Buddy, Jasper, and Molly are Fox Terriers. They are not litter mates, but they have grown up together. For the first three years of their relationship, they romped and played in perfect harmony. Several months ago, their perfect friendship changed. Now it is common for Molly to attack Jasper, which causes Buddy to attack Molly. The fights are so heated that all three of the dogs have required medical attention. Their owners have decided to keep the dogs separated and are faced with the heartbreaking decision of finding a new home for at least one of the animals.

The fighting started quite innocently. Molly was two years older than the boys, and at about five years of age, she began growling when strangers came to the door. The owners used a kiddy gate to prevent Molly and the boys from actually leaping onto guests and assumed they had solved the problem.

With the introduction of the gate, Molly’s behavior started to change. At first, she would bark and race straight at the gate and then dart left and right to try to get around it. The other dogs would race forward to join her and start milling around, waiting to jump playfully onto the guest. The gate seemed to increase Molly’s frustration and make her even more violent. After several repetitions of trying to negotiate this frustrating barrier, Molly attacked Jasper just as a guest entered the door. Their owner dutifully waded in and tried to pull Molly from Jasper’s throat. Buddy stood dazed while the other dogs struggled.

The next couple of incidents seemed milder than before, and the dogs’ owner assumed that they were back to normal. On the fourth time a stranger came to the door, Molly attacked Jasper more furiously than before. Their owner was bitten in the hand while trying to separate the dogs – by Buddy, who joined the fray at the last moment.

For several weeks, the fights remained unpredictable. Each time they fought, the dogs’ owner stepped in and broke it up. The owner could not figure out why the dogs were normally so loving and then suddenly so fierce. They had gotten along beautifully for years.

A common problem for multiple dog owners is serious but selective aggression. Normally well-behaved dogs can instantly turn into maniacal demons, intent on tearing each other to pieces. The most confusing aspect of this form of aggression is that it is aimed not at the stranger or guest but at the other members of the family, both canine and human.

The dramatic switch from friend to foe seems baffling unless you know a little about how dogs behave in the wild. In nature, wild dogs are often required to defend their territory against other predators. If one of the animals is alerted to danger, it will bark to alert the rest of the pack. First one dog, and then another barks to spread the alarm. Then they move forward toward the perceived threat. The typical defense is a rough skirmish line facing the enemy. The natural defensive position for a pack of wild dogs or wolves leaves them facing the enemy – not each other. This natural arrangement of visual focus is the key to the problem.

One of the primary threats one animal can give another is direct eye contact or staring. In many species of animals, this “in your face” stare can freeze an aggressive animal and cause it to seek trouble elsewhere. In the wild, a pack of dogs may actually stop an attack by simply staring at the intruder. If the intruder disregards this threat and gets too close, the dogs will attack in defense of their territory. The closeness of the eye contact becomes the trigger for the attack.

While dogs are domesticated, they retain many behaviors that are the same as those of their wild ancestors. Some behaviors, like terrier aggression, have been accentuated. When city dogs get excited, they also bark an alarm and join together to react to the perceived threat, just like their ancient progenitors. Next they attempt to move closer to the enemy. While their wild genes command them to form a skirmish line; kiddy gates, fences, furniture, walls, and other man-made barriers block their way. House dogs adapt to this unnatural setting by leaping violently against the door, racing back and forth in front of the door, or lunging against the artificial barrier. This scenario often creates two very dangerous reactions.

First, the dogs become more and more aggressively aroused as they are prevented from getting close to the target. Second, the obstacles force them to race back and forth and mill around the gate, fence, or door. As the dogs move back and forth, they invariably make eye contact and jostle each other. This eye contact at close range triggers an attack – even between pack-mates.

The fancy term for this problem is misdirected aggression. This term overshoots the more basic reality. If a doctor taps your patella with a rubber mallet and you accidentally kick him, it’s not “misdirected aggression.” It’s simply a natural reflex doing what it is supposed to do. For dogs, the normal reflexes tuned to intruders are triggered but stifled. Frustration over not being able to engage the threat builds arousal to the point where the slightest touch will cause the animal to attack something. Throw in the fact that dogs are highly sensitive to rapidly moving objects, and the likelihood that the animal will attack something animate increases. At this point, the aggression is a knee-jerk reaction and not a rational decision. The presentation of almost any target will trigger the attack. In the ferocity that follows, the ability to discriminate friend from foe is lost.

Treating aggression of this type should not be attempted lightly. One of the potentially dangerous mistakes associated with handling such a problem is to assume that a pet will never bite its master. The very nature of this type of aggression makes it likely that the animal will strike out at the first available target – usually the owner. Because of this, home remedies are extremely dangerous and unlikely to succeed in stopping the fighting. If your animal displays this type of behavior, ask your veterinarian for the name of a highly qualified behaviorist with experience treating this type of aggression.

If you sense that your dog or dogs are building to this type of aggression or merely have dogs that are overly pushy when greeting guests, consider using a tool like the Petsafe Pawz Away indoor pet boundary system. This will allow you to make the front door off-limits and prevent the dogs from reaching a mindless state of arousal. Often merely stopping the dogs from rushing the front door can end the problem.

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