Dog Behavior

While walking Coral recently, we encountered a fellow dog owner with a young Corgi.  The woman stopped in the middle of the path as we approached, and it was clear she wanted her youngster to meet and greet us and Coral.  Coral was more interested in locating birds and squirrels, but did take a moment to go up and sniff the Corgi before taking off again on her quest.

As we approached the little Corgi it was quite evident the pup was shy and wasn’t at all convinced that meeting us was going to be a good thing.  The dog began to back up a bit as we got closer, and rather than allowing her to do so, her owner reached down and held the dog in place.

Knowing Coral as we do, we knew she would take a few quick sniffs and be off to do other things, so the Corgi wouldn’t be subjected to any over-exuberant, prolonged attempts to play.  But as soon as we saw the owner intended to hold her dog in place big warning lights flashed in our heads.  We knew the owner’s action signaled a perfect setup for the Corgi to decide to bite.

When dogs feel threatened in social situations, their choice of behavioral responses fall into the category of agonistic behaviors.  One such choice is to avoid the conflict.  This is usually a good choice for a dog to make.  When owners make the mistake of forcing the dog to engage in the interaction by holding him in place, making him sit and stay, or otherwise prevent him from leaving, they are forcing the dog to choose another behavior response.  Often the dog’s second choice is to threaten – growl, snap, show teeth – or simply bite. 

Luckily Coral’s interaction with the Corgi was brief enough that the little dog wasn’t sufficiently threatened to snap at her.  Because we saw the Corgi’s problem, we stopped a foot or so short of the dog, and waited to see if he would take a step or two toward us for a pet, rather than forcing ourselves on him by offering him a hand to sniff or reaching to pet him.

Dog owners should never force their dogs to accept social interactions the animals are clearly not comfortable with.  Instead, find ways to make the interaction less scary, such putting more distance between their dog and the visitor, or asking the person to stand still and ignore their dog.  Then, use whatever your dog finds irresistible – usually food or toys – to encourage her to approach the visitor on her own. 

Another useful technique is to teach your dog to touch a target – such as a target stick, or even the end of the leash – and then move the target gradually closer to the visitor.  You can also try laying a trail of treats toward the visitor or re-thinking again how you can make the situation less frightening for your dog.

Forcing your dog to accept a social interaction, believing that you can show her other people won’t hurt her is not the way to go.