Respecting a growl

By Sindhoor Pangal, Bangalore Mirror Bureau | Aug 26, 2014, 04.00 AM IST

A few days ago I was cleaning the house and wanted to move some furniture. Nishi, my boxer, was sleeping on the floor and blocking the furniture. I tried asking her to move. But she was feeling lazy. So I decided to move her. She hated it and growled at me. I quickly jumped back. My husband looked at me and asked: "You are going to apologise to her, are you not?" It is customary in our house to apologise to the dogs when they growl. So, I did. "Sorry Nishi," I said."I won't do that again darling."

When I talk to my clients, I often find that it is instinctive to show indignation by yelling or punishing when the pet growls. This is natural if a growl is looked at as a show of dominance or a threat. When viewed in that light, it is common for pet parents to feel a sense of indignation that their beloved pet, whom they loved and cared for so much, demonstrated dominance over them. It leads to hurt, disappointment and anger too. Given all these emotions, the reaction is understandable.

Now, let's look at what a growl really means. It is categorised under 'distance creating signals'. Lunging, snarling, showing of teeth and lying down are other examples of these. With these signals a dog is trying all the tools at his disposal to express that he wants more distance from the object of stress, which could be another dog, person or an inanimate object that arouses fear in the dog. In all cases, the message is the same — "I'm nervous. I need more space. PLEASE!"

When their last effort at pleading for space fails, they may resort to the only other tool at their disposal — bite. In most cases, a dog bites only when he does not find or see another option to deal with the stress factor. Opening up other choices to our dog, sooner than later, always help defuse the situation. When Nishi growled, stepping away from her and taking a calm tone was my way of defusing the situation. I was able to do that because I saw that her growl was not a way to threaten me. Being moved when sleeping is a very scary thing for dogs. Hence the saying Let sleeping dogs lie.

However, when a dog growls far more frequently than most other dogs, it's a sign of the dog being at elevated levels of stress. So even when something small stresses him, he is unable to 'see' options to deal with it. This happens to us too. Sometimes when things get too overwhelming we are unable to find our way out of difficult situations. Obviously, adding to stress by yelling or punishing does not help the cause at all.

By growling, your dog is telling you that something is stressing him out a lot. It is better he express that, than bottle it up. If he bottles it up, it might have an undesired outcome. Hence growling is best encouraged. We want the dog to tell us before it's too late.

When a dog is expressing far too frequently that he is stressed, we take a two-fold action. Firstly, we look at all those things that are making him growl and avoid those situations all together. If he is growling around his food bowl then feed him in an isolated place where no one to disturbs him. If he is growling at other dogs, try to walk during odd hours to avoid other dogs. If he is growling when being petted, then pet him only for five seconds and then vocalise your affections.

Next, identify what is causing the elevated stress levels. You may have to seek the advice of a veterinarian to rule out any health issues. Then you could seek the help of a behaviourist to identify other factors that are arising from your lifestyle. It is a long-term project. But having a calm dog is well worth the time and effort invested. It is not only good for the dog and his heart, but also for your canine family.

Good and Bad Touch

By Sindhoor Pangal, Bangalore Mirror Bureau | Aug 18, 2014, 10.55 PM IST

Touch is such an important part of social lives. If someone punched me in the face, I would have no trouble identifying it as 'bad touch'. If someone shook hands with me I would identify that as 'good touch'. But then again, is it? Is it a warm handshake between friends? Is it a cold handshake between business rivals?

And just like that, with that one touch we know what is going to ensue. In the former case, you start relaxing and let all your defences down for a good hug. In the latter, you tense up, getting your mental faculties as sharp as possible and you enter the meeting room ready for battle only to see your rival standing across the room with a big warm grin! Turns out that you misread his handshake. Turns out he had heard about your promotion and was genuinely congratulating you. We communicate a lot through touch and interpret each touch in many ways. It's complicated. How does "touch" translate to man-dog friendship?

The first thing we will notice is that our dog is lacking the vital tool to touch — hands. So that should raise the first question in our mind. Are dogs used to touch at all? Wild dogs would be completely unfamiliar to touch. Free Ranging dogs on the other hand seem to accept it. So, it seems like there is ability in dogs to acquire a taste for touch.

But how do they interpret it and what do the nuances mean to them? Context plays a big role in interpreting touch even in the human-dog world. A stressed dog will naturally be more suspicious. Even an attempt to touch could be viewed with suspicion of a bad touch. So he may react with hostility. The extent of hostility will depend on many things — health, stress levels at that time, hunger levels, the environment (too hot or too cold), noises, people and space around him etc.


A sleeping dog, when woken up, is often confused about the touch and could mistake the touch for a bad touch and depending on his nightmares, may react very badly. Even a calm dog could one day, out of the blue, snap seemingly unprovoked. Often the reason is the pent up frustration arising out of touch-based-miscommunication.


These are all examples of dogs that are misunderstood to be aggressive. The truth is these are situations where there has been a breakdown in touch-based-communication. Touch is a very sensitive mode of communication and is open to a lot of interpretation. When we use this human tool of ours to communicate with the dog world, we are introducing something completely unfamiliar into their world.  How each touch gets interpreted depends on so many parameters that we can only at best guess what our touch could mean to our canine friend. So, it is always better to be safe than sorry.

Avoid touch that your dog could misinterpret to be a bad touch: Do not touch new dogs. Talk to them. If they ask for it, pet them a little and take your hands off. Keep all petting sessions short. Pet only when a dog asks to be petted. Refrain from petting otherwise. NEVER EVER touch an agitated dog, even if you mean to calm it down. Growling, lunging, baring his teeth- these are all different ways a dog shows that he is scared that your touch is going to be a bad touch. He is begging you to leave him alone. Avoid touching a scared dog. You may talk to him in a calm voice. If he seeks physical contact, give him the contact he wants, but not more. No petting. NEVER touch a sleeping dog.

The right trainer

Aug 12 2014 : Mirror (Bangalore)

With the growing number of trainers in the country, how do you determine the right trainer and training for your dog? Here are some tips that might help you with `puppytraining'.First and foremost, stay away from puppy training at a boarding facility. Dogs area not good at generalizations and cannot come back and apply all the learning to a new environment. So a puppy toilet trained at a boarding-training facility, may not be well-behaved at your home. A puppy that listens to a trainer may not pay heed to your commands. Hence look for training that includes you in the process.
While at training always insist on doing a trial of the commands in which the dog would be trained.You need to know how to do it so th at you can go home and practice. Ensure that the trainer has got you familiar with the right way of doing it.
Your trainer has to address more than obedience issues in your dog. Your trainer has to guide your pet through toilet training, bite inhibition, handling of fears, socialization and environmental training. The latter is training a dog on how to be in different environments -like a friend's house, a busy road, at a pet friendly café etc.
Your trainer has to use methods you are comfortable with.
They have to be humane and gentle. If at any point you feel uncomfortable with the amount of pressure on your dog, withdraw your dog from the session and have a conversation with the trainer. If your trainer is not flexible to more humane meth ods and believes there is only one way to do something, then you might want to look for another trainer. There are new ways of training dogs and putting a dog in a choke chain or spike collar are no more necessary. So look for trainers who are up to date on training methods and are not using such methods.
Do not leave your dog unattended with your trainer till you have enough confidence in him or her. The first few encounters have to be completely supervised, irrespective of what the trainer stays. You need to ensure your dog is in safe hands and until that trust is built you have the right to watch, at least from a distance.
In addition to obedience, you should have a talk with the trainer on teaching your dog to handle Diwali, thunderstorms and other irrational fears that he may develop. You may at some point have to travel. So talk to your trainer about crate training as well.
Have your trainer oversee at least one socialization session and give you guidance specific to your dog on how to socialize your dog. The formula is not the same for all dogs, just as we humans do not greet everyone the same way and don't have the same preference in who we chose to greet. Some dogs need to take it slow while some are social butterflies.
Your trainer should also work with your vet's inputs on what your dog's diet needs are; how many hours of sleep he might need, how many minutes of walk a day etc. Your behaviourist should also give you insight into whether you should neuter/spay your dog and if so when.
Look at the trainer/behaviourist as a family coach. Everything about your dog should be at your trainer's finger tips or at least in a file so that the puppy sessions are tailor made for your puppy, his breed characteristics and his individual traits. In addition your trainer needs to be available for emergency consultations. As long as your trainer cares for your dog and you care for your dog, you will be fine.

Homework time

By Sindhoor Pangal, Bangalore Mirror Bureau | Aug 4, 2014, 10.48 PM IST

In my centre, after each class, I give homework to pet parents to practice till our next session. Sessions are usually a week apart and I recommend that pet parents practise their homework at least twice a day. However, in our own lives, we do training all the time. Dogs are learning all the time, so we need to be cognisant of what lessons we are teaching them and what it is they are inadvertently learning.

For example, if you are using the dog's name to call the dog for only unpleasant things like calling the dog away from play, calling him for a bath, calling him to bed, then the dog learns that responding to his name means end of fun or the start of something terrible. So the dog learns NOT to respond to the name. That's why we need to remember that we are training all the time and have a good handle on our own behaviour around them.


There is a way to use this constant learning to our advantage - recall. If you use a dog's name or recall sound for everything positive that happens around a home during a day, your dog is more likely to come to you when you call him. For example, call him to play with him, call him to go for a walk, call him for his meals - be conscious that when you call your dog and he comes, reward him every single time with something or the other.


The other thing that comes under this category of constant training and learning is what to play with. Your dog will often start playing with things that he is not meant to play with. When that happens, just take away what he should not play with, and give him something he should play with. At the same time, watch when he picks up his own things to play with, praise him, smile at him and let him know he is doing something you appreciate.


Someone once pointed out that your dog spends most of his time being a good dog. He spends a fraction of his day doing things he should not. Instead of focusing on the times he is being a good dog, we focus only on the times he is being a bad dog. When we do that, we are inclined to punish a dog more than reward him for good behaviour. Punishments, as we are increasingly becoming aware of, are poor tools for teaching - be it human kids or dogs. Rewards and praises are far more effective and have relatively fewer negative side-effects.

Positive training revolves around the idea of rewards. So it's important to watch your dog for the 90% of the time he is being a good dog and to reward him. Ignore mistakes. Minimise damage.

Drawing boundaries also falls into this category of constant training. Every time your dog passes the kitchen door and chooses not to go in, praise and reward him. He will soon learn that staying clear of the kitchen makes you happy and he will choose to stay out of the kitchen. Dogs like to please their masters just as we like to see happy dogs. Work with this positive outlook on your relationship with your dog and training is no more a dry classroom session, but an opportunity to bond with your dog in a positive way.


Walks are particularly high on the training aspect. It's not a time for the human to exercise. Neither is it potty time for dog. The dog sees the outside world, processes the information and makes conclusions about the world outside "home". The dog could build an image of the outside world being all fun, or dangerous or just normal. It's all up to how we present the outside world to our dog and how we manage it. We need to be on the lookout, prevent scares, minimise play sessions and encourage exploration to maintain a balanced view of the outside world.


So, though I do give homework for pet families that come to me for help, training is actually something that should be a way of life. And don't get fooled by the old adage about not being able to teach old dogs new tricks. Dogs are learning all the time and the onus is on us that they are learning good wholesome lessons.