Yesterday I was taking my Standard Poodle for a walk in the local park. As usual, I had him on an expandable leash, closed down to about 4 feet so that he could comfortably walk beside me. The trail went around a tall clump of bushes, and as we turned, we saw directly in front of us a lady walking her Golden Retriever, coming towards us. Her dog was on a 6 foot leash and walking in the “heel” position. By the time we all stopped, the two dogs were practically nose-to-nose with each other.
Both dogs were startled and started to bark. Although I knew better, I pulled back on the leash from the surprise of the encounter, and the lady also pulled back on her dog’s leash. The two dogs simultaneously lunged forward, ending up practically touching each other’s heads and barking furiously.
After a few seconds, both dogs settled into a play mode, bowing on their front legs and twirling around. I was expecting this from my dog, but the lady with the Golden Retriever was not, and she quickly got tangled up in the leash that her dog managed to wrap around her legs three times until both she and he were completely immobile.
This encounter reminded of the potential dangers of encounters between leashed dogs. I have watched many encounters between two dogs that were on leashes when their people were approaching each other head-on. Typically, both people tend to tighten up on the leashes because they are afraid that the on-coming dog is not friendly. Dogs respond instinctively to a constriction around their necks and shoulders by surging ahead (which is why trying to pull a dog back into a “heel” position by tugging on a leash does not work). Both people start to pull more, causing each dog to strain even more at the leash.
As the dogs pull, the people start getting nervous, and communicate this to their dogs through body language or voice. Now the dogs start getting nervous, and can easily slip into a protective mode that can include aggression.
Pulling on the leashes also prevents the dogs from doing the normal dog protocols, the body language that they use when they meet another dog. Usually, upon greeting an unknown dog, a dog will not stare at the other one, but will come up to one side slowly, and eventually sniff the other dog’s anus. When two dogs are straining at their leashes, they are looking directly at each other (a threat signal), and are directly facing each other (another threat signal). It is no surprise that this could lead to a potential aggressive encounter between two normally “friendly” dogs.
When I have plenty of warning, I like to put my dog on a “sit” and “stay” while the other dog and person walk past. As Turid Rugaas explains in her book, “On Talking Terms With Dogs: Calming Signals (1997, Legacy-by-Mail, Kula, HI), sitting seems to be a calming signal that dogs recognize. By sitting, the dog communicates that he or she does not offer an immediate threat. Sitting also defuses any potential issues of differences in status between dogs, so that neither has to pursue that issue.
That way, issues of potential aggression are defused, and a pleasant walk is had by all.
--Con Slobodchikoff
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