Describing two dogs in a group as "aggressive" once made an owner visibly stiffen — she'd just described her own dog as sociable, with great social skills, not aggressive at all. That gap between what owners see and what's actually happening is exactly what this ethogram closes.

Aggressiveness isn't just about biting

Aggressiveness can show up through a wide, rich range of behaviours, some of them incredibly subtle. If we want to learn to recognise and understand it, we can't limit our observations to what's really only the tip of the iceberg — and we need to accept that even dogs who don't bite, who've never bitten and probably never will, can still be aggressive.

Defensive aggressors: the dog shows behaviours aimed at creating distance from other dogs, along with fear and de-escalation in the phase before an aggressive act.

Offensive aggressors: the dog shows approach behaviours and/or imposing behaviours in the phase before an aggressive act.

Short of a magic crystal ball, evaluating a dog's behaviour has to rest on two things: its personality, and the behaviours it's actually showing at a given moment. Personality lets you forecast the strategies a dog is likely to use in a given context; watching its behaviour tells you about its emotional state, intentions and reactions right now.

Take a look inside

Some sample pages from "Ethogram of Agonistic Behaviours of the Dog". Click an image to open it full-size in a new tab.

Who this ethogram is for

The authors

Alexa Capra

Bibliographical and scientific research, video footage. This ethogram is the result of an in-depth study of intraspecific (dog-dog) aggressiveness, carried out on the field.

• Daniele Robotti — photographs, editing

This ethogram, or the whole series