Dogs and their stress signals

[Lyinginwait888]

Firstly to Brittany. Much love to you and your family. Sorry your thread got pulled. It was really useful. There were some brilliant links showing dogs fear/aggression signs.

I read some of the links and have been staggered at how many mistakes I've been making. I spent the evening looking back at some of my photos and am so ashamed at some of the signals my dogs have been showing that I've been blissfully unaware of.

Here's the links in the thread I have read and found useful:

4pawsu

liamjperk

I hope others found this as useful as I did.

Can I suggest that everyone takes a minute to share one of these links via Facebook or Twitter?

Reinforcing the growl it's such an important one there. My mother has successfully managed to get her dog to not growl with the result he'll go straight for you. Fortunately there are no children for him to come into contact with and his problems stem from resource guarding, but she's very much of the Barbara Woodhouse generation of training.

She's finally conceded dog needs to see a behaviorist to undo all the problems she's caused.

This just popped on my FB feed. It's called Do Not Kiss Me Human. I am pretty speechless.

Being Latino funny video - Cats And Dogs Who Hate Kisses - Do not ...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=l-veNGcOymU

I've just watched that video with my DCs we're all sitting here cringing - it's horrifying stuff.

For what it's worth I shared my story on my Facebook page obviously with pictures of my son's injuries. Lots of people commented and wished him well, but it has been very noticeable to me that all the people who regularly post pictures of their kids sprawled over their pets, or pets being held in a neck hug, haven't said a word. I hope somewhere my message has got through, but I suspect it's been a bit of a lost cause. I think I'm now going to be that person on Facebook who when everyone posts "oh so cute" I'll be shouting, no, no, no.

We weren't the kind of family that pestered the dog, if he wanted affection he would come and put his head on our lap, or come and stand in front of us so we could tickle his tummy. He was always following me round the house it feels weird walking round and not scratching him behind his ears as we walked, didn't realise it was such a habit until there is no head below my hand. But we were definitely not a kiss and hug the dog type family.

My son's injuries are healing really well - the bandages have come off his toe and it's glued back together really well, his scar is closing up really nicely and although he's still got a black eye the swelling is going down really rapidly. Most importantly though, he still loves dogs and doesn't appear to be afraid of them either, which for me is important, he is such an animal lover I'd hate for him to be afraid.

I am really pleased though that people have watched the brilliant links to the stress signals, and it's so cool that lying you've booked a course for your children.

Maybe one day, we'll get another dog when we've stopped grieving for Monty. I'll make sure that the whole family is trained in all these stress signals.

I've started my education campaign by sharing these links with my 20 year old son. Our spaniel loves him more than he loves anyone. Don't know why, I'm the one who does all the dog walking and general dog looking after.

We tested his love for DS recently. Dd one end of the room, with treats and calling dogs name enthusiastically. DS other end, silently standing there. Put dog in the middle and he straightaway raced over to DS.

But this is why I shared links with him. I didn't want either of us becoming complacent.

That video was astonishing. Why would you put your face next to a snarling, growling toothy dog? Seems disrespectful to the dog too.

I have only just come across this thread, so don't know really what happened to Brittany, I can only guess reading between the lines. I am sitting here with tears in my eyes though at what you must have been through, and looking at my dog sunbathing contentedly. I love him so much, and can't bear the thought of having to go through what you have with Monty. How heartbreaking.

We are, I'm afraid, one of the kiss and cuddle families. He tolerates it, but I know he's only doing just that. I do point out some of the stress signals to my daughter, as he does the nervous licking with her, but doesn't with me. I am going to make her watch the videos on here. I did the test further upthread last night, and only got 12 out of 19. I was disappointed with that.

Glad your son's on the mend Brittany, that's good news.

I just took that quiz and got nine out of nineteen. Bit hard to tell from a photo though, you'd have to see the dogs movements really.

Haven't looked at the video yet.

Oh just watched the video.

What's the betting when those people get bitten they say 'he's never done that before, he's usually so gentle'.

No, he's always given you a warning, you were just oblivious to it.

I did the quiz thing with DS3(almost 7) and he got the same score as I did: 13
I find that quite reassuring tbh as I think it is hard to read a dog's body language in a still photograph, but we both seem to have an idea anyway what to look out for.

I find it hardest to spot the 'hard' or 'relaxed' mouth or eyes.

Our new foster dog did a playful jump in the park yesterday, clearly and exuberant all-4-feet-in-the-air-at-the-same-time bounce, but gave DS3 a real fright - I suppose relative size has something to do with that as well. I am not sure how I'd feel about a dog whose nose was the same height as mine, jumping.

This thread has inspired me to look up various dog behaviour sites and videos. Really fascinating stuff.

Thank you again for starting it, Lying.

I got about the same, pacific but thought that was ok cos I was doing it on my phone and the screen is tiny.
Partly posting to bump as I think this thread is good.

Thanks lying
brittany

I've had dogs all my life and I'm shocked and embarrassed at my lack of understanding of the signs of stress other than the very obvious ones.

My little grandchildren are not comfortable around my admittedly excitable dog so I do keep them apart anyway. I'm hoping that as the children grow I'll be able to include the dog more in their visits. I'm very careful whenever the DGDs come to the house but reading this has made me realise just how easily the signs could be missed.

Brittany

I'd agree that a campaign to raise awareness could only be a good thing.

I saw the link to this thread on another thread, and I think the links are really good.

It often amazes me that a lot of dog owners don't seem to understand dog body language. Most of my animal time these days is spend around horses, and pretty much everyone is taught horse body language in order to avoid injury- I guess because a single bite or kick is so much more painful!

I also agree with the second link in the OP that it's so dangerous to teach dogs not to growl or give warning signs- as this means they are more likely to resort to snapping and biting with no warning.

Really interesting thread, thank you. We're looking at rehoming a rescue dog in the near future and even though I grew up with all sorts of pets, I'm quite surprised at how some of this info has passed me by. Needless to say we'll all be brushing up on our dog-reading skills.

I've shared this link before but I think the cartoons are useful at showing children how to and how not to approach dogs
drsophiayin.com/blog/entry/kids-and-dogs-how-kids-should-and-should-not-interact-with-dogs

The number of times my placid but anxious dogs have been lunged at by small children when on walks is unbelievable - even when on lead and clearly showing stress signals.

Brittany

From my perspective:

i have 2DC. DS has always been good with dogs. He seems to be a magnet to them and we used to meet a group of greyhounds in the park, he'd be enveloped in Pointy Hound Lean Hugs.

DD.......was terrified. We managed ( with difficulty) to stop her screaming when she saw a dog, which TBH wasn't good for her, the dog, the owner or my ears.
We avoided woods, parks and beaches in Dig season because , we told her, it wasn't her sole right to go to the park, she had to share .

As she got older, she improved, never comfortable with dogs, but at least she stopped running into the road .
She'd rather cross the road than walk with a dog, and will get a shock if one approaches sneakily (like round a corner or from a garden, little tricksters).
DS used to tell DD "Look at the dogs' tail" (not the eyes)

The owners - some would ignore. Some would do the "Oh, my dog is ok, he'll lick you to death" (which for a child scared of dogs breathing on her, was the worst)
They all put the lead on as soon as they saw her stiffen.
I used to walk home through the park (alone) and talked to the regular owners so if they saw DD, "Oh look , there's Monty/Tess/Billy" she was a bit more prepared.

Last year, her mate got a puppy and DD gradually relaxed with dogs to the point now she's fine ( I cannot say 100% cured, she's never met an aggressive dog)

My parents NDN had a lovely but extremely timid dog. Had all the signs. The sitting while the tail half wagged. Looking at the NDN for re-assurance. The whimpery noise. The ears flat, head low.

DD , Bless her, knew the signs. Said "Hello" but didn't put her hand out. I really don't think this dog would've done anything, she looked the type to Look and Leg It.

I am, however, very grateful to the owners who were considerate to DD, especially the couple with 2 huge staffs who sussed DD out in an instance. She was surprised by them , I didn;t want to say "Oh, DD , dogs" but I knew if she turned and saw them , there would be all Hell.
the owner said "Just stand, quietly. They won't bother you".
He was right, they were on a walk, not interested in DD .
If they'd done the "Oh they love children", she'd have thought "Eurgh they're going to slobber on me"

DS, is never averse to a bit of slobber .

I have done much more formal training sessions with one of our dogs (young) since originally posting this thread. It's been really helpful. Especially as Dd (7yo) came to a session and was really interested in reward based training.