[Problem behavior in dogs].

Abstract

202 Owners of dogs showing problem behaviour were interviewed during the period from January 1, 1981 to May 31, 1981. The major problem was found to consist in aggressiveness in these dogs, particularly aggressiveness to human individuals (Table 3). An analysis was made to examine whether problem behaviour was specific to breed group or sex. There were not any good grounds for this assumption. Analysis of the ratio between flight and aggressive behaviour (Figure 3) revealed that the male dogs of mastiffs, sheepdogs and bastards showed more aggressiveness than did the bitches of these breeds. The findings in these studies showed that problem behaviour was due to the fact that the dog occupied the wrong place in the hierarchy of the family. This in turn was due to ignorance of the owner. Treatment in the form of basic training in obedience accompanied by enlightenment of the owners on canine behaviour was found to be successful in well over 80 per cent of the cases.