Dominance vs. Aggression in Dogs

Words matter.

When it comes to dogs and dog behavior, unfortunately a number of words are thrown about far too liberally and in almost cases entirely inaccurately. I’m talking about the words dominance and aggression.

So, let’s get something straight.

Aggression in dogs isn’t a thing. Dogs aren’t, by nature, “aggressive”. They do, however, have an innate need to understand their place in the group (aka “pack”), and if that placement is unclear, the dog will get uncomfortable; and when they are put into a situation that is uncomfortable and pushed to their extreme, they pull out the only tool they have in their toolbox … their teeth. So “aggression”, rather than a constant state for a dog, is a manifestation of that dog’s underlying discomfort — either based on fear or an overt need to try and be in control.

Dominance, on the other hand, is a constant state for any and all dogs, but not a fixed one. Every dog has dominant traits. Every one of them. From the smallest of teacup Chihuahuas to the most giant of Mastiff breeds, every dog has within it some innate sense of dominance. This is because in a dog’s world there is no direct peer parity. There is no “I’m exactly the same as you”. There is only an understanding of place in the group as being above or below another. This is not to say that every dog wants or tries to be alpha. Just as in the human world not every person wants to be the CEO or leader, not every dog wants to be the top of the family. Their entirely hierarchical understanding of the world, however, does mean that constant jockeying for place is part of their existence.

How that dominant behavior manifests depends entirely on the individual dog — a more introverted dog may exhibit dominant traits by laying in your path in a hallway, nudging up against you demanding attention, submission peeing when someone comes in the house. A more extroverted dog will have the behaviors manifest in more obviously dominant ways — always jumping on people, pulling on the leash when you walk, not coming when called and that sort of thing. As with behavioral traits in humans, most dogs have some combination of both.

It also can be somewhat breed related as some breeds were specifically designed and bred to execute specific jobs or tasks and those tasks sometimes require a dog have more critical thinking and leadership. Examples of this would be protection dogs as well as dogs used for hunting or herding.

So, dominance isn’t one thing but a sliding scale of myriad behaviors that exist on a spectrum. It is only when that behavior evolves into the dog laying its teeth on something (or someone) that it has become “aggressive”. In today’s society, we are very quick to call something an ‘attack’ or ‘aggression’ when the truth is, especially for dogs who don’t have language or reasoning skills, the use of snarling and snapping merely reflects communication along that spectrum. Granted it is on the more extreme end, but it does not indicate that the dog is aggressive.

Aggression is different. Aggression is a socialized, behavioral manifestation generally based on some experience a dog has had. Sometimes the experience is environmental (a dog that’s abused, lives on the street and has to fend for itself, goes through a trauma) and sometimes that experience is taught (dogs that are bred for their extreme dominance and then taught that attacking is the right answer and in some cases given the taste for blood to make them more vicious). Occasionally you will encounter a dog that is just inherently “off”. These are deeply rare cases and outside the purview of this particular discussion.

This confusion of language particularly grievous when I hear folks talking about how Pit Bulls or Bully Breeds are “aggressive” dogs. They’re not. At least not by nature. They are, however, deeply dominant dogs, because that’s how they’re wired. Pit Bull Terriers, as pretty much all of the Bully Breeds were created as working dogs.

Last year we had someone come to Hydrant Club for an assessment. Their dog, a four-month-old, unaltered, male English Bulldog, presented signs of extreme dominance when they came for an initial assessment. The English Bulldog is one of those breeds that has a deeply innate sense of dominance — they were bred for “bull baiting” a barbaric practice that inclined this breed to a deep sense of dominance. This second visit was to determine if he could pass for spending time in daycare for training. On coming to the front door and walking past the daycare dogs, the entire pack triggered to the new dog outside. This is, of course, entirely normal. Dogs will always respond to a dog (or other stimulation) outside a fence. Where the situation shifted was in the intensity/energy of their response (which was intense and sharp with the dogs refusing to stand down) as well as the bulldog’s response (which was to bristle, bark and take a physically challenging position in return). A calm, behaviorally stable dog might bark or alert in response but would walk on without having to challenge back.

Think of it this way. You’re walking through a crowded space (bar, restaurant, mall, county fair), and someone brushes up against you, jarring your shoulder and shoving you off balance a bit. You pause as does the other person. Do you shove them back? Do you haul off and punch them in the face? Of course not. Most likely they didn’t mean to do it, and so they would apologize. If they don’t apologize, you might think them rude, but again you don’t just hit them. More directly, if someone were to shove you with intent, is your first response to punch or hit them back? If so, I might suggest some anger management or deep breathing, as a “stable” (aka responsible and socially appropriate) response would be to pause, step back and stand your ground and assess before attacking.

In the case of this bulldog, it’s a breed with innate tendencies towards dominance — and when that goes unchecked aggression can arise. This is why whether you have a purebred or a mixed breed dog having some knowledge of what type of dog you have is so important. Having this information is not about being able to show off that you have some sort of exotic or special pup, but rather being able to better understand the behavioral inclinations of your dog and thus being able to better handle them. In fact, knowing before you GET the dog can help you find a dog that fits with your own temperament … something if done by more people might just result in fewer dogs ending up in shelters due to owner/pup mismatching … which is a rant for another article.

For the sake of this discussion though, two things to remember:

• Dominance is innate to all dogs — regardless of breed. How it manifests is a combination of breed/breed mix as well as an individual dog’s personality
• Aggression is a socialized behavior that comes either from circumstance or training and can in almost all cases be addressed and resolved.