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Q: Are there some dogs that just plain start out aggressive ? I took my very friendly Yorkie pup to a "pet friendly" place, and this lady came in with her Pomeranian who from the minute it walked through the door was growling and barking at everyone and the other pets.
After a few minutes the pup seemed to calm down, then out of no where it went after another dog ( a black lab ) that just appeared to get to close to it. Both owners got bit, and the black lab looked injured. It was a frightening sight. The worst thing is, this dog was no bigger than my Yorkie. Can some dogs ever get over aggressive tendencies?
A: To answer your first question, yes, some dogs can start out bad as a result of mismatched temperaments during breeding. When breeding dogs ,you must put the correct combination together in order to get a stable, well defined dog. Otherwise, the results could be disastrous. Thankfully this is the exception rather than the rule. Some of these dogs can be saved under the proper controlled environment with professional guidance and some, simply are just far too aggressive for any untrained human to handle. Unfortunately,these dogs will either suffer a long misunderstood life, or be euthanized.
If this was indeed a Pomeranian, these small creatures are highly intelligent and very trainable. However, left untrained, they become unsocial and their attitude can escalate very quickly. When it comes to aggressive behavior, " size doesn't matter " as you saw for yourself. In most cases aggressive behavior stems from a need to establish dominance. Whether it's in your home or out in public even if only for a short period of time, your dog will instinctively search for the dominant member of the pack.
Keep in mind that your "pack" may not necessarily only consist of you, your family and your dog. Any other dogs that your pet interacts with may be considered prospective pack members. In order to maintain proper pack structure, their place in the pack must be established immediately. It is your job as pack leader, to convey not only to your dog but to any prospective member that you are in charge by insisting that all dogs remain in a submissive manner under complete control. Pack structure must at all times be maintained.
If you do not do so ,it will then be left up to the dogs to do it. This type of power struggle goes on all the time rarely leading to violence.
Dogs are pack animals. This means that all of their thoughts and actions revolve around what is best for the pack. Violence can lead to injury. Injury weakens the pack as a whole. This is why most fights end quickly with minimum damage to either animal.
That is unless you are faced with two or more dominant confident dogs who are willing to fight to the end to win the coveted role as "alpha".
Dominance, however, is not the only road to aggression. Fear is very closely linked to violent behavior. A dog's basic instinct is self preservation. The well known "fight or flight" reaction to threats. Most dogs when faced with a potentially dangerous situation be it real or imagined will choose to run.
However if they do not believe escape is an option they will fight. An animal who has attacked out of fear can be far more dangerous because he is not fighting for a favorite toy or an elevated status in the pack. He may believe he is fighting for his life. In this case preventing injury is no longer a concern, what they are trying to prevent is death. Attacks like this one are never unprovoked.
Dogs are constantly communicating to each other with their body language. However these signs can happen very quickly and can be very subtle. What may appear to us as innocent as one dog looking at another, to them may be perceived as a challenge if those dogs are still trying to establish pack structure.
Basic instincts will never be eliminated, however you can suppress and control them once you learn to understand them. When dealing with aggression, you should always consult a professional .
This is not an area that you want to make a mistake in .
This article was published on February 15, 2009 on page 3 of the Sunday Sentinel
