The case of the wagging tail

I am working with a couple and their very aggressive dog. His displays of fear and aggression which constitutes barking, growling and lunging are quite sobering, and I really take them seriously. De-escalating the situation is part of what I need to do as well as making sure I don’t get bitten.

We are giving the dog a break away from the interaction and I ask if they have any questions.

The couple asks me what to make of their dog who is growling at people while wagging its tail.

Ah!  The case of the wagging tail!  I explain to them the following: Dogs communicate by use of their body language as well as verbal communication. We really don’t know what the dog is feeling but we can infer by close observation of the body language and verbal communication in the form of barks, growls, whining — each of these with their own subtlety depending on the situation what the dog’s emotional state might be.

Behavior is always context specific.  Dogs (or any living organism for that matter) do not behave in a vacuum. Also, behavior or behaving is more like a movie than a “still” shot. Which means that is fluid and changing, sometime very rapidly.

Another interesting thing to observe in order to ascertain the emotional state of the dog, is to pay close attention as to what happened just before a change in behavior.  Say an open and relaxed mouth to a close now tight mouth. Will you approach this dog?  Hopefully not!

So by now, you could probably draw some conclusion as to what to do about a wagging dog tail that is accompanied by “not so friendly” communication such as growling and lunging.

Here are some thoughts:
The tail is one of the most misunderstood behaviors in dogs.  No, it is NOT true that a wagging tail means the dog is friendly. Again, we should not isolate the tail from the rest of the dog’s body in ascertaining motivation.

There are however, some generalities when it comes to body language that can be helpful in determining how we should proceed.  We want loose relaxed body and body parts. For example:  open mouth with no signs of stress on the muzzle, blinking eyes, relaxed ears that support the natural fold of the ear for that specific breed, the dog’s stand and body weight distribution and yes a relaxed tail one that also follows the natural conformation for the breed.  Here is one of the problems of cropped body parts such as ears and tails, they really interfere with natural dog communication.

So if you follow my suggestion of looking at the dog’s entire demeanor and not only the tail, you will begin to notice some consistencies in how the body is carried and how the dog behaves.

Now, say that you are looking at a dog and so far the dog is overall relaxed.  But suddenly the tail becomes erect, tense and begins to sway gently from side to side.  What should you make of this?

What I would first suggest is to notice if there has been a change in the environment and the environment could be something external or an interaction with a person.  It does not necessarily mean that the dog is ready to “attack” but it could be that the dog is now busy assessing the change in the environment: safe or unsafe?  Questions dogs are always asking!

Secondly, I notice that the dog went from relaxed to either attentive as described above to aroused - an autonomic response from the nervous system that could indicate several things:  flight or fight or I am soooo happy to see you!

In either case, what I would do is become more observant and wait for more information as the dog’s body language continues to change. This all happens in a matter of seconds, rarely minutes.

Depending on what I perceive, how I will react.  If the dog is feeling threatened I will make sure I stop doing what I am doing in order to stop making the dog feel threatened by me.  Regardless of what my intentions are, the dog is feeling threatened or afraid.

As I change my own response and that could also be giving the dog more distance which in my professional opinion is a VERY smart and kind thing to do!  Or I might simply make my own body language less threatening by looking away-instead of staring, breathing, relaxing my body by bending a knee, for example.

I wish I could tell you that a tail that does “x” means “y” but I can’t! What I can say is that we must look for information in a more nuanced way that is also more global. As for my clients and their dog my message to them was that they must make sure their dog is removed from these interactions as clearly his message is one of wanting to create distance between the people he is now encountering and himself.  Remember, the dog’s tail is wagging BUT he is also growling and lunging.  OMG.

To make things even more interesting we must keep in mind that animals feel ambivalence or are conflicted a lot of the times so this is also another possibility for my client’s dog.  It is as if the dog is saying: I would love to interact with you and make friends but I am really scared. So pleazzee give me some room, some time, etc. 

Beep, Beep, Beep

Talk about Pavlov and associate conditioning! Bells and everything! Okay, first let me give you some background information about the state of affairs. After having injured my foot at the beginning of the month, now I have a heavy duty brace that by just one look at it I get queasy. I think to myself "how am I going to get this thing on and off?"

I just got it yesterday afternoon. I am suppose to wear it all the time (except when showering and sleeping) for 3 weeks. Okay no problem, I can do that if it means not having to have my tendon get worse where I need to face an operation.

So here I am tucked in bed, half asleep. All dogs happily sleeping on their beds-Louie (our foster) in his crate. When suddenly at 3 freaking am (why is it always 3 am when these things happen? Why do dogs get injured on Sundays when your “regular” vet is closed and you have to go to the ER vet? Why? Why?) the motion sensor in the house goes off! OMG!! It is soooo loud. Why is it going off? The alarm is not even activated? We just moved into our new home in Feb. There is still a lot about this home that I don’t yet know. Like where to “deactivate” this stupid alarm. John out of town… of course, just the same - when it is three in the morning something happens and dogs always get injured on Sundays.

Deuce, Laika and Louie are all freaked out… Do something mom, fix it! I am hoping out of bed, remembering not to put weight on my right foot. Trying to decide what to do next: put on the brace or take the dogs outside… I limp half-naked to get the dogs outside, I forget Louie duh! So, I go back into my bedroom and open the crate: Louie let’s go outside as I put my brace on so fast I cannot even believe it!! Ahh, that powerful adrenaline, you gotta to love it.

As I walked now around my home empowered with my super brace on, I pray to all my mighty powers (and I really have some SUPER might powers) to help me deactivate the never activated alarm. Laika has come in and is now following me around shaking with her tailed tucked. Deuce is M.I.A., I guess still outside with Louie. The alarm finally goes silent. I call Deuce and Louie and began (cheerfully as if this is what I looovee to do at 3 in the morning) dispensing calming treats in the shape of bones to all the dogs as if they were cheap flyers and my dogs being passer-byes on a busy street corner.

I think this will do it. These calming doggie aids are strong… I should have one too! I am kind of still raddled inside. But here you have it. The dogs want NOTHING to do with their beds, which is where they were laying when the alarm went off. Not even Deuce, my matter-of-fact, always cool and mellow Border Collie. He will not go into his favorite comfy-doughnut shape bed. Laika is not having it either. No happy voice is making her go back to her bed. And Louie? Where the heck is he? I (sort) of walk around the house looking for him… I call out just to find him laying in the bathroom that has the doggie-door and thus immediate access to outside. He is half way snuggled into a ball and is not budging. Perhaps the smartest of the lot, he is not going to risk going back to the scene of the crime.

Classical conditioning works by pairing: a stimulus (in my case and Pavlov’s) a noise. In his case, food after the bell in my case: most likely the dog beds. So here you have it: Dogs laying on their beds (Louie inside his crate) and all hell breaks loose… now they won’t go near their beds- as if electrified! I say most likely because Pavlov- who was working in a lab setting, could control very nicely the pairing: Bell rings, dogs get food and after whatever amount of pairings… viola the dogs are salivating (in anticipation of the food) once the stimulus of the bell is presented.

In “real” life, the pairings are not so clean. One of our biggest problems when wanting to modify behavior (counter-conditioning) is that we must be diligent in establishing this strong pairing. There are so many competing stimuli in the environment that who knows half the time which is the most salient stimulus for the animal.

What I do know is that neither one of the dogs is wanting to rest on their beds. Instead, Deuce and Laika are giving me this look and I know they want to crawl with me on mine. Ah…. I love my dogs but when it comes to sleeping… the bed is mine! Louie is still laying in the same place… “no freaking way I am going back to that crate…”

Once my dogs are on my bed and dosing off, I lay awake- on a sliver of bed that I get. I dare not too move too much afraid the motion sensor will go-off again. I am thinking: I sure hope I can “fix” the problem of the dogs having associated the beds with the scary alarm. Darn too because Louie was now going inside his crate on his own accord- even putting himself to sleep when he was tired in the evenings. Just before the alarm fiasco, I didn’t have to coax him to go in by throwing some tasty treats inside the crate. I was so happy that I could pass him on to the best suitor with his fabulous crate training skills. Take note, this is a dog that could not handle any sort of enclosure when he first came to our home…

As I lay in the bed I am also thinking that why on this am did the alarm had to go off when I had such a busy day… two trainings sessions: one with an aggressive dog that was trying to nail me shall I make the wrong way, the other a new client… oh no… And then I am thinking also about placing delicious slivers of chicken and hot dogs all over the beds… come find it… look what just fell out of the sky…. here on your bed, inside your crate…beep, beep, beep.