Tail Talk Grooming Chronicles with Hound Therapy

Decoding Danger: How to Read Your Dog's Warning Signs

• Shannon & Tanya • Episode 10

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 Preventing Dog Brawls 101: Knowing Your Dogs Body Language: When They Are Happy Vs. Going To Attack

Ever wondered what your dog is really saying with all those tail wags and ear movements? Understanding canine body language isn't just fascinating—it could prevent your next pet emergency.

Shannon and Tanya, professional groomers at Hound Therapy, draw from their daily experiences to demystify the subtle signals dogs give before conflict erupts. They tackle the major misconception that a wagging tail always means a friendly dog, explaining how to distinguish between a happy wiggle and the stiff wag that signals potential trouble. Their description of "brush coat"—when the hair along a dog's back stands up like it's been brushed backward—provides listeners with an easily identifiable visual warning that even novice dog owners can spot.

The most valuable segment offers practical, potentially life-saving advice for handling dog fights when they do occur. Rather than screaming or reaching in with bare hands (a dangerous impulse most pet parents have), the experts recommend unexpected but effective solutions like using water aimed directly at an aggressor's nose or looping a leash around their hindquarters. Their counterintuitive tip about pushing into a dog bite rather than pulling away challenges conventional wisdom but makes perfect biomechanical sense once explained.

As our world becomes increasingly pet-friendly, with dogs welcome in restaurants, stores, and public spaces, these skills become essential knowledge for responsible pet ownership. Whether you're a first-time dog parent or have shared your life with canine companions for decades, this episode delivers crucial information that could save you, your dog, or someone else from serious injury. 

Ready to become fluent in dog? Subscribe now and join our community of informed, proactive pet lovers who believe in humanity over vanity.

To learn more about Hound Therapy visit:
https://www.HoundTherapy.com
Hound Therapy
3509 E Park Blvd.
Plano, TX
469-367-0009

Speaker 1:

Welcome to Tail Talk Grooming Chronicles with Hound Therapy, the podcast where we talk all things pet grooming, daycare academy and more. Hosted by Shannon and Tanya of Hound Therapy serving pet owners across North Texas, we're here to share expert tips, hilarious pet stories and the inside scoop on keeping your furry friends happy and healthy. Our motto humanity over vanity. And don't worry, we don't bite. Let's get started. Who let the dogs out? Who let the dogs?

Speaker 2:

out. Understanding canine body language is key to preventing conflicts before they start. Today, we're unpacking the signs that show when a dog is relaxed versus when they might be gearing up for aggression. Welcome back everyone. I'm Sofia Yvette, co-host and producer, back in the studio with Shannon and Tanya, professional groomers at Hound Therapy. Shannon and Tanya, how's it going? It's good, sophia, good, good, awesome. Now this is such an important topic. Body language is everything when it comes to keeping our furry friends safe, so please give us some insight into preventing dog brawls 101. Knowing your dog's body language when they're happy versus going to attack 100.

Speaker 3:

yeah, um, we have um a new concept in you know the us now, that I think europe has had for a long time, which is we have dog friendly restaurants, we have more and more dog parks, we're taking our dogs you you know everywhere into the Walmart stores. In fact, I saw a dog in Kroger the other day and I'm the same. My dog goes pretty much everywhere I go. Unfortunately, those are what we call situations that are unpredictable. So when you're at your house, you have a predictable situation. When you're out, you have an unpredictable situation. So you can't just assume that every dog is going to be friendly and nice and just because they're wagging their tail or they look like they're excited, it could be that they're excited to attack or to bite, or if somebody reaches out, or there's a loud noise or the owner's like, oh, they're friendly.

Speaker 4:

They might be friendly most of the time. It could just be that one instance of that dog's having a bad day. I mean, it's just like us. Like I'm liable to snap at you sometimes too.

Speaker 3:

And getting to know your dog. There. It's a veterinarian term and it's called not acting right NAF, and it's written in a lot of files, and so if your dog is not acting right for whatever reason, it's a stormy day, it could have some signs of allergies, or it's got a bad hip or a foot, or it stepped on something. I mean, we all have bad days and dogs aren't any different. So, that said, being able to recognize that in advance, knowing your dog's temperament, is going to help. There's several signs that can be pretty obviously noted right If a dog is growling or snarling or showing teeth.

Speaker 4:

well, I think that's pretty tall tale sign safe to say.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, that's hello, captain. Obvious, right? This dog's probably not thrilled. I call it brush coat. If you look at a dog and they may have a low growl or no growl that you can hear at all, and the back of their hair it will stand up and it looks like you've literally taken a brush and brushed the coat backwards. So if you've got a shorter haired dog, you can look at them and if their hair is standing straight up and you can see it, you know that hey, we need to. My dog's got to go someplace else. My dog needs a break. So that's another easy, visual way to see that you need to get away. A misconceiving is a tail wag.

Speaker 4:

Yep, I mean they can tail wag when they're happy. I mean it's, you know, wiggle butts. Their tail will also wag when they are nervous or becoming aggressive or anything of that nature. It's a different type of wag. It's more stiff. It's not going to wag side to side as easily. It's going to be more of a stiff tail.

Speaker 3:

And it could be either low or medium height. It's not going to be a high the happy waggy. So pay attention to your dog when you know they're happy with a treat and see how that tail wag looks normally for them. And then if they're wagging and it looks slightly different than what it may have looked like before, you may want to be like okay, look, let's just, let's slowly investigate this, don't just off leash your dog. Ears forward, ears back. It's easier to tell with dogs, obviously, that have shorter ears. But if you've got a long haired dog and most people these days have those little short round puppy dog, teddy bear heads, but you can tell.

Speaker 4:

If their ears are pinned back all the way to like their neck pretty much, that's usually they're not happy.

Speaker 3:

Yeah yeah, calming or submissive signals when they start to crouch. We have a lot of people that say my dog pees when she's nervous. Well, that is a very that's a nervous reaction for a lot of dogs and they can be nervous for a lot of things. They can be nervous going to the dog groomer, they can be nervous when new people come over, or they could be excited when new people come over. If they're not sure how to react, some dogs have a hard time controlling their bladder during that effect because they're just either overly stimulated, whether it be excitement or fear, or submission.

Speaker 3:

Here's what I can tell you If you have a submissive dog. This has actually happened in our shop before, where I have a dog that comes all of the time and she's very, very submissive. And we had I think I talked about this in another episode and another dog went up to her and wagged his tail and then took a big old chunk out of her neck. Luckily we had a bottle of water here and we know how to handle that. But screaming and yelling at this dog that was the attacker made him want to lock down and fight more. That was exciting for him. So you can't scream, you can't yell.

Speaker 3:

There are some things that you can do. Loud noise, foghorn water is always your best option. We do not want an owner to get bit. Do not ever stick your hand in the middle of a dog fight for any reason. If you feel the need and most people do when you see that the first thing you want to do is to reach in, don't, don't do it. Maybe if you have a good steel toe boot on long pair of jeans and you're like, well you know, I'm prepared to take a bite on my ankle, go ahead and stick your foot in and pull it away.

Speaker 3:

But if you've got a leash that's on you and you can lasso it or loop it around the back half of whatever dog is the aggressor, you usually can pull that dog away from behind. Water straight up the nose from a water bottle or a cup will literally make the dog that is biting down take a breath and it will let go immediately, kind of like you've submerged them underwater. So water is your best friend. If you're walking, have a bottle of water with you. It's good for a lot of reasons. Right, it's hot in summer, we want to hydrate, but it's a it's a really good way to break up a dog fight. Um, an extra leash is a good way to break up a dog fight a horn. You don't. You wouldn't want to stay away from any kind of pepper sprays or anything like that, because that that can. That can actually kill a dog.

Speaker 4:

And you don't want to pepper spray yourself.

Speaker 3:

And yeah hopefully that won't happen If you're carrying pepper spray. Learn how to use it. Aim it away. Aim it away.

Speaker 3:

I think the main thing is to break their focus so that, like the aggressor dog, you just have to, you know, break that initial like I want to bite, I want to, and you'll need to really stop and calm yourself, because your anxiety is going to travel to the dog's anxiety and if your dog is afraid and you're afraid, your dog's going to be more afraid. If you're amped up and you're like, oh my God, or the person that has a dog that's fighting, chances are, chances are. I mean, dogs are dogs and they're going to do what they do. But most dogs that are not good with other dogs have either been rescued, taken out. Most people know that they're not good with other dogs and, let me say, responsible pet owners know that they're not good and will not take them where they're going to be around other dogs.

Speaker 4:

I have a dog like that. Yeah, she is at home on her property in her backyard. That's where she goes. She hates little dogs and she's a lab pit mix and I don't want to be that owner that is responsible for somebody else's dog getting hurt. So I was like you just don't get to put in those scenarios anymore.

Speaker 3:

So sorry about it, and it's sad to say, but those people that do have those dogs that are taking them out are not responsible pet owners and they usually are not going to be the one that's going to handle that situation correctly. So there's a lot of things that can happen there Anxiety between human to human, anxiety from dog to human, anxiety from dog to dog. So if that person is screaming and yelling, you're going to have to do what you can to take a deep breath. Stay as calm as possible. Do not stick your hand down. Maybe use a foot. You can remove the aggressor dog off. But you want to pull your dog away, if you can from behind, grabbing the base of the tail, the backs of the legs. You don't want to aim towards the head or face area.

Speaker 2:

Now can proper grooming help prevent behavioral issues.

Speaker 3:

No, grooming doesn't matter, but it can help to teach a dog to go into a place and ignore other dogs. I would say we have four aggressive dogs in here today that people have mentioned specifically. Please don't put my dog with other dogs. I had a guy that came in and we have a cat, a shop cat, that was running around and he was like, oh my God, my dog hates cats. Well, he completely ignored him. The cat walked right by him. So it does help taking your dog to places. If your dog is a biter, muzzle him. But if you're going places and taking out where you need to go, then it helps your dog to be less. It desensitizes them if that, if that makes sense. So, coming out regularly, doing regular grooming, being held by different people, being handled by a lot of different situations and around dogs they're almost always good here.

Speaker 4:

It doesn't necessarily do away with behavioral issues, but it can help me a second with behavioral issues. Um, one thing I did want to go in this episode is how to release a dog bite. So if you are in that situation and you get bit by a dog, what do you do?

Speaker 3:

yeah, and there's what they clamp down. They don't let go. It's called a lock jaw jaw. The longer the nose, the harder it clamps down. So those pit bulls have a big, strong jaw. They've got those big, huge mouths. Scotties have the most pound per square inch just because they have a longer nose. So when they clamp on, you can't let go or they won't let go. You want to grab the backsides of your jaws or, if they're locked in, your initial reaction is to pull away. Don't pull away. When you pull away, don't pull away. When you pull away, it's going to make the dog keep coming at you, number one, and it's going to rip your skin because you're literally, you've got something sharp on it and you're pulling it out from underneath it. If you'll lean into it and push your hand or your fist or your elbow into the mouth, it's going to lock their jaw open. They're not going to be able to lock it down and they usually will look at you like hey, why'd?

Speaker 4:

you do that, yeah, and and they'll stop. So if they know they can get one over on you, they will the biggest thing is try not to freak out.

Speaker 3:

It's hard, but try not to freak out. I would say one bite of teeth is a whole lot better than multiple bites. And the pulling away, reacting, all of those things are much easier said than done. We do it on a daily basis, every day. You know it's.

Speaker 3:

You know things that if you're not a driver on the highway every day and then you get on you, if you're not a driver on the highway every day and then you get on the highway, you're going to be more nervous. So if you are going to be out with your dogs and taking them, you know, to more places, definitely start doing that in small doses so that you can acclimate yourself into what you need to be doing and how your dog reacts and to how you react. And if you're reacting badly, try to work on your, your behaviors and you'll find that if you do that it's going to it's going to truly affect how your dog reacts as well. So baby steps for those of you who have a dog and first time dog owners or first time I'm taking my dog everywhere you know go, baby, step it and get everybody used to it.

Speaker 2:

Wow, this was such an insightful conversation, ladies. Thank you for sharing your expertise and to our listeners. We'll catch you next time for more tips on understanding and caring for your pups.

Speaker 3:

Thank you, it's a pleasure seeing you.

Speaker 1:

That's a wrap for this episode of Tail Talk with Hound Therapy. Ready to book your pet's next groom daycare stay or grooming academy tour? Call us at 469-367-0009. That's 469-367-0009 to schedule an appointment, or visit us online at wwwhoundtherapycom. Serving North Texas with expert pet care. Until next time, keep those tails wagging.