Animal Accolades
In handler discrimination, Jackie must discriminate between her handler's scent on a glove from the judge's scent on another glove.
In preparing for a trial, saturate you glove with scent ahead ot the trial.
When playing scentwork, always make a game of it by allowing the dog to watch you play with the boxes or in the area as you're setting up the area-- make it interesting for your dog.
As soon as Jackie moves off from the first hide, step off directly with Jackie as she moves.
Resilience is the ability to recover from and resist the negative effects of stress, or “bounce back” after being in a shelter or any stressful environment.
It’s possible to enhance a dog’s physiological ability to recover from stress by affecting their resilience. Even dogs who already have good levels of resilience benefit from a buffer against the effects of future stress by using the following seven processes.
Health, nutritional, and physical wellness must be supplied first. Any possible medical, nutritional, or health factors are addressed, and a sufficient and comfortable physical environment is provided.
Decompression is releasing or reducing mental pressure after the stress of being in a shelter or even the good stress of being adopted into a new home from their previous environment. Decompression depends on the individual; an activity that is decompressing for one dog may be stress-inducing for a different dog. Measure a decrease in breathing and heart rate, a decrease in muscle tension with a soft facial expression, or reduced vigilance (scanning).
Most dogs decompress best with relaxation activities like massage, duration sniffing, sleeping, and relaxing with their person on the couch. Teaching your dog the art of doing nothing by creating an environment where they are comfortable to lie down when they choose, and reinforcing them calmly when they are lying down and relaxed.
A walk in nature off leash (where reasonable and safe) or on a long line where the dog can experience choice and autonomy while they sniff and explore is one of the best sources of stress reduction.
Loss of safety and comfort, experienced by any newly adopted dog, often causes escape behavior and defensive behavior. Decreased reinforcement promotes increased arousal, scanning, and vigilance, whereas reward-based training using positive reinforcement intensifies attention and interest, promoting fearless seeking and exploratory activities.
Allowing time for feelings of increased safety and comfort to be established, combined with ongoing positive counter-conditioning to achieve positive conditioned emotional responses sets up our dogs for success in their new home.
Designate a space or room to be your dog’s safe zone where they can decompress and avoid stressors such as children or other pets, or take a break from experiencing the new larger environment all at once.
Create a mobile safe zone out in the world. Reduce the chance of people disturbing your dog by increasing distance between your dog and other people and dogs. Reinforce calm behavior on a “place” mat to indicate to your dog that is their zone of comfort and take their special mat with you when you take your dog with you on outings.
Make a strong commitment to practice counter-conditioning, desensitization, and conditioning positive emotional responses every day. Create safety and comfort while walking your dog in busy areas by being vigilant about managing the walking environment so your dog does not have to be hypervigilant.
Assertively protect your dog from unwanted advances by not allowing people or their dogs to interact with or approach your dog until your dog is socialized enough to tolerate interaction and approaching.
The more time that goes by that the dog is prevented from encountering triggers in an uncontrolled way, the more the dog feels secure while on walks. Use counterconditioning ahead of time to modify fearful or reactive behavior by associating the trigger with a new positive emotion.
Regular and sufficient time-and-place-appropriate physical exercise is paramount. Sniffaris (roaming nature walks where your dog is allowed to follow their nose) are excellent exercise.
A snuffle mat, tug toy, retrieving a ball or other toy, racing around (zoomies), chasing a flirt pole, and playing with a social partner are all examples. Exercise should be routine, ongoing, and sufficient to meet the dog's needs.
A predictable home life and schedule add resilience. Pattern games, described by Leslie McDevitt and others, like the up-down game, “place” game, the look-at-that game, and ongoing rituals of reinforcement increase predictability and choice for the dog.
Your newly adopted dog needs at least three months to fully decompress, learn the house routine, continue counter-conditioning, form positive emotional responses to everything new around them (which you are facilitating with positive reinforcement), and begin the bonding process with you.
Secure attachment, experiencing positive emotions, and having a purpose in life are important building blocks of resilience. Especially for social species, providing social support by simply being present and available without the need to force or control enhances resilience.
Kneel near your dog and physically support them with petting in your lap or a firm embrace (only if your dog likes this—many herding dogs do) if your dog is fearful in a new environment like the park or vet’s office. Have a calm, confident dog accompany an anxious dog on a walk.
Dogs should be offered as much control and agency as possible. Off leash walks in nature are best, and the Sniffspot app is a great resource for finding secure off-leash opportunities. Allowing dogs to use their own mind and muscles to make choices about their speed and direction while exploring adds to longevity, agency, and resilience.
Allowing your dog to use their own mind and own muscles to make choices about their speed and direction while exploring adds to longevity, agency, and resilience. A long line is a great alternative if walking off leash isn’t possible.
Each dog is an individual and should be treated with respect and awareness of their personal nature, preferences, abilities, and needs.
In the exploration of resilience, whether a behavior professional, a dog sports competitor, or a pet dog home, we should understand the intricacies of decompression and building a foundation of safety and comfort to create an environment that fosters recovery and resilience to help our newly adopted friends navigate their new lives.
Bhambree, B. & Murphy, K. (2023) A framework for behavior modification and training plans to help build and maintain resilience: The Resilience Rainbow. The IAABC Foundation Journal
Least Intrusive, Minimally Aversive (LIMA) Effective Behavior Intervention Policy. (2019) Certification Council for Professional Dog Trainers
"Control Unleashed" (2007) by Leslie McDevitt
B. P. F. Rutten,et al (2013) Resilience in mental health: linking psychological and neurobiological perspectives. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica
Jackie is doing a great job solidifying her gather cue: "Go out!", her pen cue: "Push!", her clockwise directional cue: "Come by!", her counter-clockwise directional cue: "Away!" and is understanding the urban herding assignment. It's fun!
That'll do, Jackie!
In dog nosework, nose holds are a crucial skill, and I'm thrilled with Jackie's progress! She's freezing and holding her nose at the scent source, displaying a strong alert signal.
Jackie's dedication and talent in nosework are evident, and I'm excited to continue our training journey together. Keep up the great work, Jackie!
Your dog put in the effort to search so make it a happy exit every time. Happy exits include "gorilla hands" where you feed your dog repeatedly all the way back to home base, and play with your dog all along the way.
I'm working on body awareness and honoring Jackie's search. I let Jackie lead the search, but as soon as Jackie takes even the smallest step, I step off in her direction. Never back up or sidestep; rather, stay with Jackie's movement.
Keep the leash and leash hook off Jackie's back, somewhat taught as though it were a flexi-lead. Imagine the leash is attached to the front middle of your bra. Leash skills and body awareness are important.
If Jackie stops and looks at me in a search, wait her out. When she moves, then have a happy exit.
After Jackie finds a hide and I've paid her, the handler stays still. Cue "Find more!" and wait for Jackie to move and as soon as she does baby step toward Jackie's line of travel.
If Jackie stops, I stop. Pivot on a person-hole cover but never sidestep, step back, or lead the search. Video your runs and review what your dog is doing.
If Jackie gets frozen, it's ok to re-set her with nose touch or another quick game, then re-start the search. Keep Jackie's leash at least six feet distance between the dog and the handler. If the leash needs to be lengthened, walk baby steps with Jackie as she walks while paying out the leash to a longer length.
In the beginning of domestication, dogs were bred only for working. Dog breeds always reflect the function for which the dog was originally bred. Selective pressures were based on the work that dogs did to help humans, and we still classify dog breeds based on the work for which they were originally bred.
Original proto dogs that were recently evolved from wolves and our modern dogs share modal action patterns, or MAPs, which are a behavioral sequence that is indivisible and will run to completion once triggered. We know that behavior is subject to variation between individuals.
Dog breeds exhibit breed-typical behaviors due to selective pressures and developmental environments. Selective pressures including breeding for specific traits such as herding, hunting, guarding, or companionship, shape behavior by favoring dogs with desired characteristics.
Developmental environments including early socialization, training, and environment also play a crucial role in molding breed-typical behaviors. Herding breeds like border collies exhibit innate herding behaviors due to selective breeding while hunting breeds like Labrador retrievers display retrieving instincts honed through selective breeding and training.
Dog behaviorists must understand however that a dog’s breed is not always a good predictor of behavior. It’s more likely that while behavior traits are heritable (passed from parents to offspring), breed alone is not a good predictor of behavior. In other words, you may have a very friendly pug and also a very friendly poodle, but you may also have a border collie that howls a lot and a corgi that also howls a lot.
As an example, I have a personal “stereotype” that golden retrievers are easy to train, eager, intelligent family dogs that are reliable with children, but that probably isn’t as breed-related as it is related to the individual’s parents and their rearing/environment.
Research (Morrill et al 2022) points to the idea that the breed of a dog is more predictive of how the individual will look (color, coat, size, facial features) than how that individual will behave.
If I adopt a Boston terrier, I can be fairly sure that individual will be compact, short-nosed, smooth coated (how it looks). Will it also be easy to train, pleasant, and intelligent (characteristics often attributed to golden retrievers)? Possibly. Will the Boston terrier be very energetic and need lots of exercise (again often attributed to golden retrievers)? Also possible.
In general the breed Boston terrier is a better predictor of how the dog will look than how it will behave, and I admit I agree with the ideas from new research that challenge my own breed biases.
For breed-typical task efficiency, factors such as genetics, temperament, physical attributes (size, strength, agility), and specialized training are crucial. Dogs often excel in tasks specific to their breed.
In general, dogs from the sporting group need lots of exercise, love running and swimming, and are athletic and intelligent. Sporting dogs were originally bred as tracking dogs.
Dogs from the hound group generally have excellent olfaction abilities, and good vision, and have varied activity levels depending on the individual breed.
Working dogs are large, strong, and powerful dogs that are excellent guard, police, or rescue dogs. They are labor-intensive assistants and tend to be large, powerful, and strong.
Terriers tend to be small and loving. They are often not friendly to other animals since they were bred to hunt small animals on farms. This popular group has loving personalities and puppy-like features but is often described as difficult to train.
The toy group has dogs that are smaller than other breeds but have big personalities. They fit comfortably into apartment dwellings and make excellent watchdogs. Some toy dogs like the Chihuahua, who originated from Mexico, are very small but excellent companions that while easily provoked are very loyal to their person.
The herding group is a subsection of the working group. These working dogs excel at herding, and that includes behaviors such as nipping and barking. Known to "require a certain skill set" they are nevertheless some of the most intelligent and endearing dogs-- my favorite group.
Dogs with multiple ancestors are sorted into the non-sporting group. This group of medium to small dogs is not well defined. This group includes wonderful specimens like the poodle, bulldog, and the Boston terrier.
Predatory behavior is the observable display of predatory instinct to chase prey. Predatory behavior has largely been bred out of dogs but it is still seen, for example when a dog fetches, chases cars, sniffs while hunting, or shakes a stuffed animal. Predatory behavior in dogs refers to instinctual behaviors related to hunting, such as stalking, chasing, and capturing prey.
Predatory drift occurs when a dog crosses the line and tunes us out because their instincts take over. Predatory drift is potentially dangerous and can be triggered by pain, excitement, or the fight-or-flight response. Predatory drift occurs when a dog's predatory behavior escalates unexpectedly, leading to potential aggression toward humans or non-prey animals.
The variability of predatory behavior between different dog breeds and individuals within each breed is influenced by genetics, breed history, training, and socialization. Breeds with strong hunting instincts, such as terriers or hounds, may exhibit more pronounced predatory behavior, while breeds with lower prey drive may show less interest in hunting behaviors. Individual experiences, temperament, and environmental factors furthe
Context is critical for understanding stress or displacement behaviors in dogs to accurately assess their well-being and address potential issues. Recognizing stress-related behaviors in dogs is important since they indicate various stressors such as fear, anxiety, discomfort, or overstimulation.
Common mild stress-related behaviors are lip licking, scratching, yawning, sneezing, stretching, tucking their tail, shaking off, or raised hackles.
Indicators of moderate stress include avoidance, heavy panting, wrinkled brow, tongue flicks, lowered tail, whining, behaving cautiously or reluctantly while approaching, or pushing against a person to relieve stress.
Extreme stress behaviors include heavy drooling or frothing, pinched ears, hunched shoulders, lowered head, whale eye, arched back, wrinkled brow, flared whiskers and lumpy whisker bed, dilated pupils in strong light, withdrawing into themselves, belching or passing gas, shrinking away, enlarged facial blood vessels, stiff or braced legs, and trying to escape.
By understanding the context of stress or displacement behaviors, pet parents can identify triggers, reduce stressors, provide comfort and support, and create a safe and calm environment. This proactive approach improves the dog’s quality of life and strengthens the human-dog bond.
Stress focuses a dog’s energy and is used to cope with a specific situation. While stress is sometimes positive, distress is always negative. Distress leads to physical and mental issues. Severe distress leads to a decrease in physical health such that the mind and body no longer operate normally.
Stress in dogs refers to the body’s response to a challenge or threat, which can be either positive or negative (distress), leading to increased arousal and physiological changes. Distress specifically refers to negative stress that exceeds the dog’s ability to cope, resulting in emotional or physical strain, often accompanied by behaviors indicating discomfort or anxiety.
Stress and distress are significant aspects of dog behavior, and recognizing stress-related and displacement behaviors is crucial to understanding a dog’s emotional state. Stress focuses a dog’s energy and is used to cope with a specific situation. Stress is the body’s response to a challenge, which can be either positive or negative. Distress specifically refers to negative stress that exceeds the dog’s ability to cope.
Identifying stress behaviors is important because it allows guardians to intervene and alleviate the source of stress. Common stress-related behaviors are anxiety-displacement behaviors like lip/nose licking, yawning, or sneezing, shaking, whale eye, dilated pupils, increased shedding, and certain vocalizations. Panting, drooling, pacing, scratching, sniffing the ground, or sudden disinterest in activities are also examples of stress. These behaviors serve as coping mechanisms for dogs to deal with stressful situations or conflicting emotions.
Fight-or-flight response results in long-term negative consequences if the dog is in this mode often. In a fight-or-flight response, the amygdala tells the pituitary gland to release cortisone, adrenaline, and noradrenaline to assist the dog in handling threatening circumstances. It is important to understand that once in the fight-or-flight response, the dog is no longer in control of their body.
The fight-or-flight response in dogs triggers physiological changes such as increased heart rate, elevated blood pressure, dilation of airways, the release of stress hormones like adrenaline and cortisol, and redirection of blood flow to muscles for quick action. It prepares dogs to either confront a threat (fight) or flee from it (flight), aiding in survival during perceived danger.
Recognizing the early signs of the fight-or-flight response in dogs allows caregivers to intervene before the dog reaches a heightened state of stress or aggression. By identifying early indicators such as dilated pupils, tense body posture, increased alertness, panting, trembling, or heightened reactivity, we can de-escalate the situation, provide reassurance, and remove or mitigate the source of stress or threat. This reduces the risk of aggressive behavior or emotional distress and maintains a positive and safe environment for the dog and their humans.
Proactive measures can be taken when we understand stress-related and displacement behaviors to provide comfort and support and create a safe and calm environment for our dogs. This improves the dog’s quality of life and strengthens the bond between the dog and their guardian by instilling trust, security, and emotional health.
Dog body language related to stress and/or conflict includes yawning, lip licking, rigid body stance or "freezing," turned head, and a closed mouth. When a dog is stressed, they display behaviors such as licking their lips or nose, or yawning or sneezing to displace anxiety. They may shake as if they're wet, display whale eye if they're uncertain, have dilated pupils, or increase shedding.
Body language related to stress and/or conflict includes tense body posture with raised hackles, a furrowed brow, and a closed mouth or lip licking. Dogs may exhibit avoidance behaviors such as turning away, yawning, or attempting to hide. Signs of conflict can include a stiff body, wide eyes, and ears held back or flattened against the head, accompanied by growling or snapping when feeling threatened or uncomfortable.
It's important to know that if a dog enters the physiological process of fight-or-fight, the situation is no longer under the dog's control. Long-term negative consequences are likely if the dog is in fight-or-flight mode often, and being in fight-or-flight is exhausting physically, mentally, and emotionally to a dog.
A relaxed and neutral dog has happy, almond-shaped eyes, a slightly open relaxed mouth, and naturally relaxed ears (so understanding your dog's natural ear placement is important). A neutral dog has a happy, relaxed expression, and a slightly open mouth, may display distance-decreasing behaviors, and may have an aimlessly wagging tail that indicates happiness. In a relaxed and neutral dog, you expect to see a loose body posture, relaxed facial muscles with a neutral expression, and ears held in a natural position. The tail may be wagging gently or held in a neutral position, and the dog’s mouth may be slightly open with a relaxed jaw.
A dog displaying offensive, threatening, or aggressive behavior may stare threateningly with direct eye contact expecting you to look away, bared teeth with lips pulled upward aggressively or tense, closed mouth when not snarling or growling, or an aggressive pucker with larger lips, raised ears, leaned-forward posture indicating they my lunge or nip, and their tail may be wagging or held up stiffly to appear larger. An offensive dog may exhibit a stiff body posture, raised hackles along the back, a tense facial expression and exposed teeth, and ears pinned back or forward in an alert position. The tail may be raised high and stiff, or wagging rapidly in a stiff manner.
A dog displaying defensive, threatening, or aggressive behavior may have wide, round eyes indicating fear or distress, and flattened ears indicating fear. A defensive dog may show signs of fear or anxiety, such as cowering, tucking the tail between the legs, and avoiding direct eye contact. The body may be tense, with the head lowered and ears flattened against the head. The dog may also growl or bark defensively while trying to create distance from the perceived threat.
Social vocalizations include scattered vocalizations with playful body language. Dogs often growl, whimper, or whine during play, and the Rottweiler breed is known to growl when they’re comfortable. Social vocalizations in dogs include friendly barks, whines, and playful growls, often used during interactions with familiar people or dogs to express positive emotions. If vocalizations are high-pitched, the internal state is often affiliative.
Appeasement vocalizations may include whining or whimpering when stressed or anxious, and the dog expects a positive reaction from their person. Appeasement vocalizations are softer, higher-pitched whines or whimpers signaling submissiveness and a desire to avoid conflict, commonly observed in response to perceived threats or during submissive gestures.
Threat vocalizations include alarm barking when there is a perceived threat, and biting is possible. Suspicion barking is often low and slow. Serious aggressive growling is a definite communication, and when heard the trigger for the growling should be found to prevent the next more serious behavior. Threat vocalizations are deep, low-pitched barks or growls indicating aggression or a defensive stance, used to warn potential threats. If vocalizations are low-pitched, the internal state is often aggressive.
It is important to recognize the various canine vocalizations because it allows a stronger bond between our dogs and us and allows us to understand our dogs. Recognizing dogs’ vocalizations is important for understanding their emotional states and intentions, and enhancing communication between dogs and humans.
Different vocalizations convey distinct messages, such as social playfulness, appeasement, or threat, allowing us to respond appropriately and prevent potential conflicts or misunderstandings. Understanding vocalizations allows better training, handling, and care, promoting positive interactions and a harmonious relationship.
The context of a vocalization matters, and conveys if the dog is being social or potentially dangerous. Barks occur in varied contexts and varied acoustic structures. Dogs’ vocalizations are often internally motivated due to conflicting emotions and are a by-product of domestication.
Mobbing occurs when an animal is in a den and a predator approaches, the animal goes toward and away from the predator making mobbing barks. Other animals may notice and join the mobbing of the predator. The predator loses the benefit of surprise and quiet.
Conflict can occur the other way when a dog wants to be near or approach a visitor or another animal but is constrained from doing so by a leash, fence, or door. Domestication has provided dogs a short flight distance so dogs are often conflicted in their decision to run away or stay to fight. Dogs have also learned to use barking for reward in novel situations.
Two hypotheses exist about interpreting dog vocalizations. One hypothesis suggests dog barks are context-specific and refer to something specific. This hypothesis posits that vocalization can be referential between dogs as well as between humans and dogs.
Barking is selected for communication with humans to help both survive. Morton’s motivation structural rules say that if a vocalization is low pitched, the internal state is aggressive meaning “back off,” while if high pitched there is an affiliative internal state to come closer.
Another hypothesis posits that dogs’ vocalizations are internally motivated due to conflict. This second hypothesis is likely correct, and the one to which I subscribe.
Dog vocalizations vary between contexts, are not context-specific, and are internally motivated often due to conflict.
Interspecific vocalizations are vocalizations used for communication with another species. Intraspecific vocalizations are vocalizations used for communications with the same species. A unique feature of the bark compared with other canine vocalizations is that it has both tonal and noisy components at the same time.
The tone of a dog’s voice facilitates interpretation in interspecific and intraspecific vocal communication by conveying emotional nuances and intentions. In interspecific communication with humans, variations in tone indicate emotions such as excitement, fear, or aggression, helping humans interpret the dog’s needs and respond appropriately.
In intraspecific communication among dogs, tone helps establish social hierarchies, express playfulness, convey submission, or give warning signals, facilitating social interactions and maintaining group cohesion.
Tame dogs are those who are conditioned or trained to accept human contact and handling without exhibiting fear or aggression. They are accustomed to human presence and even enjoy interacting with people. Tame dogs are friendly and used to people. Tame wolves are not domesticated.
Habituated dogs are those that are accustomed to specific stimuli or environments through repeated exposure. This includes getting used to loud noises, new objects, different types of people, or even dog whistles or punishment. Habituation is gradual exposure to a stimulus that causes less reaction to the stimulus.
Socialized dogs have been exposed to various interactions with other dogs, animals, and humans, learning appropriate behaviors and communication skills within these social and environmental contexts. Early and ongoing socialization for puppies and dogs is critical for a lifetime of appropriate and safe behavior. Socialized dogs are exposed to variety and are comfortable with change.
Domesticated dogs have undergone generations of selective breeding and genetic changes to adapt to living alongside humans. Domesticated dogs exhibit loyalty, biddability, and reduced aggression, making them well-suited for human companions. Domestication takes several generations to occur.
Feral dogs, on the other hand, are domesticated dogs that have reverted to a wild state. They may have escaped human care or been abandoned and have learned to be independent or fearful of humans. Feral dogs are domesticated dogs that have not been in contact with people for a long time and often are not tame.
Stray dogs are domesticated dogs that are currently without a permanent home or human caregiver. They may have been lost or abandoned and are often found living in urban or rural areas, scavenging for food and shelter. Stray dogs have probably been socialized at some point and may or may not interact well with humans.
While tame, habituated, and socialized describe different levels of comfort and interaction with humans and their environment, domesticated dogs have undergone intentional breeding for specific traits conducive to living with humans. Feral and stray dogs, although both domesticated, differ in their current living conditions and degree of independence from human care.
All dogs evolved from wolves. Wolves and dogs share certain similarities including they both chase prey, walk on their toes, have unretractable claws, have dew claws, both tie in reproduction, both are born helpless, blind, and dependent on neonatal and ongoing care, both have a ligament that enables them to keep their nose toward the ground while running.
However a significant difference is that dogs do not have sufficient instincts to survive on their own in the wild. Dogs have been selected for a specific set of social and cognitive abilities that allow them to communicate uniquely with humans. Dogs have jobs ranging from protection, herding, guarding, search and rescue, and police work, to therapy.
Physically, domestic dogs often exhibit reduced skull size, shorter muzzles, floppy ears, and a wider variety of coat colors and patterns compared to wolves. Behaviorally, domestic dogs display increased sociability, reduced flight distance, and increased friendliness towards humans, traits that have been selectively bred over generations.
Wolves typically have larger skulls, longer muzzles, erect ears, and a more uniform coat coloration. They maintain a stronger instinctual fear of humans and tend to be less socialized in human environments. These differences spotlight the significant impact of domestication on both the physical appearance and behavioral characteristics of dogs compared to their wild ancestors, wolves.
