Handler aggression is a blanket term that is used to describe a dog that shows aggression toward its handler, usually,  during training exercises.

There are multiple unrelated reasons why a dog may show aggression toward their handler.  Each of these reasons may be the sole reason, or it may be a multi-tiered problem.  If you are unsure you should, as always, work on all the suspected reasons for handler aggression.

The most common reasons are:

• Dominance aggression
• Pain elicited aggression
• Misdirected aggression