Hackles

[sixtimesseven]

If another dog runs up to your dog with hackles do you take it to mean aggression? I think it does but I have had owners tell me their dog is friendly. Meanwhile my dog is backing away.

Who is right?

(question is because another dog owner's off leash dog runs up to mine and shows dominance by snarling on my dogs back while mine cowers and now she has gone and got another of the same breed. The new one is still a puppy ran but up to my dog with hackles this morning.)

I think it helps to remember that aggression is not an emotion - fear, anxiety, excitement are all emotions that can trigger aggressive behaviours.

A dog with hackles up is almost certainly feeling afraid, worried or anxious about the other dog. That doesn't mean he won't be friendly or want to interact with the dog but is a signal that he is feeling threatened in some way.

Most socially aware dogs might see those hackles (and multiple other body clues) and react accordingly - maybe by giving the dog space or by using appeasement poses to indicate they are not a threat. Your dog is trying to do that by backing down/away.

The puppy will be too young to understand all this and by running up to your dog is not giving him the chance to react properly. Personally, I'd let the puppy's owners worry about their dog and simply instruct them to take him away from yours (presuming yours is under control/on lead). They won't listen because people rarely want to see their cute puppy is being an arsehole (ALL puppies are arseholes at some point or another).

My dog is offleash as well as about 95% of the other dogs that are in this area (forested trails in a rural area, mostly gun dogs or terriers) and almost all have no issues -- either stay away from other dogs or do the proper nose tail greeting.

It's just this one dog that runs at my dog and other dogs in an aggressive manner (getting on their back and snapping) and now the owner has gone and got a second one. It's a breed that is used by police and military. I am not the only dog owner annoyed by the older dog as I had asked around was it only my dog that got 'bullied' and was told no, it does that to other dogs as well, usually labs and golden retrievers of all things!