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Dog aggression is both dangerous and frustrating. It can sometimes be hard to determine why a dog suddenly starts being aggressive, and what to do to curb that behavior.
MSN Today has an intriguing story on a new report that suggests one possible cause behind dog-on-dog aggression: dog walking. At first I’m sure that assertion made as little sense to you as it did to me: in my experience dogs that never get exercise are much more likely to be aggressive, because all of that energy has to go somewhere. How can dog walking possibly be a cause for aggression?
It’s not always the walking itself, but who is holding the leash. A recent study to be published in the journal “Applied Animal Behavior Science” posited that dogs walked by men are more likely to become aggressive toward other dogs.
I always accept media reports of scientific studies with a grain of salt. I used to work for a medical journal, and I know how large the gap can be between what’s actually published and what the media makes of the report. So let’s look at the facts.
The study was conducted by Petr Rezac of the Department of Animal Morphology, Physiology, and Genetics at Mendel University in the Czech Republic. Rezac and his team studied dogs being walked both on and off their leashes in the mornings and afternoons in the university’s town of Brno.
They found that dogs off the leash are much less likely to be aggressive than dogs that are on a leash. Rates of on-leash aggression are higher when a man is holding the leash. Dogs are more likely to play with another canine of the opposite sex, and female dogs are more likely to play in general than male dogs. But by and large the most common form of canine interaction observed was body sniffing.
MSN Today spoke to Inga Fricke of the Humane Society of the United States and Lisa Peterson of the American Kennel Club for some interpretation of the results of the study. On-leash aggression is likely more common because the dogs are frustrated at being restricted from performing their full greetings. That leads to a tense atmosphere.
While female dogs will play with males and other females, it’s less common to see male dogs play together because of the traditional female canine role. It’s the mother’s job to rear and that includes playtime, so the tendency for females to evoke more play instincts is connected to that.
Now for the most puzzling part of the study: why dogs held by men are more likely to become aggressive than dogs held by women. I think it comes down to the dog responding to the owner’s emotions: if the dog senses the owner feels more uncomfortable, or even just more protective or tense, the dog will mirror those responses.
Patriarchal society as a whole does tend to tell men that they must respond with greater strength to potential threats, and perhaps that sense is even stronger in the area in which the study was conducted. The idea still seems strange to me, but I wouldn’t be surprised if the findings are worded very specifically in the actual study and have been blown a bit out of proportion by the media.
The bottom line to take away from this is: your dog will take its cues from you. The more relaxed you are when your dog meets other canines, the more relaxed your dog will be.
Related Articles:
Female Dogs Might Think Differently from Male Dogs
Survey Says: Dog Walking Better Exercise than the Gym!
What Does Your Pet Do All Day?
*(This image by qmnonic is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 License.)
