Afew months ago, my partner and I went cross-country skiing in the Tahoe area. We brought our dog, Halle, a border collie and German shepherd mix. She quickly got used to the strange sticks attached to our feet and trotted alongside us. While other dogs on the trail were off-leash, ours was clipped into a long line to keep her safe and out of the way of other skiers.
At one point we stopped to let a skier-dog duo go by, but the dog locked eyes with Halle and stalked toward her. He was somewhat crouched and his body was stiff. This was a red flag to me, but the owner didn’t call back or leash the dog. When he reached Halle the two started fighting and the owner had to pry his dog away.
This was a bummer for many reasons, but one is that it would have been avoidable if the owner had read his dog’s body language. That dog did not look like he just wanted to say hi! But the owner either didn’t notice or wasn’t concerned enough to do anything. (I did hear him yelling at his dog after, which can actually make your dog more aggressive because they will associate other dogs with you being angry at them.)
That man is not an anomaly. We’ve lived alongside domesticated canines for thousands of years, but we still suck at understanding their communication. Even longtime dog owners sometimes wildly misunderstand their companions. The good news is that we can develop safer and happier relationships with our pups if we brush up on their body language.