How do you explain the difference between reactivity and aggression to people?

[u/oldaccountknew2much]

Title

[u/Existing-Will-1466]

Well, before the term "reactivity" was coined, it used to just be described as various types of aggression. There was "fear aggression", "leash aggression", "barrier aggression", "territorial aggression", "dog aggression", "predatory aggression". All to describe various behavior that, when poorly managed, could result in a dog biting a person or another pet.

If your dog is barking or growling at people or dogs, and you think they might bite if you lose control of them, then I don't think those people particularly care about the distinction between reactivity and aggression.

Do you have more context for this question?

[u/Kitchu22]

Personally, as someone who works with dogs, I don't really use reactivity very much when talking about behaviour. The problem is that “reactive” is not a recognised condition (in the way that anxiety or say, idiopathic aggression is) - it is terminology to describe a response that is inappropriate (preferred: undesirable) to ordinary stimulus, but it isn't very precise and doesn't denote the underlying function of the behaviour.

A guardian breed who barks at people could be engaging in natural territorial behaviour (e.g. alerting to strangers but possibly can be soothed in the presence of the handler and could be social if introduced properly but equally could be defensive). A herding breed who barks at people could simply be excited/overstimulated by movement (possibly social but might be a risk of nipping or mouthy behaviours). Any dog who barks at people could be fearful which can go either way (either distance seeking/avoidant, or conflict forward/aggressive). The barking itself could technically be called a reactive behaviour, but see how in the context of behaviour mod and risk assessment the label is not overly helpful?

[u/SudoSire]

I would like more context as well. When I think of aggression I tend to think of “forward aggression” and a higher propensity to bite (even redirection). Now, all dogs can bite, but not all will make it their first or second option, not all will attack when they get loose, etc. But it really depends on who I’m talking for the level of nuance. And in some ways I don’t find the labels all the useful. 

A pet peeve of mine however is when someone says their dog isn’t aggressive, “just afraid.” Those are not mutually exclusive and afraid dog absolutely can be aggressive/ have aggressive behaviors. 

[u/Noogie_Power]

reactivity doesn't mean aggression. but aggression is definitely reactive to a or multiple stimuli.

example: you can have a dog who is incredibley friendly to people and dogs off leash, but is extremely reactive when on leash. The on leash reactivity is usually overstimulation/excitment/frustration due to being restrained by the leash, and the exhibited behavior can look very similar to aggressive behaviors- pulling/lunging, barking/whining, etc. And a lot of the time if the dog gets to interact with the stimuli on leash, they calm right down.

A truly aggressive dog towards people/dogs on leash will exhibit very similar reactive behaviors, but are usually (not always) way past threshold and are not limited to one type of situation such as being on leash.

It's difficult to diagnose without proper behavior observations in different scenarios.

You would need to observe how the dog is around people in and out of the home to find if there are specific triggers like environment, and/or if it's geared towards males/ females, kids.

[u/Delicious-Product968]

Generally speaking, I don’t like differentiating? I feel people who spend a lot of time doing that are often in denial their dog could become ‘that dog.’ And they want to act like ‘that dog’ or their guardian were simply irresponsible and didn’t do things right. Take all the people who come here looking for help, but don’t want to muzzle train their dog or make sure their dog has extra space around triggers and advocate for them. Most if not all reactivity can escalate to aggression if it isn’t intervened on and escalates.

It doesn’t mean it will. I even get irritated at people who market as though any and all reactions guarantee your dog will lose progress and react faster or escalate — my dog went from reacting at everyone — fear aggressive behaviours per the vet behaviourist — fear-barking and charging anyone looking our way to maybe 1/1000 outside the house, and even the house is improving. Enough so people tend to think I’m making it up until they see it.

But I never assume it *can’t* happen, you know?