Protective, Teritorial, and Possessive Aggression
Kiki has this issue. I laugh when I hear stories about how she is in the house as Palena told me about her and she is only 2 pounds 8 ounces. Not even as big as my head. But even tiny dogs have control behavior issues and Kiki is very protective and territorial about Palena. But she is learning that’s its ok to share with others. Protective, territorial, and possessive aggression is all very similar and involve the defense of valuable resources.
Territorial aggression
Dogs become possessively aggressive when defending their food, toys, or other valued objests, including items as peculiar as tissues stolen from the trash.
What You Can Do
First, check with your veterinarian to rule out medical causes for the aggressive behavior. Seek professional advice. An aggression problem will not go away by itself. Working with aggression problems requires in-home help from an animalbehavior specialist. Take precautions. Avoid exposing your dog to situations where he is more likely to show aggression. You may need to keep him confined to a safe room and limit his contact with people. If your dog is possessive of toys or treats, or territorial in certain locations, prevent access and you’ ll prevent the problem. In an emergency, bribe him with something better than what he has. For example, if he steals your shoe, trade him the shoe for a piece of chicken. Spay or neuter your dog. Intact dogs are more likely to display dominance, territorial, and protective aggressive behavior.
What NOT to Do
Punishment won’ t help and, in fact, will often make the problem worse. If the aggression is motivated by fear, punishment will make your dog more fearful, and therefore more aggressive. Attempting to punish or dominate a dominant-aggressive dog may actually lead him to escalate his behavior to retain his dominant position. This is likely to result in a bite or a severe attack. Punishing territorial, possessive, or protective aggression is likely to elicit additional defensive aggression. Don’ t encourage aggressive behavior. Playing tug-of-war or wrestling games encourages your dog to attempt to “ best” you or “win” over you, which can lead to a dominance aggression problem. When dogs are encouraged to “ go get ‘em” or to bark and dash about in response to outside noises or the approach of a person, territorial and protective aggressive behavior may result. If you are working with puppies and you are playing tug-of-war or other games like this ALWAYS make sure you are the one that end up with the toy in the end. Again I have to say if you have a dog with behavioral issues and are not confident call someone who is. You can do as much damage to a dog that could be retrained, as not by trying to handle a dog that you have no confidence in handling. CALL for help. Ultimately we want everyone to live in a safe and peaceful pack like our animals here. Every year hundreds of dogs are killed in shelters. I would have been if Darla had not called Palena. They are killed because they are deemed “Aggressive” , many rescues like the Sanctuary are trying to stop that killing by working with dogs like me. Over the next few months I have been allowed to have articles on dogs like me. Please read them and help these rescues on their mission to help us.
This is a relatively common type of aggression but one that is often misunderstood by pet owners. If a dog is somehow provoked by a person or animal he is unable to attack, he may redirect this aggression onto someone else. For example, two family dogs may become excited and bark and growl in response to another dog passing through the front yard, or two dogs confined behind a fence may turn and attack each other because they can’ t attack an intruder. Predation is usually considered to be a unique kind of aggressive behavior because it’ s motivated by the intent to obtain food and not primarily by the intent to harm or intimidate.
We wish to thank Pets For Life for some of the material in this article. Next month we will begin the ideas I and many others have on how to work with dogs like me.