Environmental Causes of Dominant Dog Behavior
Some pet owners provide their dogs with too much leeway at home which can cause dominance aggression to develop. In addition, pet parents that do not discipline their dogs when they are aggressive towards submissive animals may unintentionally intensify dominant behaviors.
Increased exercise and regular obedience training may also be effective in reducing aggressively dominant dogs, and some forms of training may be used as distractions, focusing the dog's attention off of negative stimuli in a training technique known as a counter-conditioning treatment.
In fact, dominance training methods are not scientifically proven to be effective. Aversive methods may also increase the dog's underlying fear and anxiety which can actually make the unwanted behaviour much worse.
Have him move out of your way a few times a day. If he is lying down in a hallway, walk through him by gently shuffling your feet until he gets up and moves. The alpha never walks around his littermates. Don't let your dog treat you like a sibling, be the parent.
Under no circumstances should the dogs be allowed to "fight it out." You could be injured due to redirected aggressive attacks, or when you attempt to break up the fight (see below).
Most dogs assume a neutral or submissive role toward people, but some dogs will challenge their owners for dominance. A dominant dog may stare, bark, growl, snap, or even bite when you give him a command or ask him to give up a toy, treat, or resting place.
Your Dog Follows You
According to the pack code, alphas are at the front of the line, betas are in the middle, and omegas are in the back and double as lookouts. If your dog follows you, this indicates it sees you as the pack leader and is exhibiting the instinctive behavior of walking behind the alpha.
True dominance aggression is very rare. Most often aggressive acts are based out of another type of motivation. Usually what is assumed to be dominance aggression is actually based out of fear or anxiety.
In most cases, dominant behavior occurs when a dog has reached maturity, somewhere between one and three years old. However, it's not uncommon for dominant behavior to occur in older dogs or puppies.
Fights between dogs in the household are often about dominance or social status. Social status aggression most often occurs when dogs reach social maturity at 12-36 months of age. Fights will be about those resources that are considered important to dogs.
Most of the available research indicates that dogs do engage in behaviors of dominance and submission, but not that they try to compete with us for control over the domestic environments in which they live.
Social aggression usually develops in dogs between one to three years of age. It's important to realize that the complexities involved in social aggression are poorly understood and hotly debated by behavior experts.
Dogs fight over territory, to protect their perceived pack, and because of overstimulation. Despite how it may seem to humans, dogs do not fight for no reason at all. Dogs can do serious harm to each other during a fight or attack. In some cases, the injuries can even lead to death.
Signs of dominant behavior in dogs:
Resistance to voice commands. Aggressive response to eye contact or verbal correction. Food guarding or other aggressive behavior while eating. Persistence about leading the way on walks or through entryways.
While it may sound obvious, growling at your dog is not likely to improve its aggressive behavioral problems, a new study suggests. Hitting it is probably worse. Researchers say dog owners who kick, hit or otherwise confront aggressive dogs with punitive training methods are doomed to have, well, aggressive pets.
A dog doesn't need to follow all of these behaviors in order for you to consider her “dominant” or “submissive.” Most dogs won't because they fall somewhere in the middle of the dominant-submissive spectrum, and the degree of dominance that your dog displays will likely change depending on the group of dogs that they ...
Keep in mind, a dog may assume a dominant role when it perceives that no one else in the group has taken that position rather than it having a strong desire to “control”. In many cases of social status or dominance aggression there are aspects of arousal, conflict and anxiety that are key factors in the aggression.
But most dogs tend to bond to the person who gives them the most attention. For example, in a family with two parents and two kids, the dog may favor the parent who fills their bowl every morning and takes them for a walk every evening. In addition, physical affection solidifies the bond between dog and person.