Christine Hibbard, CTC, CPDT
Not to put too fine a point on it, but dogs bite because they’re dogs. It’s what dogs are biologically programmed to do. Every dog has the potential to bite, no matter how well socialized or friendly. I thought it might be useful to explore the different reasons why a dog might bite.
Fear Aggression: Humans never cease to amaze me in how they approach unfamiliar dogs. In my work with the clients of fear aggressive dogs, one of the topics we have to discuss is how to keep strangers from approaching their socially fearful dog. Most people assume that a dog wants to meet them. Nothing could be further from the truth with some dogs. If a dog wants to meet you, believe me, that dog will approach you.
If you can’t tell whether an unleashed dog is interested in meeting you, the best course of action is to just wait. Don’t reach out for the dog. Don’t look the dog directly in the eyes. Simply stand there like the dog doesn’t exist and wait. Even if the dog decides to approach and sniff you, don’t immediately reach down to pet the dog. Let the dog investigate and only if the dog actively solicits your attention should you reach down and pet the dog. If the dog is on leash, please ask the owner before approaching their dog and if they say their dog is fearful or aggressive, believe them. Thank that owner and wish them a good day.
Redirected Aggression: Even though human beings engage in redirected aggression all the time, people often misunderstand this type of behavior in dogs. Have you seen athletes get into a fight and the people who try to break up the fight end up getting hit? That’s redirected aggression. If a dog “has lost his or her mind” over someone coming to the door, treeing a squirrel, or fighting with another dog and you grab that dog, you run the risk of being bitten. I recommend that if possible, you just wait for the dog to calm down before grabbing it. If you need to break up a dogfight, try not to use your hands. Use a loud noise (air horn) or a can of Spray Shield, a product that sprays citronella about 10 or 12 feet.
Possession Aggression (resource guarding): Does your dog growl or snap if you go near their food bowl, try to take their bone away, or get them off the furniture? This is possession aggression or what most dog trainers call resource guarding. We humans guard our resources fiercely. We put locks and alarms on our possessions, guard the food on our plates (especially if it’s extra tasty), and resent someone sitting in our chair or place on the sofa. Some dogs guard their resources as fiercely as we do. If your dog is guarding their resources, I highly recommend hiring a professional to assist you in performing “resource exchanges” to teach Fido that if they give something up, they get something better. You can try the macho, tough route of simply out aggressing the dog, but you run the chance of being bitten and the dog’s behavior getting worse.
Pain Aggression: Often I get a call from a client because their dog has suddenly begun acting aggressively for the first time. This is a huge red flag that the dog doesn’t feel well or is in pain. In my experience, pain issues are the most under diagnosed causes of dog aggression and dog bites. Sometimes I’m told that the dog has arthritis or hip dysplasia and when I ask what medication the dog is on for pain, I’m told none. In both of these cases, I recommend a trip to the veterinarian as quickly as possible.
Territorial Aggression: This aggressive behavior is why so many mail carriers, delivery people, and utility workers get bitten. Often, what people consider “guarding their territory” is actually a fear response when an unfamiliar person comes onto your property. Barriers such as gates or tethers make this aggressive response much, much worse. If a dog is behind a fence and you need access to someone’s property, call the person you’re visiting on the phone and have them put their dog in the house or escort you onto the property.
Dominance Aggression: While many people believe that dominance is the root of all dog behavior problems, including aggression, science doesn’t back up this view. Dominance aggression is actually incredibly rare. Dominance aggression can be identified when a dog tries to control social interactions. I’ve seen cases where the dog attacked family members whenever they tried to leave the house. I’ve seen cases where the dog nips or bites when a pleasant interaction ends (play or training with food).
There are other types of dog aggression, but the ones I’ve described above are the ones of main concern to owners. If you have questions about dog aggression, you can always contact me at christine at companionanimalsolutions.com. I’m happy to direct people to books, DVDs, web sites, or other resources to help people understand dog behavior better. Has a dog bitten you or has your dog bitten someone? Please take the time to tell us about it. Discussing dog aggression is one way we learn about it!
Great article! At a crowded Farmers Market, I watched a toddler approach a leashed dog. The parents and dog’s owner looked on with smiles on their faces. When the toddler’s face was 12″ away, the dog lunged and snapped. No one was hurt. The dog owner apologized and hurried away with her dog.
In my opinion, both the dog owner and the kid’s parents should have apologized. Never let your toddler near a dog unless you know that dog and have tested it yourself.
@Val Ann C, that must have been scary to watch! I couldn’t agree with you more. Letting children approach unfamiliar dogs (especially ones on leash) is never a good idea. I wrote an article on Preventing dog bites to children for Examiner.com: https://www.examiner.com/x-49594-Northgate-Pets-Examiner~y2010m5d15-Preventing-dog-bites-to-children
Thanks for reading Behind the Behavior!
I agree. I’ve seen people approach dogs when the owners have asked them not to. A friend of mine has a sweet dog who is skittish. The dog has to know you before he lets you pet him. He had trouble all the time asking people not to pet him. His dog would growl, and people would be shocked because this is a sweet looking dog. So now my friend has a vest on his dog that says, “Please don’t pet me, I’m working.” This has worked.
@Michele C. Hollow: Isn’t it amazing how some people react when you ask them not to approach or pet a fearful dog? I’ve recommended the “Dog In Training – Give Me Space” vest which is a great product: https://www.pawsitivedog.com/DogInTrainingVest.html
Good article Christine :)!!! Going to share this one.
I have a dog who isn’t aggressive, but she pees when approached and petted. I really, sincerely, appreciate the people that ask, first.
yes, excellent post
Hello, I have one dog who I bred he is a rat terrier, he is what the vet calles reserved, anytime anyone except the home residents enters the yard or house, the dog attacks and bites without provication, example; My daughter came to my home to deliver my lost phone, our back door is inside the gated back yard about 3 ft away, my daughter came in the gate, the dog was about 20 yrd away in his house, by the time my daughter got to the door the dog attacked, she managed to get into the storm door and sheild herself from the dog, it had gotten a bite to her shoe, she was very shook up. Another example; I was with a frien working on a ajacent unit and we exited that unit togeather, the friend was one step behind me and i got to our door by that time the dog attacked and bit my friend 5 times in seconds, when the dog acts aggresive i try to call him down and he continues the attack untill i physically get in his way, he is 2yrs old, seems to follow most commands but takes it upon himself to be agressive with others who are not living at the home, he even growls at friends who visit me while i am in my office where i sometimes bed the dog down. I have never had a dog who acted like this, i had bred rat terriers for several years, and this is the only one i heard that acts like this. Any suggestions?
I’m sorry that your Rat Terrier is behaving aggressively. When a dog has a bite history, we recommend finding a qualified professional to help you. If you contact us, we’d be happy to help you find someone in your area. If you’d prefer to look on your own, here’s on article on selecting someone qualified (look for credentials and we recommend that you not work with anyone who uses force, fear, or pain and calls it dog training): https://www.companionanimalsolutions.com/why-choose-us-2/qualified-animal-behavior-specialists
Val Ann C, I recently had a similar experience with my 3 month old puppy. We were at an outdoor event, (socializing her) and she was behaving wonderfully. Then a little boy spotted her, got super excited and came charging toward us, head on, naturally startling the puppy and causing her to react by jumping up and barking…it took awhile to calm her down to stop barking. Meanwhile, the mother of the boy is making a huge scene and yelling at me over my “vicious dog”, the manager is asking me to leave the premises, and accusing the puppy of snapping at a child, etc. …all because this parent never taught her child so much as the very basics of respecting an animal’s space. I hope that this at least scared the child enough to teach him a lesson (since the parent clearly isn’t) …that could be the only thing that saves him from something serious actually happening in the future.
I have three dogs, they are a tight knit group, very friendly have always gotten along with other dogs. We have even babysat other people’s dogs and our dogs have been great. However, one instance where we were babysitting another dog whom our pack has been on numerous play dates with and gotten along with zero problems, the visiting dog was eating outside while the others played in the backyard one of our dog walks up to the visiting dog and just stares at the dog eating. The visiting dog stops eating takes a step back and looks like she is smiling st our dog, then suddenly our dog starts to bite and attack the guest dog effectively ripping her lip open. My husband ran to intervene and our dog bit my husbands hand, then backed off and my husband tended to the injured dog and tried to approach our dog again and our dog attempted to bite my husband again. I can understand in the heat of the moment bite, but the second attempt is confusing.
I adopted a pitbull/staffordshire terrior from a local animal shelter in January. I already had a pitbull terrior (Basil) when I brought Barney home. Of course they didn’t get along immediately but within a few days they were tolerating each other & eventually started playing & getting along. My husband & I noticed that when we were paying attention to Basil, Barney would put himself between us & Basil so that he can get the attention. I’ve had dogs all my life so I didn’t think much about it–that’s what dogs do. One day we decided to bring our dogs to our friend’s pool, bad idea! There was a lot of stimulation, a new place, etc. so it didn’t turn out so well. We put Basil in the pool. I noticed that Barney was standing over the side of the pool with a funny look on his face & his ears perked up a little. I thought it was cute until Basil got out of the pool. As soon as Basil got out Barney jumped on him, latched on to his ear & wouldn’t let go. My husband eventually picked them both up & threw them in the pool–pure adreneline. Of course, he got bit in the process. Both dogs eventually calmed down & we thought that was the last time. Barney does seem to get extremely jealous when Basil gets attention & gets that funny look on his face. We’ve learned to recognize that & a water bottle seemed to work. HOWEVER, yesterday I was home alone & playing with them in the back yard. Everything was fine, I was paying equal attention to both of them, but all of the sudden Barney attacked Basil & a serious dog fight happened. These are both large dogs, about 80 lbs each. I wasn’t going to put myself in between them. They started fighting so hard that they didn’t respond to anything I did. They ran under the porch, I was able to get the water hose (I’ve heard that works) & blast them with it but they were so focused on eachother that it was worthless. They eventually got overheated & exhausted & stopped. Basil got the upper hand this time, I guess he learned from the first attack. I was seriously ready to take Barney back to the pound & get him euthanized. I’ve never given up but this is something I can’t handle on my own. My husband calmed me down. I realized that Barney is a great dog. He loves people like crazy so no people aggression, no food aggression, etc. Just this issue & it’s major. Please, please, please help me on this. My husband recommended trying a wire muzzle when we’re playing with them together. But I really need to know how to prevent this behavior. Thank you so much.
Oh Brenda, I’m sorry that the dogs are fighting. How stressful! Sounds like Barney is engaging in resource guarding behavior. He’s guarding Basil’s access to you. Naughty! Here’s what I recommend:
Barney needs to learn that if he guards you, you go away, period, no exceptions. The better your timing with the “too bad” cue and the more consistently you leave, the faster he will learn this. He finds you high enough value to guard so by leaving the room and closing the door behind you, you’re letting him know that the very thing he’s guarding (you) he loses.
In the meantime, if having the dogs on basket muzzles would help everyone relax, I’m in agreement that this might be an option in your case. If you miscalculate and the dogs fight again, you won’t be able to separate them. I recommend plastic basket muzzles:
Wearing a muzzle does not mean that your dog is dangerous. A properly fitted muzzle is like a seat belt in your car. It provides safety to yourself, your dog, and others while you work on desensitizing and counter-counter conditioning your dog to anything they fear or guard. It’s important to take the time to teach your dog to like wearing a muzzle. In doing so, you’re learning the same counter conditioning techniques you’ll be using for your future work with your dog.
These muzzles are secure, fit well, and allow for treats to be delivered through the front door: https://www.morrco.com/itpoldogmuz.html
Before using the muzzle during exercises, it should be introduced to the dog in a systematic way, in order to minimize the amount it slows down the eventual generalized response. It is also less aversive than just slapping one on the dog. Here is a sample process for muzzle desensitization and counter conditioning. Do not progress to the next step in the process until you have achieved the goal on the current step. You can expect to spend a week or two completing all the steps if you work at least once a day for 15-20 minutes.
1. Show the dog the muzzle and then give him a generous handful of tasty treats – repeat this several times per day until he is demonstrating a happy, anticipatory response when he sees the muzzle, very much like the response dogs have when they see their leash come out of the closet.
2. Play a targeting game with the muzzle where you hold out the muzzle and reward the dog every time he bumps it with his nose. A clicker trained dog is a plus here to mark nice responses. For information on clicker training, see Karen Pryor’s wonderful book Don’t Shoot the Dog!
3. When the dog is targeting as quickly as you can present the muzzle, reward only after every two or three nose bumps. While doing so, try to select the nose bumps that are a little longer and stronger.
4. Hold the muzzle with the entrance to the nose tube facing the dog. Reward him for getting his nose anywhere in that area now. Give especially large rewards when he does any approximation of putting his nose right in. It’s okay to prompt responses at this stage by holding a treat at the other end so that the dog must insert his nose in order to collect through the tube. It is sometimes okay to leap right in with this prompting exercise, skipping parts 1 — 3, but the most prudent course of action is to spend a bit of time with the preliminary exercises.
5. The reward standard is now the dog putting his nose right into the muzzle. If you have achieved this with luring, fade this lure now so that the dog must put his nose in before you produce the treat rather than putting his nose in once the treat is visible at the end.
6. Add duration to step 5. Once the dog’s nose is in the muzzle, delay giving the reward through the hole for a second or two. Praise him lavishly while he waits. Tell him how attractive he looks. Gradually increase the time he must remain in to 10 seconds.
7. Adjust the muzzle straps so that they would fit him extremely loosely. While he is waiting in the muzzle for his treat, as per step 6, start fiddling with the head straps while he waits. When he is used to this, try snapping the muzzle on very loosely. Praise him for all you’re worth the first time you attach it and feed him generously. When you first start messing with the straps, he may withdraw his nose for a while – if he does, back off temporarily and then try again with subtler strap fiddling.
8. Adjust the straps so that they are closer to a correct fit (which is snugly around the back of his head, right up under the occiput, the pointy bone at the back of his head). Snap the muzzle on and give him extra praise and food rewards again. He is so handsome!
9. Gradually tighten the fit and extend the duration for which he wears the muzzle.
NOTE: These muzzles come equipped with an additional slider. We recommend removing this and then cutting out part of the front of the muzzle (the + directly in the middle) for easy treat delivery.
Hope this helps and please write back to let us know how it goes.
Hi there,
Thanks for this information on agression. This is a great website.
I have a 3 yr old female huskey, and she does display some of these types of agression, however not towards humans, only other dogs. She generally plays well with other dogs (although she is very rough), but when a bone or toy comes into the situation it’s over – say for example she happened to find a stray bone in the midst of playing with another dog – Play would immediately be over, she would take possesion of the bone, and snap/growl at the other dog if that other dog approached her (resource aggression?). I have tried to take the bone away in this case, and although she doesn’t snap or growl at me she will run away with the bone in her mouth. Once the bone is in the picture she won’t leave it for anything – she seems to have some sort of obession or anxiety with this. I am not sure how to approach this – it certainly puts a damper on trying to have play dates with her and other dogs. Any thoughts or reading I can do on this?
Your Husky is displaying possession aggression or what some trainers call resource guarding. It sounds moderate against other dogs (if the other dog defers) but mild with humans (she runs away). You can counter condition dog/dog resource guarding but you start over with each new dog. For example, your Husky learns not to guard from her dog friend “Fido” but will still guard against her other dog friend “Buddy” until you counter condition the reaction with Buddy.
Guarding is also context specific with many dogs. For example, your Husky doesn’t guard at your friend’s house or the dog park while some dogs are just “guardy”. I call them equal opportunity guarders. That’s the frustration with dog/dog guarding. I would simply pick up and put away anything your Husky will guard from another dog. If you want to counter condition the problem, the only book I’m aware of on the subject is outstanding. It’s written by Jean Donaldson and it’s called “Mine!” https://www.dogwise.com/itemdetails.cfm?ID=DTB740 or if you prefer eBooks, you can download it as an eBook: https://www.dogwise.com/itemdetails.cfm?ID=DTB740EBK. Hope this helps!
I’m just going to throw something out there that happens with my dog. He is toy aggressive. He will be the dog sitting on a nest of balls at the dog park. If any dog comes near, watch out. So I’ve taken to not bringing any toys, but he finds anything to guard…a stick, a rock…just the chance to guard something he’s deemed as ‘his”.
Update on Basil & Barney–we’ve followed your advice about leaving the room when Barney starts to try to guard us. He HATES it but it absolutely works. We haven’t muzzled them so far because we’ve learned to recognize when they start getting irritated with each other. We deal with it right then & there with the water squirt bottle & a stern command. Thanks again for your advice:)
I have a fear aggressive german shepard and have been told that there is nothing I can do to change that. This is from a few trainers I have contacted. I do not think this has to be a permanent condition, maybe not fixed completely, but at least to a point where he can be around people and not want to snap at them. He has always been this way since a puppy when I got him. he stayed back from the rest of the litter and looked like he wanted to fade into the background and I felt sorry for him. I don’t have much company and when I did, they went outside in the yard. Lately, I have been walking him more and he has been able to walk around the neighborhood without wanting to go after everything. But when people approach, he gets nervous and starts growling, I tell the people to stay back and he finally settles down. I can even stop and talk to some of my neighbors without problems as long as they don’t make any sudden moves. He will lay down until I am ready to move on.
My question is whether what I’ve been told that he will always be this way and he will never be able to be around people is true or not? I plan to do plenty of research on this and welcome any comments,
Hello,
thank you for this interesting article.
Maybe you can give me some advice regarding a situation we are dealing with.
We adopted a puppy from a kill shelter a few months ago. She was listed as a shepherd hound mix and is now 6 months old.
Mira does very well with our other dogs and they have accepted her as a part of the pack. The only issue happens around feeding time. She is fine with other dogs walking past her food bowl. We can pick up the bowl, reach in it etc. No food aggression at all. However, once she is done with eating, she waits for our senior to finish so she can try to pick the few pieces that fell of his plate. Occasionally she will start staring at one of the other dogs and than charges them. You can tell she pulls back before she makes contact, so it ends up to be a little nip only. If you try to pull her back, she will start to “throw a fit” and it will get worse. Without any interruption, it’s a one time only event. We started to watch her closely and interrupt her staring as soon as it starts. Either with a “aaaahh aaaahhh” kinda noise or a quick sit exercise which is rewarded with a treat. If the vocal interruption works and she walks away or ignores the other dog, she gets praised. Usually our Lab is the target of Mira’s “attention” and he is very patient. I would like to correct this behavior properly so it doesn’t escalate at some point.
Surrendering items/toys/chewing treats etc is something we practiced basically from day one and she is really good when it comes to surrendering what she has.
Thank you in advance.