Hackles - Page 5

First i like to say that this old trainer you speak of,if he says heckles are grounds for disqualification then i know that he does not understand a dog behaviour.and if he does not understand a simple thing like hekles then i do not care what you tell me how great a trainer he is i will not belive you.there are reasons why a dog heckles up and it is not as black and white as some might think.and most people who do not understand dog behaviour or know dogs would normally associate this behaviour only with fear.although this is one reason but there are others.some dogs would do it when they are at the height of their agression,excitement,adrenline,you have to read the rest of the body of the dog when heckles are up if the tail is up high and ears are standing and dog is moving towards whatever it is facing and dieing to engage it then this dog's motivation for heckles is totaly different then the dog whose heckles are up and ears are flat and tail is way doen and and backing up and even trying to run the other way.hope fully you can see the two pictures i am trying to show you here they are as different as day and night. other examples are i know some dogs that are very hard strong dogs and extremely confident dogs whose heckle would go up when chasing a ball.there are some dogs very powerful and heckle go up in the middle of bite work and trying to kill the decoy.i think u can see where i am going with this and that is it is just not that simple.have a nice one.

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You are correct missbeeb .

Interesting topic. My female will raise her hackles sometimes when I get her out for protection work. Just around her shoulders, but she'll also have her tail curled dominantly above her back, prancing and watching the decoy intently with ears up. I think she wants to impress or frighten him. But once they engage or start the fight, they go down. She's also done this a couple time on walks at night where she'll see someone across the street, the hair around her shoulder's will go up, she'll kind of prance, with her tail curled, ears erect, until they're out of sight. I hardly think she is scared in any of these situations.
My male on the other hand who is very strong, dominant, etc, never raises his hackles unless he's meeting a new dog or trying to let them know who's boss. Lol.

-Emily

Raising hackles (pilorection) is just one of the many signs in reading a dog...energy level, body axis, stide, muscle tone, neck, head and tail.  It can be signs of stress or insecurity but should not be looked at seperately without reading the rest of the dog. 

This is an excellent topic and reading everyone's responses is very educating. I was becoming concerned over my year old male's hackling at strange dogs (dog approaches, Mojo hackles, his ears and tail can be either neutral/raised, his body appears stiff). If allowed to approach the other dog, he can be very social, i.e. playing "chase me, then I'll chase you", but if he is restrained (if I don't believe a dog to be friendly, there is no "meet and greet"), his hackles remain raised, his head lowers, his ears remain steady, tail remains high and his body stays stiff. His body language can be accompanied by loud, evenly paced barking. 

His hackling goes down when we step to the side, he is placed in a sit/stay, and is asked to focus on my face (with a favourite tug toy brought out especially for this exercise).  He also hackles when highly stimulated in a strange environment, i.e. at the vet's office, but other than that, he keeps his hair to himself.

Now we're off to herd some sheep!

When we picked up our rescue shepherd Klytie... she was intro-ed to my Alpha Aussie to see how they'd get along. Her first response was a rather hysterical barking with raised hackles towards the Aussie.  The shelter manager had her lead and tried to calm her... My Aussie looked completely bored other than walking a bit stiff legged to show she wasn't backing down. When Klytie threw it into a second round of hysterics I stepped forward and put my finger in her face and told her strongly to STOP!!...  she backed up beside the shelter manager and sat...   I then took her lead, passing the Aussie to my partner.  We then took both dogs for a hike up the wooded lane with no further issues.    I take that Hackle issue as fear based....

Today Klytie is out of the pattern of bouncing homes, and has been with us for 5 years. She's secure and confident... and has never shown any sign of that fear behavior in meeting new dogs again... and I trust her stability under a GREAT deal of stress.

Guess I'm saying there's LOTS of reasons for hackleing up... fear is one, dominance is one, aggression is one... etc. To make a block statment that it's a sign of fear does an injustice to the dog.  In the instance I gave with Klytie it  was insecurity... by stopping it she was provided with  the chance for a greeting on good terms.