“Dogs who enjoy each other’s company can engage in a lot of rough and tumble interaction, and it can look pretty scary,” says Tufts veterinary behaviorist Stephanie Borns-Weil, DVM. “They’ll grab and snap and roll.” So how do you tell those dogs from dogs with fear aggression who are truly attacking other dogs in an effort to protect themselves?
“When it’s about fear,” Dr. Borns-Weil says, “a dog won’t even give another dog a chance. There’s no exchange of body language, no sniffing. It’s more like the dog is thinking, ‘I see a dog and I go ballistic because I don’t want it anywhere near me.’ That’s very different from a dog who will run up to another dog looking for an exchange and both dogs eagerly coming back for more in two-sided rough play.
“Once in a while,” Dr. Borns-Weil says, a dog will run up to another dog in an excited fashion, sniff it, and decide not to play. “That’s not fear aggression,” she says. “That’s just deciding he doesn’t like the dog and doesn’t want to be friends.” Different strokes for different folks.
