Why is Dog Aggression on the Rise?

Ever wonder why so many dogs seem to be a snarling menace? Brace yourselves as we navigate the increasingly complex world of dog aggression with dog behavior specialist, Scott Sheaffer, CBCC-KA, CDBC, CPDT-KA. We delve into the root causes from puppy mills favoring appearance over temperament, to the impact of increased urbanization fostering heightened territorial instincts and the role of overlooked medical issues. Discover the profound implications of this multi-faceted global issue and the social factors fueling its rise.

Join us as we step into the shoes of certified dog behavior consultant, Scott Sheaffer, who has worked with thousands of aggressive dogs. Listen in as Scott lends his valuable insights on understanding and effectively addressing dog aggression. Uncover the importance of early socialization, responsible dog ownership and the crucial role of certified behavior consultants in tackling this issue. This enlightening episode is a must-listen for any dog lover who is interested in the future of dog ownership.

About Scott Sheaffer
Scott Sheaffer, CCBC-KA, CDBC, CPDT-KA, is a certified dog behavior consultant who has worked with thousands of dog owners and their aggressive dogs. Scott specializes in the assessment and treatment of fear, anxiety, aggression, and phobias in dogs six months and older.

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Disclaimer
If you have a dog who is aggressive and dangerous to humans, it is important that you immediately consult directly with an experienced and certified canine behavior consultant who specializes in dog aggression to humans. Take proper measures to ensure that your dog is never in a position to injure anyone. The information presented in this podcast is for educational purposes only and is neither intended nor implied to replace the need for the direct involvement of an experienced and certified canine behavior consultant who specializes in dog aggression to humans. Scott Sheaffer, the Grumpy Dogs podcast and USA Dog Behavior, LLC, are not liable for any incidents or outcomes resulting from following the advice given in this podcast.

Transcript

Scott Sheaffer, CBCC-KA, CDBC, CPDT-KA: 0:00

Dog aggression in all of its forms is on the rise. Why is this and what can be done about it? What does the future hold for pet dog ownership in light of this? These questions will be answered in today's episode. Welcome to the Dog Aggression Answers Podcast. I'm Scott Sheaffer, your host and a certified expert in dog behavior. With a background of helping thousands of aggressive dogs and their owners, I'm here to share a humane, science-based solution for your dog's aggression. Stay tuned, welcome back to the Dog Aggression Answers Podcast.

Scott Sheaffer, CBCC-KA, CDBC, CPDT-KA: 0:46

In this episode, we'll be discussing the environmental and social factors that are causing dog aggression among pet dogs to increase steadily over the years and worldwide, things such as genetics, the increasing urbanization of our society, social factors, medical issues and the role of municipal animal control. The increase in dog aggression is, as you can tell, a multi-faceted issue. However, before we go further, I want to tell you that quantifying the problem is virtually impossible. In other words, how bad is the problem and how fast is it increasing? How aggressive are dogs in general, strays and those who are owned in the United States, worldwide, and what's affecting it? Dog behavior consultants or behaviorists are in agreement that the issue is real and the problem is increasing. But just measuring it is difficult, if not impossible. How would you gather enough information and objectively report it? You really can't. When we think about animal behaviorists, animal ethology, which is animal psychology those guys that do that really like very empirical information. It's a science, but we just really can't have it here. What I don't like about the difficulty in measuring the problem is that it will be hard to know if and when the problem might start getting better and what measures are working and what aren't to improve the situation At any rate. With all that being said, let's go ahead and get started, as I take you through the six reasons why I believe dog aggression in general is on the increase really worldwide and definitely in the United States.

Scott Sheaffer, CBCC-KA, CDBC, CPDT-KA: 2:46

Let's start with genetics. By genetics, I'm talking about the dam in the sire, the mom and the dad. How did their genetics when they bred influence the offspring? That's genetically transferred behavior. I'm not really focusing on breed here. We'll talk about breeding just a second. But let's focus in on genetics. Genetics does play a part in animal behavior. Some dogs are simply more predisposed to aggression than others because of this. Genetic causes of aggression are not new, but what is new is that puppy mills are breeding dogs for appearance only and they are breeding them as if they are livestock. When I say new, I don't mean the last few years, I'm saying over the last 25 years or so. We've just seen an explosion of puppy mills breeding puppies like livestock.

Scott Sheaffer, CBCC-KA, CDBC, CPDT-KA: 3:50

The explosion of puppy mills is undoubtedly having a big impact on the increase in dog aggression. They simply don't breed for temperament and, as a result, some genetic behavioral traits are carelessly passed along. This is really a much, much bigger problem than most people realize. Think about it Puppy mills breed for the appearance because that's what people are buying when they buy a puppy. They don't breed for the physical health and certainly not for the behavioral health of the dog. In just a little side note here, I just think that puppy mills are absolutely destroying some breeds and, as an example, one of my prime examples of this is probably my favorite breed I've had three of these dogs as personal dogs, just magnificent animals is German Shepherds. They have just destroyed the breed and it's very, very difficult to find one without physical and temperament issues. I just, I just hate that because it's one of my favorite breeds.

Scott Sheaffer, CBCC-KA, CDBC, CPDT-KA: 5:05

Okay, number two of the reasons that I believe that aggression in dogs overall is increasing and it is increasing. And that would be lack of socialization. Dogs who are not properly keyword here properly properly socialized or who experienced trauma or neglect in their early lives, especially before about 16 weeks of age, the prime socialization period, are more likely to be predisposed to aggression. This is because they may not learn how to interact with other dogs and people in a positive way. They they interact from a position of fear. This cause of increasing aggression is one of the most significant, in my opinion.

Scott Sheaffer, CBCC-KA, CDBC, CPDT-KA: 5:53

When I was a boy, when I was a young kid, we let our dogs, for better or worse, run around the neighborhood all day off leash. Everybody knew everybody's dog. They're in the lawn and again, I'm not saying that's really a good thing. But today, think about it we cloister our dogs in our homes and in our backyards. Sometimes we don't even walk them. I think most people don't even walk their dogs. I would never make an argument, of course, for letting dogs run around the neighborhood like we did years ago, but our dogs just don't interact with other dogs and people like they did years ago. There's just a lack of proper early socialization and certainly ongoing socialization for a number of reasons.

Scott Sheaffer, CBCC-KA, CDBC, CPDT-KA: 6:42

And the next item is territorial behavior. Some dogs are more territorial than others. I think we all know that. This means that they may become aggressive if they feel they not their owners that they are being threatened in their territory. And by territory what I mean is typically for pet dogs that would be inside the dog's home or the backyard. This is their safe place. They feel very threatened when people come into their safe place. This one is related to the cause I just mentioned. By keeping dogs in our homes and backyards 24-7, they can instinctively become more territorial. They want strangers to stay clear of their safe place. That is your home or their home. Think about this too. People don't have visitors to their homes like in past years. Blame it on COVID, social media or whatever, but people don't visit other people's homes like they used to. Dogs get very little exposure to other humans and dogs these days as a result, like we mentioned earlier.

Scott Sheaffer, CBCC-KA, CDBC, CPDT-KA: 7:55

All right, let's move on to number four of six. This one might be a bit of a surprise, but this one is infectious agents and disease in general. Some infectious agents, such as rabies, can cause aggression in dogs. I think we all understand that Some diseases, such as Cushing's disease can also lead to aggression in dogs. The explosion of dogs in the world means that there are literally millions of dogs roaming the streets around the world not vaccinated or treated for disease. Disease can cause dogs to act aggressively period. All right, let's move on to number five Possessiveness over resources.

Scott Sheaffer, CBCC-KA, CDBC, CPDT-KA: 8:49

Dogs can become aggressive if they are possessive over resources such as food or breeding partners, and I'm thinking about dogs that are outside, which strays this kind of thing. With the explosion of dogs loose on the streets around the world, as I mentioned earlier, there will be more opportunities for dogs to act aggressively to one another and to humans that just get too close to them. Number six and our final one animal services and animal shelters. With shrinking city budgets and the dramatic increase in stray dogs around the world, there is a bigger problem today with stray dogs than there was years ago, with the same or even fewer numbers of municipal animal services available to control the stray animals. I've mentioned stray dogs roaming the streets around the world on a few occasions in this episode so far. But you're saying to yourself well, that's not my pet dog. Why is that an issue? Well, it is an issue downstream, meaning all of these stray dogs that are becoming more aggressive for the reasons we've been talking about. They mate and they have puppies and these puppies find their way into rescue and into pet dog ownership all the time, whether in the US or worldwide. So these strays really are a problem when it comes to pet dog ownership.

Scott Sheaffer, CBCC-KA, CDBC, CPDT-KA: 10:26

And what a lot of United States citizens don't realize is that our model of dog ownership is very different than the rest of the world. The United States and Western Europe and I'm making some generalizations here, but predominantly those two areas treat dog ownership very differently than the rest of the world. The rest of the world puts up with and has a much bigger population of stray animals. So that is their dog ownership experience, for example, in Mexico. Mexico has a very different experience with dogs. They typically don't let them inside their home, they let them kind of roam around, they feed them kind of randomly on the street, and it's just the culture of Mexico and in many other parts of the world. So strays, while a huge problem in the United States, are even a much bigger problem in the rest of the world, or in most of the rest of the world. So that's why discussion about them is so, so important.

Scott Sheaffer, CBCC-KA, CDBC, CPDT-KA: 11:27

The increasing amount of observed dog aggression in the world is not going to be solved quickly or simply, that's for certain. But what do you need to know right now and how this affects you and your dog and future dog ownership for you. Let's cover the basics of the two prongs of this here Prevention and management. There are a number of things that can be done to prevent dog aggression. One is to properly again the word properly socialize your dog from a young age. This means exposing them to a variety of people, animals and experiences in a safe and controlled environment. Even if your dog is older, you can still socialize them to some extent, but most people do this too fast and do it incorrectly. In other words, they want to instantly socialize their dog, and that's just not how it works. Get the help of a certified dog behavior consultant to really do this correctly, especially if your dog is older. Next thing you might want to do right here, right now, with your dog it's also important to provide your dog with plenty of exercise and mental stimulation. This can help to reduce stress and frustration, which can be triggers for aggression, although exercise is not a wonder fix for aggression problems, like so many people in the dog business think it is. I don't want to mention this, but veterinarians come to mind. It just is not a fix for everything. It can help, but it's not a fix for everything.

Scott Sheaffer, CBCC-KA, CDBC, CPDT-KA: 13:12

Next, for your dog avoid situations and triggers that are likely to spark your dog's aggression. For example, if your dog is afraid of other dogs, avoid taking them to dog parks or crowded areas. If your dog is afraid of unfamiliar humans, don't take them to an outdoor restaurant that allows dogs, for example. You have no idea how many nightmares stories I have with clients. It's funny, but it's not funny where they want to take their dog to restaurants. That's just their dream. It's more of a dream of the owners than it is the dog and they put the dog under a table. That is a human biter. It makes no sense. Why would you do that? There are just many triggers that can cause your dog to act aggressively. Unfamiliar dogs and humans are just two of the most common. And lastly, for right here, right now, for your dog and dogs, if your dog shows signs of aggression, be sure to listen to all of our episodes, because we provide many management and behavioral ideas that you can implement. You could start the first one and go forward. You can also seek professional help from a certified and experienced dog behavior consultant who specializes in aggression. They can also help you understand the cause of your dog's aggression and develop a specific behavioral treatment plan to address it.

Scott Sheaffer, CBCC-KA, CDBC, CPDT-KA: 14:46

If you take a broad view of the rise of a dog aggression globally and you're a dog lover which you probably are you wouldn't be listening to this podcast. You have to acknowledge that this increasing amount of aggression does not bode well for pet dog ownership in the future. This should be a real concern for dog owners and dog lovers. The perception of pet dogs is harmed by this. People see all these dog bites and increasing dog-to-dog aggression, dog-to-human aggression. It's not a good marketing. Look for pet dog ownership as only one quick example of this, of how the perception of dogs might be souring a little bit with the public.

Scott Sheaffer, CBCC-KA, CDBC, CPDT-KA: 15:35

We can look at the multitude of breed-specific laws that are exploding everywhere, limiting certain breeds Only certain breeds can be owned in those areas, and if you think these breed-specific laws are only for pit bulls, I would encourage you to look into this further. It extends beyond that, and we don't only see breed-specific limitations when it comes to legislation, but we also see it in apartment contracts, in building leases, in homeowners association guidelines, where they limit specific breeds. So this is more than just legislation. This is finding its way into the private sector. This is really an issue and it's not a good one. I really mean. It's serious and it's concerning to me. I'll do an episode on breed-specific legislation and limitations in a future episode.

Scott Sheaffer, CBCC-KA, CDBC, CPDT-KA: 16:39

Dog aggression is a serious problem and is one that is unfortunately growing worldwide. By understanding the causes of dog aggression and taking steps to address them, we can help keep our personal dogs safe and at least make our own small contribution in keeping our communities peaceful and hopefully reducing some of the aggression or nipping in at the bud. We'll continue to provide listeners with information about dog aggression and other dog behavioral issues in future episodes. Thanks for listening and, if you get a chance, please share this podcast with other dog lovers like you. See you next time. Dog aggression issues always consult directly with a certified dog behavior consultant. See you next time and stay tuned.