Are you a pet owner who has to “put the dog” away when guest arrived to your home due to the growling behavior that intimidates just about anybody? Well, do not worry because a group of scientist reported in the magazine Applied Animal Behavior Science that they believe they have found the reason for this aggression and it has to do with serotonin.

The hormone serotonin is the “feel good” hormone which keeps us all happy and balanced but when we experience low levels of serotonin it reflects in our state of mind leading towards depression and anxiety. Pet’s experience the same kind on mood swings when levels of serotonin lower, providing vets with the most frequent behavior problem to date.

Blood samples were taken from 80 dogs which were referred to the scientist by the veterinary teaching hospitals after their owners reported aggression towards people.

In addition samples from “well-behaved” dogs were also taken to determine if anything differed in the blood.

The test showed that aggressive dogs had significantly lower levels of serotonin in their blood, 278 units compared to 387 from the “well-behaved” dogs.

Yet the lowest of all readings belonged to a group of dogs whose bad behavior was trigger by self defense.

Then, the blood sample of the aggressive dogs was tested for cortisol the “stress” hormone, with 21 units compare to 10.

Although what causes dogs to have different levels of hormones in the blood is unknown, the findings can lead to further development in treating aggression in pets.

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