When your clients learn to mindfully meet their autonomic nervous systems, bring compassion to their embodied experiences, and honor each autonomic response, they have begun to befriend the nervous system (Dana, 2020).”
 
Aggression in dogs is often accompanied by physical as well as emotional injury, expensive veterinary/medical bills and unfriendly letters from animal control. Euthanasia for aggression occurs more frequently than for any other behavioral issue and lunging, growling as well as biting are often vilified both culturally and legally. Hearing your dog labeled as “aggressive” often sounds like a hopeless life sentence. Not surprisingly, programs designed to address aggressive behavior also echo this negative perspective.
 
In contrast, “Aggressive Behavior Calls for BEFRIENDING Not Suppression: A Nonviolent Ethic for You and Your Dogs” asks the question what it would mean to BEFRIEND rather than vilify or suppress difficult behaviors like aggression?
 
One might begin by transforming the language we use to describe these behaviors: adaptive survival strategies instead of the dreaded (and distorting) label, “aggressive.” Why adaptive survival strategies? Because that is what they are and how they function in 99% of canine aggression cases. If a dog feels stressed enough, the autonomic nervous system kicks into threat detection overdrive—also known as sympathetic “fight”—as a survival-oriented coping strategy. Suppressing, punishing or demonizing the fight response is rarely permanently effective in helping the dog attain a greater ability to self-regulate and experience emotional well-being. However, the nonviolent ethic and practice of Befriending offer a radically different approach because they establish a compassionate dialogue with difficult behaviors and engage in “softening” not only the difficult behavior but also the human attitude toward it. Let me be clear: Befriending aggression does not mean liking it or transforming it into something pleasurable. It also does not mean neglecting robust management for safety such as muzzle training and gated communities. It does involve, echoing the words of Deb Dana, mindfully meeting a dog’s autonomic nervous system, bringing empathy to their embodied experiences and honoring each autonomic response they have begun to befriend those behaviors commonly called “aggressive.” Behavior programs geared toward aggressive behaviors are much more likely to succeed if the subject (canine or human) perceives them as relevant and they enable a significantly higher level of emotional well-being for the individual. Join me and discover how and why Befriending should become your ethic and practice of choice when dealing with “aggression” in our canine partners.
 
References
Dana, D. (2020). Polyvagal exercises for safety and connection: 50 client-centered practices. W.W. Norton and Company.