There are numerous behavior issues that can interfere with the special bond that exists between animal and human.

        Our goal at Chicagoland Veterinary Behavior Consultants is to diagnose these issues and educate you as to why they 

        are occurring and what we can do to improve the relationship with your pet. The links that follow will direct you to some

        articles dealing with various types of behavior problems. We hope that this information will give you an better understanding

        of your pet's behavior.

Canine Conflict Aggression

Commonly referred to as Dominance Aggression, it had become an overly used term in behavior circles. Dominance is a very normal, useful behavior in dogs. Without a clear hierarchal pattern in a social group of dogs, there will be a constant conflict over resources. A dominance pattern allows effective distribution of valued resources (food, shelter, territory and access to reproductive rights) among the members of the group. The higher ranking individuals dictate this distribution through the use of cues and signals that fall short of aggression. Only when individuals challenge the social order do aggressive displays arise. Rarely do challenges result in death to either member. This would not be productive for the overall survival of the group.

The thought was that the pet owner became the replacement social group for the dog. Conflict aggression is a newer term used in some cases where aggression is directed toward family members. It is a learned set of behaviors in which the dog has learned to use aggression as a means of achieving desired goals. This can be cessation of certain activities (petting, movement, brushing, etc.) performed by owners or to obtain resources (food, resting areas, etc.). Punishment tends to create conflict in that the dog becomes more anxious in not being certain how various encounters will turn out with owners. At times the dog may receive attention and at others, punishment. Inconsistency makes this situation worse. The key is maintaining consistency in interactions. This does not mean physical, verbal or emotional abuse in the name of assuming the "alpha position". Punishment only results in temporary control of a situation or can result in increasing aggression. There are better ways.
You control access to valued items and you can demand compliance with requests (commands) from the dog in exchange for delivery of these valued resources from you to the dog. For example:

  • All dogs should be made to assume a sit-stay or a lie-stay before receiving ANYTHING from you. This includes food, petting, attention, being taken out for a walk, play, etc. The request to sit should be reinforced initially with a food treat but later the reward will be the resource the dog is requesting.
  • Not responding to demands made by the dog. If the dog solicits attention from you inappropriately (jumps up at you, barks at you, etc.), your response should be to ignore the animal and walk away until he/she is calm. At the moment they are calm, request one time that they sit-stay and reward with a food treat. Upon complying, grant the dog the request they had made initially.
  • Consider the use of a head collar (Gentle Leader, Halti) to help gain better control of your dog's behavior and provide a more humane way of correcting inappropriate behaviors.
  • Increase exercise with increased leash walking and plenty of opportunity to utilize command-response-reward training.

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    Animal News

    animal behavior news from mongabay.com
    • Captive orangutans: enriching bodies, minds, and lives
      Visitors to the Orangutan Care Center and Quarantine (OCCQ) are always delighted by the sight of playful young orangutans. Hairy orange youngsters swinging through the branches or tossing balls around always induce fits of cooing and camera clicking. These activities appear to be so natural that it is easy to forget these are orphans in rehabilitation school and one of the main classes is Enrichment. The term enrichment has become a catchword in the world of captive animal husbandry in the past few years and for many organizations, enrichment has become a new focus as more and more research reveals how critical enrichment is to the physical, mental, and emotional wellbeing of captive animals.
    • Amazing reefs: how corals 'hear', an interview with Steve Simpson
      Corals aggregate to form vast reefs, which are home to numerous species and provide vital ecological services such as protecting shorelines. However, coral reefs are one of the most threatened ecosystems in the world due to many factors, such as global warming and ocean acidification. Recent research by Simpson and his team of scientists has shown that corals, rather than drifting aimlessly after being released by their parent colonies and by chance landing back on reefs, instead find their way purposefully to reefs by detecting the sound of snapping shrimps and grunting fish on the reef. However, that discovery also means that the larvae might struggle to find reefs when human noises, like drilling or boats, mask the natural ocean sounds.
    • Conservation photography: on shooting and saving the world's largest temperate rainforest, an interview with Amy Gulick
      Most of the US's large ecosystems are but shadows of their former selves. The old-growth deciduous forests that once covered nearly all of the east and mid-west continental US are gone, reduced to a few fragmented patches that are still being lost. The tall grassy plains that once stretched further than any eye could see have been almost wholly replaced by agriculture and increasing suburbs. Habitats, from deserts to western forests, are largely carved by roads and under heavy impact from resource exploitation to invasive species. Coastal marine systems, once super abundant, have partially collapsed in many places due to overfishing, as well as pollution and development. Despite this, there are still places in the US where the 'wild' in wilderness remains largely true, and one of those is the Tongass temperate rainforest of Southeast Alaska.
    • With 'psychological cunning' wild cat lures monkeys by mimicking their babies' calls
      It sounds like something out of a fairy-tale: the big bad predator lures its gullible prey by mimicking a loved one: 'why grandma, what big teeth you have!' But in this case it's the shocking strategy of one little-known jungle feline. In 2005 researchers with the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) were watching a group of eight pied tamarins ( Saguinus bicolor), squirrel-sized monkeys, feeding on a ficus tree in the Reserva Florestal Adolpho Ducke in Brazil. They then heard the sound of tamarin babies, but were surprised to see that the sound was not coming from young tamarins, but a hungry margay (Leopardus wiedii), a small cat native to Central and South America, which was hidden from the tamarins.
    • Forgotten species: the cryptic Jerdon's courser
      According to my Oxford English Dictionary, 'cryptic' means: 'secret, mystical; mysterious; obscure in meaning; enigmatic'. This is the perfect adjective for the rare Indian bird, Jerdon's courser (Rhinoptilus bitorquatus). 'It is not so easy to spot as it is a small bird and when you show the torch it crouches and merges with the surroundings. So we need very good trained eyes to look for them,' Dr. P. Jeganathan recently told mongabay.com.
    • Uncovering the intelligence of insects, an interview with Lars Chittka
      Many people would likely consider 'insect intelligence' a contradiction in terms, viewing insects—when they think of them as anything more than pests—as something like hardwired tiny robots, not adaptive, not intelligent, and certainly not conscious. However, research over the last few decades have shown that a number of well-studied insects are capable of performing amazing intellectual feats, from recognizing individuals to employing a symbolic language in a behavior known as a 'bee waggle'. "Already in 1900, Buttel-Reepen asked whether honeybees are mere reflex machines—and emphatically denied that claim," Dr. Lars Chittka, professor of Sensory and Behavioral Ecology at Queen Mary University in London, told mongabay.com in an interview. "Over the last century, we have seen a fundamental change in perspective on the learning capacities of insects, and there a now several credible lines of evidence that insects are capable of cognitive feats that had previously been ascribed only to 'higher' vertebrates".
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