More than 70% of dogs display anxiety. In the recent study, first author Milla Salonen and her colleagues analyzed the behaviors that 13,715 pet dogs from Finland — belonging to 264 different breeds — exhibited. Mar 10, 2020 dogs suffer from persistent, unsupportable fears, lack of confidence obsessive-compulsive disorders, and phobias at levels that are deemed clinically maladaptive. 

This condition often gives cause to separation anxiety, fear of thunderstorms or loud, man-made noises, tail chasing, and imaginary fly snapping. Without proper treatment, these conditions become more intense as the dog ages, causing the dog to become increasingly fearful and reactive. Dog aggression is the number one reason why dogs are re-homed or euthanized in America. 

Dog attack cases to humans and dogs are the result of competitive aggression (food or object acquisition or defense), or non-competitive aggression (territorial or self-defense). There are many causes of competitive aggression, but typically, it is rooted in bad decision making on the part of the dog owner and a lack of proper training. 

Self-defense aggression, however, often finds its beginning in the dog’s genetics which predisposes it, as it matures, to develop an unwarranted fear of humans and dogs outside the family. When this type of dog encounters a perceived threat, it frequently uses aggression, rather than flight, as a defense. So many Behavioral problems in dogs result from fear, but fear based problems can become worse if treated Incorrectly.