Stop Bites Happening - What Is Your Dog Trying To Tell You?

Kimberley King
Apr 1, 2016
5 min read

We all know that dogs are body-language experts. Well humans are not. Most bites can be prevented if you know what the other signals mean. This article is going to explain the meaning behind all your doggy's calming signals and how you can respect them!

What Is A Calming Signal?

These are signals your dog will do to another being (generally other dogs and people) to tell them that your dog is not a threat, and that they're feeling uncomfortable with what's happening. Your dog will also use them to calm another being down.

Calming signals include:

Yawning

Licking Lips

Slow-Blinking

Lifting a Paw

Looking Away

Intense Sniffing

Full-Body Shake (As if drying themselves)

Dog Psychology

To fully understand what your dog is trying to say, you need to understand a little about how they think. They have a very small window of association (the time it takes before they move onto something else). If your dog is not interacting with anyone or thing and they yawn, chances are that they're just tired. If you go and fuss your dog and they yawn within 3 seconds, they're trying to tell you that they're not comfortable. Always look for this window of association so you can see what exactly has caused discomfort for your dog.

Differing Levels

A calming signal is not always as strong a message as it sounds. If your dog is comfortable around certain people and dogs, then a calming signal is less 'I'm not happy with this, please give me some space,' and more 'Do you have to do that now?'. The best advice if you are unsure is to give your dog space when you see these signals. They'll feel that you are listening to them, and further signals are not needed. This will reduce growling, barking and biting.

Positive Handling

For dogs who are nervous or unsure of people and dogs they don't know, these calming signals are very important to look out for. Generally, unless someone points them out to you, you won't notice these signals. We do notice barking, lunging, growling and biting. Some dogs learn that offering a calming signal gets them nowhere because no one gives them the space they're after. So they stop offering the signals and go straight for the growling and biting, because those behaviours do give them space.

We need to teach your dog that we respect and understand what they're trying to tell us when they offer a calming signal. Our positive handling playlist will help teach your dog that hands approaching them, stroking them, touching their feet and being picked up are all things to enjoy, rather than fear.

Management

Even if your dog has no history of biting, they may be exhibiting these signals anyway. Each dog only has so much tolerance for things that upset them (as do we). Always manage your dog's experiences to make them as positive as possible.

Only let children interact with your dog under strict supervision. Don't test a dog's tolerance by letting the child poke, prod, jump on, pull on, or sit on your dog.

The dog in these pictures is trying to say that he's uncomfortable. The person holding the baby, is trying to get them to interact safely (holding the baby so it doesn't put too much weight on the dog), but it isn't enough. Until children are old enough to control their movements and strength, they shouldn't be allowed to interact with a dog unless an adult is holding their hand and controlling their interaction.

It isn't worth teaching the child that they can do what they like to the dog.

It isn't worth teaching the dog that none of their signals work and forcing it into 'learned helplessness' or biting.

Learned Helplessness

Imagine you are scared of spiders. Imagine I lock you in a room filled with spiders. They're all over the walls and ceiling, they're on webs throughout the room. You may lose control and try to force your way out of the room, once this doesn't work, you're going to try and shut out the thing that is causing you so much fear. This is known as 'shutting down' and happens a lot to trainers who use fear and intimidation to train dogs.

Learned helplessness is something similar. By refusing access out of the room, I'm controlling your behaviour. I'm saying, you can do nothing to get out of the situation. You may shut down, or you may simply give up all actions. You've learned that nothing you do will improve your situation and you might as well not bother attempting to do anything.

Imagine how this has happened across time. How have we (humans) been able to control such strong animals and domesticate them? We teach them that they can't do a thing without us.

For example, rearing bulls can be a dangerous job. When the bulls are babies, they used to tie them to a post and only allow a little freedom to roam. The bulls would try everything to get rid of their tether, but they weren't strong enough. Once fully grown, and able to rip the post from the ground, the bulls still didn't try to move. They'd learned that they couldn't do anything to the tether, so didn't even try.

Applying this learned helplessness to dogs shows us that by ignoring their attempts to tell us that they aren't happy, they learn that they can't stop these things from happening. Their tolerance levels are sky-high so they may never get to the point of biting, but they are far from happy when little toddler comes and uses them as a train.

A lot of people can relate to this. Have you ever had a job where your boss is a bit of a d*ck? At first, you may be full of hope and optimism that they'll notice how unhappy you are about a certain task or aspect of your job. You try to bring it to your boss' attention, but they ignore you or yell at you. You try your best to get on with it, but you can't become happy about it. Eventually you will either quit, move position or just accept that there's nothing you can do about it.

Your dog doesn't have the option of quitting. Your dog doesn't have the option of moving to another home of its choice.

Adimus Dog Services LTD

We know that most dog bites are out of fear, uncertainty, nerves and signals being missed or ignored.

If your dog has bitten (whether it be a child, adult, dog or other being) then he or she needs help. They need to feel more comfortable in their lives and whatever situation they're put into. They need help from you to manage their environment so they're not put into situations where they feel they have to bite.

Using positive reinforcement methods, we can help your dog feel comfortable at their own pace. We can teach you to read your dog better.

We offer one to one dog training in Wolverhampton, Eastfield, Deansfield, Bilston and Wednesfield. We offer one to one dog training in surrounding areas, too. Contact us to book an induction so we can help your dog have a happier life.