READING THE DOG

If you are already experienced at reading dogs during aggression and bite work, you should probably stick with the method you use. However, if you are new or do not have an established system for some reasons, I want you to know the following description will help get you started. Always try to look at all dogs in the same sequence so that all of them receive uniform treatment. If you look at the head first one time and the tail first the next, you will eventually miss something important. Also remember to allow for physical causes for the dog’s body language. For instance, if there is a noise in front of the dog, and he flicks his ears forward, it probably means he is listening and nothing more. At that point you will have to ignore his ears and read the rest of his body to find out how he feels about what he is hearing. If he slinks around slowly, it may mean he is feeling sick, not that he is insecure. Try to always eliminate physical causes before you assign emotional meanings to a dog’s body language. It also helps to observe the large indicators first (such as the body axis) and then move to the smaller ones (like the ears and eyes). This can be done in a series of seven steps, beginning with energy level and moving on through body axis, stride, muscle tone, neck, head, and tail.

SEVEN KEY FACTORS IN READING A DOG

1. Energy Level

2. Body Axis

3. Stride

4. Muscle Tone

5. Neck

6. Head

7. Tail

Start by reading the dog’s energy level, as is outlined above. Steps two through seven should be read in the order listed, since they are listed in order of importance. In other words, information from each step is more important than information from any of the steps coming lower on the list. For example, if a dog is leaning away from a loud noise but shows confidence in the head and tail, he is showing insecurity, no matter how good the head and tail look. Information from step two is more important than information from steps six and seven. A dog that shows insecurity in all three of the steps just mentioned is in much worse shape than the one whose head and tail look confident, but when signals give conflicting information, give more weight to what you see in the steps higher on the list. This will help you understand ambivalent dogs that send confusing sets of signals. If you already have an established pattern of reading dogs, you are probably not going to change your order of observation at this point. My advice is to stay with the pattern you are comfortable with, but add the levels of importance from the seven steps when dogs give you ambivalent signals. In the long run, you will understand dogs better and read them faster. In my next post I am going to describe each of the key factors when reading the dog during aggression work.

DECOY AS A COMMUNICATION EXPERT

Once you have established the physical requirement you need to be a decoy, the next task is to study the language of the dog. Decoys must be able to read the dogs they are working with. For example, if a dog’s confidence level suddenly changes in the midst of a drill you must be able to instantly recognise that change.

 The decoy must also know what the trainers want you to do if a confidence change should occur if you always understand what dogs are communicating and reacts according to good trainers instructions, many problems in aggression training can be avoided.

Your ability to understand the dog language and work in harmony with trainers can also help alleviate problems that already exist either from the dogs basic character or learning from previous training section

NB: When decoys are unable to read the dog, they are much less valuable and in some cases may even be a hindrance. Any way you look at it decoys must master the language of the dog to be useful.

Dogs communicate in several ways probably the best known communication method is Auditory [with sound].

                                               

Auditory communication 

Research has shown that the pitch and frequency of sound can affect activity levels in puppies regardless of the language trainers uses, and handlers have known for a long time that the tone of their voice has a great influence on their dog’s behaviour. In the dog world, the higher the pitch of sound [both emitted and heard by dogs], the more the sound indicates dominance, confidence and threat.

The Whine is a distance decreasing signal, indicating that you can come closer. It serves as a plea for assistance. This soft, high pitched sound is first used by puppies to obtain assistance from the birth. It follows then, that submissive animals whine when they communicate with an upper-ranking animal or authority figure.

NB: The function of the whine seems to remain consistent throughout a dog‘s life. Ever when adult dogs whine they are seeking help. The yelp is another distance decreasing signal and is usually a response to physical pain or extreme fear. Dogs interpret these sounds in the same way, regardless of whether a dog utters them or human does. So decoys can add to their effectiveness by using yelps and whining noises or other tones of voice when they are trying to convince a dog that has hurt them and that they are afraid and submissive.

NB: Screaming at dog may be good for realism, but it in no way helps to reward a dog for aggression, Yelping and whining do.

The growl is a distance – increasing signal, indicating that you should move away from the dog, and it is usually a form of threat or warning.

The growl is often the precursor to aggression and such can be a sign that the dog is unhappy with something and is considering doing something violent to solve his problem.

NB: Although all growls are threats, the voice tone betrays the confidence and stress level of the dog. The higher the pitch, the more insecure and stressed the dog is, and the lower the pitch, the more confident and serious he is.

As a decoy, you can use growl to complement what you are already signalling with your body language.

When decoys are using threatening body language, they can increase their effectiveness by uttering a good, low growl. Many high end dogs those [that are highly motivated, highly reactive and show high level of aggression in response to a simple growl, unaccompanied by body language.

The bark is a sign of excitement or high energy and is another distance- increasing signal, indicating that you should move away from the dog.

That many stray dogs do not bark suggests that the bark may have something to do with marking or defending territory or personal space.

Decoys need to pay attention to the quality of the dog’s bark because it indicates the dog’s confidence level and therefore the quality of the decoy’s work.

Again, the voice tone rule is in effect. The confident dog has a low- pitched bark, low in comparison to what is normal for his breed. As the dog becomes more insecure, submissive, or stressed, the pitch of the bark rises, indicating that he is significantly uncomfortable with what is going on.

So when you are attempting to get a confident reaction from the dog and the dog is barking in a low pitch, all is well. If on the other hand, you are attempting to get a confident reaction from the dog and the bark is high pitched, something is wrong and you need to change something, such as your distance from the dog or your signals, until the pitch of the bark lowers to normal or below normal.

NB: the pitch of the bark can be a real barometer for what you are doing as a decoy.

In addition to the pitch of the bark, you should also pay attention to the rhythm of the barking. Confident dogs often bark in a rhythmical, almost musical pattern. This smooth rhythm breaks up when they become insecure or stressed. So when you are trying to get a confident reaction from the dog and the barking is smooth and rhythmical, all is well. If, on the other hand, you want to a confident reaction from the dog and the barking is staccato, something about your behaviour needs to change so that the dog can regain his confidence and his barking becomes smooth and rhythmical again.

The voice tone and the rhythm of the bark often goes hand in hand, so when you want a confident reaction from the dog and the bark becomes high pitched and staccato at the same time, you know that something is seriously wrong and you need to stop whatever is going on and figure out a better approach.

Sometimes it is the lack of barking that is important when a dog shows predatory aggression he wants to close the distance between himself and the prey so he can catch it. Obviously, it would not be useful for him to make a lot of noise and use distance-increasing signals when he wants to get closer to his prey. Barking will work against him in such a situation, so even though he shows aggression, the dog will become quiet.

NB: I have often seen silent dogs with intense target-lock on their adversaries. So, if you are trying to stimulate predatory aggression and the dog stops barking and becomes quiet but has intense focus look on you, know you have succeeded. A fully trained dog will often bark even when displaying predatory aggression, but that is a product of training and reward, not natural reaction.

Other times lack of barking is a problem. Many dogs have trouble with the sit and bark due to an unwillingness to bark at you the decoy. They are willing to sit in front of you, but they refuse to bark. This is completely understandable if you look at it from the dog’s perspective. The bark is a distance- increasing or go away signal. The dog does not want you to go away, hence his reluctant to bark. He wants you to stay right where you are and do something stupid so he can bite you and get his reward when his adversary submits.

The answer is not to get angry or frustrated with such dogs do but instead to teach them that barking will make you take the last step and come closer enough to be batter. Once the dog realizes that sitting and barking will lead to what he wants, life will get a lot easier.

Tactile communication

Dogs communicate a certain amount through their tactile sense [the sense of touch].The Bitch has to lick the neonatal puppies [puppies less than 3 weeks old] to stimulate them to urinate and defecate. She also dries them off and treats their cuts and sores by licking them.

There are similarities between being licked and being petted by a human, which seems to be infected by dogs as sign of acceptance, care giving and concern. Fast, frantic petting seems to excite dogs, while slow, dull petting seems to have a calming effect.

NB: we should always pay attention to how dogs interact with one another so we can learn how best to communicate with them.

The style on which a dog bites also carries information. When a dog does not want his prey to escape, he tends to use his whole mouth for biting so as to engage all his teeth and make it difficult for whatever is in there to get back out.

This is also the preferred style of biting when a confident dog wishes to keep his adversary under control and dominate it as completely as possible when a dog is afraid and would prefer the adversary to go away, he bites differently. In this case he does not seek to control but instead to do as much physical damage as quickly as possible so the adversary will be force to back off or go away completely.

To achieve this, the dog sinks his canine teeth into his opponent and thrashes his head around to tear flesh and cause damage. While this is an effective way to defend himself and will hurt adversary badly, many trainers feel that the slashing style of bite is a sign of insecurity and would rather have a dog that uses what is known as a “full month bite” when engaging a human.

Confident dogs also tend to stay in one place when they bite, getting a good grip on their adversary and holding on until the fight ends, one way or the other.

Insecure dogs, again seeking to do as much damage as possible, tend to bite multiple times, often, often in different locations so that instead of one or two bites, the adversary suffers several bites and much more damage.

In decoy work, Sometimes the biting goes up and down the sleeves, a confident dog will bite in multiple location when he is overestimated and too excited, but the majority of the time, frantic, multiple bites are assign of insecurity.

NB: For these reasons, many trainers prefer to have a dog that selects the best target on the adversary and bite there with a full mouth, hanging on without re-biting unless it is absolutely necessary.

                                                

Visual communication  

While all forms of communication are important, the greatest amount of information is transmitted visually. Dogs have a precise set of visual signal we have come to call body language.

This is the segment of their communication system that is of greatest importance to the decoy. By using personal visual signals in the correct way, different forms of aggression can be triggered at exactly the time you need them for training purposes.

NB: Just as important, triggering any aggression can be avoided when it is inappropriate.