Signs of stress in obedience classes...

Hi everyone,

I'm doing a report on the signs of stress in obedience classes and was wondering if any of you out there could let me know if any of your dogs or if you have seen any dogs display positive or negative stress coping mechanisms.

Negative = dialated pupils, ears back,panting, urinating,sweaty paws etc.

Positive = you may think/have been told by the trainer that your dog is being disobedient when acting like this as they tend to act like a hyperactive pup not listening to what you are trying to teach them.

Could you also let me know the trainers response to the dogs behaviour, eg: "he'll just have to get used to it" etc. No names need to be given!!

It'll be greatly appreciated!

Thanks,:

As an instructor the signs of stress I look out for are:

Shedding - many dogs will drop coat in a situation which they find stressful.

Urination & defecation - combined with other behaviours can be a sign of stress

Vocalization - some stressed dogs will bark & bark or whine

Evasion - some will attempt to hide behind owners or under chairs.

Avoidance - nervous/stressed dogs will avoid walking between other dogs or will not turn their back on other dogs/people that they do not trust

Panting/excessive salivation, rolling eyes, - indicators of stress

Trying to climb on owner's lap - nervousness/stress

Freezing - lack of response to any stimuli - hoping the stress-causing agent/s will disappear

Vomiting - as with elimination of bowels/bladder lightening the load for flight.

Fooling/fiddling about - coping mechanism: hoping to placate others or distract itself in a stressful situation.

Body language, including ears, mouth, eyes, hackles, tail, general posture - any or all can signal stress.

Yawning - some dogs will yawn as a stress relieving exercise and to de-fuse what they may consider a stressful situation involving other dogs or people.

In our classes dogs showing obvious signs of stress are never pressured to do anything that may increase levels of discomfort. It is explained to owners why the dog is acting as it is. It is explained that any form of punishment will make matters worse. Generally an eye is kept on the dog and handler. Neither are forced to participate in anything. Sitting and watching can work wonders

I am sure other trainers can contribute more. Hope this helps a little

ETA: Chewing the lead or self-grooming can be anxiety relieving actions.

Hi Sara firstly good luck with your course..
I am not a trainer but may I make a general comment about something you posted?

I don't think in most cases dogs are disobedient. In my experience if a puppy (or dog) doesn't obey it usually means they don't understand what is expected of them, or they do but some 'other influence' is greater/offers a better reward than obeying the wishes of a human, or they are so filled with fear/panic they can't relate to what is being said to them .

Regarding the 'getting used to it' I would say a puppy may do so with the correct handling, but if the handling is not done correctly you could cause further problems.

Loki gets very excited and disobedient at first class at a new place he did this at his ring craft and obedience classes and again last week when there was a change of format to the class with it being split into two and our group having a new instructor. Loki loves dogs and I think so many new dogs to meet in one place is just too exciting for him!

We went to a puppy training class that I didnt like so only went once and because loki was so hyper they didnt want him to join in and wanted me to sit with him and make him lie down and treat him when he was calm for a whole hour, he was good for first 5 minutes then being a puppy with a short attention span he got borred I tried to tell her he was borred and she just said no hes not hes disobedient and wants to do what he wants not what you want him to, surfice to say we didnt go back!

The ring craft I go to were very impressed how confident and didnt expect too much from him for his first time but we gave everything ago and he improved loads over just one session.

My obedience class now lets all the pups meet each other and play before starting training which is what Loki wants and he settles beter after that she also gave us a toy for me to distract him with to keep his attention on me, the new handler we had last week told me to walk him round the other side of the room as we figured it was not getting to meet the younger pups that were in a different group now on the other side of the room seperated by chairs, that was making loki so hyped up he did settle abit after I did this

An additional observation: Owners of dogs displaying stress should be discouraged from placating/babying/consoling/comforting the dog. If left alone to watch what is going on the dog's/pup's confidence usually will quickly grow

Are you asking for a 'snapshot', ie one class report Sarah?

I think what you will probably find is that the dogs go through a whole range of reactions over the period of a course.

You might even find that dogs who appear to show no signs of stress on week one can suddenly display them at some point during the course. Reasons are varied, but include hormonal influences, illness, new command being introduced.

You should also find that in a properly run class that stress behaviours exhibited in week one dissipate as the weeks go on and the dog becomes more relaxed in the environment.

The 'hyperactive' pup/dog on week one of a course may also be showing stress - just a different way of showing it.

An interesting study though and I wish you well with it

hi sara, it would be a good idea to take this info with you and ask if you can sit in on some dog training classes and take notes.

Hi, I've seen a rottweiler be very stressed out, panting, sweaty paws, dilated pupils. In this case the class was old fashioned and his owner was not praising him, he was confused and woried about being told off.

In a class I was assisting in, a greyhound just refused to do anything, he wasnt frozen but he wouldn't eat, or interact.

2 weeks later he was interacting, enjoying being rewarded with food rewards and understanding the clicker

Hth?

Thanks so much guys!!
It's so interesting learning all these things. Before I started my course I didn't even recognise behaviours that my dogs were displaying, now I try to be aware of everything!

The obedience calsses i went to with mine before i knew anything about bhvr and training nearly ruined my dogs. Especially looking into the stress signals...

I used to bring my two dogs to a class, i handled 1 and my mum the other. The two of them used to 'sing' or whine to eachother for the whole class, the trainers response... wait for it.... spray them with water everytime they did it!! naively I did this but looking back they must have been really stressed out and feel really bad for doing so. It just shows how important it is for trainers to be competent in what they are doing as the lay dog owners trust everything they say.

It's amazing what you can see at any dog club, esp. a badly run one with dinosaur instructors, it is possible to see so much stress, whereas before learning about this, it's easy to go to a club or show and see nothing but happy dogs apparently!

I can now go to a dog show and within minutes pick out those dogs who have been trained with harsher methods.

It does spoil things in a way, so much emjoyment is taken away because of the scales falling from one's eyes, but on the other hand we can become much better owners and seek out clubs which also understand stress and who help the dogs and owners