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Is it a T-Rex or Piloerection? | Interpreting “hackles” when the dog looks calm
I shared this Cane Corso???? video clip during our Beet in Motion ????event last week and we had a fun conversation that I wanted to share with the whole community.
✳Piloerection is when the hairs on the back of the dog stand up. It can be seen at the shoulders, on the rump or all the way from shoulders through the base of the tail. Another name for piloerection is “hackles”. People may say the dog’s hackles are up or raised. Sometimes people joke the dog looks like a little T-Rex, especially on wiry coated breeds.
????The type of hair matters – it will look different on a golden retriever (mohawk) vs. a Lab (brush) vs. a doodle (almost impossible to see – especially when the coat is long.)
What do we do about it? Well, it’s good to know that piloerection indicates a high arousal level – the dog is internally very “on edge”. It could be that the dog is super excited in a good way or that they are feeling agitated or defensive. ???? Look at the rest of the body language and the behavior choices to see the rest of the message.
A dog who is in a high arousal state should be encouraged to calm down before engaging with a social partner (human or canine) because just as in people, dogs can go from “edgy” to “nasty” really quickly. (Trigger stacking, anyone?) Sniffing is a great calming activity for dogs with piloerection. Toss some treats on the ground and let the dog seek them.
Have you seen piloerection? What was the situation? What was the outcome?
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11 Replies
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I was just looking back through our chat during the BEET in Motion event and @jenz made a comment about piloerection: Interesting about the location of piloerection equating to arousal level-I was told it is all the same muscle and no difference in arousal level- it is equivalent of the hair raising on your arms- you have no control of where of how many hairs raised.
So I decided to go digging a bit (Chief Excavator, after all! – ????)
Patricia McConnell wrote about piloerection and shared that Karen London has “observed, a thin line of erected hair from shoulders to tail correlates with more confident dogs, while a broad patch over the neck and/or shoulders (but no further down) correlates with low confidence.”
Here’s more from Karen on those observations.
I looked around the interwebs and a few great body language books I have and couldn’t find anything more substantial to share with you. Jen may be right. Patricia may be right. Karen may be right… we’re all guessing because there’s just no real research on it (M.S. capstone project, anyone?)
Take what I said for what it is… my own anecdotal observations that dogs who are more highly aroused have a greater hackle-y nervous system response than dogs who are less aroused. Maybe I’m right on this, but maybe not, too… watch for it and let me know what you think!
Even more importantly, how long does it take the dog to recover? A dog who stays “amped” for longer is a dog I’d be watching really closely.
Finally, if the piloerection is combined with a fully frontal, fully aligned (head, shoulders, tail), stiff body, and a direct stare, this is threat behavior. To defer and avoid an attack, one should turn sideways, give more space, lower the gaze and breathe.
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What a great video clip! And Joy is the epitome of grace. ????
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@catherine : Really, opening up for discussion about the science behind piloerection is fascinating. I like @jenz thoughts on the matter, too. And Patricia McConnell’s…and Karen Overall’s…Can’t there be different reasons, in some dogs, as to what gets their hackles up?
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Coincidentally, I did get an up close and personal (near-attack) a couple of weeks ago. I was running, but my heel felt tight, so I decided to stretch a little at that point and afterwards, walk, in the street of my subdivision. About 3 houses down, I saw a woman working in her yard, then, BAM! An off-leash dog came running right directly at me…mind you, I was in the street, not sidewalk, and the dog was non-responsive to his owners coming after him, yelling, “Harley, come, GET OVER HERE!!!”
I got a brief look at a snarling, growling small/medium sized mixed breed, teeth bared, hard stare and yes, hackles up. I stopped cold, there in the street, threw my hands into my armpits, crossed arms, and averted my gaze up to the heavens above, albeit looking away from him/her.
Finally, the owners grabbed the dog and semi-apologized to me, mortified, I’m sure.
I was only wearing a tank top and capri leggings at the time and was NOT in this dog’s space at all, or running. Was pretty shaken and upset. I really do not know if the dog would have attacked just a couple of seconds later. I also had no time to increase distance without running or going into traffic. Scary. But I got to see hackles-up!
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This is such great information! I am always curious, seeing it used in so many situations in group dog setting (daycare)
@bernerlabreclectus what a scary situation! I admire how you handled that. I wonder if I would of the same way being totally ambushed out if no where.
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I’m so glad everyone came out of this situation unscathed!
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(I’m especially glad you were not injured). So scary and upsetting
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Although a very scary to be in, in my opinion you did the best thing that your training and knowledge has taught you. Glad you were ok!
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This is an excellent video! I see this fairly frequently in my short haired dogs. Interestingly, our Starla has a little “ball” midway down her tail that puffs up when she’s nervous about something. Tiramisu gets a similar look to the dog’s fur in this video when over-aroused. Toki’s “tank top” (all the slightly darker hair down his mid back) stands up when he is upset or stressed. I love how you break down the calming and displacement signals in this video. All these elements can be easy to miss when we’re “in the moment”. ❤️????
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All very good and super thought provoking points!
I would ask, do we ever really know what a dog is feeling or thinking?
My dog Titan is and presents as a confident dog, He stands tall, forward, tail high in almost all situations. He displays piloerection in many situations, even play solicitations. I have learned a lot from him including he can communicate without moving into conflict. Although I will never say “he would never bite”, from my observations of him, he is not likely too, even when displaying piloerection. I have learned through observations he is a dog who is likely predisposed genetically to “control movement” and can be aroused in many situations where there is movement. He presents as a “dog who may bite” but, in my opinion he will be the first to move away and avoid conflict after he “says” what he may think he has too.
Here are a couple of videos when I first adopted him as a “dangerous dog” (Titan was a BE save. He is the larger light tan dog) when I was first trying to introduce him to my resident dog, K. Titan was 9 years old and K was 8 years old at that time. What do you think about his body language? Did you catch Titan’s slight piloerection in one of the videos?
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@bernerlabreclectus – I’m SO GLAD you weren’t hurt. You did the right thing, standing still, bringing your hands in and looking away. I might have added a body turn 90 degrees (if you didn’t already.) I once stopped a BIG loose intact pitty boy who was heading my way doing that. And another time, a GREAT DANE with a bite history that I was working with in the owner’s home (and the owner let the leash go… last time I trusted an owner with the leash!) – in that case I was up against a wall, covered my throat and closed my eyes while breathing as slowly as I could… her hot breath and saliva were at my chest height. OMD. That’s when I learned to never trust the owners when doing aggressive dog consults. I am thankful for ZOOM calls – I stopped going to homes for those.
Anywho – this is a great convo – thanks, @jenz for jumping in with the videos. I agree – arousal can mean a lot of things, and just like with people, it takes seeing a dog in many contexts before we can know them well enough to predict their behavior (and even then, they may decide to change, what with free will and all.) I always tell people: “You look nice enough, but I bet I could put you into a situation where you’d throw a punch… or worse… (I won’t tho!)… and similarly, we’ll try to keep your dog in a happy place, but “never” is not realistic when working with living beings. All dogs can bite, given the right antecedents. That said, let’s work in the happiest possible way to reduce triggers and build reliable impulse control…”
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