Ama

I'm not an expert at reading a dog's body language-in fact I'm still learning how to read body language in a dog, but I can notice obvious ones; stress, fear, play, etc.

Miyavi is one dog I often have a hard time reading, weird though since she is my own dog. The thing is, she sends a lot of mixed signals. Sometimes she comes off as an assertive dog-other times she comes off as a timid/submissive dog. Her sending mixed signals might have to do with her being separated from her mom and litter mates too earlier( found her when she was four weeks)

She seems to be able to communicate well with other dogs though, so maybe it's just me. Not sure.

Anyway, something just happened made me think 'what?'

I just got home from work(closing shift, yay) and after getting home I took her outside. I live in a duplex the people in the house connected to mine are a woman and her teenage son. Anyway, I took Miyavi outside in the front yard so she can relieve herself. We were on their side(they don't mind since I pick up her mess and since I do all yard work myself for both sides) and the teenage son came home.

He was walking toward his front door and as soon as Miyavi saw him get out of the car that dropped him off she started wagging her tail like crazy, she was just so excited to see him. She honestly was acting as though he was her best friend(and she has only seen him twice).

I don't like her barging up to other people unless they give her the okay. He seemed hesitant with her, so I held her back. Because she couldn't get to him but really wanted to she started whining. While trying to get to him. I'll be honest, it made me laugh-because she was acting like he was her best companion and she was just so happy to see him. (She does something similar to my father-but I make her sit before she gets any attention from him)

She did that until he got on his porch and was at his door. She was watching him the whole time. Then all of a sudden her body posture took on a defense pose(can't think of the right word...) and she started barking at him. It wasn't a friendly bark, it wasn't aggressive, but it seemed defensive. Her bark tone varies.

When she's excited it can be a little high pitched.

When she's anxious there is a whine to it.

When it's normal it's a little deeper then usual.

When it's defensive it has a growl undertone and is deep(can't think of how to describe it other then that).

Why the sudden change in her behavior or the signals she sends out? Since it was one AM and I'm sure the neighbors didn't like the barking- I quickly got her quieted and then she finished her business and we came back inside.

I can't figure her out sometimes, her mixed signals are one of the things I'm still trying to get. It's kind of sad I can read other dog's body language then my own dogs.

Monstermom

My guess is she became frustrated she wasn't going to get to greet him. You may be surprised by how many dogs showing very severe aggression actually just want to greet (at least initially, then it may become a vicious circle), so her reaction seems pretty mild (although that can be how it starts). If she's in high stress (as it sounds like she was, with being so excited to see him), her body will be full of stress hormones. When she just keeps building those and then becomes frustrated they may find a different outlet.

Just guessing, though.

Ama

Ah, that actually makes a lot of sense!

I know her acting in such a manner isn't exactly a good thing-so I do try and change the direction of her attention or get her to get a little calmer. But tonight I failed ^^;

After he was inside I was finally able to really get her attention and she switched back to her usual self so I was able to get her to focus on the task at hand(relieving herself) pretty quickly.

Bigboy

Ama a little confusing for you I guess! But what I would do seriously is don't make different rules for one person she meets then change the rules again the next person she meets if that makes sense EG: when she meets your father you get her to sit so good work there Then you say you don't like her barging up to people again good work! But then you say if other people don't mind being barged then that's ok?? No! It's like with Nipper I don't like her jumping up to any body yes I get people saying it's ok and like wise I get people saying I don't like it so across
the board she isn't allowed to jump up People can greet her but it's on my terms and she must be on all 4 feet! other wise the dog will become confused so try the sit like you do with your father then extend this to all people HTH And good luck!!

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Ama

Oh no sorry I wasn't clear on that!

I do keep her calm or get her calm(sitting is the usual command given) before she actually gets contact with other people. (By barge I meant greet them, ack sorry! Wrong wording)

But before I do that or start to give her that direction/command I look at the people and see what they want. If they want anything to do with her, if they want to pet her at all, or if they just want to ignore her and be on their own way. Once I know what they want to do-I will take action then.

If they don't want anything to do with her, I try and redirect her attention away from them and move her away. If they are fine with her and will be fine with her greeting them/if they want to pet her, I will then again try and get her attention but also get her in the sit command or have them give the command and then pet her only when she is sitting.

Sorry for not being clear on that *tired from long shift so I'm not making much sense *

I'm sure though that for some things I do, I might be confusing her, which could also be why she is sending mixed signals. Thanks for the advice I'm thinking that I do need to re-approach how I do certain things with her, this might be one of the things I will look at and re-approach so I don't confuse her.

Bigboy

That's ok So there is some consistancy on what you are doing then
Oh I have meet those people who say you should let her jump up then they try and ecourage Nipper and I say down to Nipper then they it's ok and I say it's NOT ok! Sometimes they take offence. Actually I don't care how they feel it's not thier dog! Only the other day walking back past the hospital you get nurses.cleaners all smoking outside ( not a good adveristement for the NHS ) and this male nurse had a empty plastic bottle and decided to tease Nipper with it. I said do you mind not doing that He gave me a look as it to say spoil sport! Again not my problem and carried on back home

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Kenzie'sMom

My guess is the same as MonsterMom - she was frustrated because she wasn't allowed to spend any time playing with someone she saw as a 'good buddy'!

MacKenzie used to do the same thing. He'd see someone he wanted to say hello to/get petted by and if they either just said hello or walked on past, he'd be barking at them. It was 'come back here, we're not finished' more than aggression.

Now he just looks at their backs like 'how dare you not stop to pet me, I'm so handsome!'..

And just because she's only seen the kid twice doesn't mean that she hasn't 'made friends'!

Ama

That's true, but she never had any actual interaction that's why my thought was ' why are you acting like that? Isn't he still a stranger?'

what you and monstermom said made a lot of sense thanks both of you!

P.S- love the whole 'how dare you not pet me, I'm so handsome' made me laugh ^^