Each breed has a specific physical and behavioral characteristic. One aspect of the latter requirement concerns predatory aggression in hunting dogs. The selection made by man, over the centuries, has determined the development of the predatory instinct at the expense of other behavioral characteristics.
Ethologists are increasingly specializing in the study of dog behavior, resulting in the emergence of many schools of thought. One of the latter circumscribes various types of aggressive attitudes that dogs, as carnivores and predators, can exhibit.
In addition to territorial aggression, one of the characteristics that most man, over time, wanted to increase and transform in the dog was certainly predatory aggression, that is, that primordial instinct aimed at the survival of the species. Carnivores locate, approach, chase, immobilize and finally kill and devour its prey.
What man has tried to develop, always at a behavioral level, in his hunting assistant has been differentiated over the centuries according to the hunted prey, the hunting grounds and the means used by man himself to kill the wild. In this way, the artificial selection carried out by man has led to an enormous increase in some phases of natural predation, which can still be observed in the wolf, and to decrease or eliminate others, especially that of consumption by the dog of the prey. just caught. Generally, however, the selection has led, in hunting dogs, moreover to have strongly accentuated the predatory instinct to the disadvantage of all other forms of aggression, such as guarding and defense of the territory or aggression between dogs. The reason for these behavioral changes was brought forward as hunting dogs had to be docile auxiliaries, willing to train and often required to hunt in packs.
There are, however, exceptions that confirm the rule, as there are hunting breeds that instinctively defend the house from strangers, such as the German Bracco. In the different hunting breeds, the human being has managed to select characters that make them, in some cases, hunters even more capable and specialized than their wolf ancestors: we can mention, for example, the olfactory capacity of the Blood Hound, the extraordinary speed of the great greyhounds, such as the Borzoi and the Irish, the latter able to reach the prey identified on sight in a few seconds, or the extraordinary courage of Dachshunds and Terrier, which present a tenacity and courage such that in the wild predator they would sometimes be even disadvantageous. The fundamental criteria used, over the centuries, by breeders of hunting dogs have been inherent in favoring the individuals who were best able to carry out the work that was required of them.
Only later were also important aesthetic criteria taken into consideration for hunting efficiency, such as height or lowness, consistency of the hair, color of the coat. It should be emphasized, however, that in recent years aesthetic criteria have prevailed over behavioral ones, causing a significant deterioration of behavioral peculiarities. Every breeder knows well that it is possible to combine research and attention to aesthetics with selection to develop skills in the hunting field. It is just a matter of choice.