Protective or fearful - Page 1

Will you give examples of dog being fearful and a dog being protective, in order to know the difference.

Are there body signs to show the difference?

How to identify/recognize a fearful and a confident dog ?

How do these dispositions relate to or impact protection ?

Also, what's the difference between a shy dog and a fearful dog ?

Thanks

Ibrahim

i think you need to narrow down or better define your question, this may sound facetious but i think your question is a good one but not atriculated well, obviously a dog that bolts to the next county at the first sign of drama is being fearful, an unleashed dog with escape options that is not directly threatened but will show aggresion at someone threatening its people is protective imo.

Depends which emotion is stronger.  I have seen a mother cat face down a dog or a mother Gazelle face down a Leopard to protect their young.  An animal fearful of something may act to protect even if fearful if the emotion to protect is stronger.  The dog that acts to protect in spite of being fearful or likely to lose the fight is brave.  A lot of bravery seen in protection routines is just practice and repetition .. not real bravery or real protection instinct.

can an animal be protective by defintion if it is NOT fearful of some stimulus?

put another way, if a stimulus presents not apparent danger wether real or perceived then defensive or protective behaviour is a moot point is it not?

first of all you can see difference in dog when decoy or person/possible treath is totally passive, secondly in bodylanguage look at position of ears, tail hair in neck can be indication and general behaviour

the answer to your question must come from detailed observation of each animal. Fear will mask itself as  self defence. The enviroment will teach the dog to run away as a defence or act violent to get the other animal to back off or run away. I have seen a complete spectrum of these animals from the well trained and passive introverted dog to the ''monster'' aggressor. Do you remember at some time hearing that the best responce to a bear biting you [ too late to ward it away] is to play dead? I have seen fearful dog go into this behavior as a defence. Go watch a skilled decoy work many dogs. This decoy will touch the nerve of the animal and direct the responce. Go watch a skilled obedience trainer who works with the public. Most of the agressive dogs will have fear as the motivator, not defending their honor or their owners. 

take away all fear and you only have  play, high play and extreme play.

fear, feeding and F'ing are all there is at the fundamental level, the rest is window dressing - that is all.