictates zero aggression may be so lacking in intra-species aggression that it may not even defend itself when physically attacked. At the other end of the extreme, the puppy genetically hard-wired for canine aggression may proactively seek hostile encounters with other dogs and is unlikely to respond even to its owner's admirably Herculean efforts to create a perfect environment complete with exemplary behavioral modification and training. It's a much more complex collection of biological, psychological, and environmental influences that may not necessarily be predictable, changeable, or in any fashion under our control.

Nonetheless, I have found that attending to the genetic, developmental, and environmental elements summarized below can be instrumental to increasing the likelihood of acquiring and bringing up a puppy that will demonstrate appropriate and non-aggressive behaviors toward other dogs. Some considerations and recommendations for selecting and stewarding the puppy that will be least likely to develop dog aggression at maturity include:

• Fully evaluate the overall aggression, defense, and intra-species status of the pup's dam. This is the single most important determinant of a puppy's propensity for future dog aggression. Not only from a purely genetic and inherited aspect, but from the pup's early and profoundly impressionable experience, learning, and modeling of dog-to-dog reactions based on its dam's behaviors. To reduce the risk of the pup developing dog aggression, select a pup from a demonstrably non-dog aggressive dam, preferably from non-dog aggressive bloodlines.

• Secondary to the dam's genetic and environmental temperament traits are those of the stud. Most pups are not much exposed to interactions with their father, so the likelihood of a learned paternal environmental influence is low. However one must evaluate and consider heritability of dog-to-dog aggression if the stud (and equally important the stud's siblings and/or parents) possesses demonstrable intra-species aggression. To reduce the risk of the pup developing dog aggression, select a pup from a demonstrably non-dog aggressive stud, preferably from bloodlines that do not demonstrate a propensity toward dog aggression.

• Consider the pup's whelping environment. Were there multiple litters at the same time and location? Unless the dams and their puppies were entirely physically isolated from one another -- meaning little or no scent, sound, or visuals -- the presence of another bitch in whelp or estrus will almost certainly create competitive stress in a newly delivered dam and may trigger the dam's natural protectiveness of her litter and by association increase her displays of defensive aggression toward encroaching dogs. To reduce the risk of the pup developing dog aggression, fully evaluate the breeding program and environment and select a pup from a breeder that produces no more than two or three litters a year, and at adequately spaced intervals to avoid intra-bitch tension and hostilities.

• Determine if the pregnancy, whelping, nursing, and early development were normal and uneventful. Evaluate any departures from what are considered "normal" whelping and care of the newborn and developing pups. For example, if a pup required extraordinary measures to feed or supplement, determine why and to what extent and for how long this continued. A baby puppy that requires isolation from the dam or littermates, or that is primarily handled and fed by humans is unlikely to develop the same dog-to-dog behaviors and relationships as a pup born to and participating in a healthy litter consistently and uneventfully nurtured by a competent dam.

• Determine that the dam was sound, competent, and fully participatory in the whelping and development of the litter. An orphan litter raised without any canine maternal influence will be significantly compromised in learning normal dog-to-dog behaviors. An orphan pup raised without dam or littermates will never be on a par with pups raised by a competent dam in a healthy litter environment. Developing the full array of normal canine behaviors simply cannot happen in the absence of exposure to and interaction with its own species from birth and throughout the critical developmental phases.

• Minimize the proximity of other dogs to the whelping dam and her pups. Even a non-dog aggressive dog or bitch in close proximity to the litter can heighten a newly delivered dam's natural defensiveness and protectiveness of her pups. This can be a critical consideration for the first-time dam. To reduce the risk of the pup developing dog aggression, fully evaluate the dam and the whelping environment and select a pup from a litter whelped and raised with full protection from threat or harassment by other resident dogs.

• Ensure that the pup is safely exposed to other benign and non-aggressive dogs in a controlled and structured environment during the key formative stages of development. To reduce the risk of the pup developing dog aggression, investigate how and to which dogs the pup was conditioned to other dogs as it matured.

• Don't prematurely remove the pup from a sound dam and litter. This can defeat the opportunity for the pup to learn from its dam and littermates the appropriate development of intra-species appeasement-submission rituals and for the puppy's understanding and acceptance of its place in the pack hierarchy. To reduce the risk of the pup developing dog aggression, do not consider acquiring a pup prior to eight weeks of age.

• Use caution when evaluating a "singleton" pup or a pup from a litter much smaller than normal for the breed. One can't underestimate the importance of a pup learning early on how to successfully interact with other puppies in the competitive world of nursing and caretaking from the dam. A single-pup litter has no competition and no opportunity to learn appropriate interactions with other pups, and a litter of two pups has not much more. A standard litter size presents the most natural environment for learning the subtle and not so subtle give-and-take communications that forge successful interactions with other dogs in the maturing pup and adult dog. To reduce the risk of the pup developing aggressive behaviors toward other dogs, do not select a "singleton" pup, and investigate closely the whelping and developmental environment of a pup born to a litter significantly smaller than the breed norm.

• Don't raise the pup in a household with an older resident dog that displays fearful or aggressive behaviors. To reduce the risk of the pup developing intra-species aggression, avoid any possibility of the pup modeling a resident dog's aggressive reactions toward other dogs. A pup does not necessarily need to experience aggression directed toward itself to develop learned aggressive behaviors. Observing an older dog's reactive behaviors can teach the pup inappropriate responses to other dogs and people. When considering whether to introduce a new pup to an existing household, understand that if the pup is allowed unsupervised and unlimited interaction with existing animals, the pup will likely learn to emulate the behaviors -- both good and bad -- of those older animals. A fearful or aggressive older dog, even one that never targets those behaviors toward the puppy, is never an appropriate model for a developing puppy.

• Ensure that the pup is not exposed to threat, physical attack or injury by another dog during the formative months of learning and development. To reduce the risk of the pup developing fear-based dog aggression, carefully monitor your pup's access to other dogs, ensuring that all potential encounters are with highly puppy-friendly dogs that are under explicit control. Maintain your leadership authority in all interactions and intercede as necessary to preclude any potentially negative early experiences.

• Regularly and safely expose the pup only to dog-friendly puppies and dogs during the formative months of learning and development. To reduce the risk of the pup developing dog aggression, include exposure to other non-aggressive, on-lead dogs under the explicit control of their owners in your daily environmental conditioning and socialization activities. Do not consider exposing the young pup to the out of control brawls and overwhelming confusion of off-lead parks, group classes, anything goes "puppy play times" and the like.

• Be selective in providing opportunities for the pup to experience successful interactions with other dogs. If your pup is not genetically or environmentally prone to intra-species aggression, your pup does not "need" unrestricted physical interaction with other dogs to "learn how to be a dog." That either has or hasn't already occurred long before the pup left the litter. And if your pup is already at risk for developing intra-species aggression, either from inherited genes or early developmental shortcomings or negative experiences, you will undoubtedly compound those weaknesses if you subject the pup to an uncontrolled multi-dog environment that is beyond the pup's coping skills and abilities. Such a mistake is highly likely to exacerbate and escalate any inherent weaknesses and fearfulness.

• Pursue the relevant training to teach you how to incrementally shape and appropriately respond to your pup's interactions and behaviors toward other dogs. This is the most important element of all. Most people aren't naturally equipped to know how to respond effectively to their pup's first bark and lunge at another dog. I sure wasn't prepared when many years ago I was trying to resolve this with my own dog; it was frustrating, upsetting, and ultimately alarming, and I didn't have a clue about what I should or shouldn't do about it. Unfortunately, my initial attempts at seeking help from purported "trainers" resulted in some incredibly harebrained advice and "creative" strategies that only worsened the behaviors. It wasn't until I learned to change my behaviors and handling strategies that my young dog's aggressive behaviors toward other dogs were incrementally addressed and successfully managed.

If you suspect that your puppy or dog is developing aggressive tendencies toward other dogs, seek and get competent professional help now; first from a qualified veterinarian to thoroughly examine your dog and diagnosis any physical causes for the emerging aggression, and then from a qualified trainer to assist with a behavioral modification, training, and management plan. Aggressive behaviors typically escalate the longer they are allowed to continue, and there is likely much that you can do to prevent these emerging behavioral challenges from becoming an entrenched mindset for both you and your dog with the potential for a most unwelcome and unfortunate outcome.

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A dog that displays inappropriate behaviors toward other dogs can be a diffcult management challenge in the home and out in public. If you would like to learn how to manage your dog's behaviors toward other dogs and develop responsive focus on you, consider enrolling for Online Dog Training with a supplemental telephone consultation.

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