Calming vs. Stress Signals

When I first got into dog training, I was thrilled to discover a simple, somewhat ridiculous tool to combat insomnia. Reading positive dog training books before bed made me feel so relaxed, happy, and hopeful! All of that, plus the fact that they were somewhat wonderfully boring, allowed me to drift off to sleep thinking about the possibilities for helping dogs with these methods that are thoroughly positive, joyful, and relationship-focused. 


Calming Signals: On Talking Terms with Dogs was not the least bit boring but still put me into a state of happy stupor. Turid Rugaas describes how every time a dog does certain behaviors out of context, she is probably trying to communicate calming signals. When a dog yawns, shakes, lick her lips, or looks away, she is telling other dogs to calm down and relax--there's no threat here. Dogs use them to avoid fights and establish peaceful relations among groups.

This was just so exciting to me. Imagine the possibilities for communicating with our canine friends! Imagine whole families yawning at the Fedex guy, just to help their dog cope! Imagine Reactive Dog classes where all the human coaches and assistants stand around licking their lips and shaking!

Sam, I know you wanna play--but go easy on me!

Then you can probably imagine my consternation when one of my dog training mentors--a trainer who is absolutely committed to positive methods and has done more than anyone I know for their promotion and use with rescue dogs, fearful dogs, behaviorally challenged dogs--poo-poohed the idea of calming signals and said that they are actually stress signals that dogs use when they are deeply uncomfortable. 

She said that most trainers no longer think of these signals the way Rugaas described. She said that using them as Rugaas suggests--training dogs to display them so they communicate clearly with each other, displaying them ourselves to help dogs relax--just keeps dogs in a stressed-out state. According to this understanding, our only response to stress signals should be removing a dog from the situation that is making him stressed out. 


Now this trainer, bless her heart, is as I said unfailingly positive in her approach to dogs. Not so much to humans. She can come off as a bit grumpy and dismissive, and maybe she was just having one of those days where she had to growl a little at my gushy effusiveness. 

Can someone make those two calm down?

I can see how both understandings are useful. If we are well versed in the language of canine communication, then calming signals will be like a little reminder to us to tune in to our dogs. We can respond by giving the dog some distance from the stressor, and seeing if the signals abate. Once there's some distance, we can see what happens if we do some yawning and shaking of our own--does that provide some reassurance? 


The issue fascinates me and I am going to delve again into Canine Body Language: A Photographic Guide by Brenda Aloff--a very in-depth look at calming signals and all aspects of dog communication. 


While I bliss out with another good read on positive dog stuff, share your thoughts! Which understanding is more useful? What do you do when you see calming/stress signals? Do you have a dog who's a brilliant communicator, or one with poor social skills? 

Another calming trick: yawning

Like many dogs, Maize was uneasy with the camera  

I think this is my favorite one yet, picked up from reading Turid Rugaas' Calming Signals: On Talking Terms with Dogs. For dogs who are stressed by other dogs, thunderstorms, the sound of approaching trains, we can use the signals that dogs use to calm each other down.

When dogs do something that seems out of context--shaking when they're dry, licking their lips when they're not eating, yawning when they're not tired--often they are displaying a calming signal. When two dogs meet each other for the first time and are not sure of each other, they do a lot of these. 

I see this all the time in my own house.

• I bring home a new foster, foster comes into yard, Lamar is allowed to see foster, Lamar turns sideways: calming signal. 
• New dog licks his lips: calming signal.
• Lamar sniffs the ground: calming signal.
• New dog approaches slowly, in an arc: calming signal 
• Dogs greet, sniff, decide they like each other, new dog goes into a play bow: calming signal
• Dogs romp and play for a few minutes, Lamar yawns: calming signal
• I get out the camera to capture these fabulous moments on film, both dogs look away: calming signal
• Dogs start roughhousing again, knock into my legs, I yell Ouch! with some irritation in my voice, both dogs stop playing and shake: calming signal.

What all these signals are saying is chill out! With these communications, dogs are trying to convey that they are a bit uncomfortable with a situation. To another dog, they are saying Remain calm, I'm not a threat. To a person with a camera or a yelling person, they are trying to get us to calm down and remove the camera from their faces or stop yelling at them. 

The most fascinating thing Rugaas relates is the value of these signals in training. She worked with a family that lived by the train tracks, whose dog was terrified, howling, trembling, hiding with every passing train. To get the dog to relax, she tried getting the whole family to yawn when that train went by. Within a few weeks, the dog was transformed--sleeping calmly as the train blew its horn and chugged on by.

I think this is a wonderful tool to be used in conjunction with desensitization and counterconditioning. I tried it last night with Lars and Lamar, who still get stressed and excited about each others' entries in the front door. As Lamar tried to enter, and Lars stood inside, hackles up, I gave them both bits of hot dog as usual while I stood there yawning. And I swear Lamar's hackles relaxed a bit and both of them smiled a bit wider, a bit less tensely, as they chewed their hot dogs and watched me yawn and yawn.