Spoiler! :
"Can I pet your dog?" the little girl asks loudly. "She's very pretty."
"Um, it's a boy, but yes you may." John reaches down to rub his dog, Freddy, who has suddenly stood up. He pants heavily, although he hadn't been running.
"Is he nice?" The girl's mother is sitting on a bench, scowling at John
"Of course," the man snaps indignantly. He had gotten Freddy two months ago. Freddy had growled at his little sister several times. Each time Freddy growled, John had given his a correction, until Freddy learned not to "challenge" his humans. John was very proud of his training with Freddy and didn't want anyone questioning it.
"His name is Freddy," John says, smiling at the girl.
The girl takes a step forward until she is close enough to touch. Freddy closes his mouth, staring at the girl. His tail curls under his stomach with tiny, stiff wags. The girl reaches out and touches the dog's head, fondling the silky ears. Freddy's eyes widen until there is a ring of white around the black iris. the girl feels his muscles tense just slightly. She notices the tight muscles on his face. Freddy licks his lips and yawns, making the girl laugh.
"You're such a cute doggy," she murmurs, hugging him.
Suddenly he lunges forward without so much as a growl aiming for the girl's face.
One could say the Freddy attacked without warning, but this is not true. Knowing that a growl would be punished Freddy did not do anything obvious, but he gave several signals showing that he was very uncomfortable around the child. When the girl first approached, he stood up and began panting heavily, although he hadn't been doing anything to make him hot. When she comes closer, he closes his mouth tightly. His tail is wagging, but it is very stiff and curled under his stomach. He tenses his muscles and he gives her a "Whale Eye". When the girl doesn't retreat, he tries to make her stop "Threataining" him by appeasing her with licks and yawns. It only made her laugh and hug him. In his eyes he is wrapping her arms around his neck, pinning him to the spot. The girl has completely ignored his warning and he has no choice but to attack.
I believe that everyone, even young children and those who don't own a dog, should know warning and appeasement signals. Dog body language is very subtle and a healthy dog will never attack without some sort of warning. Too often people don't see these subtle warnings, and look only for a grow or a snarl. And since dogs are often punished by their owners for using such obvious signs, they resort to using warnings usually too subtle for us to undertand.
In the following, I will not say "Dominant" or "Frightened", but instead "Offensive" or "Defensive". A dog can be the one who attacks because he is frightened and feels he must attack before he is attacked himself. A dog who is defensive will most likely be frightened, but he can also be defending his sleeping spot or his toy.
Face
In my opinion, a dog's face is the place you should pay the most attention to simply because it is the part that bites. Eyes, mouth, and ears are used by dogs to communicate with eachother and with us.
mouth
The corner's of a dog's mouth can tell you whether it's on defence or offence. When a dog is frightened, he pulls back the corners of his mouth into a fear grimace. A dog can be snarling and still be fear grimacing, pulling it's lips back so you can see most of its teeth. When it's challenging someone, it's lips will be pushed forward into almost a pucker.
A dog who is mildly anxious might keep his mouth closed, and a dog who is very anxious will be panting very hard will be panting as if he had just sprinted several miles, even if he hasn't been moving around (A dog who is happy may be panting, but his face will look relaxed, as if he is smiling.) If a dog is considering biting, he might bare his teeth or close his mouth very tightly. The face muscles on a dog that might bite will be very tense.
eyes
A dog who is appeasing wil narrow his eye and/or look away to avoid eye contact. If the dog is threataining to bite, he will stare directly and intensely at her target. A scared dog's eyes will be wide and blank looking. She will possibly show a "Whale-eye" in which the whites of her eyes are showing. If the dog panicks, her eyes might roll wildly around in her head. An angry dog will stare directly into the eyes of the person or animal angering him. His eyes will have a cold, hard look to them, and his eyebrow muscles will be pulled down and together.
ears
A dog who is growling or threataining with her ears pulled back or pinned against her head is feeling defensive, while ears raised up and forward indicates offense.
Tail
A wagging tail does not mean a dog is friendly. It simply means the dog is willing to interact, whether that means playing, running away, sumbmitting, or attacking. A relaxed or playful dog will wag his tail in broad, fluid movements, possibly wagging his entire rear end or spinning his tail in circles. A dog who is feeling anxious, submissive, or confused will have his tail lowered and possibly wagging softly. If the anxiety turns to terror, he will tuck it between his legs.
A dog on offence will have its tail up high, horizontal or higher. It may be wagging, but if it is it will be in tense, rhythmatic ticks, like a metronome. The more aroused he is, the faster his tail will "Tick"
Body
An offensive dog will have his body high to make himself appear scarier. His body will be sloping forward and tense. The hair on his shoulders and tail may be up. An offensive dog may very well be frightened and worried; this is why it is important to look at his face as well as his body and tail.
A dog who is defending himself will crouch, cower, or back up. He might try to get away from whatever is scaring him or hide under an object such as a table or bench. The hair all down his spine might be up. A dog defending an object, will stand over it and either look angry or frightened, depending on how confident he is.
Sounds
A dog that growls or snarls is obviously warning that she might bite. A low-pitched growl or bark says that she is confident and willing to attack and fight. A high-pitched or undulating growl indicates that the dog is frightened and really wants the threat to go away. The pitch of a bark says the same thing: A dog barking low-pitched is warning the threat to go away because she is tough and strong and can bite; a high pitched bark shows nervousness or even panic.
A dog should NOT be punished for growling. Growling is not an attack in and of itself. It is a warning, and should be heeded. If the dog is punished for growling, she will learn that giving warnings are bad but she will not feel any differently about the threat. If a dog is punished for growling at children, she will still be afraid of children and might attack with only suble warning, like Freddy did. Other dogs might generalize the punishment to all warning signals, and believe that she must not give any warning before biting.
These dogs are a ticking time bomb, and it's only a matter of time until they follow through on their warnings. Unfortunatly, when people train their dogs not to growl, the believe they have solved the agression problem but have only succeeded in removing the only way for most people to understand the dog's willingness to bite.
stress signals
A dog does not have to be giving warning signals when it's anxious about something. Dogs may give signals to show that they are uncomfortable and ask politely for the threat to please go away. If these requests by the dog are unheeded, he might escalate to a threat. Stress signals are often very subtle, too suble for people to notice. They include:
-All the fear signals mentioned above
- panting
-leaving sweaty footprints
-yawning
-licking lips
-"Fiddling about": Staring at nothing, pretending to scratch itsself, sniffing intently at something on the ground
-turning head away
-blinking
-crouching; acting submissively
-urinating
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