Brain and Behaviour Academy

About this Webinar:

Aggression is still too often managed through labels (“reactive”, “dominant”, “fear biter”) rather than function, which can obscure risk, welfare and treatment planning. This webinar presents a practical, function-based and welfare-centred model of canine aggression that can be used consistently across clinics, homes and shelters.

We’ll unpack how emotional drivers such as fear, anxiety, pain, frustration and predation interact with learning history and environment to produce aggressive behaviour. Rather than asking, “What type of aggression is this?”, we focus on: “What is this behaviour achieving for the dog, in this context, right now?”

Attendees will leave with a rapid decision framework for real-world use: recognising emotional state, identifying likely function, mapping triggers and thresholds, and selecting interventions that reduce risk while protecting welfare. Case examples will include pet-owner scenarios and (as discussed) a couple of examples framed through a legal/expert witness lens to support incident interpretation and defensible communication.

By the end of this webinar, participants will be able to:

• Differentiate label-based vs function-based approaches to canine aggression, and explain why the distinction matters for welfare and safety.
• Identify core emotional drivers (fear, anxiety, pain, frustration, predation) and how they interact with learning history and environment.
• Apply a simple decision framework to determine the likely function of aggression in real cases and contexts (including incident interpretation scenarios).
• Translate function into risk-reducing intervention choices across environment, handling, training, and behavioural medicine pathways.
• Improve communication around risk, prognosis and welfare across multidisciplinary teams and with owners/clients.