Play, Boredom and/or Social Isolation
Normal play behavior can result in destruction, as it may involve digging, chewing, shredding and/or shaking toy-like
objects. Since dogs investigate objects by pawing at them and exploring them with their mouths, they may
inadvertently damage items in their environment.
Your dog may be chewing for entertainment if:
He’s left alone for long time periods without opportunities for interaction with you or other family members.
His environment is relatively barren, without playmates or toys.
He’s a puppy or adolescent (under 3 years old) and he doesn’t have other outlets for his energy.
He’s a particularly active type of dog (like the herding or sporting breeds) who needs an active lifestyle to be
happy.
Solutions:
Play with your dog daily in a safe, fenced-in area. If you don’t have a yard, a tennis court can be a good
place to play. Fetch is a great game that will use up your dog’s excess energy without wearing you out!
Go for a walk. Walks should be more than just “bathroom time.” On-leash walks are important opportunities
for you and your dog to be together. Don’t forget to allow time for sniffing, exploring, instruction and praise.
Increase your dog’s opportunities for mental stimulation. Teach your dog a few commands and/or tricks and
practice them daily. If you have time, take an obedience class.
Provide your dog with lots of toys (see our handout: “Dog Toys and How to Use Them”).
Rotate your dog’s toys to refresh his interest in them. “New” toys are always more interesting than old ones.
Try different kinds of toys, but when you introduce a new toy, watch your dog to make sure he won’t tear it up
and ingest the pieces.
Consider the various types of toys that can be stuffed with food. Putting tidbits of food inside chew toys
focuses your dog’s chewing activities on these toys instead of on unacceptable objects.
Make your dog’s favorite off-limits chew objects unattractive to him by covering them with heavy plastic,
aluminum foil, hot pepper sauce or a commercial “anti-chew” product.
Consider a good doggie day care program for two or three days a week to work off some of your dog’s
excess energy.
Separation Anxiety
Dogs with separation anxiety tend to display behaviors that reflect a strong attachment to their owners. This includes
following you from room to room, frantic greetings and reacting anxiously to your preparation to leave the house.
Factors that can precipitate a separation anxiety problem:
A change in the family’s schedule that results in your dog being left alone more often.
A move to a new house.
The death or loss of a family member or another family pet.
A period at a shelter or boarding kennel.
These behaviors are not motivated by spite or revenge, but by anxiety. Punishment will only make the problem worse.
Separation anxiety can be resolved by using counter conditioning and desensitization techniques (see our handouts:
“Separation Anxiety” and “Tools for Managing Your Pets’ Anxiety).
Attention-Seeking Behavior
Without realizing it, we often pay more attention to our dogs when they are misbehaving. Dogs who don’t receive
much attention and reinforcement for appropriate behavior may engage in destructive behavior when their owners
are present as a way to attract attention – even if the attention is “negative,” such as a verbal scolding. From a dog’s
point of view, negative attention is better than no attention at all.
Solutions:
Make sure your dog gets plenty of positive attention every day – playing, walking, grooming or just petting.
Ignore (as much as possible) bad behavior and reward only good behavior. Remember to reward your dog
with praise and petting when he’s playing quietly with appropriate toys.
Make his favorite off-limits chew objects unattractive or unavailable to him. Use aversives on objects that
cannot be put away (See our handout “Sample Aversives for Dogs”).
Teach your dog a “drop it” command so when he does pick up an off-limits object, you can use your
command and praise him for complying. The best way to teach “drop it” is to practice having him exchange
a toy in his possession for a tidbit of food.
Practice “Nothing in Life is Free” with your dog (see our handout: “Nothing in Life is Free”). This gets your dog in
the habit of complying with your commands and is a good way to make sure he gets lots of positive attention for doing the right things – so he won’t have to resort to being naughty just to get your attention.
Use a crate when he is going to bed. It is a safe haven to dogs.
Understanding Aggressive Dog Behavior
Dog aggression is any behavior meant to intimidate or harm a person or another animal. Growling, baring teeth, snarling, snapping and biting are all aggressive behaviors. Although aggressive behaviors are normal for dogs, they're generally unacceptable to humans. From a dog's perspective, there's always a reason for aggressive behavior. Because humans and dogs have different communication systems, misunderstandings can occur between the two species. A person may intend to be friendly, but a dog may perceive that person's behavior as threatening or intimidating. Dogs aren't schizophrenic, psychotic, crazy or necessarily "vicious" when displaying aggressive behavior.
Because aggression is so complex, and because the potential consequences are so serious, we recommend that you get professional in-home help from an animal-behavior specialist if your dog is displaying aggressive behavior.
Types of Aggression
Dominance Aggression: Dominance aggression is motivated by a challenge to a dog's social status or to his control of a social interaction. Dogs are social animals and view their human families as their social group or "pack." Based on the outcomes of social challenges among group members, a dominance hierarchy or "pecking order" is established.
If your dog perceives his own ranking in the hierarchy to be higher than yours, it's likely that he'll challenge you in certain situations. Because people don't always understand canine communication, you may inadvertently challenge your dog's social position. A dominantly aggressive dog may growl if he is disturbed when resting or sleeping, or if he is asked to give up a favorite spot, such as the couch or the bed. Physical restraint, even when done in a friendly manner, like hugging, may also cause your dog to respond aggressively. Reaching for your dog's collar, or reaching out over his head to pet him, could also be interpreted by him as a challenge for dominance. Dominantly aggressive dogs are often described as "Jekyll and Hydes" because they can be very friendly when not challenged. Dominance aggression may be directed at people or at other animals. The most common reason for dogs in the same family to fight with each other is instability in the dominance hierarchy.
Dog aggression is any behavior meant to intimidate or harm a person or another animal. Growling, baring teeth, snarling, snapping and biting are all aggressive behaviors. Although aggressive behaviors are normal for dogs, they're generally unacceptable to humans. From a dog's perspective, there's always a reason for aggressive behavior. Because humans and dogs have different communication systems, misunderstandings can occur between the two species. A person may intend to be friendly, but a dog may perceive that person's behavior as threatening or intimidating. Dogs aren't schizophrenic, psychotic, crazy, or necessarily "vicious," when displaying aggressive behavior.
Because aggression is so complex, and because the potential consequences are so serious, we recommend that you get professional in-home help from an animal behavior specialist if your dog is displaying aggressive behavior. Our Behavior Helpline can't assist you with aggressive behavior problems (see our handout: "When The Behavior Helpline Can't Help").
Types Of Aggression
Dominance Aggression: Dominance aggression is motivated by a challenge to a dog's social status or to his control of a social interaction. Dogs are social animals and view their human families as their social group or "pack." Based on the outcomes of social challenges among group members, a dominance hierarchy or "pecking order" is established (see our handout: "Dealing With Dominance In Dogs").
If your dog perceives his own ranking in the hierarchy to be higher than yours, it's likely that he'll challenge you in certain situations. Because people don't always understand canine communication, you may inadvertently challenge your dog's social position. A dominantly aggressive dog may growl if he is disturbed when resting or sleeping, or if he is asked to give up a favorite spot, such as the couch or the bed. Physical restraint, even when done in a friendly manner, like hugging, may also cause your dog to respond aggressively. Reaching for your dog's collar, or reaching out over his head to pet him, could also be interpreted by him as a challenge for dominance. Dominantly aggressive dogs are often described as "Jekyll and Hydes" because they can be very friendly when not challenged. Dominance aggression may be directed at people or at other animals. The most common reason for dogs in the same family to fight with each other is instability in the dominance hierarchy (see our handout: "Canine Rivalry").
Fear-Motivated Aggression: Fear-motivated aggression is a defensive reaction and occurs when a dog believes he is in danger of being harmed. Remember that it's your dog's perception of the situation, not your actual intent, which determines your dog's response. For example, you may raise your arm to throw a ball, but your dog, perceiving this to be a threat, may bite you because he believes he is protecting himself from being hit. A dog may also be fearfully aggressive when approached by other dogs.
Protective, Territorial And Possessive Aggression: Protective, territorial and possessive aggression are all very similar, and involve the defense of valuable resources. Territorial aggression is usually associated with defense of property. However, your dog's sense of territory may extend well past the boundaries of "his" yard. For example, if you walk your dog regularly around the neighborhood and allow him to urine-mark, to him, his territory may be the entire block! Protective aggression usually refers to aggression directed toward people or animals that a dog perceives as threats to his family, or pack. Dogs become possessively aggressive when defending their food, toys or other valued objects, such as Kleenex stolen from the trash!
Redirected Aggression: This type of aggression is relatively common, but is a behavior that pet owners may not always understand. If a dog is aroused into an aggressive response by a person or animal that he is prevented from attacking, he may redirect this aggression onto someone else. A common example occurs when two family dogs become excited, bark and growl in response to another dog passing through the front yard. The two dogs, confined behind a fence, may turn and attack each other because they can't attack the 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.
Individual Variation
Dogs differ in their likelihood to show aggressive behavior in any particular situation. Some dogs tend to respond aggressively with very little stimulation. Others may be subjected to all kinds of threatening stimuli and events, and never attempt to bite. The difference in this threshold at which a dog displays aggressive behavior is influenced by both environmental and genetic factors. If this threshold is low, a dog will be more likely to bite. Raising the threshold makes a dog less likely to respond aggressively. This threshold can be raised using behavior modification techniques. How easily the threshold can be changed is influenced by the dog's gender, age, breed, general temperament, and by whether the appropriate behavior modification techniques are chosen and correctly implemented. Working with aggressive dogs can be potentially dangerous, and should be done only by, or under the guidance of, an experienced animal behavior professional who understands animal learning theory and behavior.
What You Can Do
First check with your veterinarian to rule out medical causes for the aggressive behavior.
Seek professional help. An aggression problem will not go away by itself. Working with aggression problems requires in-home help from an animal behavior specialist.
Take precautions. Your first priority is to keep everyone safe. Supervise, confine and/or restrict your dog's activities until you can obtain professional help. You're liable for your dog's behavior. If you must take your dog out in public, consider a cage-type muzzle as a temporary precaution, and keep in mind that some dogs can get a muzzle off.
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 people-contact.
If your dog is possessive of food, treats or a certain place, don't allow him access to those items. 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 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 dominantly aggressive dog is likely to cause him to escalate his behavior in order 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 result in the beginning of a dominance aggression problem. When dogs are encouraged to "go get 'em" or to bark and dash about in response to outside noises or at the approach of a person, territorial and protective aggressive behavior may be the result.