Dog Behavior Blog

Dog Love

While scientists are still debating whether dogs and other animals have any emotions beyond anger and fear, I want to offer a personal anecdote.

A few years ago, I was walking with my two Standard Poodles, Zephyr and Raja, along a dirt road in the desert.  Because I am always concerned about the dogs finding rattlesnakes and being too inquisitive, I had them both on 25 foot expandable leashes.

Raja always plays the role of leader dog, the one who always has to be out in front when we walk. Curiously enough, this does not translate into the traditional dominance idea, because in everything else he always defers to Zephyr, who as an older, larger dog has never shown any aggression toward  Raja.

In fact, Zephyr is a very sweet dog who wouldn’t hurt a fly. He is my zoologist dog, interested in any animal that moves or flies.  Raja is not interested in animals or plants on walks. The only thing that he is interested in is being out in front of everyone.

The dirt road that we were walking along had a lot of curves and dips so that it was hard to see more than 100 feet ahead or behind us. I was in a semi-meditative state, enjoying the warmth of the day, the blue sky, and the wind on my face.

Suddenly from behind us came a Rottweiler mix, running as fast as he could. Without any barking or growling, he lunged at Zephyr and tried to bite him on the back of the neck. Zephyr, who had never been in an aggressive situation, stopped, looking stunned.

I yelled. Raja, who was out in front about 25 feet from Zephyr, turned and looked at us. Instantly, without any hesitation, he ran full-tilt at the 120 pound Rottweiler mix and slammed into him with his 40 pound body.  This knocked the Rottweiler back, giving me time to get between the dogs and the attacker. I had my hiking stick, which I poked at the attacker’s face.

Around that time a pickup truck came driving up, with a man inside calling for his dog. The dog broke off the attack and came up to the truck. It seems that the man was using the lazy way to walk his dog, letting the dog run ahead while he drove behind.

I yelled at the man to control his dog.  In addition, I had some choice words to say about people who let aggressive dogs run free, but I won’t repeat those words here.

As in my experience often happens in such situations, the man was telling me that his dog has never done this before, and he can’t understand why his dog would do that.

After making sure that the dog was safely locked up in the cab of the pickup, checking Zephyr (fortunately, he only had a scratch, thanks to Raja’s quick action), and taking the man’s name and phone number in case there was a problem with Zephyr,  I tried to explain to the man that there could have been serious consequences.  For one thing, in the desert of the Wild West, many people have guns, and someone could have shot his dog.

The man was unimpressed and left.

So why did Raja respond by attacking a dog who was much larger and much fiercer than he?  If I toe the scientific line, I could go into a huge explanation about stimulus and response, and that perhaps Raja was conditioned at some point in his life to respond to certain cues with aggression.  With this explanation, Raja mindlessly responded to the motion and size of the other dog.

However, I prefer another explanation. I think that Raja realized that his companion was in danger, and selflessly threw himself into the fray to help out a friend who he loved. Just like you and I might do in similar circumstances.

--Con Slobodchikoff

People Can Signal Playfulness to Dogs

A study by Rooney, Bradshaw and Robinson (2001. Do dogs respond to play signals given by humans? Animal Behaviour, 61:715-722.) investigated dogs’ responses to human play signals. These researchers found that humans do communicate a playful intent to their dogs and that their various behaviors when doing so can be considered interspecific play signals.

Additionally, they found that the success of human signals at instigating play was unrelated to the frequency of use. For example, patting the floor as well as whispering were both often used by people attempting to initiate play with their dogs, but dogs showed a low rate of playful responses to these signals.

In contrast, running towards or away from the dog as well as tapping their own chest were two human signals that were highly effective at initiating play with dogs but neither was used frequently by participants in the study.

The least effective human behaviors in their study for eliciting play in dogs were kissing the dog, picking up the dog, and barking at the dog, none of which ever resulted in play. Stamping their feet and pulling the dog’s tail had very low rates of playful responses by the dogs.

The human signals that most frequently elicited play were the forward lunge (the person makes a sudden quick movement toward the dog), the vertical bow (the person bends at the waist until the torso is horizontal), chasing the dog or running away from the dog, the play bow, and grabbing the dog’s paws.

Part of their study involved looking at the effects of vocalizations on play solicitation by humans of dogs. They used two composite play signals and asked whether they were more effective at soliciting play with or without vocalizations. The two composite signals were a play bow combined with patting the floor with their hands and foot shuffling combined with a forward lunge in the vertical bow position. The vocalization was saying “come on” in a whisper followed by “come on little dog” in a high-pitched voice.

The two composite signals used to initiate play with their dogs were more successful at eliciting play when accompanied by play vocalizations.  It could be that the more components a play signal has, the more effective the signal is.

Interestingly, their data suggest that different play signals may invite different kinds of play. The composite bow signal with or without vocalization increased physical contact between the person and the dog and resulted in more licks of the person by the dog, but the composite lunge signal did not, either with or without vocalizations. Perhaps the bow acts as an invitation to approach and make contact, but the composite lunge signal does not. Perhaps one signal acts to solicit close contact play but the other instigates chase games.

Their study, though it was published eight years ago and is widely known in academic circles, does not yet seem to have reached wide audiences in the dog world. This is a shame because people and dogs could benefit from its findings. This study indicates that we should pay attention to whether or not the way we try to entice our dogs to play is effective, what the effects are in terms of the type of play our dogs’ do, and that we should consider adding vocalizations to our visual play signals.

--Karen London

A New Edition of “Canine Behavior: A Photo Illustrated Handbook.”

        In a previous post (September 7, 2008) I reviewed Barbara Handelman’s “Canine Behavior: A Photo Illustrated Handbook” (WoofandWord Press, 2008).  At the time, I reported that it is a very useful book, showing dogs in a variety of action photos doing many different behaviors. My only criticism was that many of the photos were very pale, lacking in crispness and definition.

        Barbara Handelman recently sent me a second edition of the book, in which the photos have been reprinted. In this edition, the photos have really good contrast, are crisp, and it is very easy to see the behaviors that the photos are illustrating.

        At the time of my original post, I thought that this was a terrific book for anyone who wanted to get a visual impression of dog behavior. I still think so.

As best I can tell, the only thing that has changed between the first and second editions is the way the photos have been printed. The book now is available through Dogwise, www.dogwise.com.

Here is what I said about the first edition:

The book, “Canine Behavior: A Photo Illustrated Handbook” by Barbara Handelman (copyright 2008, 347 pages, Woof and Word Press, Norwich VT, ISBN 978-0-9765118-2-3) is quite an impressive tome. The book cover says that the book has 1000 pictures, and although I did not count, I can well believe it. Each page has at least several black-and-white photos of dogs behaving.  Measuring 8.5x11 inches (21.5x28 cm), the book is large, with an attractive color cover of dogs performing a variety of behaviors.

The book is organized alphabetically, starting with “acquired bite inhibition” on page 1 and ending with “zoomorphism” on page 280.  Each entry provides a brief definition or description of a particular behavior. In places where the definition is not always easy to understand (such as learning), the book usually also has an example that is much more concrete and more comprehensible than the official definition. For example, “Counter Conditioning” (p 140) has a definition that is standard to the psychological literature, and an example that can be understood by those who get lost in the psychological jargon.

Pages 283 to 294 have 24 photos of dogs either interacting or showing different facial expressions, and the reader is asked to identify as many behaviors as possible in each photo. Pages 295 to 312 have detailed answers to the behaviors in each of the previous photos, and the reader can easily flip back to the alphabetically-organized subjects to get a more detailed look at each behavior.

At the very back of the book is an extensive section of references, titled “Works Cited,” and a topical bibliography, again alphabetized, that lists the more important books and other resources, starting with “Aggression” and ending with “Websites.”

The photographs in the book are provided by 9 different photographers, including Barbara Handelman. Most photos are action shots, with the dogs caught in the middle of some behavior that is featured in the text. A number of photos are of wolves, but many different dog breeds are represented as well.

Clearly, everything in the book has been well-thought-out and well-presented. The book is useful to everyone who is interested in dog behavior, both the seasoned professionals with lots of experience and the novices just starting out.

--Con Slobodchikoff