AN UNDERSTANDING OF AGGRESSION IN BULLDOGS

by John Tatman

Considering the negative press and public opinion concerning bulldogs, I feel it's important to try to educate the owners of these breeds as to the theories and behavioral characteristics regarding aggression in dogs. I have been involved in training protection dogs for the last six hears as Training Director and President of our local Schutzhund club and President of the local APBT club. I have owned APBT's for seven years and trained my six-year old male to Schutzhund III. I am currently training his son and soon an American Bulldog toward Schutzhund titles.

Before we can discuss the theories behind dog aggression, it is necessary to understand the dog's basic mental capacity. The K-9 species is not endowed with a thinking process. All dogs learn by association. The best way to explain this is by example: let's say one day your dog begins to dig in your flower garden, and just as he starts digging, a pot falls from a window above and hits him in the head. The dog associates digging here with pain and will not try this again. If this were you or me, we would simply look first. However the dog cannot think to do this. Another example would be with a chimpanzee, which, by the way, is capable of thought. Behaviorists in a test hung a banana from the ceiling of a room and put a chair across from it. Given a little time the chimp, by reasoning, moved the chair over, stood on it, and reached the banana. Using a dog in the same test and hanging meat, the dog would starve to death since he lacks the reasoning powers to solve the problem. The point I want to make is that the dog does not lie around and think about who he is going to bite. He merely reacts to his environment.

The next aspect that must be understood is the instincts the dog has that determines his behavior in a situation where he might or will bite. The K-9 species is endowed by nature with inherent instincts, or drives as I will call them, which are necessary for the perpetration of the species. These drives are what make the dog the animal that he is. A few of these drives include: play, hunger, sex, prey, defense, fighting and protection drive. The first three are self-explanatory, but the last four warrant a closer look.

Prey - the drive to chase, catch, and in the wild, kill his prey.

Defense - the drive to defend himself.

Fighting - the drive to determine superiority in the pack for leadership and breeding rights.

Protection - the drive to protect his young, his pack, and his territory.

These drives interrelate, as in prey drive, as necessary to fulfill hunger drive.

Defense drive and protection drive interrelate in that a dog without protection drive may defend himself but may not come to the aid of another pack member. Play drive is the only drive not directly necessary for perpetuation of the species. However, it is used for educating puppies and for determining early dominance in the pack.

Now let's look at how these drives and a dog's individual temperament will determine his reaction to a given situation. Temperament plays the most important role when determining why a dog bites. Temperament meaning the dog's basic nerve make-up. The lack of sound nerves is responsible for the greatest percentage of all serious dog bites. When I talk about weak nerves I'm talking about a dog that is shy, one that is easily spooked by loud noises or things dropping around him. A dog that appears afraid of things that are not a threat to him, be it people or objects. A dog that tucks his tail or raises his hackles. Most often this dog can be coaxed out to see people or up to unfamiliar objects. However, if this dog feels cornered and the perceived threat continues, he will bite. He is brought into defense drive, he feels threatened and he defends himself. In defense he will bite the hardest and be the fiercest he can be, and when combined with the natural strength of our dogs, this will always result in disaster.

Next, let's take a closer look at fighting drive. The most significant difference between the various bulldog breeds and most other breeds is their pronounced fighting drive. As I stated earlier, this drive is necessary for determining pack leadership and breeding rights. Viciousness plays no part in fighting drive; however, this pronounced fighting drive in our breeds must be looked at in a different light. I believe our bulldogs must be compared to the professional fighter, understanding that in a pit fight the dog is not tied and at any time can jump out of the ring. He only stays out of the love of the fight and his strong desire to dominate.

One last aspect I would like to explain here is the dog's inherent pack instinct. The K-9 species (all breeds) is a pack species. The individual cannot survive on his own. Now, you're probably thinking this is not true today since the species is domesticated. Wrong. He merely adopts his human family as his pack and soon learns his place in the social dominance of his new pack. This pack drive is easily evidenced when we see dogs dumped out in the country. They soon find other dogs running loose and form a new pack.

The species also has a protection drive that comes into play with his pack drive. The dog will bite to protect a member of his pack but will not continue to attack an aggressor if the aggressor backs down and leaves.

I'm sure that now you're probably wondering what you should do if you have a dog with weak nerves. Basically you have three alternatives. First would be to redirect your dog's natural drives. Teach him to play with a ball, Frisbee, or some other toy. He will quickly learn it is acceptable to bite his toy and he can have fun doing so. Second is behavioral modification. The dog must learn, at an early age, that biting or any aggressive behavior is not acceptable. Obviously, combining the first and second methods would allow for greater success and enjoyment for you and your dog. Third, and certainly the most distasteful, is to have the dog destroyed. In some cases this is the most humane. It is truly torture for an animal that goes through life in fear of his total environment, remembering he will be a serious liability for you as well.

The worst possible choice you could make here, both for the breed and for yourself, would be to do nothing. The one thing our breed does not need is another indiscriminate biter.

reprinted from National Bulldogger

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