Dog Behavior Problems

<–Introduction to Dog Health
Introduction to Aggression–>

If you have read through the self help section from the beginning and have done research about your dog’s breed, you should now have the necessary background to start making sense as to why your dog may be having some of the behavior problems you want to resolve.  Below, you will find a reference chart for the most common behavioral problems.  It will be organized into 6 broad categories to help you find what you are looking for: drive, anxiety, habitation, disobedience, fear, and aggression.

Drive will represent any behavioral problems that you think may be related to a dog’s unfulfilled working/prey drive instinct.

Search in the Anxiety section for any behaviors that you suspect are due to anxiety.

Habitation includes housebreaking and all undesirable behaviors that a dog may exhibit in his habitat, when unsupervised.

Disobedience will include all unruly behaviors involving humans, ranging from bad manners to not obeying commands.

Fear will be all fear-related problems.

Lastly, there is a section that lists common problems relating to aggression.

Many of the behavioral problems will be listed in more than one category, because either the problem may be related to more than one category, or it may commonly be associated with another category.  Therefore, it should be easier to find your problems.

Since aggression is the most severe of all the behavioral problems, it is good to read a brief summary on the most common aggression problems whether you are experiencing a “problem” or not at this time.

Aggression is a normal and expected part of dog behavior.  In fact,  we exploit this drive to our advantage with many hunting and working dogs.  It is considered an aggression problem when, ultimately, the aggression is causing a problem for the particular situation the dog is in.  It is important to be able to classify exactly what type of aggression problem you are having, if a problem arises, and to understand the aggressive instinct of dogs in general when owning and training one.

There really is no exact standard, in the dog behavior and training community, as to the exact definitions of the terms below.  Hence, there is often confusion among those seeking assistance and arguments among different “experts”.  For the sake of keeping uniformity in this style and getting consistent help, below are the most common forms of aggression, that people will need to understand.  You can click on any one for more in-depth information and also find them in the complete chart:

Fear Aggression – Inappropriate aggression that is initiated by the dog and directed at seemingly irrational threats.  It generally has an, “I am going to get you before you get me” reasoning behind it.

Fear Biter – A dog that has a relatively low inhibition to bite when he cannot avoid contact with something that he is afraid of. These bites will be defensive in nature and generally devoid of growls or other warnings before the bite.

Dominance Aggression – Any aggression that is triggered by control conflicts in the relationship and “first right” to an un-possessed limited resource.

Resource Guarding – Defensive in nature, this is any aggression that is used to defend a limited resource, which is already under a dog’s possession.

Territorial Aggression – This is aggression with the intent of driving off a competitor from a perceived “territory”.

Alert Barking – Not to be confused with territorial aggression, this is barking to alert others to the approach of a potential threat.

Predatory Aggression – This is aggression that is triggered from the dog’s instinct to hunt and kill. It can sometimes be focused on inappropriate targets such as other pets, domesticated animals, and even children.

Barrier Frustration – Aggression that manifests itself due to the frustration of not being able to engage with something when restrained by a leash or blocked by a barrier. The frustration itself may be the sole cause of the aggression, which will subside when there is no longer restraint or it may exasperate other types of aggression such as fear, dominance, and territorial aggression. In these cases there will still be aggression present if the restraint or barrier is removed.

Skipping Steps in the Aggression Cycle – Ideally a dog will show a lot of restraint when acting defensively. In many situations, a dog may accomplish what is needed by just a stare. If not, it will escalate to a growl, before moving on to a snarl, snap at the air, a “hit” where the dog hits a competitor with his teeth but does not injure, followed by increasing levels of bites that will cause injury before an all out fight or attack.  In particular,  we typically see appropriate restraint and minimal amount of aggression to resolve conflict during resource guarding and normal dominance-related conflicts.  When there is obviously much more aggression than would be necessary for a situation, we would say the dog is “skipping steps in the aggression cycle”.

Below are more dog behavioral problems for you to research.  If there is a problem not listed that you want to request more info on, be sure to bring it to our attention.  This will be a long term project.

Drive	Anxiety	Habitation	Disobedience	Fear	Aggression
Chewing and destroying things	Chewing and destroying things	Chewing and destroying things	Chewing and destroying things	fear biter	fear biter
biting and mouthing hands	peeing and pooping in house	peeing and pooping in house	biting and mouthing hands	fear aggression	fear aggression
biting ankles and clothing	submissive urination	submissive urination	biting ankles and clothing	submissive urination	dominance aggression
	barking when left alone	lifting leg or marking in the house	dog not coming when called	shy or fearful of dogs	predatory aggression
	barrier frustration	peeing or pooping on beds and furniture	dog not obeying commands	shy or fearful of people	pain elicited aggression
		eating out of the garbage	humping	fear of loud noises	barrier frustration
		grabbing things off counter		fearful of slippery floors	play aggression
		cant keep off furniture and beds		fearful of certain surfaces	resource guarding
				fearful of thunderstorms	food aggression
				fearful of gunfire	protective aggression
				skittish	misdirected aggression
					territorial aggression
					handler aggression
					skipping steps in the aggression cycle
					alert barking

If you have finished researching your dog’s behavior problems you can move to the next step Health by clicking here.