Hackles - Page 2

Maybe the dogs do it to make themselves look bigger and more intimidating to it's opponents .

 What we see in Sport is demonstration of purposeful Aggression ( Because the environment is controlled) and what we see in Personal Protection Dogs is TRUE courage( Because the environment is uncontrolled and it is a matter of life & death). That is one reason that we hardly see great PPDs today.

cheers

Interesting topic. I have only seen my dog hackle once and it was just the back before the tail not over the shoulders and he was serioulsy pissed at my other dog who bit him. I emediatly stepped in and shut it down. I have had other dogs that have raised theirs, usually when they are more insecure and puppies and it does seem to be based out of some fear. Surprising a dog or wearing a mask or hood will sometimes do it, depending on the dog. A friend of mine has a POS Lad bitch that is a nerve bag and she has standig hairs almost daily, she just a mental case though. Fake tuff, is what I like to call it.

In the one incident with my current dog I can see that being adrenalin and not fear, I know he doesn't fear my bitch, he dominates her but for the most part I see fear triggering the adrenalin in dogs. Like when someone pops out around the corner and says BOO. Your heart races, your stomach is in your throat and it's scary for a sec, till you laugh it off or get pissed that they scared you.

Vikram...hmmm, I think I might agree with you to a point.

I know a dog who will hackle at first when faced w/a serious threat (no sport scenarios) but all traces of it disappear as soon as he engages. Not saying he always hackles, but it's happened a few times when he was startled in a surprise scenario. I would call it involuntary and say it has nothing to do with courage. The harder you fight him, the harder he fights, and no one has ever been able to "break" him; they've actually quit due to safety. This dog has actually been accused of being "too stable"...whatever that means. LOL.

In a sport scenario, no hackles are present. It's viewed as a game, IMO.


I know for a fact that my uber-dominant GSD is NOT afraid of my Chihuahua...but if he really is intent on killing him, he will hackle while he stares at him (with me preparing to throw him in a chokehold, LOL). Hackles do not always mean fear.

I agree with Moons, It is subjective at best, I would not consider disqualifiying for a dog to be hackle I would akin it to a fighter sweating. is it fear or excitment?    

Excitement is a good point. I have a dog who will hackle when he gets super excited. Certainly not fear in this case, either.

I can scratch my dog in the right spot and raise his hackles.
Your right abhay but should the dog be disqualified for this before making a mistake.

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I agree, Abhay. I would say that the dog who will escalate a fight for as long as the human is willing or able, shows courage, regardless of whether he initially hackled at the opponent when taken by surprise. I think it's hard to say for sure either way; I think dogs are wired differently than humans; we feel "fear";  I'm not sure they feel "fear" as we do; I think they are instinct-based, and what we see is simply differences in thresholds of SURVIVAL instincts. To feel true fear, they would have to be able to reason as we can, and think of worst case scenarios. I don't think this is how dogs think. JMO.

I am not saying they are not courageous; just that there aren't really adequate terms to describe exactly WHAT they really are.

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