Nonlinear Dogs
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Part 3: Aggression
From: The 100 Most Silly Things That Have Ever Been Said About Dogs
Copyright 2007 by Alexandra Semyonova -- All Rights Reserved
From: The 100 Most Silly Things That Have Ever Been Said About Dogs
Copyright 2007 by Alexandra Semyonova -- All Rights Reserved
Myth 28: The domestic dog is a naturally aggressive species.
(c) Alexandra Semyonova -- All Rights Reserved
One reason people believe this myth is because of the romantic idea that the domestic dog
descended from the great gray wolf (see Myth 1), which he didn’t. We now also know that the
domestic dog isn’t a hunter, but that he became what he is precisely because he gave up hunting
to scavenge our leftovers (see Myth 4). But all these romantic ideas don’t die easy. It is now
fashionable among biologists to talk about the domestic dog as a “predator.” What they forget to
say when they tell us this is that sheep, tapeworms and mistletoe are also predators. A predator is
anything that has to eat from another living being, maybe or maybe not killing it in the process. A
predator is not necessarily a hunter. Dogs have to have a certain amount of animal protein, but so
does a tapeworm. The dog gets his protein by eating our leftovers, while the tapeworm actually
steals stuff we still need right from under our nose. This biological word game has brought us right
back to the old, false picture of the dog as a killer whose desire to kill is always right there under
the surface just dying to get out. This need to feel we have a barely contained killer walking
obediently next to us tells us something about ourselves, but it remains a false perception of the
dog.
Then there is a second thing that contributes to this myth, namely confusion about what we mean
by the word “aggressive.” Strictly speaking, aggression is some act that is intended to cause harm
or pain. In everyday speech, we also use the word for acts that are intended to dominate or
intimidate another. We use the word not only for acts that cause physical pain or damage, but we
also include behavior that is intended to cause psychological pain or damage. When we’re talking
about humans, this broad definition isn’t entirely wrong. We are such an aggressive species that
when we so much as raise our voices, this is often a real indication that danger is at hand – that we
may attack the person we’re shouting at. We often fight to the death about things. Our social
intercourse is strongly based on competition and domination, so we are often on the offensive and
a lot of what we do is indeed aimed at dominating someone. We have complex minds, and are
indeed able to damage each other psychologically and emotionally. In the end, we may rightly call
much human behavior aggressive. However, dogs are not human, and it’s not fair to project human
qualities onto them.
So what is going on with dogs? Dogs are non-human animals. Biologists know and acknowledge
that fights to the death between members of the same species are very rare in Nature (as long as
you leave us out of the equation). This is because a non-human animal recognizes others of his
species as a kind of social partners. Dogs are special, because they able to include us and many
other kinds of animals on this list. When they are dealing with social partners, non-human animals
usually use what we call “ritual aggression”. This is a kind of social discourse. The animals
simulate a fight, but they aren’t really trying to damage each other. The thing is, if it’s social
discourse (which it is), it can’t simultaneously be aggression. It’s one or the other – either an
animal is trying to damage his opponent, or he’s not, and if he’s not, well, it’s not aggression.
Among dogs, aggression means delivering an uninhibited bite to the other in question, using the full
and uninhibited strength of the jaws. And the fact is that normal dogs rarely do this. In fact, the
basic rule of dogs’ social interaction is that they will not revert to uninhibited biting, even in a very
heated argument (see Myth 11). A dog who does use aggression is frightening to other dogs.
They think he’s insane, and will do their best to avoid him. A dog that reverts to aggression can’t
be part of any canine social system. Aside from the fact that other dogs avoid him, he will destroy
any social system he joins by destroying the other participants.
Let’s take a look at what normal dogs really do. If you observe without projecting, and if you
understand their language, you see that dogs generally do everything in their power to avoid
aggressive encounters. Dogs have an extended warning system they use to tell the other that they
are feeling worried and to ask the other to please keep a little distance. We’ve seen (in Myth 12)
that it’s not aggression but anxiety that makes a dog use his warning signals (threat signals). We
know that the use of anxiety inhibiting medicines greatly decreases threat behavior in most dogs.
Knowing this, we know that biologists make a mistake when they call threat behavior “aggressive”.
They miss the point that these signals function specifically to give the other lots of time and
opportunity to avoid a confrontation. We know that even when the other ignores the signals, and it
does come to a confrontation, both dogs use their teeth with great reserve. In fact, they don’t really
use them at all except symbolically. They wave their teeth around, maybe pinch the other dog a
little – even a toothless dog is not the least bit at a disadvantage in one of these symbolic “fights”.
It remains easy during the whole affair for one of the dogs to stop the symbolic show of teeth by
giving off a subtle signal that he’s seen enough and is satisfied that the other dog will follow the non-
aggression rule. This signal can be so subtle that we don’t see it. To us, it looks like the “fight” –
which wasn’t really a fight but an exchange of signals in a social discourse – suddenly ended, for no
visible reason. We examine our dogs and find not a wound anywhere, or at the worst a small
puncture caused by a fang – which is a kind of wound dogs get just as often in rough play,
analogous to the child who comes home with a skinned knee after an afternoon of roller skating.
We have to conclude the dogs were not being aggressive to each other, no matter how scared the
whole thing made us feel.
Before a dog “bites” a human, he also, very reliably, uses his entire warning system to give us the
time and plenty of chance to avoid a confrontation. Mistakes start with the fact that we often have
no idea how a situation looks or feels to the dog. A dog might be lying in an armchair with its high
back and arm rests. It looks comfy to us, and we forget that the dog is – in his own perceptions –
lying in a corner without a quick exit. He might be lying on the rug in the middle of the room, and we
want to get a book from the shelves behind him. We head for the bookcase, not even thinking
about the dog as we focus on the spot we expect the book to be. We don’t realize that we are – in
the dog’s perceptions – suddenly walking straight at him with quite a decisive step, starting to enter
his personal zone while he’s in a supine position and can’t shoot out of our way very quickly. His
language isn’t our native language, so we often don’t see the signals he’s sending us (that he’s
worried about why we’re approaching, and to please give him time to stand up and move away).
We don’t see how long and how hard the dog has tried to avoid a confrontation. It seems to us like
he suddenly lashed out. We think he “bit” without a reason, and that this means he’s aggressive by
nature. We’re so shocked by his lashing out that we don’t notice we aren’t damaged, and that his
“bite” was only symbolic. Again we fail to understand his native language. All we have is some spit
on our sleeve, perhaps the imprint of a tooth on our unbroken skin, or (if the dog was really scared)
a small puncture with a bruise developing around it. Our bones and tendons and muscles are all
intact. Among dogs, this is all a very clear sign that no damage was intended, and that the bite
wasn’t in any way meant to be real. To another dog, this inhibited bite is a clear sign that the
“biting” dog is, despite his anxiety, trying hard to preserve the peaceful social relationship. We
humans totally miss this message. We forget what a dog can do with his teeth if he wants to, we
ignore the role our own behavior plays, and we foolishly call this symbolic, highly controlled gesture
“aggression”.
Strong selection against aggression of any kind is woven throughout the dog’s origin and entire
evolution as a species. If you look at things fairly, you’ll see that normal dogs do everything in their
power to avoid the use of aggression. Real aggression among domestic dogs is an anomaly.
When it does occur, it is not because the dog is a naturally aggressive species. Aggression in
dogs is usually a result of human tampering with a breed’s genes, or of traumatic experiences a
dog has had in his life up to that moment. Many of these traumatic experiences are due to the Nazi
myth that we have to be dominating our dogs all the time. This myth leads us to behave in ways
that are confusing and frightening to dogs, often leaving them no alternative but to lash out. Bad
science has burdened us with a self-fulfilling prophecy that has nothing to do with what dogs really
are.
In fact, the domestic dog is, by nature, anything but an aggressive species.
Please also read Myth 29, however, because we don’t want you drawing the wrong conclusions
from the facts about natural dogs.
Borchelt, PL, Voith VL, Punishment, in Voith, VL, Borchelt, PL, eds, Readings in Companion Animal Behavior,
Veterinary Learning systems, Co., Inc., Trenton, NJ, 1996: 72-80.
Coppinger, R, Coppinger, L, Dogs: a startling new understanding of canine origin, behavior, and evolution,
Scribner, New York, 2001.
Donaldson, J, The Culture Clash, James & Kenneth Publishers, Berkeley CA, 1996.
Dunbar, I, Bohnenkamp, G, Preventing Aggression, Center for Applied Animal Behavior, Berkeley CA, 1985 (3rd ed
June 1986).
Lockwood, R, The ethology and epidemiology of canine aggression, in Serpell J (ed), The Domestic Dog: Its
Evolution, Behavior & Interactions with People, Cambridge University Press, 1994.
Miczek, KA, Weerts, E, Haney, M, Tidey, J, Neurobiological mechanisms controlling aggression: Preclinical
developments for pharmacotherapeutic interventions, Neruosci Biobehav Rev18: 97-100, 1994.
Semyonova, A, The social organization of the domestic dog; a longitudinal study of domestic canine behavior and
the ontogeny of domestic canine social systems, Carriage House Foundation, The Hague, The Netherlands, 2003.
Sidman, M, Coercion and its Fallout, Authors Cooperative, Inc, Publishers, Boston, 1989.
Myth 29: There is no such thing as a truly aggressive dog.
Copyright 2007 by Alexandra Semyonova -- All Rights Reserved
It’s true that the dog evolved as a species in an environment in which there was strong selection
pressure against aggression. Living near humans and their livestock meant that aggression was
very bad for a dog’s chances of survival. The present day dog is, in general, a non-aggressive
creature who does everything she can to avoid aggressive encounters. However, this doesn’t
mean that no dogs are aggressive by nature. There are definitely dogs who are, and there are a
number of reasons for this.
Reason number 1: In Myth 18, we saw that humans arrived at a point of luxury and boredom in
their history, at which point they decided to start fooling around with the dog’s genes to make her
into a consumer item fit for conspicuous consumption. Now, it’s also a fact that humans are
different from most other animals – but not for the reasons our vanity often leads us to think. The
real major difference between us and other animals is that we are especially aggressive. There’s
no need to go into a long scientific story here, since a week of watching the Eight O’clock News is a
much easier way for you to check this fact. Some of us actually enjoy a blood bath, but are too
cowardly to engage in one ourselves. Some of these cowards believe they can prove their
manliness by watching a blood bath without batting an eye. Because of our own aggressive nature,
we are often frightened of each other. Many of us decided we wanted a legal weapon we could
have with us at all times, without having to apply for a permit or getting in trouble with the police.
But where do you find a blood bath in the middle of a civilized country, and what kind of weapon can
you carry without being prosecuted? The answer was (some 200 years ago already) the fighting
dog. Humans began to breed the long lost killing bite back into dogs. They wanted dogs who
would tirelessly tear apart a tied-up, de-clawed bear or a bull (who was often de-horned). These
humans gave us the English Bull Terrier. They wanted dogs who would tear each other apart in an
inescapable pit, dogs who wouldn’t stop even after the other dog was long dead. These humans
gave us the the English Staffordshire Terrier, and later the pit bull (also known as the American
Staffordshire Terrier, see Myth 40).
We reached a point (in England some 100 years ago, in the United States much more recently, but
not in all states) when all the activities these dogs were bred for (tearing apart other living animals
or each other) were prohibited by law. For a long time after that, these dogs became and remained
a rarity, kept only by a few men who were very worried about whether their penis was big enough.
Then, at the end of the 20th century, we saw the rise of various violent subcultures in our cities,
which found their expression in music, certain brand names of clothing, and other consumer items –
one of which was the killer dog. These subcultures were popularized by (for example) MTV and
TMF. Killer dogs again became a fashion item, and much more widespread than ever before in our
history. In our culture of one-upmanship, the more deadly incidents there were with pit bull type
dogs, the more people who wanted one. And of course, in our consumer culture, bigger is always
better, so it didn’t stop at the medium-sized pit bull type dog the rappers sported. In fact, there’s a
sort of arms race going on, who can breed and possess the biggest, most aggressive breed of
dog. We now have the Presa Canaria, the Dogo Argentino, the Fila Brasiliero, the Boerboel, and
various other breeds in which the killing bite has been revived, in combination with an ever larger
body and greater mass. The kennel clubs have large commercial interests involved, and pretend
that these are dogs like any others. Breeders advertise in covert terms. They praise their dogs as
guardians of home and hearth, wary of strangers, courageous, powerful – all of it secret language
that indicates a the breed that has been specifically bred for unbridled aggression.
And it’s a fact – these dogs are, by nature, always prepared to be highly aggressive. They don’t
want to avoid aggressive encounters at all, and often look for an excuse to start attacking. These
dogs will approach and present a stick or other object as if they are inviting play, and they then
begin an all-out attack on the first animal in the area that so much as moves (which animal is all too
often a human one). They are renowned for suddenly killing another dog or cat with whom they
have lived peacefully for years. Incidents with humans and children show that these dogs have an
unpredictable hair trigger (which, if you are lucky, you may never accidentally touch, in which case
you might think you have a “nice” pit bull, AmStaff, Presa Canaria, etc.). Once triggered, the attack
all too often can’t be stopped except by killing the dog.
These dogs were the first ones we created to be aggressive by nature. But there is now a second
group of problematic dogs starting to arise: the breeds that are most commonly used as guard
dogs and police dogs. These dogs are not only used and trained by police, but also by hobbyists
who engage in competitions for points. In their anxiousness to gain points at contests, these
hobbyists started to mess around with the breeds they work with. The German shepherd and the
rotweiler are the most common victims of this trend. In some countries, more local breeds have
suffered the same fate. Some kennels breed these dogs to be both nervous (the hair trigger) and
capable of real aggression.
When we breed dogs for these qualities, we are in fact breeding changes in their brains. Recent
research (Peremans 2002) has shown that this artificial selection results in abnormalities in the
parts of the brain that govern aggression and impulse control, and in the brain’s chemical
housekeeping (the neurotransmitters). The breeders make no secret of the fact that they do this.
If you buy a dog at a kennel that advertises its dogs for guard and police work, you know you will
get a dog that bites soon and doesn’t stop until a lot later. Unfortunately, we don’t live in a
laboratory where our experiments are securely contained. The German shepherd and the rotweiler
are also popular as household pets. Owners don’t always know what kind of kennel they are
visiting, and kennels don’t always care who they sell to. The genetic selection for aggression has
ended up leaking into the general population of these breeds, and they are now becoming more
generally problematic than one would expect from pet breeds.
The fact that these police dog breeds are so strongly represented in the dog-bite statistics is
sometimes used to prove that the truly aggressive breeds are no more dangerous than any normal
dog. After all, the German shepherd and the rotweiler are old breeds with a long history as
household pets. Serious bite incidents with these dogs are cited in attempts to prove that the all-
out aggression of the triggered pit bull (or American Staffordshire Terrier, or Presa Canaria, etc.) is
perfectly normal canine behavior. People conveniently forget (or omit to mention) that these
breeds have been subject to the same slanted artificial selection, which produced the pit bull (etc.)
in the first place, for several decades now. The increasingly aggressive behavior of these police
dog breeds constitutes, in fact, proof that breeding for aggression most certainly does get you a
genetically aggressive, abnormally dangerous dog. These breeds account, together, for almost
100% of serious to fatal dog bite incidents. Eighty percent of serious to fatal attacks (on humans or
other dogs) are committed by pit bulls/American Staffordshire Terriers. The remaining 20% is
claimed mostly by the breeds that are used for police work.
So the first group of naturally aggressive dogs is the group whose genes we have tampered with,
making them less like real dogs and more like ourselves.
Reason number 2: The domestic dog has been living with us for at least 14,000 years. Our tie with
him is so close that we often forget that each of us has to learn, separately and anew, how to raise
a dog so that his natural gifts will blossom. We grow up with dogs all around us, and think anyone
can raise a dog. Our well-intended ignorance leads us to make some common mistakes. Some of
us overprotect our puppy. Others use a lot of harsh punishment in raising their dog. In such
cases, one of the following things can happen:
The domestic dog is a highly non-aggressive species, but this doesn’t mean there’s no such thing
as a truly aggressive dog. Plenty of dogs exist who are, by nature, aggressive, and there are
plenty of others who have simply learned to be aggressive.
Bryson, S, Effects of genetic selection and experience on police dog behavior, U.S. Police Canine Association web
site, www.usp-cak9.com/training/K9BehArticle.pdf ,
Lockwood, R, The ethology and epidemiology of canine aggression, in Serpell J (ed), The Domestic Dog: Its
Evolution, Behavior & Interactions with People, Cambridge University Press, 1994.
Peremans, K, Functional brain imaging of the dog; single photon emission tomography as a research and clinical
tool for the investigation of canine brain physiology and pathophysiology, Universiteit Gent, Faculty of Veterinary
Medicine, Gent, 2002
http://www.uznuclear.ugent.be/research/phd_dissertations/Functional_Brain_LowRes.pdf (Chapter 8, accessed
april 2006)
Phillips, K, Esq, www.dogbitelaw.com
Seksel, K, Report the the NSW department of local government on breed specific legislation issues relating to
control of dangerous dogs, Seaforth Animal Behavior Consultants, Seaforth, New South Wales,
www.dlg.nsw.gov.au/dlg/dlghome/documents/Information/ca_breed_specific_legislation.pdf (accessed april 2006)
Twining, H, Arluke, A, Patronek, G, Managing stigma of outlaw breeds: A case study of pit bull owners, Society &
Animals, Vol. 8, No. 1, 1-28, 2001. http://www.psyeta.org/sa/sa8.1/arluke.shtml
(c) Alexandra Semyonova -- All Rights Reserved
One reason people believe this myth is because of the romantic idea that the domestic dog
descended from the great gray wolf (see Myth 1), which he didn’t. We now also know that the
domestic dog isn’t a hunter, but that he became what he is precisely because he gave up hunting
to scavenge our leftovers (see Myth 4). But all these romantic ideas don’t die easy. It is now
fashionable among biologists to talk about the domestic dog as a “predator.” What they forget to
say when they tell us this is that sheep, tapeworms and mistletoe are also predators. A predator is
anything that has to eat from another living being, maybe or maybe not killing it in the process. A
predator is not necessarily a hunter. Dogs have to have a certain amount of animal protein, but so
does a tapeworm. The dog gets his protein by eating our leftovers, while the tapeworm actually
steals stuff we still need right from under our nose. This biological word game has brought us right
back to the old, false picture of the dog as a killer whose desire to kill is always right there under
the surface just dying to get out. This need to feel we have a barely contained killer walking
obediently next to us tells us something about ourselves, but it remains a false perception of the
dog.
Then there is a second thing that contributes to this myth, namely confusion about what we mean
by the word “aggressive.” Strictly speaking, aggression is some act that is intended to cause harm
or pain. In everyday speech, we also use the word for acts that are intended to dominate or
intimidate another. We use the word not only for acts that cause physical pain or damage, but we
also include behavior that is intended to cause psychological pain or damage. When we’re talking
about humans, this broad definition isn’t entirely wrong. We are such an aggressive species that
when we so much as raise our voices, this is often a real indication that danger is at hand – that we
may attack the person we’re shouting at. We often fight to the death about things. Our social
intercourse is strongly based on competition and domination, so we are often on the offensive and
a lot of what we do is indeed aimed at dominating someone. We have complex minds, and are
indeed able to damage each other psychologically and emotionally. In the end, we may rightly call
much human behavior aggressive. However, dogs are not human, and it’s not fair to project human
qualities onto them.
So what is going on with dogs? Dogs are non-human animals. Biologists know and acknowledge
that fights to the death between members of the same species are very rare in Nature (as long as
you leave us out of the equation). This is because a non-human animal recognizes others of his
species as a kind of social partners. Dogs are special, because they able to include us and many
other kinds of animals on this list. When they are dealing with social partners, non-human animals
usually use what we call “ritual aggression”. This is a kind of social discourse. The animals
simulate a fight, but they aren’t really trying to damage each other. The thing is, if it’s social
discourse (which it is), it can’t simultaneously be aggression. It’s one or the other – either an
animal is trying to damage his opponent, or he’s not, and if he’s not, well, it’s not aggression.
Among dogs, aggression means delivering an uninhibited bite to the other in question, using the full
and uninhibited strength of the jaws. And the fact is that normal dogs rarely do this. In fact, the
basic rule of dogs’ social interaction is that they will not revert to uninhibited biting, even in a very
heated argument (see Myth 11). A dog who does use aggression is frightening to other dogs.
They think he’s insane, and will do their best to avoid him. A dog that reverts to aggression can’t
be part of any canine social system. Aside from the fact that other dogs avoid him, he will destroy
any social system he joins by destroying the other participants.
Let’s take a look at what normal dogs really do. If you observe without projecting, and if you
understand their language, you see that dogs generally do everything in their power to avoid
aggressive encounters. Dogs have an extended warning system they use to tell the other that they
are feeling worried and to ask the other to please keep a little distance. We’ve seen (in Myth 12)
that it’s not aggression but anxiety that makes a dog use his warning signals (threat signals). We
know that the use of anxiety inhibiting medicines greatly decreases threat behavior in most dogs.
Knowing this, we know that biologists make a mistake when they call threat behavior “aggressive”.
They miss the point that these signals function specifically to give the other lots of time and
opportunity to avoid a confrontation. We know that even when the other ignores the signals, and it
does come to a confrontation, both dogs use their teeth with great reserve. In fact, they don’t really
use them at all except symbolically. They wave their teeth around, maybe pinch the other dog a
little – even a toothless dog is not the least bit at a disadvantage in one of these symbolic “fights”.
It remains easy during the whole affair for one of the dogs to stop the symbolic show of teeth by
giving off a subtle signal that he’s seen enough and is satisfied that the other dog will follow the non-
aggression rule. This signal can be so subtle that we don’t see it. To us, it looks like the “fight” –
which wasn’t really a fight but an exchange of signals in a social discourse – suddenly ended, for no
visible reason. We examine our dogs and find not a wound anywhere, or at the worst a small
puncture caused by a fang – which is a kind of wound dogs get just as often in rough play,
analogous to the child who comes home with a skinned knee after an afternoon of roller skating.
We have to conclude the dogs were not being aggressive to each other, no matter how scared the
whole thing made us feel.
Before a dog “bites” a human, he also, very reliably, uses his entire warning system to give us the
time and plenty of chance to avoid a confrontation. Mistakes start with the fact that we often have
no idea how a situation looks or feels to the dog. A dog might be lying in an armchair with its high
back and arm rests. It looks comfy to us, and we forget that the dog is – in his own perceptions –
lying in a corner without a quick exit. He might be lying on the rug in the middle of the room, and we
want to get a book from the shelves behind him. We head for the bookcase, not even thinking
about the dog as we focus on the spot we expect the book to be. We don’t realize that we are – in
the dog’s perceptions – suddenly walking straight at him with quite a decisive step, starting to enter
his personal zone while he’s in a supine position and can’t shoot out of our way very quickly. His
language isn’t our native language, so we often don’t see the signals he’s sending us (that he’s
worried about why we’re approaching, and to please give him time to stand up and move away).
We don’t see how long and how hard the dog has tried to avoid a confrontation. It seems to us like
he suddenly lashed out. We think he “bit” without a reason, and that this means he’s aggressive by
nature. We’re so shocked by his lashing out that we don’t notice we aren’t damaged, and that his
“bite” was only symbolic. Again we fail to understand his native language. All we have is some spit
on our sleeve, perhaps the imprint of a tooth on our unbroken skin, or (if the dog was really scared)
a small puncture with a bruise developing around it. Our bones and tendons and muscles are all
intact. Among dogs, this is all a very clear sign that no damage was intended, and that the bite
wasn’t in any way meant to be real. To another dog, this inhibited bite is a clear sign that the
“biting” dog is, despite his anxiety, trying hard to preserve the peaceful social relationship. We
humans totally miss this message. We forget what a dog can do with his teeth if he wants to, we
ignore the role our own behavior plays, and we foolishly call this symbolic, highly controlled gesture
“aggression”.
Strong selection against aggression of any kind is woven throughout the dog’s origin and entire
evolution as a species. If you look at things fairly, you’ll see that normal dogs do everything in their
power to avoid the use of aggression. Real aggression among domestic dogs is an anomaly.
When it does occur, it is not because the dog is a naturally aggressive species. Aggression in
dogs is usually a result of human tampering with a breed’s genes, or of traumatic experiences a
dog has had in his life up to that moment. Many of these traumatic experiences are due to the Nazi
myth that we have to be dominating our dogs all the time. This myth leads us to behave in ways
that are confusing and frightening to dogs, often leaving them no alternative but to lash out. Bad
science has burdened us with a self-fulfilling prophecy that has nothing to do with what dogs really
are.
In fact, the domestic dog is, by nature, anything but an aggressive species.
Please also read Myth 29, however, because we don’t want you drawing the wrong conclusions
from the facts about natural dogs.
Borchelt, PL, Voith VL, Punishment, in Voith, VL, Borchelt, PL, eds, Readings in Companion Animal Behavior,
Veterinary Learning systems, Co., Inc., Trenton, NJ, 1996: 72-80.
Coppinger, R, Coppinger, L, Dogs: a startling new understanding of canine origin, behavior, and evolution,
Scribner, New York, 2001.
Donaldson, J, The Culture Clash, James & Kenneth Publishers, Berkeley CA, 1996.
Dunbar, I, Bohnenkamp, G, Preventing Aggression, Center for Applied Animal Behavior, Berkeley CA, 1985 (3rd ed
June 1986).
Lockwood, R, The ethology and epidemiology of canine aggression, in Serpell J (ed), The Domestic Dog: Its
Evolution, Behavior & Interactions with People, Cambridge University Press, 1994.
Miczek, KA, Weerts, E, Haney, M, Tidey, J, Neurobiological mechanisms controlling aggression: Preclinical
developments for pharmacotherapeutic interventions, Neruosci Biobehav Rev18: 97-100, 1994.
Semyonova, A, The social organization of the domestic dog; a longitudinal study of domestic canine behavior and
the ontogeny of domestic canine social systems, Carriage House Foundation, The Hague, The Netherlands, 2003.
Sidman, M, Coercion and its Fallout, Authors Cooperative, Inc, Publishers, Boston, 1989.
Myth 29: There is no such thing as a truly aggressive dog.
Copyright 2007 by Alexandra Semyonova -- All Rights Reserved
It’s true that the dog evolved as a species in an environment in which there was strong selection
pressure against aggression. Living near humans and their livestock meant that aggression was
very bad for a dog’s chances of survival. The present day dog is, in general, a non-aggressive
creature who does everything she can to avoid aggressive encounters. However, this doesn’t
mean that no dogs are aggressive by nature. There are definitely dogs who are, and there are a
number of reasons for this.
Reason number 1: In Myth 18, we saw that humans arrived at a point of luxury and boredom in
their history, at which point they decided to start fooling around with the dog’s genes to make her
into a consumer item fit for conspicuous consumption. Now, it’s also a fact that humans are
different from most other animals – but not for the reasons our vanity often leads us to think. The
real major difference between us and other animals is that we are especially aggressive. There’s
no need to go into a long scientific story here, since a week of watching the Eight O’clock News is a
much easier way for you to check this fact. Some of us actually enjoy a blood bath, but are too
cowardly to engage in one ourselves. Some of these cowards believe they can prove their
manliness by watching a blood bath without batting an eye. Because of our own aggressive nature,
we are often frightened of each other. Many of us decided we wanted a legal weapon we could
have with us at all times, without having to apply for a permit or getting in trouble with the police.
But where do you find a blood bath in the middle of a civilized country, and what kind of weapon can
you carry without being prosecuted? The answer was (some 200 years ago already) the fighting
dog. Humans began to breed the long lost killing bite back into dogs. They wanted dogs who
would tirelessly tear apart a tied-up, de-clawed bear or a bull (who was often de-horned). These
humans gave us the English Bull Terrier. They wanted dogs who would tear each other apart in an
inescapable pit, dogs who wouldn’t stop even after the other dog was long dead. These humans
gave us the the English Staffordshire Terrier, and later the pit bull (also known as the American
Staffordshire Terrier, see Myth 40).
We reached a point (in England some 100 years ago, in the United States much more recently, but
not in all states) when all the activities these dogs were bred for (tearing apart other living animals
or each other) were prohibited by law. For a long time after that, these dogs became and remained
a rarity, kept only by a few men who were very worried about whether their penis was big enough.
Then, at the end of the 20th century, we saw the rise of various violent subcultures in our cities,
which found their expression in music, certain brand names of clothing, and other consumer items –
one of which was the killer dog. These subcultures were popularized by (for example) MTV and
TMF. Killer dogs again became a fashion item, and much more widespread than ever before in our
history. In our culture of one-upmanship, the more deadly incidents there were with pit bull type
dogs, the more people who wanted one. And of course, in our consumer culture, bigger is always
better, so it didn’t stop at the medium-sized pit bull type dog the rappers sported. In fact, there’s a
sort of arms race going on, who can breed and possess the biggest, most aggressive breed of
dog. We now have the Presa Canaria, the Dogo Argentino, the Fila Brasiliero, the Boerboel, and
various other breeds in which the killing bite has been revived, in combination with an ever larger
body and greater mass. The kennel clubs have large commercial interests involved, and pretend
that these are dogs like any others. Breeders advertise in covert terms. They praise their dogs as
guardians of home and hearth, wary of strangers, courageous, powerful – all of it secret language
that indicates a the breed that has been specifically bred for unbridled aggression.
And it’s a fact – these dogs are, by nature, always prepared to be highly aggressive. They don’t
want to avoid aggressive encounters at all, and often look for an excuse to start attacking. These
dogs will approach and present a stick or other object as if they are inviting play, and they then
begin an all-out attack on the first animal in the area that so much as moves (which animal is all too
often a human one). They are renowned for suddenly killing another dog or cat with whom they
have lived peacefully for years. Incidents with humans and children show that these dogs have an
unpredictable hair trigger (which, if you are lucky, you may never accidentally touch, in which case
you might think you have a “nice” pit bull, AmStaff, Presa Canaria, etc.). Once triggered, the attack
all too often can’t be stopped except by killing the dog.
These dogs were the first ones we created to be aggressive by nature. But there is now a second
group of problematic dogs starting to arise: the breeds that are most commonly used as guard
dogs and police dogs. These dogs are not only used and trained by police, but also by hobbyists
who engage in competitions for points. In their anxiousness to gain points at contests, these
hobbyists started to mess around with the breeds they work with. The German shepherd and the
rotweiler are the most common victims of this trend. In some countries, more local breeds have
suffered the same fate. Some kennels breed these dogs to be both nervous (the hair trigger) and
capable of real aggression.
When we breed dogs for these qualities, we are in fact breeding changes in their brains. Recent
research (Peremans 2002) has shown that this artificial selection results in abnormalities in the
parts of the brain that govern aggression and impulse control, and in the brain’s chemical
housekeeping (the neurotransmitters). The breeders make no secret of the fact that they do this.
If you buy a dog at a kennel that advertises its dogs for guard and police work, you know you will
get a dog that bites soon and doesn’t stop until a lot later. Unfortunately, we don’t live in a
laboratory where our experiments are securely contained. The German shepherd and the rotweiler
are also popular as household pets. Owners don’t always know what kind of kennel they are
visiting, and kennels don’t always care who they sell to. The genetic selection for aggression has
ended up leaking into the general population of these breeds, and they are now becoming more
generally problematic than one would expect from pet breeds.
The fact that these police dog breeds are so strongly represented in the dog-bite statistics is
sometimes used to prove that the truly aggressive breeds are no more dangerous than any normal
dog. After all, the German shepherd and the rotweiler are old breeds with a long history as
household pets. Serious bite incidents with these dogs are cited in attempts to prove that the all-
out aggression of the triggered pit bull (or American Staffordshire Terrier, or Presa Canaria, etc.) is
perfectly normal canine behavior. People conveniently forget (or omit to mention) that these
breeds have been subject to the same slanted artificial selection, which produced the pit bull (etc.)
in the first place, for several decades now. The increasingly aggressive behavior of these police
dog breeds constitutes, in fact, proof that breeding for aggression most certainly does get you a
genetically aggressive, abnormally dangerous dog. These breeds account, together, for almost
100% of serious to fatal dog bite incidents. Eighty percent of serious to fatal attacks (on humans or
other dogs) are committed by pit bulls/American Staffordshire Terriers. The remaining 20% is
claimed mostly by the breeds that are used for police work.
So the first group of naturally aggressive dogs is the group whose genes we have tampered with,
making them less like real dogs and more like ourselves.
Reason number 2: The domestic dog has been living with us for at least 14,000 years. Our tie with
him is so close that we often forget that each of us has to learn, separately and anew, how to raise
a dog so that his natural gifts will blossom. We grow up with dogs all around us, and think anyone
can raise a dog. Our well-intended ignorance leads us to make some common mistakes. Some of
us overprotect our puppy. Others use a lot of harsh punishment in raising their dog. In such
cases, one of the following things can happen:
- 1. The puppy doesn’t get to play freely and sufficiently with other, grown-up dogs before he
loses his milk teeth. He never learns to control and inhibit his bite. He grows up unconscious
of how much damage he can inflict with his teeth. These dogs don’t bite hard on purpose –
they just have no idea. They can also be too quick to bite, because they have missed the
education adult dogs would have given them about using their body language and seeking
compromises.
- 2. The harshly punished pup, or the pup whose human is preoccupied with “dominating” him,
grows up learning that humans torture him, and that we display all kinds of other
unpredictable and scary behavior. The dog learns that he has to defend himself against us
because we are dangerous and insane. These dogs are aggressive out of self-
preservation.
The domestic dog is a highly non-aggressive species, but this doesn’t mean there’s no such thing
as a truly aggressive dog. Plenty of dogs exist who are, by nature, aggressive, and there are
plenty of others who have simply learned to be aggressive.
Bryson, S, Effects of genetic selection and experience on police dog behavior, U.S. Police Canine Association web
site, www.usp-cak9.com/training/K9BehArticle.pdf ,
Lockwood, R, The ethology and epidemiology of canine aggression, in Serpell J (ed), The Domestic Dog: Its
Evolution, Behavior & Interactions with People, Cambridge University Press, 1994.
Peremans, K, Functional brain imaging of the dog; single photon emission tomography as a research and clinical
tool for the investigation of canine brain physiology and pathophysiology, Universiteit Gent, Faculty of Veterinary
Medicine, Gent, 2002
http://www.uznuclear.ugent.be/research/phd_dissertations/Functional_Brain_LowRes.pdf (Chapter 8, accessed
april 2006)
Phillips, K, Esq, www.dogbitelaw.com
Seksel, K, Report the the NSW department of local government on breed specific legislation issues relating to
control of dangerous dogs, Seaforth Animal Behavior Consultants, Seaforth, New South Wales,
www.dlg.nsw.gov.au/dlg/dlghome/documents/Information/ca_breed_specific_legislation.pdf (accessed april 2006)
Twining, H, Arluke, A, Patronek, G, Managing stigma of outlaw breeds: A case study of pit bull owners, Society &
Animals, Vol. 8, No. 1, 1-28, 2001. http://www.psyeta.org/sa/sa8.1/arluke.shtml
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Myth 41: “What? How dare you growl at me!?!?” a.k.a. If
your dog snaps or growls at you, you should punish this
severely.
Copyright 2007 by Alexandra Semyonova -- All Rights Reserved
If you have read this far, you now know that a threat signal is just the way a dog tells you she is
feeling very worried and insecure about what you are planning to do. Her inner state is out of
balance (too much adrenaline, too much fear or worry), and she wants to restore the balance. She
is also worried about the equilibrium in the social landscape, because she doesn’t know whether
you are planning to disturb this equilibrium by breaking the peace. A threat signal is, in essence,
nothing more than a request to give the dog some space until she feels more secure that the other
can be trusted. This means that a threat signal is, in fact, a request that you give off a calming
signal, so the dog can feel reassured about your intentions. We have seen that it is the insecure
dog who threatens the most. It is the socially secure dog, the one who is confident that social
intercourse will follow the rules and thus be safe, and confident that her own calming signals will
always work, who threatens the least. She is confident enough to be the first to use her calming
signals. She is the one who, by her calming signals, takes control of the situation and leads it to
safe equilibrium. She takes the other dog by the hand, as it were, and helps him past his anxiety.
See also Myths 12, 13 and 30.
When a dog snaps at you or growls at you, she is doubting whether you are trustworthy. She is
worried that you might be violent or dangerous. She isn’t “dominating” you, but asking you to stay
out of her personal zone for the moment. If you make the mistake of punishing her for her
insecurity, all you do is affirm that you (and perhaps humans in general) aren’t to be trusted.
Unfortunately, a lot of dog owners do punish their dogs for growling at them. What this leads to
depends on how far the owner goes in punishing his dog’s insecurity. Some owners get themselves
into a cycle of violence with their dogs, so that the dog ends up feeling she has to defend her very
life and the owner ends up (eventually) severely bitten. Sometimes the dog’s owner accidentally
gives her some other way out. For example, the owner stops when he’s beaten the dog so badly
that she pees herself. These owners ascribe the fact that they haven’t been bitten to the
punishment. They end up with a dog who is terrified of them, but who – by pure chance – hasn’t
had to fight for her very survival…yet. Research has shown that these owners are not good at
understanding the dog’s body language. They confuse her fear with “submissiveness” and think
they’ve arranged the dominance hierarchy just fine. They have no idea how miserable the dog is.
The pattern is similar to the cycle of violence we find in the wife-beater in a domestic violence
situation.
So what is the right thing to do if your dog snaps or growls at you? The behavioral therapy for a
growling or snapping dog always, but always, consists of a series of exercises that will gradually
build trust with the dog. We gradually habituate the dog to various things the owner does, teaching
the dog that the owner’s actions will have a pleasant ending for the dog. The dog is allowed to take
her own time, while getting lots of rewards for relaxed behavior, in learning to trust her owner’s
approach and touch. In other words, the dog gets to decide how fast the therapy progresses.
Sometimes the dog has been tortured so long and so often that we have to use safety measures
during the exercises – anxiety inhibiting medicine, a muzzle, a trailing leash during the sessions.
This trust building therapy is usually successful, if only the owner can follow the instructions, stop
punishing the dog altogether, and learn to see and respect her as a living being.
Dogs run their relationships on the basis of trust, not dominance, violence and punishment. A
threatening dog is a worried dog, who is asking for some space. Don’t blame the dog – rather,
learn to be trustworthy. A dog who feels sure your behavior is predictable, and who is confident
that she can influence your behavior with her calming signals, will start to feel at ease with you.
After awhile, after you have been willing to give enough proof that you are to be trusted, she will
stop needing to ask you to stay out of her personal zone.
Trust is the key with dogs, and it has to be arrived at on their own terms.
your dog snaps or growls at you, you should punish this
severely.
Copyright 2007 by Alexandra Semyonova -- All Rights Reserved
If you have read this far, you now know that a threat signal is just the way a dog tells you she is
feeling very worried and insecure about what you are planning to do. Her inner state is out of
balance (too much adrenaline, too much fear or worry), and she wants to restore the balance. She
is also worried about the equilibrium in the social landscape, because she doesn’t know whether
you are planning to disturb this equilibrium by breaking the peace. A threat signal is, in essence,
nothing more than a request to give the dog some space until she feels more secure that the other
can be trusted. This means that a threat signal is, in fact, a request that you give off a calming
signal, so the dog can feel reassured about your intentions. We have seen that it is the insecure
dog who threatens the most. It is the socially secure dog, the one who is confident that social
intercourse will follow the rules and thus be safe, and confident that her own calming signals will
always work, who threatens the least. She is confident enough to be the first to use her calming
signals. She is the one who, by her calming signals, takes control of the situation and leads it to
safe equilibrium. She takes the other dog by the hand, as it were, and helps him past his anxiety.
See also Myths 12, 13 and 30.
When a dog snaps at you or growls at you, she is doubting whether you are trustworthy. She is
worried that you might be violent or dangerous. She isn’t “dominating” you, but asking you to stay
out of her personal zone for the moment. If you make the mistake of punishing her for her
insecurity, all you do is affirm that you (and perhaps humans in general) aren’t to be trusted.
Unfortunately, a lot of dog owners do punish their dogs for growling at them. What this leads to
depends on how far the owner goes in punishing his dog’s insecurity. Some owners get themselves
into a cycle of violence with their dogs, so that the dog ends up feeling she has to defend her very
life and the owner ends up (eventually) severely bitten. Sometimes the dog’s owner accidentally
gives her some other way out. For example, the owner stops when he’s beaten the dog so badly
that she pees herself. These owners ascribe the fact that they haven’t been bitten to the
punishment. They end up with a dog who is terrified of them, but who – by pure chance – hasn’t
had to fight for her very survival…yet. Research has shown that these owners are not good at
understanding the dog’s body language. They confuse her fear with “submissiveness” and think
they’ve arranged the dominance hierarchy just fine. They have no idea how miserable the dog is.
The pattern is similar to the cycle of violence we find in the wife-beater in a domestic violence
situation.
So what is the right thing to do if your dog snaps or growls at you? The behavioral therapy for a
growling or snapping dog always, but always, consists of a series of exercises that will gradually
build trust with the dog. We gradually habituate the dog to various things the owner does, teaching
the dog that the owner’s actions will have a pleasant ending for the dog. The dog is allowed to take
her own time, while getting lots of rewards for relaxed behavior, in learning to trust her owner’s
approach and touch. In other words, the dog gets to decide how fast the therapy progresses.
Sometimes the dog has been tortured so long and so often that we have to use safety measures
during the exercises – anxiety inhibiting medicine, a muzzle, a trailing leash during the sessions.
This trust building therapy is usually successful, if only the owner can follow the instructions, stop
punishing the dog altogether, and learn to see and respect her as a living being.
Dogs run their relationships on the basis of trust, not dominance, violence and punishment. A
threatening dog is a worried dog, who is asking for some space. Don’t blame the dog – rather,
learn to be trustworthy. A dog who feels sure your behavior is predictable, and who is confident
that she can influence your behavior with her calming signals, will start to feel at ease with you.
After awhile, after you have been willing to give enough proof that you are to be trusted, she will
stop needing to ask you to stay out of her personal zone.
Trust is the key with dogs, and it has to be arrived at on their own terms.
This is not a how to book. If you are interested in trust building exercises
with a growling, snapping dog, the best thing to do is find a good behavior
therapist in your area. Even if this were a how-to book, dealing with a dog
who is so worried that s/he growls and snaps can be very distressing and
even dangerous. It's all too easy to make beginner's mistakes that
aggravate the problem. So it's important to get the help of someone who
can guide you as you work on it.
How do you know whether a behavior therapist is competent? You can ask
about membership in the Association of Pet Dog Trainers (the APDT) or the
International Association of Animal Behavior Consultants (the IAABC),or
some other organization that does some kind of training and quality control
before admitting members. Not all good therapists are members of a club,
though -- I am not. You can ask about the therapist's education, whether the
person has a college or higher degree in animal behavior. But not all good
therapists have degrees, either (I do). You can call your local SPCA and ask
for names. You can ask friends. You can ask at a dog school that rejects
the choke chain for training dogs and uses treats and/or the clicker instead.
When you contact a therapist, you can present your case briefly and let the
therapist start talking. Then...
One thing to watch out for is that the therapist doesn't just have a standard,
ready-made answer. A good therapist will ask you lots of questions about
your dog and his/her history, how you brought the dog up, when the problem
first started, when and where it occurs, and so on. The therapist will want to
make a house visit and watch you with the dog. S/he might ask you to do
various things with the dog, perhaps even asking you to do something that
will make the dog show the growling or snapping behavior. (A good
therapist will not ask you to do this in a way that puts you or your dog at risk --
neither physical risk, nor emotional and psychological risk.) A good
therapist will take a thorough look at you and your dog as individuals and at
your particular relationship. If the therapist already knows the answer before
you even tell your story, it's better to look for someone else.
Another very important thing to watch out for is that the therapist doesn't
start talking about dominating your dog by any technique that sounds the
least bit like intimidation or punishment. Some good therapists still talk
about dominance and ranks and leadership -- but when they start explaining
how to change these things, they will not be telling you to intimidate your
dog, hit your dog, kick your dog, jerk on the choke chain, nor do anything else
that is scary, painful, or intimidating for your dog. They will start talking
instead about things like asking the dog to sit or lie down very frequently for a
treat, not letting the dog get on the couch or other high places anymore,
eating first before the dog does, never approaching the dog but letting the
dog approach you, and such like. A good therapist will know exercises for
you that make the dog feel less intimidated and worried rather than more.
The instant a trainer or therapist starts talking about punishing your dog or
doing anything that is intimidating, scary, or painful for your dog, it's time to
say, "thanks, but no thanks," and call someone else.
* * * *
For an explanation of why even a therapist who talks about ranks and
leadership can still be a good therapist (as long as this does not include
punishing, hurting, scaring or intimidating your dog), take a look at Myth 97.
with a growling, snapping dog, the best thing to do is find a good behavior
therapist in your area. Even if this were a how-to book, dealing with a dog
who is so worried that s/he growls and snaps can be very distressing and
even dangerous. It's all too easy to make beginner's mistakes that
aggravate the problem. So it's important to get the help of someone who
can guide you as you work on it.
How do you know whether a behavior therapist is competent? You can ask
about membership in the Association of Pet Dog Trainers (the APDT) or the
International Association of Animal Behavior Consultants (the IAABC),or
some other organization that does some kind of training and quality control
before admitting members. Not all good therapists are members of a club,
though -- I am not. You can ask about the therapist's education, whether the
person has a college or higher degree in animal behavior. But not all good
therapists have degrees, either (I do). You can call your local SPCA and ask
for names. You can ask friends. You can ask at a dog school that rejects
the choke chain for training dogs and uses treats and/or the clicker instead.
When you contact a therapist, you can present your case briefly and let the
therapist start talking. Then...
One thing to watch out for is that the therapist doesn't just have a standard,
ready-made answer. A good therapist will ask you lots of questions about
your dog and his/her history, how you brought the dog up, when the problem
first started, when and where it occurs, and so on. The therapist will want to
make a house visit and watch you with the dog. S/he might ask you to do
various things with the dog, perhaps even asking you to do something that
will make the dog show the growling or snapping behavior. (A good
therapist will not ask you to do this in a way that puts you or your dog at risk --
neither physical risk, nor emotional and psychological risk.) A good
therapist will take a thorough look at you and your dog as individuals and at
your particular relationship. If the therapist already knows the answer before
you even tell your story, it's better to look for someone else.
Another very important thing to watch out for is that the therapist doesn't
start talking about dominating your dog by any technique that sounds the
least bit like intimidation or punishment. Some good therapists still talk
about dominance and ranks and leadership -- but when they start explaining
how to change these things, they will not be telling you to intimidate your
dog, hit your dog, kick your dog, jerk on the choke chain, nor do anything else
that is scary, painful, or intimidating for your dog. They will start talking
instead about things like asking the dog to sit or lie down very frequently for a
treat, not letting the dog get on the couch or other high places anymore,
eating first before the dog does, never approaching the dog but letting the
dog approach you, and such like. A good therapist will know exercises for
you that make the dog feel less intimidated and worried rather than more.
The instant a trainer or therapist starts talking about punishing your dog or
doing anything that is intimidating, scary, or painful for your dog, it's time to
say, "thanks, but no thanks," and call someone else.
* * * *
For an explanation of why even a therapist who talks about ranks and
leadership can still be a good therapist (as long as this does not include
punishing, hurting, scaring or intimidating your dog), take a look at Myth 97.
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