As is well known, dogs were domesticated from wolves. After a long period, most dogs today have gentle temperaments and do not exhibit aggressive behavior towards humans. However, dogs also have their own taboos, and if accidentally violated, they can easily attack. Today, the PetsZone editor will talk about what causes dogs to attack people. Let’s take a look below.

Food competition is one of the most common phenomena in nature, and even intelligent, alert dogs cared for by humans cannot avoid it. After all, the genes passed down from ancestors over millions of years are not so easy to lose. The most common is food guarding. If someone approaches or moves the dog's food while it is eating, some dogs literally become completely unrecognizable. This behavior can also extend to toys, dog beds, chew treats, and other items. Some even guard their water bowls. Such possessiveness is usually easy to detect, but there is one situation that owners need to observe carefully: some dogs hide toys and treats, and these places become forbidden zones. When innocent humans approach, they may face "unexplained" invasion and attacks. Unlike the two aforementioned types of invasions, not only adult males and females but also puppies may display aggression due to possessiveness.

Dogs have a certain territorial instinct. Territoriality depends on breed, personality, and other factors; some are stronger, some weaker. For example, guard dogs definitely have this trait enhanced through breeding since it helps with home protection. Most puppies do not have territorial awareness and it appears between one to three years old. Sometimes this territorial awareness is not very controllable; some dogs do not distinguish between "friend or foe" and bark or charge at everyone, which leads to undesirable aggressive behavior.

Even gentle and friendly dogs may attack others when in pain. This is the same reason why injured patients often yell when being carried on a stretcher. Humans are like this, let alone animals? This situation is also common in veterinary clinics. Therefore, even with your own dog, when it is injured or in pain, you must handle it carefully. Dogs with orthopedic diseases or infections may bite without warning even if you are trying to treat them. Pain-inducing training tools like prong collars or shock collars can also trigger aggressive behavior and should be avoided. Such aggressive behaviors occur in dogs of all ages and sexes.

Dogs are close relatives of gray wolves and North American wolves, both large predatory animals. Pet dogs also exhibit some typical canine predatory behaviors, such as chasing and capturing fast-moving objects. Many dogs enjoy chasing humans who are running, biking, rollerblading, as well as moving vehicles. They may also chase pets, poultry, livestock, and wild animals. Some dogs will even tear apart or kill their prey. Aggressive behavior caused by predatory instincts differs from the previously mentioned types in that it comes without warning — after all, predation is time-critical and cannot be missed. Therefore, this behavior can seem sudden and unpredictable. The most concerning potential victims are infants. Their crying or the actions of taking them out of a cradle may trigger lightning-fast predatory responses. Fortunately, this behavior is extremely rare in pet dogs. Regularly observing your dog's predatory desires helps you detect such problems early and take measures.

Fear first triggers an avoidance response, called the flight response. But when there is no escape, most animals choose to fight to the death. This, of course, leads to aggressive behavior. (This is why dogs should not be hit: a dog that is hit and finds no escape at home can only choose to bite.) However, these aggressive behaviors usually have obvious signs: a tucked tail is a piece of common knowledge even for novice dog owners. Dogs exhibit many body language signals to express fear, and once familiar with these signals, one can detect a dog's psychological state early.

Some fearful dogs launch sneak attacks after humans turn away, so when trying to distance yourself from these dogs, do not immediately turn your back completely on them. Fearful dogs don’t usually bite and hold on tightly during attacks because they still want to escape.

However, this type of attack may not always have obvious signs, or the signs may be so brief that untrained ordinary people cannot notice them. Dogs of all ages and sexes can attack out of fear.

Cause of dog attacks 6: Protectiveness

As a social species, dogs form small groups without human owners. When a member faces danger, other members assist in defense. Household pet dogs similarly protect family members — whether human or other animals. Particularly vulnerable family members sometimes receive stronger protection; for example, some normally gentle dogs show aggressive behavior after their owners have a baby, treating relatives and friends as threats. This type of aggressive behavior is not related to sex but to age. However, like territorial awareness, it rarely appears in puppies before the age of one to three.