Can we change/retrain the behaviour of an aggressive dog?
All dogs have the potential to become aggressive; dogs are relatives of the Grey Wolf and as such still have a wild part to them. Wolves and Dogs like and need a pack structure. Within a wolf pack the structure ensures that aggression is directed towards prey rather than each other however there is still some food competition which can escalate into aggression. Whether a dog will be an aggressive dog can come down to the question of Nurture versa Nature. Dogs can be taught to be aggressive give certain stimuli, the Military and Police rely on this in order to train their dogs to defend military bases or hunt down criminals respectively.
Causes of aggression
There are a huge number of things that can trigger aggressive behaviour some of those are fear, animal abuse and food competition. Aggression is commonly categorised into seven types of aggression, those are:
Dominance Aggression – when the social status or pack order of a dog is challenged.
Fear-Motivated Aggression – when a dog takes defensive action when he is in fear of being harmed.
Territorial Aggression – when a dog is in defense of his territory.
Protective Aggression – is aggression directed towards people that he sees as a threat to his pack or family.
Possessive Aggression – Aggression over toys, food or other object the dog perceives to be of value.
Redirected Aggression – Aggression that is directed toward a person or pet that that did not originally trigger the aggressive response.
Predation aggression – related to the motivation to obtain food rather than to harm or intimidate.
In his book The Dogs Mind, Bruce Fogle has an interesting take on aggression “Aggression can be subtle. It doesn’t simply involve going for the jugular. Ritual forms of aggression are finely developed in dogs and we shouldn’t look upon this behaviour as sinister, pathological, or wrong.” [1]. Therefore we can conclude from this, that aggression in a dog is natural if you consider that they are closely related to the wolf, however, aggression in human society is unacceptable. This is where an aggressive dog will have problems. Whilst any of the types of aggression listed above are natural if they are isolated cases if the dog becomes obsessively or persistently aggressive problems occur.
There are however, breeds of dog that are predisposed to aggression for example “Aggressive dogs are very forceful and sometimes prone to violence, especially when provoked. Therefore, all dogs that are naturally aggressive must be meticulously trained in order to curb potentially destructive behaviour. The Rottweiler is highly aggressive toward outsiders, but once well trained, makes a terrific family pet” [2]. It should be recognised that not all Rottweilers are classed as aggressive, but have been bred as a guard dog; therefore the genes for aggression will have been selected by breeders over the centuries. In the same way Retrievers have been breed, by selection, as gun dogs and Collies have been bred as herding dogs. If anyone is to blame for the aggressiveness of dogs Mankind has to take a huge portion of that blame, as our society has moved to a position that no longer requires dogs to be working animals where aggression if any present would be directed towards the job in hand, but pedigree dogs are now generally show pieces.
In order to retrain or change an aggressive dog the source of the aggressive behaviour must be identified. That having been achieved work can begin on retraining. The most logical way of combating aggression is the prevention of aggression, for example removing the stimulus that triggers the type of aggression. In extreme cases the owners should engage the services of a professional canine behaviourist. There are tools available to owners such as various restraint collars, muzzles and shock collars, there is mixed views as to the validity of these types of items. I cannot find any compelling evidence that these tools are of a huge amount of value as training methods. Muzzles have some benefit in stopping a dog from biting however this style of prevention is not retraining if it is used independently. Sometimes simple items such as a plastic bottle filled with gravel and shaken at the dog is enough to snap it out of an aggressive stance, this is more humane than other tools available and certainly cheaper. However the most popular of ensuring your dog avoids becoming an aggressive dog is to train your dog appropriately from the first moment you get him in order that the aggressive trait is never allowed to develop fully.
Dogs do not see us as a pack in the truest sense of the word but have clearly bonded with us as a social group. Within a dog pack, as with a wolf pack, there would be several positions such as alpha male, beta, omega etc. Dogs that have assumed the position of alpha will take control as that is their “job” to lead the pack or social group. Due to the fact that a dog lives in a world that he can never fully understand and therefore unable to manage or control, his stress is increased which can turn into aggression. For example, when a dog in an alpha position sees another human coming into his territory, (e.g. postman) he doesn’t not know that s/he has a reason and purpose for being there, he will see this as a potential threat and deal with it the only way he can, by barking and growling as a warning, if the warning is ignored the dog may then have no option but to escalate his aggression into a bite as these are the only weapons in his simplistic, or primitive arsenal. Due to the different communication styles of humans and dogs, warning signs that are presented by the dog may not be read by an inexperienced handler or owner which could have meant that confrontation could be avoided.
A final option for dogs that are lethally aggressive is destruction, in the UK this may be due to court order and the owners will also face some sort of punishment of such as two years imprisonment or a fine. The UK has banned several types of dog “Four types of dog are banned - Pit Bull Terrier, Japanese Tosa, Dogo Argentino and Fila Braziliero. Whether a dog is banned depends on what it looks like rather than the breed or name by which it is called. This is because the legislation refers to dogs which conform to a certain type and have particular characteristics, not specific breeds.” [3]. The dangerous dogs act states “being an owner of a dog of any type or breed which is dangerously out of control in a public place or a non-public place in which it is not permitted to be.”[4] This amended legislation acknowledges the fact that any dog can be aggressive in certain situations and the act was amended in 1997 after some high profile dog attacks.
In Conclusion a dog can not fully have the aggression trained out of it as it is inherent in the dogs genetic make up, all dogs have the potential to be aggressive, but not all dogs will be dangerous.
Aggression can be developed positively or negatively, the Police and Army use aggression from a dog in order to perform defense or attacking jobs that could not be achieved by a Police officer or Solider. But the person who has trained his dog to fight in underground dog fighting rings is equally using aggression of the dog. The dog does not see that one type of aggression is better or worse than the other, the dog will only be acting in a manner that he see as correct based on his training (Nurture) or, if no training has been received, based on his instinctive behaviour (Nature).
However, with strong leadership and an acceptance by the dog of a human leader the handler can curtail the aggressiveness of a dog to an almost non existent extent but the good owner knows that there is always some potential for aggression to come out of a dog and caution should always be exercised when dogs and children are together. Where a dog has developed an extremely aggressive trait a behaviourist or advanced trainer will need to be brought in on order to assist in the retraining.
So there is no conclusive answer to the posed question, it is a matter of ensuring that the owner recognises the signs of aggression and avoids that escalating. Dogs are individual as are the owners and trainers therefore some aggressive dogs can be re-trained by some trainers conversely some cannot. Some dogs that are not predisposed to overt aggression can be trained to be aggressive or through poor ownership or mistreatment allow aggression to develop. All dogs have the ability to become aggressive and all aggressive dogs have the ability to be dangerous. Good animal husbandry and training can control even those dogs that are acknowledge as aggressive or bred because of their ability to be aggressive.
References
[1] Page 112, The Dog’s Mind, Bruce Foggle, Pelham Books 1992
[2] Page 46, The American Animal Hospital association Encyclopedia [sic] of Dog Health and Care, Sally Bordwell, Hearts Books, 1994.
[3] Web article, http://www.defra.gov.uk/news/2008/080603a.htm
[4] Web article, http://www.defra.gov.uk/animalh/welfare/domestic/dogs.htm