Dog Greeting Behaviors
You’re going to see dogs greet one another every day in playgroup. These rituals are important to understand even for dogs who know each other well and have to greet day after day. The chart in your workbook shows two columns so you can compare polite versus rude greeting behaviors.
In a perfect greeting ritual, dogs will arc towards one another with loose body posture and then sniff faces, necks and rear-ends. They will often circle as they sniff each other’s rears. The greeting might have a second or two of stiff uncertainty but overall the dogs are loose, not staring at one another, showing relatively calm behaviors as they greet.
Rude behaviors can happen because one dog is overwhelming to the other dog he’s meeting by jumping or barking. This often happens with adolescent dogs or young puppies. Rude behavior can be threatening with stiff staring behaviors that are signs of fear or confidence.
A rude greeting doesn’t mean the dogs will fight, it just means you increase the likelihood of the greeting not going very well. If one dog greets another dog rudely and the second dog has a high tolerance for that kind of rude behavior, they might still wind up as playmates. However, you always want to encourage polite greetings and help dogs to calm down so that they can greet each other in a polite manner.
It’s common for dogs to sniff one another on different areas of the body, usually starting with the muzzle and the neck. Scent communication is important to dogs and you want to allow it unless the dogs are freezing and holding their position for too long. You may need to intervene if the sniffing is lasting more than 5 to 10 seconds at one spot as this might intimidate the dog being sniffed.
Humans really don’t like this particular behavior of the dog sniffing rear-ends because we find it somewhat offensive, but it’s a really important part of the greeting ritual.
Watch some greetings in action and look for polite greeting behaviors as well as stiffening and signs of stress.
How’s the Greeting?
Now we’re going to take a look at photos and talk about how the greeting is going, whether it’s good, whether we should use caution, or whether we should stop the greeting and talk about the body language we observe that results in that answer.
A. For these dogs, this is a good greeting. The body language is fairly polite, they are relaxed and the dog on the right is lifting his paw as an appeasement gesture.
B.In this greeting I would use caution. The dogs look like they might do okay, but it really depends on how long they continue to stay face to face or head-on. They are sniffing noses and there is a little staring happening, but you would hope that it would not last very long. They don’t seem overly stiff. The dog on the left is not standing on the ground os it’s hard for the other dog to read all of that body language. The dog on the right is a little stiff with legs locked out and ears back. However, if this doesn’t last long, it might still continue without any problem. But overall, I would use caution.
C. With this greeting I would use caution. The body language shows that the dogs are arc-ed and that’s a great sign. The Great Dane does seem off balance and a stance that indicates he is ready to play. The brown dog seems more stiff and is leaning forward in a posture
D. In this greeting I would use caution. These dogs are both showing avoidance behaviors. The dog on the left is looking away and the dog on the right is scratching. They seem to be trying to ignore the fact that they’re even together. It’s hard to say if they want to interact, they may be happy just coexisting in the area and not actually playing together.
E. In this photo the poodle is not interested in greeting. The other dog is relaxed and attempting to do a polite sniff of the rear-end. However, the poodle is sitting down which is a classic cut-off signal between dogs that means “I’m done.” The poodle probably does not want to play. I would watch the small dog who is doing the sniffing and if he sniffs too long, then I would stop the greeting and call him away. Overall, I would use caution and observe the greeting and the body language of the dogs.
Overall, as you watch dogs greet you’re going to watch for polite and rude greeting behaviors. You’ll also be watching for appropriate loose body postures versus stiff postures or inappropriate body language from each dog. Be prepared to call the dogs away, split or redirect them as needed, and do this even if they have met and played together before.
Now let’s practice!
We are going to be using some video footage to watch the following dogs greeting. You’re going to see the video twice. Write down whether or not you would let the greeting continue and then whether or not you see behavior that concerns you.
You can pause the recording to work on the exercise at any time then, come back and we’ll go over the answers.
Temperament Testing
The greeting behaviors you’re learning about are always important to watch regardless of how many times dogs have played together previously. But when the dogs first meet, then it’s even more important to note the greeting ritual and the greeting behaviors. Your pet center should have a procedure in place on how to evaluate dogs for suitability for an off-leash playgroup. This is what temperament testing is all about.
With temperament testing your center will want to pre-evaluate dogs before you actually bring them into a daycare or playgroup to make sure you can determine the basic level of safety for you and the other dogs before you get the dog off-leash. Through temperament testing you’ll also get a feel for what group would be best for the new dog and determine if the dog would enjoy an off-leash play setting.
We’re going to cover some very basic information about temperament testing, but again your center should have a more in-depth procedure on how to do all of this. Our focus in this module is going to be giving you enough information so that you can help determine which dogs are at high or low risk when they enter your facility and how to properly match playmates together.
Red Flag Answers
Your center should be asking owners some basic questions before they bring a dog to daycare or off-leash play. These would warrant further discussion with the dog owner.
Why are you bringing your puppy to playgroups?
If the dog is an adult, which means over two or three years of age, the red flag answer would be that the owner’s bringing the dog for socialization. Remember from your study on stages of development that the key socialization window for dogs is when they are young puppies. It is important for young puppies to learn to play with other dogs. Socialization is also important for adult dogs. But when an owner wants to bring an adult dog for socialization, it usually means the dog is not getting along with dogs at the dog park. If this is the case, they may not be suitable for off-leash play and might instead need behavioral training. You want to discuss these factors with the owner. Dog daycare off-leash play is really a service for dogs that are already socialized.
So how old is your dog?
Adolescent dogs are often brought to daycare which is not a problem, but a dog that is six months to two years old generally has higher arousal levels and needs close supervision. This answer can help you identify the best playgroup match for the dog.
Has your dog ever played with other dogs?
The best off-leash play candidates are those dogs that have played with a wide range of other dogs and not just one or two dogs they’ve met as a puppy.
What does your dog do when he is upset?
By now you’ve learned a great deal about aggressive displays and know how to identify them. However, most owners will not use the term aggression when they talk about their dog, instead they will use other words such as grumpy, growling, they don’t like it, etc. Keep those in mind and when you hear those kinds of words, it might mean the dog has a tendency toward aggressive displays in particular situations, and you want to use caution when they’re greeting other dogs.
After Testing
K9 Club will have an experienced supervisor conduct the temperament testing or evaluation. It’s good to begin to watch these temperament tests as you learn more about off-leash play. After the testing is done, an observer or the actual tester should document the results and make recommendations on which groups to put a new dog in. You’ll also want to document any concerns you might have so you can continue to monitor the dog.
In this activity we’re going to help you begin to identify dogs that might be high or low risk in an off-leash play setting. Look at these two dogs based on the description of the dog and the type of behavior you see in the photos. So let’s just say that what you’re seeing here in the photo is what you see when the dog is temperament tested. Based on all these factors, would you say this dog is a low or high risk for safe off-leash play?
The Dalmatian is high-risk only in terms of arousal levels. You want to make sure he is well supervised with experienced staff that understands arousal. The Shepherd is low risk in terms of age but the aggressive display he’s showing, assuming that that is what you see when you’re doing the temperament testing, makes him a higher risk.
What about each of these dogs? Look at each dog. Based on the description of the dog and the type of behavior you see, would you say this particular dog is a low or high risk for off-leash play?
I would say the Cane Corso is low risk based on age and her body posture in this photo. If you answered high risk based on the breed, that is partially correct as the Cane Corso is considered a red light breed for off-leash play. This is why it’s so important to evaluate each dog as an individual. Do they exhibit appropriate group play behaviors? Well, we don’t know that right now. So there is some gray area in this particular answer. The Chihuahua is low risk, but you
would want to make sure he is with a group of small dogs because he looks a little bit timid. He should definitely be monitored closely during his first play session to ensure his body language relaxes and he’s enjoying the play.
When play groups don’t work out
One of the most important things to remember is that dogs
do not need to attend playgroup in order to be healthy and happy pets. In fact, there are many dogs that don’t want to be in a playgroup. And as a pet professional, it’s your job to identify these dogs and find a more suitable option for them.
Some dogs are natural introverts and don’t enjoy being in crowds of other dogs; sometimes the dogs are overly confident, aloof and they just don’t play well with others. Regardless of the reason you have to remember this doesn’t make the dog a bad dog, it just makes the dog one that doesn’t like off-leash play. It’s the environment that’s not a good fit.
Communicating with Owners
You’ve gained a great deal of knowledge over the past several weeks or month as you’ve gone through this training, and it’s going to be easy for you to see that a dog might not be happy in an off-leash play setting. But communicating that information to the owner is sometimes a challenging task. Try to focus on the dog body language signals and make
sure you stress that it’s the environment that’s bad, not the dog. The owner has a great family pet that they love; it’s just a great family pet that doesn’t like an off-leash play setting. So often all the owner is going to hear when you talk to them is that they have a bad dog. You really have to over-communicate the point that the environment is just not appropriate and note that there’s nothing wrong with their dog.
Offer Alternatives
Owners will often ask you what they can do to fix their dogs so that they can continue to bring them to playgroup. Stand your ground here and remind them that off-leash play isn’t something that their dog will enjoy. If you’re able to offer other alternatives, that is a much better way to handle this part of the communication. Understand why the owner was wanting to bring the dog to off-leash play to begin with.
You’re going to receive a hand out of your pet care center’s options for dogs that don’t work out in group play. Recommend a solution that you know the dog will enjoy so that the owner understands you’re helping to do what is best for the overall health and well-being of their dog.
Congratulations!
In this lesson you’ve learned how to identify rude and polite greetings so you know when to intervene or stop an introduction when you start to see some rude behavior. You’ve also learned some red flag answers for when a new dog is coming to playgroup which can help you determine if the dog will be suitable and what level of risk there might be for each dog. You’ve learned to set the dogs and owners up for success by helping them find other alternatives if group play isn’t the best option for their dog.
You have now finished all eight modules of Knowing Dogs 201. This is a huge accomplishment and a testament to your dedication to your job to keep dog safe in off-leash play.