Hair raising

[tomsdog]

Lately my 13 month old female has been looking out the window growling and barking at people that are walking on the side walk around our lake. The odd thing is her hair stands straight up from her neck all the way back to her tail. Is that a normal trait of a rottie? Most dogs, I have noticed, only raise their hair between the shoulder blades.

[Mick Trainer]

Pilo Erection from neck to tail is sign of a fear response that leads to defensive aggression. She is feeling threatened at this point and feels the need and the confidence to defend herself. She may be a more highly territorial dog that feels under threatat her home due to not having the ability to avoid (once a dog is in it's home etc it has limited distance that it can move away too this lifting the threshold to defense higher as the ability to flee has been removed.

To help this put her on lead and place her into a sit. As she settles down praise her. Do not reasure her ("it's ok, good girl") as this is only praising her for doing this. Praise her for being calm.

If you would like to learn more on defesive drive and how it effects behavior look in the Behavior: Archive section of the forum for topics titled "Defensive Drive" and "Nerve Strength and Threshold". They may help you better understand her behavior.

Mick

[tomsdog]

Thanks for the info