People’s fear, age, breed, and experience with animals cause dogs to behave aggressively towards people. This is the conclusion reached by a study prepared by the University of Helsinki (Finland). These findings can provide tools to understand and prevent aggressive behavior in dogs, as they really only feel fear and insecurity.
Aggressive behavior in dogs
Aggressive behavior in dogs can include barking, growling, and even biting. This is part of normal canine communication, and it also happens in non-aggressive situations (such as play). However, when this behavior is repeated excessively, it becomes a threat to the health of both people and other animals.
According to researcher Salla Mikkola, it is essential to know the factors that are hidden behind this aggressive behavior. We must bear in mind that aggressiveness could be related to a health problem, such as chronic pain.
Investigation Development
To carry out the research, the group of scientists studied the connections between aggressive behavior and various risk factors. The study looked at aggressiveness towards both owners and unfamiliar human beings. Thus, they classified them as ‘aggressive’ if they growled or had tried to bite a person at least once.
After conducting the research, they were able to discover that fear in dogs has a strong link to aggressive behavior, and that fearful dogs were much more likely to behave aggressively. They also concluded that older dogs were more likely to behave aggressively than younger ones.
One of the possible reasons behind this could be the impairment of the senses. Due to advanced age, some dogs may not perceive people approaching and, therefore, react aggressively when frightened.
On the other hand, small dogs are more likely to behave aggressively than medium-sized or large dogs, but their aggressive behavior is not considered as threatening as that of large dogs. For this reason, many people do not usually question the behavior of small breed dogs.
Likewise, the research found that males tend to be more aggressive than females, and that sterilization does not contribute to excessively modify this behavior.
