Aggressions in these contexts are not the only criteria for determining if a dog is behaving in a dominantly aggressive manner. The body posture of the dog during the encounter is very important. Dominant dogs will usually have eye contact, may be stiff , or tense and standing tall with their tail usually up. Fearful dogs can show aggression in the same contexts as dominantly aggressive dogs, but their body posture will be more consistent with fear and would include lowered head and body, tail tucked and perhaps averted eyes. It is also possible to have multiple motivations.
Many dogs are dominant as well as anxious and fearful.
Not all dominantly motivated aggressive dogs behave the same and a description of what the dog looks like, how they responded to challenges and where they occur and with whom are important pieces of information to obtain before making a diagnosis. Additionally, a dog may only show aggression in limited contexts, say food guarding only, and in such case is probably not motivated by dominance but food guarding behavior. Within a family a dog may exhibit dominant aggressive behavior to some family members and be subordinate and non-aggressive to others. All aggressive challenges should be taken seriously. Dogs are capable of hurting and inflicting a great deal of damage with their bites.