When a dog believes it needs to protect itself, it may lash out and behave aggressively.
Dogs, like all animals, have fundamental needs. The most important among these is to be safe.
If dogs feel unsafe or in danger, they naturally respond in one of four ways: Fight, Flight, Freeze, or Fawn.
- The Fight response is to approach the perceived threat aggressively. Your dog might growl, snarl, bark, and/or lunge. Their ears may be up and forward (in some breeds), tail raised and stiff, and their hackles may raise (called “piloerection”). This is also when bites happen.
- The Flight response is to run away from danger. Your dog moves away by creeping, walking, or running. In essence, she is trying to create space between herself and the threat by moving further away.
- The Freeze response is when your dog’s body completely freezes in place, and her muscles are so tense that you can barely see her breathing. Her whole body will appear stiff, including her legs, ears, eyes, and muzzle.
- The Fawn response, is a relatively newer term to indicate that your dog will try to please the threat in order to avoid conflict. Your dog may cower with her tail tucked, body lowered to the ground, or her ears may back. She is making herself appear smaller and “less threatening” to what’s approaching. She could also flick her tongue, or make a licking movement, to show that she is not a threat.
Why does fear aggression happen?
Fear aggression in dogs can be provoked by a variety of situations..
For example, if you were to move from a place without garbage trucks to a city where garbage trucks drive by on a weekly basis, you yourself might be frightened by them at first. The first time you heard the roar of the truck and the breaks squealing as it comes to a screeching halt right beside where you’re standing waiting for a bus, your instinct could be to either prepare for battle or run for the hills.
Imagine this same situation for a dog who has never seen a garbage truck his entire life. Then she moves with you to the city. She may be sniffing and enjoying her walk when all of a sudden, a huge, loud, clanky, scary machine comes at her. The next time she sees the garbage truck and the person leaping off to collect a garbage can, she might bark and lunge at the person, or even bite.
When a dog feels it must defend itself, it may switch into the fight reaction, as explained above. This type of aggression is a natural reaction to extreme stress.
What else can make a dog feel like it must defend itself aggressively?
Medical problems
When dogs are suffering from a medical condition that causes pain, chronic inflammation, or other imbalances, they frequently overreact to situations that otherwise would not feel so threatening to them. A thorough veterinary exam with bloodwork should be the first step to see whether the aggression is a symptom of an underlying infection, hormone imbalance, unseen injury, or even a reaction to medication. Once the underlying medical problem is addressed, behavior may improve significantly.
Punishment history
If a dog has been treated harshly by people in the past, it can become traumatized and fearful of new people or similar situations. This is one reason why using positive training methods exclusively is so important. Trainers who employ punishment-based techniques provoke fear and often create a dog who only knows how to react to stressful situations using the “fight” response, or aggression.
Undersocialization
The socialization period is a critical time in a puppy’s development where they have new experiences and explore the world around them. The more enriched their first 12 weeks are with toys, obstacles, different things to walk on, under, over, and through, the more capable they are to adjust to the world around them as they grow older. Socialization also includes positive experiences with people and other dogs. If they’re exposed to negative or scary situations, then they might find it hard to cope with new things they encounter in their environment such as other dogs, animals, or people.
How can I help my dog?
It is important to note that while the prognosis is good for many dogs that display aggressive behaviors out of fear, there is no ”cure.” Behavior can never be guaranteed in animals (or people!) because there are too many outside factors influencing behavior. Just like people, dogs can simply have a bad day!
Mood, health, lack of sleep, boredom, unmet breed specific needs, and mismatched environment can all contribute to how a dog is feeling - and how a dog is feeling has a huge impact on their behavior, aggressive or not.
While there is no absolute “cure” for fear aggressive behaviors, there are many positive things you can do to help manage the problem and get your dog to a place where she can exist in harmony within an environment which she previously found scary.
- Do not punish your dog for this behavior! Fear aggression happens because a dog is scared and feels it must protect itself. Punishment worsens the problem by making the dog MORE fearful and scared, so it wants to lash out more. Punishment can create a vicious cycle of escalation and should be avoided.
- Give your puppy plenty of opportunities to learn that different sights, sounds, places, smells, things in the environment, people, animals, and other dogs are positive and fun experiences. When a puppy learns from a young age that the world isn’t a scary place, we start them off on the right path to becoming confident dogs.
- Watch your dog’s body language to see when she’s trying to tell you she needs some time and space to process.
- For dogs who struggle with sudden environmental changes, make your dog’s environment as predictable as possible. The more control that dogs have over their environment, which includes predictability and choice, the less stress and anxiety your dog will experience.
- If you have guests in your house, ask them to give your dog space. Prevent your guests from reaching out to touch your dog. Your dog should be able to approach your guests if/when she is comfortable. You can visit with your guests while your dog is enjoying a yummy chew in her crate or safe zone.
Look for ways to create a positive bond with your dog, because that will help her feel safer. Never physically punish your dog, because then she will quickly learn to be afraid of you.
Also avoid asking your dog to sit still and watch whatever she’s afraid of while it approaches closer than what she’s comfortable with. This is expecting too much from her and can have the opposite effect of what you’re trying to accomplish.
For more help
When your dog has been snarling, lunging, snapping, or biting, it can seem complicated and frightening to cope with on your own. Fortunately, you don’t need to—help is available!
- A veterinarian can run tests to help identify any underlying medical reason that could be causing pain and aggression. Studies suggest that hidden pain is behind approximately 30% to 80% of behavior problems.
- A qualified positive dog training and behavior expert will help you put together a customized plan for your dog. Find one in your area today.
