My Sidekick and Me: Sensitive Dogs

By Lisa Desatnik, CPDT-KA, FFCP, FDM, CPBC–Pet Behavior Columnist

When Maisey, a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, would greet people or other dogs, she tends to approach with a wiggly but lowered body posture and tail; and when she got to that person or dog, would tend to roll over and expose her belly. In these moments, she is doing submissive behaviors. I think of Maisey as a sensitive dog (also called a soft dog). 

What is a sensitive dog?

When I think about Maisey as a sensitive dog, what I mean is that she has a greater tendency to show avoidance or submissive behaviors if she feels pressure. In general, these dogs tend to have a higher likelihood to worry more about their environment and interactions, they may be quicker to respond to what they see or hear, they may seem like they are ‘blowing off’ your lesson or attempt to interact, they may shut down, they may take longer to recover from a stressful event. 

Some of what this may look like from Maisey includes: looking away, leaning or moving away, having increased latency in doing behaviors, rolling over to expose her belly, slinking up to someone with lowered body posture and tail, zooming around. She does not do this in all situations, only certain situations. She is not alone.

Any of us can be more sensitive in certain situations that others. Some, may have a higher tendency to be on the sensitive in more situations. 

Whenever I am working with a client and that client’s pet, or really any animal (human or non-human), I always try to stay aware of what I am observing in that animal’s body language. It speaks volumes for whether I need to adjust either the environment or how we are interacting. 

There have been times when I see owners trying hard to get their dog to do something.  I can feel the pressure in the room so it does not surprise me when I see the dog showing avoidance behaviors. Helping these owners to learn how to take that pressure off is often an important piece of my work. 

There are times when I may be teaching a dog and see signs of stress in the dog. It could be the dog begins blinking his ears, yawning, lip licking, looking away, moving away, taking a lot longer to do a behavior, or checking out. These tell me that I need to adjust something in the way that I am teaching and interacting with that learner. When adjustments are made, I will see a difference in that dog’s body language and interest in participating. 

Let’s go back to Maisey and her greeting behaviors

My goal is to help Maisey feel confident in approaching me and her family. By confident, I mean approaching with loose and wiggly body posture, eye contact, and her clearly showing an interest in wanting to engage. 

I take pressure off her by moving my hands and body away from her to invite her to come toward them for interaction. I match her energy. There is a moment in the beginning when she rolls over and I do not interact with her but move away and encourage her to get up. She has wonderful soft body muscles and keeps wanting more. That tells me she is enjoying our interaction. 

It also indicates that she will more than likely approach me more like this in the future as her past experiences with me taught her she is likely to feel good about what may happen. 

And THAT makes me feel good too!

Lisa Desatnik, CPDT-KA, FFCP, FDM, CPBC, is a certified dog trainer, a certified dog bite prevention educator, a certified Family Dog Mediator, and the first trainer in Hamilton County to earn Fear Free certification. She is also a licensed Family Paws Parent Educator. She is committed to using and teaching the most positive, science-based approaches to changing behavior. For more information, visit www.SoMuchPETential.com.