If Dr. Jekyll needed a potion to become Mr. Hyde, then your dog also needs certain triggers to bring out that undesirable aggression , so it’s up to you to find this trigger and either remove it, or teach your dog to deal with it properly.
What are these dog aggression triggers? Look over the list that follows to see if any of these forms of dog aggression remind you of your pet:
• Territorial aggression – here, the aggressive dog will growl, bark, or bite people entering his or her domain. You might find the paperboy being threatened by your pooch, or your guests being snarled at or even bitten.
• Dominant aggression – An aggressive dog has this issue when he or she bullies the other members of the family or other animals in the house in order to show them that they are lower in the pecking order.
• Fear aggression – In this case, the aggressive dog is very reactive to disturbances from the norm, frequently feeling nervous or insecure and is quite ready to growl, bite, or bark. If this dog feels cornered, he or she will be inclined to bite.
• Possessive aggression – An aggressive dog with this type of problem behaves as though they have two personalities; the nice dog and the one who doesn’t like it when you touch his or her toys or food.
• Punishment aggression – An aggressive dog with this problem wasn’t usually born this way, but instead became vicious as a result of being mistreated through abuse, too much dominance, or negative reinforcement.
• Pain aggression – an aggressive dog with this problem does not necessarily have a behavioral problem, but is instead acting directly out of pain and instinct. These behaviors are involuntary and result from injury or illness.
• Predatory aggression – many dogs have a strong instinct to track and hunt prey, and this urge can bring out the aggressive dog in an otherwise calm pooch. Anything that isn’t secured to the ground can be chased and if it is captured, there could be real danger if the prey is, for example, a child or another animal.
• Maternal aggression – Aggressive dog behaviors are not uncommon in new mothers of a litter of pups as they instinctively feel the need to protect their babies from any form of threat. Be warned that a mother dog may interpret just about anything as being threatening to her young and may act on this presumption.
Indeed, there may be other kinds of aggression that are causing your dog to behave the way he or she does, but this list can give you a good place to start your understanding of the triggers. Once you’ve discovered the triggers for your pet’s unwanted behaviors, you can then take the next step – behavior modification training.