ZONES - Distance Tells a Story
BOLD
The dog who is bold holds the head proudly, up high looking extremely
confident, alert ears held forward, eyes wide in an open stare, closed
mouth, broad shoulders taking a very tall posture, possibly with the
hackles up. Tail is held stiffly either straight out or up from body.
It may growl or grunt assertively.
FEARFUL
The shy dog looks timid, insecure, an underdog with a low head and hang
dog expression. Ears are plastered back with slightly narrowed eyes
and a closed mouth perhaps drawn in a submissive grin. The Tense body
is lowered, shoulders are pinched and front legs held close together
underneath the body, tail is tucked and this dog moves with a crouched
gait. Some lean backwards like a rocking horse if you try touch them.Zones
are very interesting and important. The zone is a circle around the
dog existing of three distances and each distance tells a story if we
would but look... . Some animals are more territorial, and some may
have a lower tolerance level to stress making zones smaller and some
bigger.The dog has 3 zones around him, a few authors say 5.
However three is easier to remember as space and distance have a MAJOR
influence on your dogs behaviour, how they react to somebody or something
for example an overturned garbage will depend on their bounceback. Contributing
factors may be genetics, unreasonable fears and conditioned emotional
responses that are learned behaviours. This being the case we need to
learn the Zones that range from a matter of inches to distances measured
in feet so we can help them.
Zone One (Neutral ground and the outer circle).
This outer circle represents the flight distance, the dog becomes aware
of other creatures and is the distance the frightened animal may choose
to move away, the dog standing near his owner signalling "don't make
me go any closer". This type of dog sends out dominance/submissive signals
becoming aggressive or ignores the other dog, moving on.
If your dog is friendly, continue into Zone two, if not, DON'T.
Zone Two: (Critical distance and the middle circle).
If the dog is unable to flee it may show fear aggression to make the
intruder go away as the animal is forced into making a decision of withdrawal
or avoidance (fight or flight). If breached the warning *not to proceed*
any further will depend on the dog.
Zone Three (Social - the smallest innermost circle).
Personal Safety Zone, others may refer to it as the Intimate distance.
It extends from direct physical contact to about 18 inches away. Very
threatening as the dog decides whether it will allow physical contact
or not with anything within this zone. It should only be breached if
the animal is exceptionally well socialised or is familiar with the
person as the risk of aggression is very high. If we allow another object/animal/human
to get into our dogs face they are forced into fighting, biting or hiding
in-between our legs, eyes darting from side to side looking for a place
to flee. The leash prevents them from escaping but escape they will...
if given the opportunity.
Pat Robards
Australian Canine Current Events
CALMING SIGNALS |