Though your dog may look sweet, there may be an aggressive dog inside just waiting to get out. To be able to take on these undesirable behaviors, though, requires you to discover what is triggering the problems to begin with. Triggers of many types can set off aggressive dog behaviors within pets that would otherwise behave as perfect members of the family.

If Dr. Jekyll needed a potion to become Mr. Hyde, then your dog also needs certain triggers to bring out that undesirable aggression , so it’s up to you to find this trigger and either remove it, or teach your dog to deal with it properly.

What triggers could bring about dog aggression? Check out these most common forms of dog aggression and compare them to your pet’s behavior to help you to narrow down the triggers:

• Territorial aggression - An aggressive dog with this problem will seek to threaten or harm anyone who walks by, approaches, or enters his or her turf. You might find the paperboy being threatened by your pooch, or your guests being snarled at or even bitten.

• Dominant aggression - In this case, the aggressive dog picks on family members or other animals in the household whom he or she feels are lower in rank in the hierarchy of your family.

• Fear aggression - In this case, the aggressive dog is very reactive to disturbances from the norm, frequently feeling nervous or insecure and is quite ready to growl, bite, or bark. If you corner this dog, he or she will likely try to bite you.

• Possessive aggression - In this case, the aggressive dog will appear to be quite happy until someone attempts to touch or take away food, a toy, or anything else the dog feels belongs to him or her, at which time the dog will suddenly become vicious or threatening.

• Punishment aggression - In this case, an aggressive dog has been created through abuse, negative training methods, threats, and over-dominance.

• Pain aggression - An aggressive dog of this kind is not reacting this way due to a behavioral problem that needs to be trained out of him or her, but is instead instinctively reacting from pain. If the dog is ill or injured, he or she may involuntarily have vicious reactions.

• Predatory aggression - An aggressive dog of this nature is following hunting instincts and will interpret just about anything as prey that should be captured. Pets with this form of aggressive dog tendencies can be found chasing just about anything that moves, from children and animals to bicycles and cars.

• Maternal aggression - An aggressive dog style may be adopted by a mother dog who has a litter of puppies, since she is running on instinct to protect them. Be warned that a mother dog may interpret just about anything as being threatening to her young and may act on this presumption.

Indeed, there may be other kinds of aggression that are causing your dog to behave the way he or she does, but this list can give you a good place to start your understanding of the triggers. Once you’ve discovered the triggers for your pet’s unwanted behaviors, you can then take the next step - behavior modification training.

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