New Behavior - Page 3

This is a placeholder text
Group text

by alboe2009 on 01 December 2010 - 02:12

Bella, 17 wks. will do this with Anna, 18 mos. Bella doesn't do it everytime or all the time. I've notice her do it when she's playing/rough housing with Anna. To me it's like she's getting fired up over the playing. Most of the time it's with toys, or tugs or ropes that her and Anna are have tug of war with. Once in a while when she's crouched like a tiger getting ready to pounce on or get ready to chase Anna.

For me it's not a concern. With her it's not agression say like when you see tow dogs getting ready to fight or the hair raised up on a cat.

It's funny to see two or three going at it playing. Sometimes nobody wants to play and one will take a stick, rope, or toy and teasingly, gracefully, walk up to another (as if to say "come on, come on a play. I'm putting it sooooooo close to your mouth you have to grab it, you have to chase me.") and then to get the other one or other two into the chase. It's pretty funny to see how their minds work to motivate the other or other two dogs to play.

by Don Corleone on 01 December 2010 - 02:12

Jenn, are you saying that dogs body language is different with different species? And all 3 of your examples of why a dog may do it is fear based.

by Jenni78 on 01 December 2010 - 02:12

Um, are you saying that a dog doesn't react differently toward different species?

I don't believe dogs feel fear whatsoever, if you want to get picky. There..............that oughta start a ruckus. Now let's see if anyone might be able to guess why I'd say such a thing. To make it more fun, I'm not going to reply any more tonight. I'm going to drink my cocoa and sit on the couch w/my boyfriend and my Pit Bull and watch tv....and chuckle to myself at everyone thinking I've totally lost it.

by Slamdunc on 01 December 2010 - 03:12

Jenn,
Dogs don't feel fear? What term would you use to describe a dog experiencing fear? Your right this will be interesting.

Jim

by GSDguy08 on 01 December 2010 - 03:12

Hackles up just means fear? Do some of you really believe that? I have dogs who raise hackles when they get overly excited. My male GSD raises his hackles a lot of times when playing fetch, no dog or other person around, he just gets excited. He'll come flying in so fast to get the ball and his hackles raise as he gets it, and they go back down within a millisecond. Same with my Huskies running together, they have no dominance issues or fear of each other, but when they're in a full blown run around the yard having a riot of a time playing together......hackles raise, no growling, no dominant stances or gestures, or anything is going on other than excitement and just fun play. I think some worry too much about hackles going up.

by Jenni78 on 01 December 2010 - 03:12

Argh, you replied too fast and messed up my whole plan, Jim. Oh well.

I don't think of it as "fear" in the same sense a person feels fear. A human feels fear because of anticipation and worry about the future and what will happen. A dog doesn't have the same sense of "self" that we have, or the ability to "worry" about what might happen, which is what I deem true fear.

A dog, rather, is in the moment, reacts in the moment, and may feel "threatened", but is merely acting instinctively (until it's been trained otherwise) , so my point is that we should react accordingly and work through it, remembering that it's a natural reaction (though not always a desired reaction depending on the situation) and concentrate on countering it and strengthening them rather than pigeonhole them in a negative manner.

And I maintain that it's quite silly to let something like hackling, regardless of the trigger, make you label a dog then and there. There are many reasons, many triggers, and it's totally counter-productive to be so quick to dismiss a dog as "weak" or "fearful" based on a few dozen words on an internet forum.

by Phil Behun on 01 December 2010 - 03:12

So far, 99% of you have mentioned dog to dog relationships,,,,,,,,why? Is having your dog play with other dogs more important than playing with you and ignoring other people and dogs? Personally, I don't want my dog to hackle for any reason. Can you "absolutely" be sure that this will not pop up again?? Healing near a "strange" dog during your obedience, retrieves around another dog, recall in front of another dog, holding the down with another dog for all of these exercises? Can you be sure that it won't surface during your protection? New field? New Helper? Too many variables to list to have it ever be a positive thing.

by GSDguy08 on 01 December 2010 - 03:12

Phil, my Huskies hackles raise when playing together, but they have NEVER gone up when working around dogs they do not know in any public situation, ever, or people for that matter. So if their hackles are raising during play time......how is that a bad thing.......enlighten me......

by JRANSOM on 01 December 2010 - 03:12

No Phil, I can't be sure and I'm working on that. I'm working to get a BH on my male in the Spring. I'm worried that he will break the long down due to that issue he has with other dogs. He doesn't play w/other dogs except the female he lives with. He does pretty well on the field that we train on and has broken only once when another dog was doing voraus (sp). I am still working on that! He seems pretty good when around the training field as far as other dogs go but around my house and neighborhood he is CRAZY! Just don't know what to do there.

by Slamdunc on 01 December 2010 - 03:12

Jenn,
You just couldn't stay away, could you? I kinda thought so.....

I agree that hackles are not always fear, they can be from excitement or pain. This is normally seen with a dog chasing a toy by itself not with other dogs in the case of excitement. I don't necessarily agree that dogs live in the moment and I believe dogs can anticipate a stressful situation and "worry" about what will happen in the very near future.

I think that a dog that is being trained for sport or work should be friendly or completely neutral around other dogs. Phil makes a very good point about this. My male is very dog aggressive, but this is not tolerated as it would be very counterproductive for me. He is a very confident dog and his hackles never go up around other dogs, but given the chance he would fight in a heartbeat. He will not go off task when tracking past other dogs and will do narcotics searches with other aggressive dogs close by.

It is all obedience, he knows there are severe consequences for dog aggression. He is allowed to bark at people that approach my car and encouraged to do that, but he is not allowed to bark at dogs when in the Police car. I would have no problem doing SChH with him, he would not show any aggression on the training field to another dog; because of the obedience.

JIm

Contact information Disclaimer Privacy Statement Copyright Information Terms of Service Cookie policy ↑ Back to top

New Behavior - Page 3

Pedigree Database