Dominance & Aggression

For as long as I have been training dogs the word dominant has been used.

The word is now frowned upon and people are reluctant to use it; because in the past the use of punishment and force was seen as an acceptable way to control it.  It was related to “pack leadership” and “pack rules”.  This was not correct or necessary and can cause many more problem behaviours in dogs.

I believe by avoiding the word this confusion and misunderstanding will not go away – until it is understood - the word will be misused again and again and I have personally learnt that avoidance does not cure a problem and it can sometimes make things worse; the subject does not go away and you will just keep going around in circles.

How did it all start?

Unfortunately, studies on wolves convinced the world that hierarchy seen in wolves was the way to success in training dogs. These hierarchical systems and pack theories were used to adapt a dog’s behaviour, believing this would lead to people having more control over their dogs; however, dogs’ failed to respond well to these methods.

Wolves’ hierarchy is developed using submissive displays and this is achieved by using facial and body language.  There is an alpha male and female breeding pair, their puppies and adolescents who help look after the pack.  There were very few free wild packs of wolves to observe, so captive, mixed wolf packs were used instead.  In a wild pack there is less tension; aggressive and domineering behaviour is very rarely used to resolve order, whereas in captive mixed packs there would be confusion and social tension, causing more aggression to bring all animals back to an acceptable equilibrium.

So these studies were not appropriate as they were based on a totally different type of pack communication. Furthermore, it was noticed and recorded that these strict pack rules left a dog in a state of helplessness.  Many calming signals, playful greetings and fearful gestures were mistaken for dominant and/or guilty behaviours and treated as such; causing the dog to distance themselves from their owners and pushed into using aggression in order to defend themselves.

Fortunately for dogs’, modern day behavioural sciences have proven these methods to be ineffective and untrue.  They suggest that being a pack leader is not necessary, that instead all you need to do is teach and guide dogs and influence their behaviour using positive motivational methods.

Positive trainers today realise that the relationship with the dog is vital and it part of the training programme.  Harsh pack rules and methods can damage the relationship to the point that it may not be repaired.

..and this is really just touching many missunderstandings of how the the dominance hierarchical system became a part of owning a dog.

So what does Dominant mean?

Dominant means: influential/ leader/ guide - it is not a bad word till you add force and assertive behaviour to it, you then become domineering and that is a different word and holds a different meaning.

Dogs need leadership and guidance - not domineering behaviour from us.

Dominant and submissive behaviours are caused by a motivation - the behaviour gives the animal/person something they need - as simple as that. They are exchanging information with us and the world around them.

A dogs’ aim in life is to make good things happen.

Behaviours have been labelled dominant - because they seem assertive, like leash pulling. But these continue simple because the dog has been reinforced for doing it...pulling on leash gets the dog to the park and they were allowed to learn to do this when they were a puppy because it was ok and not hard work - now they are adults it is and we do not like it.

“A dog that is doing dominant behaviours is doing so; as it has not been shown any other way to politely get what it wants.”

Behaviours that are reinforced will continue to increase - but they have nothing to do with social status or wanting to be a pack leader, they are simply doing what's best for them. Dogs are not trying to dominate us or other dogs - they are seeking to find a balance in the situation they are in, so they gain what they need for their well-being. 

All that is needed is for us to control their environment and rewards; to understand that the dog is merely exchanging information with us and that we need to stop and listen to what they are telling us.

If you remove all reinforcement from a behaviour and reinforce an appropriate one the dog WILL start to change its behaviour. If we stop and realise that the dog is trying to say something and adjust the way we react, then the dog can start to react differently to.

The dog DOES NOT WANT TO BE PACK LEADER - they want to feel confortable, secure and happy themselves. They need us to guide and lead them to do the correct behaviours.

Reactive or aggressive behaviour

In breeds like GSD/Rottweiler’s/Dobermans etc reactive behaviours are normal - what we all tend to forget is they have been bred to be "stranger reactive" - this means strange people, circumstances and objects. They are simple doing what they are bred to do.

It is vital we handle them with positive reward based methods to help them through reactive periods.

Aggressive behaviour in people have been placed in two categories - proactive and reactive. Proactive means they plan to do it and hurt something - reactive means a trigger is present that causes this behaviour due to learnt behaviour, stress, anxiety and fear. Dogs can not plan to do things like this; their reaction is for how they feel at that moment or what we have taught them to do. Whereas on the other hand, humans can!

Dogs' react through genetics learnt and/or fear based triggers...these triggers are reinforced if we act inappropriately to what we wish the dog to continue to do.

Aggression in dogs comes in various forms:

*  defensive (fear related) aggression

*  possession aggression(resource guarding)

*  maternal aggression

*  territorial aggression

*  status related aggression

*  pain-related aggression

*  protection aggression

*  predatory aggression

*  play aggression

*  idiopathic(we don’t know the cause) aggression

A dog who is acting aggressively actually may be doing so through fear and in most pet dog behaviour cases it is. 

With the use of punishment (which comes in forms of verbal, physical and mental/emotional restrictions/actions) you add to that trigger and/or fear and you become the threat to: reinforcing their reactions.   

Punishment (abuse)

An abused animal can act in four ways:

1.  Fight back – “you give me one I will give you one back harder!”

2.  Run away – “I’m gone!”

3.  Freeze – “if I make myself small/still enough they will stop or go away!”

4.  Muck around -  “I will avoid confrontation”

"I will avoid confrontation!"

They are trying to feel comfortable again by using these displays.

It can go through all of these actions in different orders or use the same ones over and over again.

This will cause an over load of the system until the animal breaks down.

In humans this could be:

v     Attacking back physically and verbally

v     A Break down

In dogs similar things happen.

Punishment causes passive behaviour, which means a dog will do it because it has to.  

Some dogs can manage to cope with this all their lives, some show they cant cope with it through other behaviours and others can not cope at all with it...just like us.

What we need to seriously think about here is – we know what affect punishment and different forms of abuse has on ourselves and we know now that we got it wrong about dominance and pack leadership …so we must now realise the affect this has on our dogs and learn from our mistakes...by changing our ways and learning how we should be communicating with our dogs.

A dog showing dominant or submissive behaviours is a dog in need of understanding, leadership and guidance

– they need a kind and caring teacher.