Confusion about identifying nerviness - Page 1

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by K9L1 on 07 August 2020 - 23:08

An acquaintance of ours have a dog that will walk inches past earth shattering sub woofer sound from a DJ system or a few feet under a heavy jumbling multi compartment subway train without batting an eyelid. However, if a strange person comes to this dog , the dog immediately go into " beast mode" and may even bite the handler in the moment if the dog's face is interfered with. Is the quick launch into " beast mode " a sign of nerviness? If the dog is nervy, why does the dog remain so completely calm while walking past an object this will even give discomfort to an adult human (sub woofer sounds vibrating through your body or ear drum and the prospect that a screeching noisy subway can can drop from from a mere 20 feet above) ?


by xPyrotechnic on 08 August 2020 - 01:08

What do you mean if a dogs face is interfered with, what exactly does the stranger do to make the dog act this way

Hundmutter

by Hundmutter on 08 August 2020 - 03:08

What makes you think a dog cannot be showing poor nerve around strangers if that dog is not afraid of e.g. noise ? Dogs, like humans, are individuals; I don't know a single human who spends their life being afraid of EVERYTHING, but I know a few people who are downright phobic about dogs, and lots who are very afraid of some things (eg fire) but not other things which could turn out equally dangerous (eg heights, flying, etc).


by apple on 08 August 2020 - 06:08

What is the dog’s breeding? He could have a very low threshold for defense which means if he is going to do bite work, the training needs to correctly address that fact.

by K9L1 on 08 August 2020 - 11:08

xpyro : the stranger just approaches the dog with an intention to interact with it. The dog can bite the handler, if the handler choose to may be touch the dog's face at that moment of the dog being in that intense mode.
Hund: so the assumption here is that the dog is nervy under certain conditions? why? I am aware that there is the understanding that defensiveness is triggered by concern/fear, but I have see many defensive dogs and its its very difficult to conclude that the dog is afraid of a person. I think just as high prey expresses itself in a certain way, high defense ditto. I don't believe it means the dog is "highly afraid", on the contrary such a dog can seriously hurt someone not in protective gear.
Apple: Czech/DDR. And yes we are already aware that the dog has a low threshold for defense, but the question is whether or not this is a sure symptom of nerviness ( as the dog is super calm under other conditions that are deemed dangerous).

Hired Dog

by Hired Dog on 08 August 2020 - 12:08

Different stimuli can set off a dog. As a example, my old bomb detection dog, a lab, was friendly with everyone, unless, the person had some physical handicap, then she went off.
Was it a nerve issue? For sure it was and this was a dog that worked at ports, airports, near loud aircraft, ships, forklifts, etc. She had 2 deployments overseas, never a problem, but, certain people set her off.
In your case, a dog that gets so worked up over a non threatening person that attempts to bite its handler is also nerves.

Dangerous in whose mind, the dog or the handler's? For sure there are dogs that react this way, but, its not "prey and ditto high defense", its a nerve issue. Yes, a dog like this can hurt someone very badly, many dogs can, that is not the question, the question is, WHY, what drive or emotion if you will is the dog willing to hurt someone out of?
A nervy dog is much more dangerous then a stable, secure one, every time. As an aside, my 3 month old puppy charges my fence when he hears something on the other side, its a 6 foot privacy fence, yet, I can and have put my hands all over him, his face his body, his tail, yet, he remains highly focused on his subject of arousal.

by K9L1 on 08 August 2020 - 17:08

Thanks Hired.
another quality is that this dog is always ready to race towards perceived trouble (people coming to the home, noises in the yard, etc). I would think that a nervy dog would run the other way. Any explanation of why a " nervy dog" would run towards perceived trouble? Another thing, and in your view, how does high defensiveness manifest ina dog that has it?


Q Man

by Q Man on 08 August 2020 - 17:08

What is Nerviness...How do you test for it...

I don't know this dog...His age...His background...etc...

Some dogs when you're agitating them for Protection work while the dog is on leash and held by it's handler can and will turn around and bite the handler...Is this Nerviness? I think some dogs can be so concentrated on something that any interference on that will cause the dog to react...Where otherwise the dog wouldn't react...

Sometimes our dogs have learned from some source to not like and to avoid something...We teach our dogs things all the time that we don't mean to...

~Bob~

by ValK on 08 August 2020 - 17:08

K9L
it's not uncommon behavior.
nervy dog, particularly being on own territory, often uses such bluffing tactic in attempt to scare off intruder.
doesn't mean dog will involve itself in physical confrontation. if such dog even get in contact, doesn't mean gonna stay in fight till win or die :)

by K9L1 on 08 August 2020 - 19:08

No response yet on how high defensiveness expresses itself in a dogs behavior.
Valk: how would a non nervy but highly defensive dog respond to intrusion on its territory ( in other words , what behavior would indicate a non nervy but highly defensive dog on its own territory?)






 


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