Tina

Tina is a young German Shepherd who finds herself in rescue. She is quite timid with new people to begin with and has never been walked.

She is nowhere as fearful as Sienna when she came into rescue, but we must still take things slowly.

Tina met me for the first time, and you can see she is panting. It certainly wasn’t because she was warm!  She also paces a little.

I do not call her or try to lure her over with food. She needs to make her own choices and have time to settle and adjust. Luring dogs with food can create conflict for them and that is the last thing we want to do. We need to build her confidence and work at her pace.

In the next video you can see she is starting to become curious. Still panting and still pacing although now she is listening to other dogs in the kennels too.

I change positions in the kennel and she immediately investigates where I had been sat and starts to explore the environment. She is still too stressed to engage with the loaded snuffle mat though. Stress affects appetite and digestion, but she is beginning to gain confidence – she is sniffing. Sniffing is essential. It aids learning, relaxation, builds confidence and creates calmness.

Watch the following video for some very subtle body language signs. Some of these signs are easily missed or misinterpreted.

Tina chose to come and sit next to me, leaning in for some affection. Notice the lip licking, turning of her head away from me, and the increase in panting.

She comes back in for some more affection but suddenly starts licking her paw. This is a displacement behaviour. I stop giving affection, but she continues to lick for a while.

She leans back into me, pokes her nose at the intrusive phone and does another head turn, still panting.  I start giving affection again but watch what she does – she licks my hand. A clear signal saying please stop!

We often interpret a dog licking our hand while giving them affection as a sign of them giving affection back because we humanise them. While it can be a sign of affection, if accompanied by other signals and behaviours, it is often the dog saying please stop.

I restart the affection and Tina chooses to move away. Again, another clear signal – please stop.

In this instance though, the reason for Tina’s increased stress is actually my phone! As soon as I put the phone away and stopped videoing she came right back in close, leaning on me for affection with no stress signals at all.

Now she is calmer she starts to show interest in liver paste!

Looking forward to doing more work with this little lady.