There are various reasons why a dog becomes aggressive: predatory aggression, fear-based aggression, male-on-male aggression, and so on. The one that keeps scientists, dog enthusiasts, and breeders up at night is idiopathic aggression. To be honest, we know very little to nothing about it. Idiopathic means the cause is unknown. So far, at least, we haven’t found any correlation between health, nurture, socialization and idiopathic aggression. There are theories, but nothing palpable has been found. We can point at certain factors but we can’t put a finger on the exact one. So, what do we know about it?
The Things We Know
One thing we know is that this kind of aggression is unpredictable. The aggressive behavior happens without definite or obvious reason. These dogs do not have physical or social issues that could give a reason for their aggressive behavior. The behavior is usually not aimed at the owner, but it does happen.
Because the aggression happens without any apparent reason (a dog wasn’t abused, a dog was well socialized, had a “happy puppyhood”, a dog has responsible owners, etc.) there are three explanations that keep coming up:
- There is brain damage
- Genetic fault
- Low serotonin levels
These are not facts, but just thoughts on the matter. Scientists still haven’t found the real reason behind this type of aggression, hence the name Idiopathic Aggression. But, even just as theories, there is common sense behind them.
If we can’t see the obvious reason and there isn’t a chemical imbalance, there has to be a problem on a deeper level in the brain or the very DNA. Some suspect focal seizures to be a reason. And yes, depending on the affected area of the brain seizures can show up in different ways. From auditory to visual signs, headache, or sudden behavior change. If it can happen to humans, why not dogs?
The serotonin theory (you can check the study here) relies on the fact that this hormone has a soothing effect on a dog. If there is a very low level of serotonin, a dog cannot control its emotions anymore and easily bursts into aggressive behavior. However, increasing the levels didn’t give good results in all cases. So we’re back to square one.
Can We Do Anything?
There isn’t much we can do. Well, to be completely honest, there is nothing we can do to prevent this type of aggressive behavior. However, there is one thing specific to purebred dogs. Dog breeders often aim for a certain look of a breed, not just the coat color or the shape of the head and other body parts. They also seek to gain that special “dignified”, “aloof”, or “confident” look certain breeds have. But, when we play god and aim to change the confirmation, we have to change the behavior too. It goes hand in hand.
Of course, depending on the change and the years of breeding a particular trait, the changes in behavior will be less or more obvious. Some suspect that a “fault in genes” caused by a specific “confident look” a dog has, might be a reason for Idiopathic Aggression. This behavior will not show up in all bloodlines, it might skip a generation, but once it’s there in the gene pool it will stay there for as long as we love the other trait it brings with it.
The problem with genes is that it takes more than just being present in the DNA chain to take effect. It takes other inner and exogenous factors. But, this theory does hold water because there are some dog breeds in which Idiopathic Aggression is more common.
The Breeds Commonly Affected
The dog breeds in which the “unknown” or Idiopathic Aggression is more common are:
- Cocker Spaniel
- German Shepherd
- St. Bernard
- Poodle
- Rottweiler
- Doberman Pinscher
This doesn’t mean these dogs are predisposed to aggressive behavior. This simply means these dogs have a higher possibility of developing Idiopathic Aggression. My thoughts are it’s the faulty gene. That’s why the breeds vary from working to sporting breeds. Of course, not every aggressive dog belonging to one of these breeds has problems with Idiopathic Aggression. We say it’s Idiopathic when no signs or symptoms are pointing to a health or social issue. We say it is idiopathic when we genuinely don’t know what is the problem and why the dog is aggressive.
Final Thoughts
The Idiopathic Aggression has to be set apart from the newly coined term “Red Zone Rage” by Cesar Millan. That is a topic for some other time (working on the article). In short, it differs from Idiopathic Aggression because Red Zone Rage can be predicted. On the other hand, Idiopathic Aggression is unpredictable, aimed at anyone, and can happen all of a sudden without any provocation. That’s why it’s so problematic. Dogs are acting normal until they snap and become aggressive. The good thing is that we can snap them out of their aggression and calm them down. They listen and are not “in the red zone” where nothing can stop them from hurting another dog or human being. I’ve read that some vets prescribe sedatives to make a dog less susceptible to these aggressive outbursts. However, it has yet to be proven effective. Maybe it does help, but only in some cases.
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Cover photo by Therius
