Thecanes They can suffersudden bouts of aggressionwithout their owners understanding why. In many cases, the cause of the attacks can be undiagnosed or untreated pain, according to a study by the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB).
Until now it was known that several factors cause aggressiveness in dogs: the conditions of the mother during gestation, the handling of the puppy during the neonatal period, the age at weaning, the animal’s experiences during the socialization period, the diet, the exercise, genetics or learning techniques based on active punishment in adulthood. Now to the list is added the presence of pathologies and pain in the animal.
A team of researchers from the Department of Animal and Food Science of the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB) analyzed between 2010 and 2011 the aggressiveness problems of 12 purebred dogs (giant schnauzer, Irish setter, pit bull, Dalmatian, two shepherds Germans, Neapolitan Mastiff, Shih-Tzu, Bobtail, Catalan Shepherd, Chow-Chow and Doberman) who went with their owners to the UAB Veterinary Hospital. “All (eleven males and one female) were diagnosed aspain aggression. Of the 12, eight had suffered from hip dysplasia, “Tomás Camps, lead author of the study published in the Journal of Veterinary Behavior, explained to SINC.
Thecanine hip dysplasiaIt is a hereditary and degenerative bone disease that affects the joint that joins the hip and the head of the femur, which affects more than 40% of golden retrievers, Labrador retrievers and Rottweillers, and in general it can occur in any breed of large dog. The new study suggests that hip dysplasia pain is a major risk factor for aggression in large dogs. But the problem arises when the dog experiences periods of little pain and this disease is not diagnosed in time.
