What Kinds of Things Commonly Trigger Aggression Towards People?
Aggression rarely just happens. Something your dog is feeling, or something in his environment triggers that fight or flight response.
Depending on your dog and his unique situation, triggers could vary greatly.
Some of the more common triggers I see include:
There are so many scenarios and different triggers, and each one could have a different root cause.
My dog, Juno, is “people selective”. This means she likes certain people and dislikes others.
The people she dislikes either look unusual to her, are doing something unusual, or they try to approach her.
Her resulting reaction stems from general anxiety and fearfulness of unusual or novel stimulus. Because I am aware of her specific triggers, I can better control her environment, and we can work on positive and controlled socialization.
I suggest making a list of all of your dog’s triggers. I also have people keep a journal. Sometimes we don’t know what the trigger is (or all of them) until we start logging the situations as they happen. But by journaling, you may start to see a pattern emerge.
Addressing Your Dog’s Sudden Aggression: What Should You Do?
Regardless of whether he is growling at you because he is being aggressive or he is just telling you off, you must always heed your dog’s warnings.
Your pup has every right to tell you he doesn’t feel like cuddling, having his hair brushed, or sharing his food.
Ultimately, we need to understand the root cause of his aggressive behavior. What type of dog aggression is he displaying? What has caused your dog to act aggressively, and how can we help him?
Often, owners will need professional assistance from a qualified behavior consultant, positive trainer, or veterinary behaviorist to determine the underlying reason for his aggro behavior.
In fact, aggression is one of the leading reasons people call a professional for help.
But unfortunately, the dog training industry is unregulated, and not all trainers are equally qualified or educated.
So do your homework, choose a reputable dog trainer or behavior consultant with a solid evidence-based ethos, who is certified by an organization with a positive-based code of ethics. Additionally, don’t be afraid to ask questions.
It is especially important to obtain professional advice if your dog has bitten you or your dog has bitten someone else — particularly if the bite was severe enough to require medical treatment.
Nevertheless, whether you try to treat your dog’s sudden aggression issues with professional assistance (recommended) or on your own (not a great idea), the basic plan of attack will be the same.
All dog behavior issues are treated by addressing one or more of three similar components:
We’ll talk about each of theses three facets below.
If your dog’s aggression seems unusual and out of character, it is advisable to see your vet.
Your vet can do a complete check-up to rule in/out any underlying medical issues. This is one step that many people don’t think about, but pain or feeling unwell can be a common reason for the sudden onset of aggressive behavior.
Even if there are no medical issues causing the sudden aggression, behavioral meds (available through your vet) may represent a treatment option.
However, the cautionary tale here is, behavioral medications should always be used in conjunction with behavior training. Otherwise, we are not addressing the root cause of the aggression; we’re just treating the symptoms.
Alleviating the symptoms may, however, be helpful for the training process, as it will help him to feel more relaxed and less anxious, thereby allowing him to learn new coping strategies.
For example, my dog is on canine anxiety medication because she has “stranger danger” issues (as well as generalized anxiety).
We have made incredible progress with by implementing behavioral modifications to address her underlying issues. This two-pronged combination of behavior medication and behavioral training can help you more safely socialize an aggressive dog.
Accordingly, we’ll soon be able to start weaning her off of these meds knowing we have helped create better coping strategies and more positive associations with her triggers.
Once you’ve established that your dog is in good health (or you’ve begun treating any health problems causing the aggression), you can start using aggressive dog training procedures to help your dog overcome his aggressive reactions.
Because the aggressive reaction is an emotional response, we need to address the emotional underpinnings. This typically involves one or more of the following techniques:
Desensitization involves slowly, consistently and repeatedly exposing your dog to his trigger at a tolerable distance or intensity. This is often done in “baby steps” until you reach the end goal.
If, for example, walking near your dog’s food bowl triggers him, you can try sitting or standing at a far enough distance that there is no response from him at all. Then, over time, you can begin moving closer and closer to his bowl at meal times.
I never advise “poking the bear,” (so to speak), or in this case, sticking your hand in his bowl while he is eating. But you may, over days, weeks, or months, be able to walk by your dog while he is eating without soliciting a reaction.
This is a big word that really means changing your dog’s underlying emotional response. This way, instead of thinking a given stimulus is bad or scary, your dog will begin to find that it is harmless, and therefore not scary.
For example, if sitting close to your dog triggers his anxiety and aggressive response, you can try tossing treats to him every time you sit on the couch with him. Start far enough away that he doesn’t act reactively — this might even mean that you start on the floor.
The goal is for your pup to equate you sitting next to her with her favorite things (like cheese, peanut butter, or yummy sausage!). The associations she makes with you sitting near her will change over time as your proximity begins to foretell good things.
Sometimes we need to provide our dogs with an alternative way to cope.
If, for example, your dog reacts aggressively when you get up to walk to the kitchen, you can teach him that when you stand up, it means “go to your bed” (and get a piece of meat for doing so).
By teaching him to do something instead of reacting aggressively, it will give him clear direction, a predictable outcome, and it will mean that he’s about to enjoy something tasty and positive.
Teaching anxious dogs to relax is one of the first things I teach new clients. Doing so can help the pup cope with his overall environment, and it will also help him to settle down. Karen Overall’s Relaxation Protocol is one tool to help with this, but there are others as well.
If you think about it, all of these training solutions work together.
When we counter condition a dog, we can also desensitize him at the same time. Similarly, when we ask for an alternative behavior, we are also desensitizing, and the reward he is earning for the new behavior is an example of counterconditioning.
Management is a key component to helping your dog through the difficulties he is experiencing.
Management helps to prevent aggressive reactions, and in some cases, it may be all you need to do to address the situation.
For example, if your dog acts aggressively when his food bowl is down, try feeding him in a separate space and pick the bowl up and put it away once he is done eating.
Management tools can also help to keep you safe.
If your dog is triggered by scary situations while out on a walk and redirects this onto you, you could condition him to wear a muzzle (which is also an example of a management solution).
If your dog is triggered by strangers or other dogs, this might not only be a good solution to keep everyone safe, but it may also cause strangers to steer clear of you, creating a little less anxiety for your pooch.
Why Do Dogs Turn on Their Owners?
That’s a bit of a loaded question and not a simple one. Contrary to popular belief dogs rarely turn on their owners for no reason whatsoever.
Before we get into why dogs attack their owners, it’s important to understand the mind of a dog.
Dogs don’t think the way humans do. Dogs operate on instinct while humans operate on reason.
Even though dogs are intelligent creatures, they’re aren’t calculating.
They don’t have a sense of right or wrong. For the most part, dogs are reactive, cause-and-effect creatures.
Training our dogs is a matter of teaching them that the cause of getting treats is obeying commands.
Their reactive minds cause them to do things like chase squirrels and other small animals.
Our dogs are also pack animals, so they understand hierarchy.
However, just as with their wolf ancestors, a dog’s instinct can cause it to act aggressively, even towards his pack leader – his owner.
It’s these powerful instincts that most often cause dog attacks, especially when it comes to attacks on owners.
Why dogs turn on their owners
There are multiple reasons that a dog may exhibit aggression toward family members. The most common causes include conflict aggression, fear-based, defensive aggression, status related aggression, possessive aggression, food guarding aggression and redirected aggression.