Reactive vs Aggressive

Usually, when we say that a dog is reactive, we are not referring to aggression.  The dog simply "reacts" with arousal, barking, lunging, whatever, but does not follow through with a bite.  These are commonly the dogs who lunge and bark when on leash, but are quite social off leash.  Some are frustrated, some are fearful, but mostly they are not biters - but they put on a really good show (best defense is a good offense).  That's not to say that some don't become aggressive, but it is often classic that they don't - when the leash is removed.
Aggression is aggression - despite the fact that, to the dog, it is sometimes justified.  Not good or bad, just aggression.  Fear biting is different than pain-induced biting in that some fearful dogs will bite when they feel no pain, and some dogs who bite when they feel pain are not generally fearful of other situations.
Did I explain that s-l-o-w-l-y enough? [sm=lol.gif]

S-l-o-w helps!

Hmm... I guess Emma isn't reactive at all, then. She rarely barks on a leash, and when she does, I say, "Em, nuff" and she stops immediately. It's never more than one bark. She NEVER lunges on the leash at anything other than a rabbit.

She's just pain-aggressive, fear-aggressive, and leash-aggressive, LOL. Greeaattt... I liked "reactive" better!

hmm. I wouldn't call "Biting in response to pain" aggression; I'd call it defensive biting. Aggression to me implies the aggressive dog initiated the event.
 
Emma's a chow, right? isn't it a breed trait that they are very likely to bite when irritiated/bothered? 

But, lunging and/or biting a person in response to having something taken away from the dog IS aggression, right?  Resource guarding?

Emma's a chow, right? isn't it a breed trait that they are very likely to bite when irritiated/bothered?

 
No, Emma is not a chow.  And, no a well bred, well trained and socialized chow is no more likely to bite when irritated or bothered than any other breed with the same upbringing/training, etc. 

But, lunging and/or biting a person in response to having something taken away from the dog IS aggression, right? Resource guarding?

 
Yes.

Isn't Emma a JRT?
 
I agree with Lori.  We had a chow many moons ago when I was a kid and he was SWEETEST boy ever.  Raised right, most dogs are.....the stereotypes arise because of a few bad apples....

Well, let me throw another phrase into the pot. Sounds like a dog with "low bite inhibition."

Samshine, that's a GREAT term

Yes, Emma is a 16 pound JRT, pictured in my icon and my signature. I don't have big dogs, or well bred dogs. Em came from the pound, as a little baby puppy. Her mom was dropped off a week before she whelped, and she's been a trainwreck of problems. She's under quite good control now, health and behavior wise, but... she has her issues.

I don't know squat about *reactive* or *aggressive* but I sure wouldn't blame a dog for getting extremely snarly with a total stranger who came up and pulled on her legs, probably causing her a great deal of pain. How dumb is that, anyway?? How would that woman like it if a stranger came up to her and jerked her ears?

You know, it's pretty wild what people will do to a small, cute dog. Small, cute dogs are MORE fragile, EASIER to hurt, and MORE likely to bite than large dogs....

When Emma was just starting to get over her major hugest ever health issues, I took her to Petsmart. The plan was to go in, SEE people, get a treat, and leave. This is good for her. I was standing, looking at treats for her, right at the endcap, when a TODDLER ran up and threw his arms around her. I nearly died. She could have taken his face off. Thankfully, Emma seems to understand that kids are different, and she didn't even raise a lip. She has disciplined a child, before. Thankfully, it was a child with understanding parents, and she really didn't hurt him (I don't think her teeth touched him, she air snapped right near him and scared him). She's no longer taken around that, or any child.

She's a good girl. I think samshine nailed it, though. She has low bite inhibition. She knows how to be extremely gentle with her mouth. She's great with small kittens and puppies. She was, however, removed from her mother at 6 or 7 weeks, and her litter at 8 weeks. I worked hard on bite inhibition, and she DOESN'T bite me, even if I do hurt her, as long as she isn't post ictal.  She isn't great at controlling herself if she's hurt or afraid. Being on the leash makes her nervous around other dogs, because she's been ATTACKED on the leash. Not either of our faults, but it happened. She's 1000x better than she was about routine vetting and such, but she HATES her accupuncturist, and WILL bite her, whether she's doing accupuncture, or not.  *shrugs* I guess she's just a work in progress, and a dog that you don't trust much.

Dogs who are not aggressive can commit aggression - I know that's confusing, but look at it this way.  Let's say you are a pacifist.  You decry war, and eat vegan. You never get mad in traffic.  You always give up your seat on the subway.  A curse word never escapes your lips.  You could have joined a religious order you are so angelic.  Then, one night, an intruder enters your home and tries to kidnap your infant.  The only way to save the kid is to clock the guy, who is now trying to get out the open window, from behind with a hammer that your DH left on the floor after he hung a picture.  You'd clock the guy, right?  But, you would then go back to being Miss Goodie Two Shoes and might never, ever commit another act of aggression your whole life.  There are dogs like that, who act once, in an extraordinary circumstance, and never do it again.
But, there are also dogs whose fear threshold makes them aggressive sooner and more often, or dogs who are just plain nasty from the get go - they have no interest in humans, and are going to make darn sure that those nasty two-legged creatures stay away.
It all exists on a continuum, with utter and complete docility at one end, and maniacal man-killer at the other.  Most of our dogs are more toward the docile end, thankfully.
The most complete work I have seen thus far, that would be helpful to owners in understanding canine aggression, is "Aggression in Dogs" by Brenda Aloff.  By the way, she is a terrier person.

I'm going to order that

I'm glad that it makes sense that I say she's the greatest dog, so sweet, very sensitive and gentle, but she doesn't have a problem biting someone who's doing her harm.

She DOES growl, now, and that's a HUGE step. I'm very proud of her for learning to growl a warning, again.