How to Prevent Your Dog from Biting Out of Fear – Part 1

Posted by Jeanne on October 19, 2009

A fear-bite is a bite that occurs out of sheer panic. It’s not to be confused with dominance-aggression, which is a sign of deep-set personality problems; a fear-biter isn’t necessarily a ‘fierce’ dog. He’s just scared.

Why does fear-biting happen?

A fear-biter bites because it’s his only way of expressing his extreme fear or panic, and his only way of telling his owner that he can’t handle the situation.

Almost all cases of fear-biting are actually caused by well-meaning, but ill-advised, humans: they see what’s clearly a scared dog, and – intending to either comfort the dog or to show him that there’s ‘nothing to be afraid of’ – they approach too close, and push an already-anxious dog over the edge.

Dogs can’t ask us to please leave them alone. They can’t tell us that something’s bothering them, or that they need some space: all they can do is sign the message to us through their body-language.

It’s easy to tell when a dog’s feeling scared or panicky once you know what to look for. Fear-biting never just happens ‘out of the blue’: it only occurs when people ignore the signs.

Fear-biting: the warning signs

Fear-biters are submissive dogs. When faced with a new situation or unfamiliar people, they do not react with the customary effortless confidence of a well-socialized, well-adjusted dog: instead, they become nervy and on edge.

A scared dog, when faced with the unfamiliar, will assume a distinctively submissive posture, and will display several marked behaviors. The more common of these are listed below.

Posture

- Tail tucked (or, if docked, the back legs will crouch down and the haunches will ‘tuck’)
- Hunched, lowered back
- Ears flat against the head
- Elbows bent in a slight crouch

Behaviors

- Excessive panting (hyperventilating)
- Yawning (an attempt to reduce tension)
- Avoidance of eye contact
- In extreme cases, a dog may also urinate or defecate out of fear

More information on this topic next week…

Collie – Is This the Perfect Dog for You?

Posted by Jeanne on October 6, 2009

Do you know how the Collie got its name? The word has its beginning way back in the early days of the English language. lt comes from the Anglo-Saxon word col meaning black. Col or colley was a name that was also used for the sheep of Scotland many hundreds of years ago. These sheep were coal black. The dogs that watched over them were called colley dogs. Later these sheep dogs were simply called Collies, and the name has remained in the language.

Queen Victoria had much to do with making the Collie popular in her native England. During one of her visits to Balmoral Castle in Scotland in the 1860′s, she saw some Collies working with sheep. She was so impressed with their intelligence that she decided to take a pair back to Windsor with her. The Queen was so attached to her Collies that they went with her wherever she went. But one time, on a royal visit to France, she didn’t take one of her dogs. She missed her pet so much that a member of her court had to go back to England to bring the collie to France to be with her mistress.

In England, the royal family sets the style. If a queen wears a certain kind of hat, her subjects notice the style and try to get the same kind. If a duke knots his tie a certain way, before long most of the men are copying him. The same is true with dogs. When Queen Victoria favored the Collie, she unwittingly made the breed one of the most popular in England in a very short time.

In America, the movies and TV set the styles. Back in the 1920s, a German Shepherd named Rin-Tin-Tin was the hero of thousands of children – and grownups too. All through the 1920s, the German Shepherd was the most popular dog in the country. In the 1950s, a Collie named Lassie did for her breed what Rin-Tin-Tin did for his. When we saw Lassie on the screen, we realized that Collies were not only good sheep dogs, but they were good companions for youngsters. Their intelligence and love for children make them excellent pets.