Let's start with a 10-week-old puppy you've brought home.
You've given the puppy a bed to lay and sleep on and now you decide you're going to go out to train or for a walk and you go to pick up that puppy.
When you go to pick it up, it growls at you. So you stop and you try again and it growls at you again so you stop and abandon the idea of going out with the puppy at this time.
Fast forward 6 weeks and you are going to clean the dogs ears and clip its nails, very standard grooming
The ear cleaning went fine and now when you go to do the nails, as you touch that first paw, they growl at you again. So you let go and grab it again and they growl again.
Then you try another paw and they growl so you go to the rear end of the dog and try one of the behind legs and they turn and growl and snap at you.
So you pull your hand away and then that's the end of it, you don't want to make them uncomfortable and you don't want to get bit and you're also not entirely sure what to do now
Fast forward again, the dog is now 14 months old
While out on a walk, they pick up a dead bird or a neighborhood's cat poop or a half-eaten sandwich in a ziplock bag from the schoolyard
You don't want them to eat that so you go and try and pull it from them and they growl and are much quicker to snap at you this time
And again you pull your hand away because you don't want to get bit, you're not sure what else to do and it's not worth the fight or frustration for you to take it from them so you let them have it anyways
Fast forward one last time
The dog is now 3 years old and they picked up roadkill this time and when you go to take it, they bite your hands and while you don't want them to eat it, you don't want to end up in the hospital. You try one more time to take it and they again you use their mouth to back you off
Now let's look at the 10-week-old puppy lying on its bed.
When you go to pick them up and they growl, what are they telling you?
They are telling you in their language that they don't want to be touched and if you keep going, they will use aggression and violence to try and make you stop
And you listened
A 10-week-old puppy just intimidated you into doing what it wanted.
Now think about the kind of impression that leaves them with.
They said "I don't want to do that, you better stop or I'm going to be violent"
And unknowingly, by backing off and ending the interaction that way, you said to the dog "I will back off because you were aggressive
So when we go through the next three situations, there is a history and an impression this dog has that it can use aggression to get what it wants or to make something it doesn't want stop. It has been built up in this dogs mind as being successful.
When you go to groom them, they are telling you that they don't want to be touched. And they will use aggression and violence to get their point across. Because now they have a history of aggression being useful and successful tool. Why would they not continue using it if it's working for them?
And do you know why there wasn't any growling or any issues with the ears?
Because the ear cleaning feels AMAZING, they love having their ears rubbed
Why would they need to be aggressive when they are getting what they want?
It's when there is something that they don't want and now, in everyday of this dogs life, unbeknownst to you, you have made concessions, compromises and appeased this puppy and didn't want to make it uncomfortable. This gives the impression they are above you.
Yes! Dogs are hierarchical. How did momma first tell them "NO, you can't nurse right now"
With a growl and then a snap. Momma is in charge. She is trusted and appropriately feared.
Now, in your relationship, you are beneath the dog...
All this comes from their fear and distrust and by giving in, you submit to them and prove they can only depend on themselves and their tools.
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