Reactive Dog Recovery Program

Week 3 - Part 3
(Class Information)

Canine Body Language:

(Recognizing, understanding, and respecting your dog is happy, calm, and
relaxed)

(Please open attachments for illustrations when dogs are relaxed and
happy)  

Your dog is continuously communicating with you, other dogs, and her
surroundings using every part of her body.  

It’s a simple body language to learn and understand.  Once you do, you begin to
know exactly what she is feeling at all times.  

This helps you to recognize when she is becoming stressed, anxious, fearful, and
ultimately reactive.  With this knowledge, you can intervene at the right time in
order to prevent her becoming reactive.

Canine Body Language:

(Recognizing, understanding, and respecting when your dog is stressed,
anxious, and fearful)

(Please open attachments for illustrations when dogs are fearful and
anxious)

Muscle tension:

 Jaw tight
 Mouth closed tight
 Holding weight on front feet
 Hackles up

Movement:

1
  Freezing in position and not moving
 Crouching
 Moving slowly

Eyes:

 Whale eye (Dogs eyes are looking far to the side so you can literally see
the whites of her eyes
 Staring, not blinking
 Pupils dilated

Ears:

 Standing erect and still (Pointed ears)

 Held forward and still (Floppy ears)

Tails:

 Held straight up
 Tucked under and between legs

Breath:

 Breathing shallowly, fast, panting

Vocalization:

 Whining, barking, growling

Freeze and Stare:

A freeze and stare can happen in a micro-second. Learning what your dog’s
body does in a freeze and stare, can help you to prevent your dog from going
over-threshold.

When your dog sees a trigger, she will stop moving her body (freeze). She will
also be completely looking and focused on the trigger with her eyes (stare).

Her mouth will close which means she is about to go over-threshold.

You can stop her from reacting though, by starting “Look At Me” immediately and
quickly the very second she starts to turn her head to look at the trigger. Precise
timing and a high rate of reinforcement is vital to keep your dog under threshold
when she notices the trigger.

Calming Signals:

2
(Learning, understanding, and respecting when your dog is giving calming
signals)

(Please open attachment for more detailed and very important information
about Calming Signals as written by Turid Rugaas)

(Also open attachment for Calming Signals illustrations)  

Calming signals is a term coined by Norwegian dog trainer Turid Rugaas to

describe the signals used by dogs to communicate with each other to prevent
aggression and for calming down nervousness in others.
Without learning and understanding your dog’s calming signals and how to
respond humanely to her signals, she will continue to be reactive.

Constantly observe your dog to become competent in her body language. Get to
know exactly what she is telling you at all times.

Then go to a dog park (without your dog at this point) to observe other dog’s
body language. Eventually it becomes easy and obvious.