Is every dog who snaps, growls, and lunges "aggressive"?

A training colleague of mine recently shared this pet addendum from her boyfriend’s condo complex. Section 5 is titled “Aggressive Pets” and lays out some rules (here’s the screenshot with the condo’s name blacked out):

The condo complex defines aggressive animals as an animal that has previously attacked a person or other animal, or as one that possesses “aggressive traits.” It goes on:

Aggressive traits include but are not limited to lunging, growling, snarling, snapping, and biting.

Hmm, do these traits sound familiar to you? Maybe you’ve seen them in your own dog, even if your dog has never been deemed “aggressive.” Your dog may growl during a rousing game of tug, lunge when he sees other dogs on walks, or growl when you try to take a piece of garbage away from him.

In my 6+ years working with dogs, I’ve seen almost every dog I’ve ever met display at least one of these behaviours. I’ve seen usually mild-mannered dogs act like vicious monsters when resource guarding a greasy napkin, snap at me when I accidentally got too close to their face (I never made that mistake again!), and lunge and bark like maniacs at skateboards, joggers, and neighbourhood dogs they decided were The Enemy.

Very, very few of these dogs would be described as having aggression issues. Why? Because, depending on the context, these are all normal dog behaviours.

Anthony De Marinis, a certified dog behaviour consultant specializing in aggression, writes this in a blog post titled What are the options for dogs with aggression?:

Aggressive behaviors typically occur when a dog feels threatened, fearful, stressed, anxious, conflicted/concerned, protective, overstimulated, frustrated, angry, or in pain. Dogs typically display aggressive behaviors to warn, intimidate, defend/protect and/or cause harm. In effect, aggressive behaviors serve the function of increasing distance from or causing harm to a perceived threat or danger.

In other words, if a dog is fearful, he may aggress to tell the person/dog/thing he’s afraid of “get the hell away from me.” The dog is trying to make the things he’s afraid of move further away. Think of a dog who is afraid of a particular treatment he has to get at the vet: He may growl when the veterinarian tries to touch him.

This is why dog body language literacy is so crucial. If people don’t recognize the signs that a dog needs more space, and fail to give that space, there’s potential for a bite that “came out of nowhere.”

Aggressive behaviours can certainly be startling, especially the first time a guardian sees them. As humans, we are hard-wired to fear animals with sharp, pointy teeth that growl at us. We’ve also been conditioned by the media and elsewhere to believe that some breeds of dogs are more aggressive. But the more we learn about dogs and their behaviour, the more we understand how we can help dogs feel safe so they don’t feel the need to aggress.

Back to this condo complex: It’s understandable that they’re just trying to keep their tenants safe, and certainly nobody wants to live near a dog who runs around biting everybody. However, if the condo owners want to allow dogs in their building, they could consult with certified behaviour consultants to learn more about which behaviours are run-of-the-mill and which actually pose a risk to tenants and visitors.

I hate to imagine a scenario where a dog who has never caused harm in his life is booted from the building because he growled at a neighbour who got too close. This would be like if I got evicted for swearing at someone on the elevator!

Are you struggling with your dog’s fearful/aggressive behaviours? I can help. Check out my private in-person and virtual training options.