ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT PUPPY AGGRESSION – HOW TO STOP AND PREVENT IT

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Living with a puppy can be daunting; but do you know what’s even scarier? Living with an angry puppy! This can be challenging for pet parents to deal with as they don’t speak ‘dog’ and their puppy doesn’t speak ‘human.’ Learning how to stop puppy aggression in its initial stages is imperative. Waiting for puppies to ‘grow out of it’ is a terrible idea as puppies grow into the behaviors they get away with.

Is your puppy aggressive or just really playful?

Mouthing comes as naturally to puppies as crying comes to babies. That is how they explore their surroundings. They take objects in their mouth to test the texture. If it’s biteable, they like sinking their teeth into it.

The human hand has the potential to be one of your puppy’s favorite textures – it has a bone in it, it has soft, biteable flesh and reeks of your scent. Unless we teach them bite inhibition, pups grow up learning that biting is a fun way to play with humans and get their attention.

The behavior that they get away with is the behavior they grow into. Uncontrolled puppy play biting often leads to puppy aggression towards owners as young dogs have a hard time to figuring out when to stop. If not taught to calm down at the right time, a wagging tail escalates to jumpy behavior which eventually results into a bite-frenzy.

Typically this behavior is at its worse during the puppy’s most active times of the day like early mornings and late evenings. These are the times when puppies need to relieve their pent-up energies. If not given an appropriate outlet, they will end up discovering an outlet of their own. These outlets are usually undesirable surfaces like a human hand, walls, furniture etc.

Following are the signs that your puppy’s biting is directed largely by playfulness than aggression-

• Typically happens when the puppy is active and playful
• The body language that precedes the bite is playful and relaxed
• Soft mouthing that escalates to nipping
• Accidental biting during a game of tug
• Mouthing to gain attention

What are the early signs of Puppy aggression?

If your puppy is not being a playful, mouthy jackass but actually sinking his teeth in your skin repeatedly to draw out blood and leave bruises, you might be dealing with a bigger issue. Aggression in puppies may be triggered by multiple things.

However one of the most obvious signs of puppy aggression (not play biting) is if it is always caused by a trigger. Sometimes it may be food aggression, at times it may be territorial while many a time it may be triggered by the presence of another dog. Recognizing the cause is the first step to stop puppy aggression.

These pointers include physical warning signs as well as early behaviors that can possibly lead to serious aggression later –

• Snarling
• Growling
• Biting
• Freezing
• Discomfort at the sight of something
• Excessive licking of lips at the sight or presence of the trigger
• Whales of the eyes exposed
• Running away and stealing stuff around the house and refusal to give it back
• Eating food really fast, especially when there are other people or animals around
• Picking up stuff in the mouth and refusal to give it back

The warning signs mentioned above are most commonly seen in dogs that display or about to display aggressive behavior. There are innumerable other signs that dogs are capable of giving out. You can best recognize these signals by observing your dog more closely around his triggers.

Is it normal for puppies to be aggressive?

Aggression in puppies can be manifested by a lot of things. They are very vulnerable and are like sponges that absorb anything and everything that goes on around them. If you’re worried that you may have an aggressive puppy, it may help you be at ease if you know how to identify normal and aggressive puppy behavior.

Behavioral issues in puppies are usually the result of environment and upbringing (by the family as well as the pup’s mother and littermates). Aggression is just an escalation of these issues.

Teething is one of the leading causes of bites in puppies. This can be misconstrued as aggression by many. Before you start tackling puppy biting, you must know that it’s a behavior that won’t stop so easily. Biting and mouthing is an inherent need of every single puppy.

On the other hand, if you’re certain that your puppy acts aggressively only to certain triggers, the right time to work on that behavior is RIGHT now. If your puppy is moving out of the ‘baby’ puppy stage and into adolescence, it’s not unusual for his behavior to change.

What causes puppy aggression?

No dog wakes up on a given day and decides to be aggressive. Aggression is typically the last resort used by a dog to keep threats at bay. Every puppy communicates discomfort in his own way and does it for a considerable amount of time. These warning signs are what we discussed above. When no warning signs seem to be work, they end up using aggression.

Puppy aggression influencers can be broadly classified into a few factors –

Imprinted behavior

Imprinting is the process of a puppy observing and learning, typically from their mother, during a critical window in puppyhood. The demeanor of the dam (mother dog) largely decides the disposition of the pups. Eg- a mother dog that barks profusely at the doorbell when she’s feeding her litter will possibly pass on the same behavior in the puppies. Training a puppy out of imprinted behavior and aggression can be a challenging task.

Learned behavior

Learned behavior refers to the behavior adopted by a puppy as a result of self-learning. Puppies are way more observant than we think and they grasp concepts faster than we realize. If a certain behavior results in a desirable outcome, they will keep repeating it. Eg- Over time when your pup learns that barking in a crate gets him attention, you will notice his vocalization increase fourfold.

Similarly, when your dog learns that biting keeps the human hand away, he will soon start biting as a defense mechanism.

Under or over Socialization

The word ‘socialization’ entails a whole universe in it. It’s not just getting your dog to play with other dogs. It’s about teaching your dog the appropriate way to react and deal with a plethora of sounds, sight, textures, people, animals, etc. Maintaining a balance here is the key as a lack of socialization can cause fear issues while overdoing it may cause over-stimulation.

Stress, fear, frustration

I may be anthropomorphizing dogs while citing out stress, fear and frustration as an aggression influencer, but it has been time and again proven that these factors dictate several behavioral issues in dogs. Multiple types of aggression can be attributed to fear. Eg – Possessive aggression is fear of losing resources, Territorial aggression is fear of territorial encroachment.

Frustration is known to be a common cause of aggression in dogs. This is especially true in case of dogs who spend a lot of time in the backyard unsupervised. Constant, uncorrected barking in the backyard at people and dogs passing by will eventually result in frustration and will soon escalate to aggression.

Pain, Hormones & underlying medical conditions

Testosterone is commonly known to influence aggression in dogs. The lesser-known fact is that the hormones oxytocin and vasopressin also influence canine social behaviors and aggression. Significantly higher levels of Vasopressin can result in aggressive behavior in dogs towards other dogs.

This is important for pet owners to know because neutering is a common recommendation for treating (or preventing) aggression.  Neutering may not help if testosterone is not an aggression influencer in your puppy.

Apart from hormones, pain and underlying medical conditions can largely dictate the state of mind of a dog. Eg – A dog with a severe, painful ear infection may suddenly start biting if touched anywhere near the face.

Types of puppy aggression

1. Uncorrected teething and nipping

Puppies don’t grow out of naughty behaviors. If left uncorrected, they grow into it. Teething and the need to relieve it is something every puppy goes through. Hence, the excessive nipping and biting. When puppies are allowed to rough play with no boundaries, their playful nipping can quickly turn into rowdy play that has the potential to hurt.

2. Conflict aggression or Puppy “dominance” aggression

This happens when there is a conflict in the owner-dog relationship. Over the first few months of living with us, our puppies soon figure out who is in charge. When we fail to set boundaries and a reliable routine, the dogs take this onus on themselves.

In a scenario where a puppy has established himself/ herself as the leader over time, an attempt by the human to change it will cause resistance. This resistance is also commonly known as stubbornness. Repeated instances of conflicts may give rise to aggression.

3. Food aggression in puppies

Food aggression in puppies is usually caused when littermates have had to compete for food. This can be attributed to single bowl feeding where all the puppies have to eat out of a single large bowl. Very soon puppies learn to fight each other for a greater share of food.

A behavior picked up by a puppy at that tender age stays with the puppy for a long time and becomes a part of his instinct. Thus, even after the pup gets adopted and is probably living in a single dog household, he still continues to be protective and possessive about food. The possible signs of food aggression are

• Eating very fast, especially in the presence of other people or animals
• Growling or snapping if anyone tries to approach the dog while eating
• Guarding the food bowl

4. Possessive aggression

This is also known as resource guarding. Guarding resources comes naturally to dogs. It is only a problem when they consider hurting humans or other animals in the process.

Possessive aggression typically happens when the pet parents constantly keep snatching or taking things away from the dog’s mouth. We look at it as protecting our pup from eating trash. Our dogs, in turn, start perceiving us as threats and start guarding things from us every time we approach them.

5. Puppy aggression towards other dogs or Leash reactivity

With the inability to take pups outside in different locations and exposing them to a variety of dogs during the pandemic, leash reactivity has become one of the most common problems faced by puppy owners.

Leash reactivity can stem over time from uncontrolled, on-leash excitement or fear that eventually escalates to aggression.

6. Aggression towards people

Forcing puppies to interact with humans and not giving them a way out is the leading cause of puppy aggression towards people. Socialization is NOT forcing your dogs to interact with people, but giving them their own space and time to get to know the world around them.

When we don’t provide our pups with the ample distance they need during a social interaction, they choose to do it themselves and that is Not pretty!

7. Territorial aggression

Over a few months of residing in a home, a puppy soon starts claiming certain territories of the house as their own. These territories are usually the spots where they eat, sleep, play, rest and spend most time with their humans. The territorial behavior is more to do with the resources rather than the spot itself.

One of the most common signs of territorial aggression is when the puppy gets triggered by the doorbell and visitors walking in the house.

8. Fear aggression

When interacting with any subject or object that makes your puppy feel uncomfortable or scared, he will choose to retaliate with either the Flight response or Fight response. Flight is when your puppy chooses to avoid the trigger by turning away or walking away from the situation. This is a dog’s classic way to avoid uncomfortable scenarios.

When the Flight response is not possible, which is mostly due to tightening of the leash, forceful interaction or lifting the pup up to say Hi to someone, the puppy will choose to Fight (bite, lunge, growl, snap). This response is your dog’s way to keep the ‘threat’ away and avoid getting hurt themselves.

9. Touch sensitivity

Touch sensitivity happens when a dog reacts defensively to only being touched in certain areas like paws, ears, mouth, etc. This could happen due to a negative experience in past during grooming or handling. Touch sensitivity can also happen when the puppy is hurting in one of the parts of the body. Eg – A dog with a severe paw infection might bite if touched anywhere near the paw.

2 MAJOR steps you can take to stop a puppy from being aggressive

Irrespective of the reason behind the aggression, the 1^st step is control and management. Manage your dog’s surroundings in a way that he’s not left to deal with his triggers on his own. If he is being aggressive towards you or anyone else, try and diffuse the situation by getting him out of it instantly. Every time we eliminate a trigger, we give one reason less to our dogs to display aggression. This is essential because the more your dog practices aggression, the better he gets at it.

2^nd step is to get to the root cause of the behavior. Correcting the aggression when it’s happening or redirecting is just putting a band aid on the issue. If you have a pup at home that confidently bites and breaks skin every now and then as a way to communicate, get a professional’s help before matters get worse.

Training tips to prevent aggression in puppies

1. Learn to back off at the right time

A dog will always give signs for a considerable amount of time before he decides to bite. Signs like turning away, running away, growling, snapping and exposing the whites of the eyes are your dog’s efforts to not hurt you.

Respect the growl and back off. No, you’d not be encouraging the growl by doing so, but you’d actually be discouraging the bite.

2. Bite inhibition to deal with aggressive puppy play

Bite inhibition is teaching your dog how much jaw pressure is allowed on the human hand. Whatever you do, your pup is not going to stop mouthing while he’s a puppy. Might as well steer into the skid and teach him to mouth softly.

Bite inhibition doesn’t teach your dog to stop biting, but teaches them the right intensity. An adult dog with zero bite inhibition training may inflict serious harm in an uncomfortable situation as compared to a dog that has learnt bite inhibition. This can be scary for households with other animals and/or kids.

3. When it comes to dog to dog aggression, desensitize, not socialize

When you’re living with a fearful pup, there comes a point in his life where he needs to be desensitized towards the presence of another dog and not socialized.

The difference between desensitization and socialization is that the former is an exercise done to change the association the puppy has with a certain trigger. Whereas socialization is the act of introducing your dog to new environments and teaching the appropriate reaction.

A puppy that is still at an exploratory stage can be socialized. But, a puppy that has already formed negative associations with other dogs or animals needs to be desensitized.

If you are planning on having a second dog at home, read this to learn how to appropriately introduce them. 

4. Trust building

A dog displaying aggression towards family members has a splintered relationship with them. The first step towards repairing that relation is building trust with your dog and establishing yourself as a reliable leader.

For eg – when dealing with resource guarding, the first step is getting your dog to trust you that you won’t be snatching things away from his mouth anymore. Once he starts trusting you around his resources, the need to guard them will start diminishing.

5. Prioritize obedience training and boundary setting

Obedience training and boundary-setting are parts and parcels of raising a dog to behave well in a human household. When we don’t set boundaries for our pups, they do it themselves, which often results in chaos.

Furthermore, setting a fixed routine for your dog just makes his and your life a whole lot easier as it avoids cluelessness in your dog and nips a lot of behavioral issues in the bud.

Inculcating obedience training before giving your dog any kind of rewards like meals, walks, playtime, toys etc will also help establish yourself as a more valuable resource provider in your dog’s eyes.

6. Form rituals around the trigger

Aggression stems from conflicts and escalates when the dog has no idea how else to react. Forming behavior rituals around his triggers will avoid such escalations in future.

Eg – If you have a dog that is fearful and leash reactive, make it a habit to create distance and get your dog to redirect his focus back on you as soon as you see a dog on your walks. Reward him with high-value treats as soon he calms down even a little. Doing this every time you see a dog will help your dog calm down faster and avoid going into a bark-frenzy every time.

7. Build positive association towards the trigger

Dogs learn best through associations. Eg- If your dog has had negative experiences with a few kids in the past, he will quickly start disliking kids and may display aggression towards them. However, if your dog starts getting his most favorite treats every time he sees a kid, he will eventually turn around.

8. Interrupt bad behaviors whenever possible

Sometimes, when we allow a pup to continue undesirable behaviors without interruption or correction, he may grow into those behaviors. This just makes him more and more confident every time he does them.

A classic example of this is backyard barking. A dog left unsupervised in the backyard or at the window, barking at people and dogs passing by will just keep getting louder and more aggravated with every attempt. In such cases, interrupt the behavior and redirect his attention on to something else. Alternatively, desensitize him towards them with high-value treats.

However, when you have a dog barking in the crate for attention, do not interrupt that as you’d just be rewarding the bark. In this case, wait for the dog to calm down and then go ahead and shower him with loads and loads of attention.

What NOT to do when dealing with aggressive dogs

1. Hit/ punish

Hitting or punishing the dog for displaying aggression will only emotionally break him. It’s a proven fact that stress and pain will lower the quality of your dog’s life, which will in turn aggression.

As mentioned above, growling and snapping are signs given by your dog begging for distance. If you punish the dog for giving out these signs, he will directly escalate to biting. This will cause unpredictable aggression and confident biting.

2. Provoke the dog further

Provoking the dog to act aggressively in order to stop puppy aggression will take him up the aggression ladder in no time. Provoking dogs to the point of snarling just to make funny videos has become a sad trend on so many social media platforms. Dog owners must know better than creating “funny” videos for a few seconds and in turn damaging a dog for life.

3. Force the puppy in scary situations to “face his fears”

A dog’s mind does not function like us humans, so we need to stop anthropomorphizing them. Humans do daredevil things like diving into the sea from a cliff to ‘face fears’ of heights. However, we cannot expect the same logic to work on dogs.

Repeatedly forcing dogs to deal with triggers that make them react aggressively will cause a phenomenon known as ‘Shut down.’ Once a dog shuts down, it scars his mind to a state of non-responsiveness to triggers. A dog that has shut himself down is highly depressed and anxious.

4. Alpha roll to “show who’s the boss”

This is a technique bullies use to get their dogs to behave. When dog owners have no idea how to be effective and reliable leaders, they use physical force to get their dogs to roll on the floor to assert dominance.

This is a dangerous training technique as it not only breaks your relationship with your dog but it also provokes a dog to the point of aggression faster.

5. Corner the dog

Cornering a dog is a classic way to teach him to bite. A pup will choose between flight or fight when he’s faced with a trigger. Cornering the dog eliminates the flight option. He will quickly move on to snarling, lunging or biting to protect himself.

Cornering or surrounding the dog is one of the worst things to do to an already anxious and aggressive dog.

Do puppies grow out of aggression?

If the cause of aggression is not addressed, it gradually becomes an inherent part of the puppy’s personality and life. If we just sit around waiting for them to grow out of aggressive behavior, we eventually end up letting the behavior manifest in fourfolds. It then trickles down to other aspects of the puppy’s life too.

Eg- Possessive aggression over high-value items like bones can soon become a habitual behavior and can result in resource guarding over anything and everything the dog takes in his mouth.

Once you identify the root cause of your pup’s aggression, you’ll be better equipped to stop puppy aggression. Living with an aggressive puppy, whatever the reason be, is not a cakewalk. However, investing time and effort in puppy aggression training at the right time will definitely pay off.

Every dog deserves a chance for an amazing life. A little bit of patience and willingness will go a long way in conditioning your dog to adapt better and live a wonderful life.