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Dog Aggression Is Predicted by Training Methods and Breed Using punishment during training predicts aggression toward people.
Published on March 18 !"1# by $tanley %oren Ph.D. &.'.$.%. in %anine %orner One of the most important behavioral iss es associated with dogs concerns aggression! especially when that aggression is directed towards people. " recent st dy finds a n mber of factors that can be sed to predict which dogs are most li#ely to be aggressive and also tries to indicate what the sit ations are where the aggression occ rs. $his research was reported in the %o rnal Applied Animal Behaviour Science by &achel 'asey! (ethany )oft s! 'hristine (olster! *emma &ichards and +mily (lac#well of the ,chool of -eterinary ,cience at the .niversity of (ristol/. 0t is a h ge st dy! involving 3123 dog owners from the .4! and it loo#s at a large n mber of different variables that infl ence the ris# that dogs will show aggressive behavior. 5hile many of the res lts are interesting and potentially sef l! it is li#ely that the very few people! other than some dedicated scientists! will ever read it. $his is beca se of the comple6 statistical analyses involving things li#e m ltivariable logistic regressions! as well as the absence of simple tables with arithmetic averages or percentages which might ma#e the findings accessible to an average reader. ,till! beca se some of the findings are important! 0 will try to dig o t a few of the highlights of this research for yo . $he data collection involved 7 estionnaires that were given o t at variety of different places incl ding veterinary practices! dog shows! agric lt ral and horse events! pet shops or directly to people enco ntered while wal#ing their dogs. $he aim of the st dy was to estimate the n mber of dogs showing aggression towards people in three different settings. $he first involved nfamiliar people entering the dog8s home! the second dealt with meeting nfamiliar people o tside of the home! and the third involved aggression toward family members. 9revio s st dies of dog aggression have s ally been based pon act al dog bites incidents! which obvio sly represent the highest level of aggression. $his st dy tried to capt re a broader variety of aggressive behaviors incl ding those of lower intensity. $h s the dog owners were as#ed if their dogs ever bar#ed! l nged! growled! or attempted to bite a person as well as whether this behavior is a contin ing problem. $he first finding of interest was that many dogs only showed their aggressive tendencies in one or another of the three sit ations. $his goes against the common p blic perception that aggression is apersonality trait of an individ al and that partic lar dogs are either always :perfectly safe: or always :vicio s:. "nother important finding is that the rates of aggression are 7 ite low. $h s! over the lifetime of the dog! only abo t 3; of owners reported aggression toward family members! 3; reported aggression towards nfamiliar people entering the ho se and <; reported aggression to nfamiliar people when o t of the ho se. $his is a remar#ably low fre7 ency since the criterion by which dogs were classified as :aggressive: or :not aggressive: in this st dy was whether owners reported any aggressive behaviors at all = ever. $his means that dogs defined as >aggressive? here incl ded those which might have growled once in an atypical sit ation not % st those who fre7 ently display severe aggression towards many people or in a variety of sit ations. @or now! let8s foc s on the data abo t aggression toward nfamiliar people. (eca se of the amo nt of research and p blic concern associated with the iss e of whether some dog breeds are more aggressive than others Aclic# here or clic# here for e6amplesB these researchers addressed the 7 estion by comparing the rates of aggression of dogs of #nown breeds with a random sample of mi6ed breed dogs assessed by their s rvey. 5hile there is no space here to go thro gh all of the breed and breed gro p findings! one is of partic lar interest. 0t t rns o t that some breeds are significantly less aggressive toward nfamiliar people entering their ho se and these incl de: )abrador &etrievers! *olden &etrievers! 'oc#er ,paniels! ,pringer ,paniels! and other retrievers Aincl ding 'hesapea#e (ay &etrievers! ' rly 'oated &etrievers! @lat 'oated &etrievers and Cova ,cotia D c# $olling &etrieversB. "lso low in aggression were the ,etters Aincl ding +nglish ,etters! *ordon ,etters! 0rish ,etters as well as 0rish &ed and 5hite ,ettersB. 'ontrary to other research showing that the 9it ( ll-$ype $erriers are generally higher in aggression! this was not confirmed in this present research! on the other hand a n mber of other terriers were significantly lower in aggression towards people then the mi6ed breed reference gro p Aincl ding "iredales! (edlington $erriers! 'airn $erriers! 'es#y $erriers! @o6 $erriers! 5irehaired @o6 $erriers! *len of 0maal $erriers! 0rish $erriers! Corfol# $erriers! 4erry (l e $erriers! )a#eland $erriers! Eanchester

$erriers! 5elsh $erriers! Corwich $erriers! ,cottish $erriers! and ,oft 'oated 5heaten terriersB. @inally we can add (o6ers to the list breed showing low aggression toward visiting strangers. 0n this partic lar data set increased aggression toward nfamiliar people outside of the ho se was fo nd only for *erman and (elgian ,hepherds when compared to the cross-breed gro p. One very interesting finding concerned the positive effects of p ppy socialiFation classes. "ccording to these data s ch classes seem to impart a protective effect against aggression. "ttending p ppy classes on at least two occasions before the dog was 12 wee#s of age was associated with a 1.4 times red ced ris# of aggression toward nfamiliar people entering the ho se and a 1.G times red ced ris# of showing aggression to nfamiliar people o t of the ho se. 5hile on the iss e of dog training! one of the most practically significant findings fo nd in this research has to do with the effect that the type of training has on a dog8s ris# of aggression. $here have been a n mber of st dies that have reported that training proced res based on p nishmentcan have negative conse7 ences Aclic# here for an e6ampleB. 0n this st dy the researchers defined s ch p nitive training techni7 es as incl ding things li#e physical p nishment Ahitting the dogB! verbal p nishment Asho tingB! electrical or citronella collars! cho#e chains and %er#ing on the leash! prong collars! water pistols! electric fences and so forth. , ch p nitive techni7 es apparently increase the ris# of aggression in dogs. $hey are associated with a 2.2 times increased ris# of aggression to family members! and a 2.2 times increased ris# of aggression to nfamiliar people o tside of the ho sehold. 0 have only briefly to ched on some of the res lts from this comple6 st dy! however the data ma#es it clear that training methods! breed! and p ppy socialiFation classes have significant effects on the ris# of dogs showing aggressive behaviors toward people.