Dog stress signals

Bettyboo222

Bettyboo222

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In the light of another thread I think we should have a thread about stress signals in dogs.

Now I for one find them very very hard to read, I get calming signals and stress signals very easily mixed up.

Biscuit for example pants 90% of the time, now that could be interpreted as him being stressed but if you feel him you will realise that he is just warm (and more likely than not refusing to drink because the water is more that 2 hours old)
 
My young dog does everything in double-time too, he sounds manic when he pants but it's just the way he is.

Other signs I would interpret as stress would be circling/fence-running (in extreme cases the circle becomes so small it turns into tailchasing) or what one of our trainers calls "washing machine syndrome" - round and round and round and round...
Extreme vocalisation
Shutting down completely (lack of eye contact, recognition, ears down, tail down)
 
Biscuit spins all the time, when I arrive home, when I am carrying something he wants, when I am getting ready for a walk !! Do I just have a stressy dog ?

I recognise the shutting down, he did that at his first show
 
The one I didn't know about was shaking out after stressful situations. R used to do it a lot after meeting strange dogs - he'd bristle, walk off then shake it out. Still does if the other dog has provoked him sufficiently, or after he's launched himself off the A-frame unexpectedly. :rolleyes:
 
I remember first reading up about calming/stress signals... every single dog I came in contact with I viewed in a completely different light :P
It is so easy to be completely oblivious to them, though... and can often a stressy behaviour is seen as bad manners (similar to horses really, particularly shutting down).
 
What I've observed with our dogs . . . in no particular order . . .

Excessive yawning
Dribbling
Panting (when not hot)
Licking lips
Averting gaze
Ears flat back
Tail tucked
Eyes rolling/whites showing
Head low

The shaking (like shaking water off a wet coat) is usually an indication that the threat has passed or dog has reconciled . . . ours sometimes do it when they've finished playing.

In my opinion, once a dog is showing its teeth as a warning, it's passed stress and is heading into defensive/aggressive territory.

P
 
Repeated scratching is also a massive stress signal - when my rescue came home he scratched so much I was convinced he had fleas!

There is a fair amount of crossover between calming signals and stress signals from our point of view, because a stressed dog will give off more calming signals to reduce the stressful situation.

Freezing is also a warning, a sudden tensing of the whole body, often alongside the whale eyes
 
Reversing on to you/leaning/pressure on you can be another one, my big dog does this, occasionally with the shakes, it is an insecurity/nervousness thing.
Some dogs do it in a dominant way (the young one when he knows I have a ball and he wants it!!!) but some dogs do it when they are unsure of themselves.
 
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