Whispering Dogs

There's talk of dog whisperers and horse whisperers and ghost whisperers- wait, that last one I'm not so sure about. Anyway, people can call themselves whatever they want, but it's actually more important to hear a dog whisper than whisper to a dog. How does one listen to a dog? It actually has much more to do with observing than listening, though your ears will come in handy.Dogs are always communicating with us and we are often too ignorant to realize it because they communicate mostly in tiny signals. It's not entirely our fault that we are ignorant to these tiny things; they are tiny and fleeting and generally below our eye level. The thing is, we owe it to our dogs to try a bit harder. This guy summed it up nicely:

“A dog is the only thing on earth that loves you more than he loves himself.”

—Josh Billings 

It's usually those little things that tell us what our dog is feeling and thinking. By understanding these little things, we can actually be better people for our dogs. Imagine, knowing the instant your dog is bothered by the toddler grabbing his tail (ok that one is pretty obvious), by the heavy-handed petting by crazy aunt Myrtle, or that the new puppy is just too much for your 13 year old dog to have patience for. When we see and understand these things, we can get our dog out of situations before anything bad happens and we can be much more successful with training and behavior modification. If you can't tell when your dog is going over threshold when working with a scary stimulus, how can you be sure you are doing behavior modification correctly? If you can't see that your pup is getting more and more agitated in class, how can you expect them to focus on you or learn anything?

I'll put this in more human terms to demonstrate the escalation of behaviors. In a way, dogs have three basic levels of talking to us- whispering, talking, and yelling. 

Whispering is the first signal they are uneasy about something and they will try to whisper until they feel they are not being heard. Whispers are little body language signals which a dog exhibits to express their discomfort. A lot of whispers are actually displacement behaviors and calming behaviors, which are used by dogs in an attempt to diffuse stressful situations and communicate that they are not a threat to that scary stimulus. 

If their whispering is ignored, dogs will try talking, which are signals that are a little more obvious (at least to the dog). Dogs will usually still offer displacement and calming signals at this point, but will probably offer more stress reactions to let you know that they want out of the situation. 

When those two are ignored and the dog feels under severe stress or pressure, they start yelling. As people, we tend to wait until our dog is yelling to do anything. Dogs will no longer offer displacement or calming behaviors at this point, because they see it as pointless- they have been trying those for so long and they have been ignored so they need to protect themselves at this point. The yelling is actually what we people are great at seeing, but by then your dog is at or way over threshold and might as well be having a panic attack. 

This is where people who use shock collars make their money- a dog who is way over threshold cannot be lured back with treat or toy and can't be called back with commands, just as you would not be talked out of a panic attack by someone saying "oh, it's ok, just calm down- have a cookie." That's not how the brain works. By the time a dog is that upset, they are in fight or flight mode and digestion is the last thing (literally) on their mind. Then, someone comes in with a coercive method like a physical correction. Aside from removing the dog from the situation, something like this will unfortunately be the only way to get their attention in that situation, because pain or discomfort is the only thing that will register with the part of their brain that has taken over. The problem with this method lies in the fallout- a dog is unsure of kids on bicycles, then one day one gets way too close and the next thing that pup knows, she is getting yanked around by the neck or shocked. Why on earth would she ever begin to like kids or bicycles?! That only reinforces her beliefs that kids and bicycles are dangerous. A much better method is to first know when a dog is showing little signs of stress and help them cope at that level, then gradually add in higher level stressors as long as they stay under threshold. Ideally, this is done under the instruction of a professional trainer or behaviorist. Here are a few examples of each:

Whispering: lip lick, short stare, slight head turn, scratching frequently or out of context (like in the middle of play), sniffing the ground out of context (in the middle of play or when meeting someone), leaning away, looking away, low tail, yawning, moving slowly

Talking: hyper-vigilant (looking around quickly), excessive yawning, panting when it's not hot, freezing in position, moving away, "whale eye" (looking so far in one direction that you see the whites of the dog's eyes), sudden loss of appetite, tucked tail, curved spine, dilated pupils, shaking/trembling, shaking off (this is a displacement behavior that we see frequently in play)

Yelling: lip lift, closed mouth, showing teeth snarling, growling, barking, lunging, biting 

Look back over those signals. There are a lot of them, and that's just the ones we humans can easily perceive. Dogs will always use these signals before they do something like biting. The only times they don't are when they are consistently ignored or punished for whispering or talking; then they go to just yelling all the time. This is how we get dogs who seem to bit out of nowhere, or dogs who "seem fine" and then "suddenly bite". Short of a chemical imbalance, it is quite rare for a dog to go from "fine" to biting. 

Usually, a dog who is just not reacting visibly is what most people see as "fine". A small dog who is very still and looking away from a big, scary dog is just "fine", right? Wrong. They are uneasy and trying to say so as politely as possible. If you don't give them some distance from that big scary dog, they will start talking louder and yelling. 

I hope this gives you some insight into your dog and can help you to be a better dog owner. Don't you want to be the best possible person for a face like this?

Resources and recommended reading on this topic. 

I have included so many resources on this one because I believe that understanding your dog is the most important part of owning a dog (short of feeding and medical care, that is).

Interview w/Pam Dennison on reactivity

http://www.dogcastradio.com/flashplayer.php?episode=155On Talking Terms With Dogs: Calming Signals, Turid RugaasCalming Signals: What Your Dog Tells You – DVD – Turid RugaasThe Other End of the Leash – Why We Do What We Do Around Dogs, Patricia B. McConnell, Ph.D.Stress in Dogs, Martina Scholz and Clarissa von ReinhardtThe Language of Dogs – Understanding Canine Body Language and Other Signals- DVD’s – Sarah Kalnajs

x

Honesty Really is the Best Policy (Canine Body Language Part 2)

I love it when new clients call or email before a consult and say something like "I'll have to muzzle her", "don't wear a hat", or "you can't shake our hands because it really freaks him out".

I love hearing these things because it gives me an idea of what to expect from a dog that is new to me. It also gives me an idea of how responsible their human is- someone who wants to avoid me being mauled by their dog is a person I would much rather work with than someone who wants me to  "see her at her worst".  I really, really don't want to be a guinea pig- I want to see your dog's behavior firsthand or on video if possible, but I can generally ask enough questions to get a good idea without fighting off a dog attack. When someone describes a detailed routine that they use to have their dog greet new people, I learn that they are at least trying something to prevent incidents.

Whether we end up going in a different direction or trying a different protocol, I am more than happy to work with clients like this.

When I worked as a vet tech, it was the same way. Sometimes it meant clients being put into two time slots in the schedule, or bringing a dog-aggressive dog into the clinic through the employee entrance. When clients came in with their dog already muzzled, or they told us "he's better when I'm not in the room, so I can wait in the lobby", it showed not only how well they knew their dog and themselves, but how much they trusted us. Their honesty with us was a big factor in that trust ever developing, since trust is a two way street in any relationship.

Why should this matter to you?

Well, it's Dog Bite Prevention Week (read more here) and it seems like a fitting time to remind all both of the readers of my little blog (thanks Matt and Heidi) that knowing your dog can save you, strangers and the pet professionals in your life. Your dog may never bite or attempt to bite anyone in her life, no matter how many times she may be pushed, but it is still good to know some basic body language so your dog doesn't have to feel uncomfortable and so you don't find yourself on the wrong end of a dog bite(... not that there really is a good end to be on when there's a dog bite...)
So, people who have reactive or fearful dogs have had to learn the hard way what body language means and you have me to help you learn some simple things.

-Tenseness in his face and body, especially if his whole body seems tense it means he needs a break from the situation or at the very least a good distraction- redirect him to you and ask for a sit, for example. The dog pictured here was unsure about the situation she was in (loud, unexpected noise) so I used the flash on the camera to highlight the tension in her body. We quickly redirected her after I snapped the picture so she wouldn't get more upset. 

In this picture, Roxie is relaxed and tolerating Ethan's shenanigans. There is little to no tension in her face and her body is relaxed. She is extremely tolerant and gets plenty of breaks (and treats).

See the difference in their faces? Look at the top of the head of the dog in the above picture- there are no wrinkles and her skin and hair seem to be flattened to her skull; Roxie has a couple wrinkles and her skin is actually loose looking.

-A 'hard stare', like the dog in the picture in the link below (I don't have any of my own pictures of a hard stare, sorry). The dog is staring intently and seems to be otherwise unmoving. This kind of stare from a dog would result in me dropping/tossing a treat, clapping my hands, making a kissy sound or taking one step to the side (as long as he is on leash and not reactive to unexpected movement from people)- something to distract him and break him out of it. This kind of stare is seen at times before a growl, bark or pounce. It is sometimes defined as a stare held for longer than 2 seconds. Now, this dog is laying down and seems otherwise relatively relaxed, but I'd still interrupt and have that kid moved away from the dog safely:

http://petsadviser.supercopyeditors.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/dog-stare.jpg

-If his pupils are dilated, like the dog pictured in the above link he is similarly unsure or feels threatened. Pupil dilation happens as a fear reaction because the body is trying to take in as much information as possible to find a safe escape or resolution.

-His tail is an obvious indicator, but is only part of the equation. A happy tail is a tail that is wagging loosely, in line with the body. An unsure tail is one that is tucked. A tail that is in play and/or prey mode can be held high, almost straight up. If the tail is low but wagging, he is likely conflicted. Here, Violet is happy and loosely wagging her tail level with her body. The rest of her body is relaxed and her face has little to no tension. If there is any, it's because of the frisbee that's out of the picture, which she had to put down a minute ago. 

Compare that with her tail below, tucked tightly because she doesn't want Oscar to get too friendly. If you can see her face, her pupils are dilated and she is quite wide-eyed. She even has a little bit of what we call 'whale eye'. Her eyes are wide open and you can see the whites of her eyes because despite her discomfort with the situation, she doesn't want to let Oscar out of her sight. 

I will admit that we did not move fast enough with this one- she did jump up and snap at Oscar about 3 seconds after this. I was actually looking more at Oscar than Violet in this one, so I didn't see the whole picture. Otherwise I would have had Oscar immediately moved away from her and I would not have attempted the photo. They got over it though- he's learned to be more polite and she is a bit more tolerant. 

-Avoidance- If a dog is turning or looking away from something, like Roxie is getting up and turning away from a young Ethan with a cup full of water (her Kryptonite), they need an escape. If left cornered, some dogs will resort to biting in defense. 
No worries, After I took the picture I grabbed Ethan and the water cup and let Roxie go inside to escape the terror. 

 All of that said, there's more. I'll do another post on body language next week as a follow up, but this is a good start for you. The important thing to remember with body language is that you have to look at the whole dog- not just the tail or face. You have to see everything in between too; know the situation and how the dog is when relaxed so you have a baseline. There are different levels of relaxed, excited, agitated, worried, etc. for every dog.

You have homework this week: find your dog's baseline- take pictures of your dog, in everyday situations and in situations that your dog is unsure about (as long as you have at least one other person to help out with leash handling and removal of stimuli if/when necessary). It's amazing how looking at a picture can show us so much more than we see in real life. Getting to know your dog is the first step to communicating well and making the world a better place for you both, especially if you have a fearful or reactive dog.