Aggressive Behavior By Domestic Animals

The internship assessed in this research involved participation in the operation of a commercial animal kennel. The animals housed in this kennel were exclusively companion animals, or pets. Thus, the purpose of this assessment is to theories of animal behavior to the aggressive behaviors of some companion animals that were observed by this writer during the internship at a kennel.

A striking behavior observed during the internship was a tendency by some animals to become aggressive, sometimes violently so, when confined in cages. After reviewing the animal behavior literature related to aggression, the thesis developed by this writer is that the aggressive behavior exhibited by some animals at the kennel, while triggered by being confined in cages, was not caused by the act of being confined in a cage. Rather, the thesis developed drawn by this writer is that the aggressive behavior observed in these animals was caused by a combination of fear and insecurity. Both fear and insecurity in these animals was induced by placing them in an alien environmentùthe kennel. Placing the animals in cages once in this alien environment then triggered a response wherein the animals attempted to regain some degree of control over their situations.

The findings of the animal behavior literature relevant to the thesis developed is presented in the remainder of this assessment. In some instances, the lite

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ed, but rather is "based on spit and bailing wire; that is, on making do with what is available. It is a vector that has direction in terms of its constituent processes." The most difficult point to grasp is that genes are not causal entities. Information about the "finished" animal does not reside exclusively in the genes any more than it resides in the environment. Identifying genes as causal agents remains a useful concept, however, because it makes possible simple manipulations and predictions of behavior in a particular environment. The concept is made more attractive because proposed alternatives to simple causation "often invoke maximal dialectical complexity (everything affects everything), a stance that gives only vague guidance to research." Amplifying the concept of animal behavior systems provides many opportunities for producing a more coherent picture of the fit between animals and their environments. A system of animal behavior can provide a framework for integrating the answers to synthesis questionsùconcerning evolution, function, mechanism, and development of behaviorùand the results of different methods of comparing behavior. With respect to the exhibition of aggressive behavior by companion animal
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Approximate Word count = 2014
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page)