Dog aggression is (very) ritualized

I am working at my computer totally immersed in what I am doing when I hear a very odd sound coming from Deuce.  I turn and see that Deuce, who was lying on a bed next to me, is completely smacked tight to the wall with his face also turned away towards the wall.  Next to him lies a Kong that I had previously given him. As I turn a bit to my left, I see Rio approaching the Kong. 

I realize then what was going on: Deuce had already abandoned his Kong even though it still had sardines in it.  Rio, the hound that she is, wanted a second serving. 

My dogs are very good at giving each other space when it comes to enjoying a Kong filled with goodies, a bone and the like.  I also manage them closely to ensure that they enjoy the goods in peace.

Dogs wanting each other’s resources is absolutely normal dog behavior, as is negotiating for resources. I wish you could have seen these two interact as I did!  There communication was a very clear rendition of ritualized aggression between dogs. What I mean by aggression being ritualized is that dogs will signal in all sorts of ways that they do not mean to harm and they much rather not get into a real fight. 

You see, fighting is expensive. If you fight, you might be the one injured or dead, with no genes to pass on to the next generation. 

Now let’s get back to the incident of the Kong lying next to Deuce and how they went about negotiating this situation.

Deuce as described, is lying and perhaps even snoozing with his Kong nearby.  Rio approaches the Kong as she does thousands of times once Deuce had either finished his or decided he is done extracting the food. But this time, Deuce was communicating to Rio that he was not okay with her having the Kong.  A clear case of: Hey! This is mine!

Deuce produced a very low growl with his body stiff and away from Rio (and the Kong). I noticed that he was totally adverting Rio by looking away from her.  As a response to Deuce’s growl and his own body language,  Rio stopped her approach to the Kong.

I immediately took stock of the situation by retrieving the Kong from the ground.  I praised both dogs for not escalating the situation, but diffusing the conflict. I  reached into the Kong and gave servings of sardines to both of the dogs. Once the Kong was empty we all went back to work and snoozing.

While I know my dogs well and I know how to make the best of a conflict like this, I am not suggesting for one second that people try this at home. It is always best to help the dogs not get into conflict over resources. Yes, aggression is a highly ritualized business- full of threats and accommodations, but dogs can also fight over resources. I would hate for someone to be bitten as they intervene between their two posturing dogs.

Now, there are a couple of interesting lessons to glean from a situation like this.  I wish folks are made aware of and implement the following:

1.  Learn what is valuable for your dog.  Dogs do have individual preferences and these preferences vary depending on satiation levels (for that resource at a given time) and the context.
2. Manage any resource that dogs find somewhat valuable. Again, this will be different for any group of dogs living together.
3. Learn to read (observe) dog body language as this (and vocalization) are the best avenues we have in understanding a situation. For example:  Deuce could have given Rio a hard stare, exposing his teeth, but instead he diffused by looking away from Rio.
4. Reinforce your dogs when they act as peace makers instead of fighters.  Remember that laws of learning tell us that whatever behavior we reinforce we will see more of.  In this situation here, the reinforcer was to pay each dog with what they wanted at the moment. The specific behaviors that I was reinforcing were both dogs diffusing the situation and communicating to each other: Deuce by growling at Rio and freezing while looking away; and Rio by stopping in her tracks when she heard Deuce growl, instead of engaging on a full-on physical fight.

Note:
There are always dogs that will choose to fight first, skipping most of the ritualized aspects of conflict.  They have learned that fighting (I am describing  fighting as physical contact that may produce damage – or not) pays off.  However,  (most) of these dogs can also be taught that fighting is not necessarily the best option.  Most dogs, however; will posture and engage in ritualized behaviors instead of fighting, or they will give ample warning even before a fight takes place.

Arousal

Have you ever seen a dog with “raised-hackles”? I bet you have. The technical term is piloerection and it means just that – the hair standing up.

What you probably don’t know is that piloerection is NOT aggression, as many folks believe. It is actually arousal. The best way for me to describe arousal is to say that arousal is an autonomic response from the nervous system. In other words, it is not a voluntary response that the dog can turn on and off at will.

Whenever we see a dog exhibiting piloerection we should pay attention because it could just mean that the dog is very excited over something; such as seeing a person or a favorite pal. But also, piloerection – or best said - arousal can also be a precedent to an escalation of aggression.

So how is one to know? It all depends on the context. It is never advisable to just focus on one visual element of dog body language because most likely this will not give enough information to make a good assessment of the situation. So if we pay attention to the dog’s overall body language, and this could be done in a matter of seconds, we will be more successful in anticipating the motivation behind the piloerection.

This is a good illustration as to how piloerection can “mean” different things: My two female dogs Laika and Rio display piloerection often. Laika would almost exclusively when she was ready to interact with a dog she consider “soft”. Dogs that she wanted to intimidate just for fun.

Ahh, and Laika was a very “nice” dog with great dog skills who also enjoyed bullying them on occasion until I said no more! Laika was a very confident dog.

In the case of Rio, our current female pup, she exhibits piloerection daily. If she spots someone in our driveway her howling and barking will always be accompanied by piloerection. She will do the same even when the person in our driveway is John coming in back from out of town. Rio also does other things when she is in situations that she finds a bit overwhelming such as saying hello to someone.
She will bark, howl, have piloerection AND turn around looking to see if Deuce is in the vicinity and following her because she lacks the confidence to interact. So here arousal is a bit more a case of the “jitters” – to use a “very” technical term. :)

The learning I wish folks would take from this is that piloerection is an easy identifiable visual cue that we must pay attention to and to remember that is not aggression, but it could be an antecedent to aggression. Physiologically and evolutionarily speaking, pilorection also functions to make the animal look bigger to a potential threat. But as you can see by my examples above, there might be different motivations for this.

Back to Rio and her arousal. I can almost bet with great certainty that if Rio found herself in a situation where she felt somewhat threatened, her first line of defense would be to retrieve. Now Laika, for example, I am not sure she would. Same response from the nervous system, but a different outcome.

When I see either my dogs or a dog that I know well have pilorection, one of the things that I like to do is to gently press the back of my hand down their spinal cord beginning at top of the neck and down to the tail. Literally “combing” down the standing hair. Over and over again, the reaction that I have seen is the dog returning back to equanimity. Our dogs cannot “control” pilorection, just like a person that has road rage cannot control feeling the emotion. However, what our dogs and the road-rage laden individual can learn is how to respond when they are going “through the motions”. And this is where it gets very interesting! Enter the world of learning….

Intimate Ways

I am looking at this photo of Deuce and Rio and I am trying to decipher what Deuce is “thinking/feeling”. I am still left wondering - even though I was there when John took the photo and I know the context surrounding it.

My previous background as a professional photographer also informs me that images are not as “innocent ”as we think they are.

They are open to many interpretations.  In the 19th century when photography was the new kid on the block, people believed in the concept that images exposed “reality”. Now we know better.

When it comes to learning about dog’s body language and communication, our best option is video as we can see their language and communication unfolding. Behavior is always in flux!

But just for the heck of it, here are my thoughts about what I think is going on in this picture.

Firstly I will try to keep it factual: Only commenting on what I see, and move away from “interpreting” (at least as my first line of defense) as to what I think is going on. Here we go…

Rio is standing in front of Deuce and to his left side- blocking some of the pathway in the direction where Deuce is moving.

She is looking at Deuce - mouth closed; not open and relaxed. Deuce is taking a step in the direction where Rio is standing, also mouth closed and his eyes looking in the direction of Rio , his expression ambivalent.

When it comes to interpreting dog body language, we must look at the entirety of the dog’s body. Focusing in on only one body part will most likely send us down a rabbit’s hole.

I think this process is made easier when we take a quick overall look at the entirety of the dog’s demeanor and then go back to paying attention to specific body parts and the environment.

Once we have done that bit, we can begin to interpret. The good news is that there is scientific data regarding dog communication so we are not altogether going out on a limb when we “interpret” what the communication might mean.

Dogs are masters at controlling each other's movements (approach and avoidance, for example) by how they position themselves in relation to one another. A dog that has good dog/dog communication will “read” this space- management cue and respond accordingly by giving the other dog ample personal space. Don’t you love it when people around you respond to your cues about wanting more
personal space? Same with dogs.

Since I was already inside, I have no idea if Deuce continued to walk towards Rio, or if he stopped or even turned around making a bee line for the front door, which was behind him.

Deuce and Rio are really good buddies so they might take certain liberties with one another that they probably would not do with another dog who did not know as well. On the other hand, they remain good buddies precisely because they respond with good social graces towards each other’s cues.

Here is an example: I am reading in bed with both dogs next to me. It is early in the morning. Rio is ready to interact, bringing me her tug toy for me to pull. I resist and instead flash her a smile and send the toy flying… she loves this game too and it will give me a few seconds of reading. Deuce is lying quietly, not interested in high-level activity from Rio. Without missing a bat, Deuce gives Rio the most subtle look (so subtle I almost missed it) and Rio stops in her tracks. Her expression is one of deference (an interpretation :)) towards Deuce.

She is now lying quietly and she appears to be holding her breath. Eyes averted away from Deuce. This got me thinking… can you imagine how much better our relationships with our significant other would be if we responded with such swiftness to our partner’s desires and corporal cues?

I pat Rio to give her some comfort now that the wind has been taken out of her sail and I go back to reading, yet distracted wondering about dogs and their very intimate ways of communicating.