A wolf in poodle clothing-face biting.

I spent much of the weekend researching wolf behavior.  As a huge dog lover I am also a lover of wolves and their behavior.  Watching dog behavior can keep me transfixed for hours and hours at a time; so can wolf behavior.  But when I watch wolf behavior I am constantly comparing; they are very, very similar, dogs and wolves.

Recently I was away for several days.  When I returned I received my customary greeting from Luke and Elsa.  It is much more exuberant than a day to day greeting; often accompanied with whining and face biting.  My face, yes, Luke has always been a face biter when I have been gone for several days or more.  He also whines and carries on for an elongated time span.  This face biting is reserved for me and me alone.  Oh, and my very good friend Theresa; she also gets face bites.  I know it is coming and I prepare for it.  It is very respectful and heartfelt when I receive it.  Luke and I have a very special bond; the kind that you can only hope for when you add a dog to your family.

My absence is felt when I am away and there is much celebration when I return.  Face biting is something that both wolves and dogs do.  The biting is gentle and delivered to my mouth area; the chin or side of chin but never above my mouth.  His tail is slung low and wagging madly; his ears flat back in submission.  Luke is very emotionally demonstrative with his mouth in other ways as well.  When he is happy his mouth will open.  If he is very happy he will huff as well.  His mouth says many things but it is used frequently when he is showing joy.

Face bite greetings are typically reserved for pack members or friends.  You should of course never, ever put your face in a dogs face.  It is a human behavior that makes me shudder.  So many people have no idea of dog behavior when they lean into kiss a strange dog.  Real face bites that result from crossing boundaries are nothing like a face bite for greeting purposes.  DO NOT PUT YOUR FACE IN A DOGS FACE, unless that dog is your dog. 

Elsa face bites also but her bites are more like nibbles rather than full open mouth.  She is even more submissive in her greetings.  Her eyes are always squinted, with her whole body posture slung low along with her tail.  She wags madly which creates much whipping that both Luke and I must watch out for.  She is a ferocious wagger; so much so that it gives her a hinged in the middle illusion.
When she face bites it is a more closed mouth nibble compared to Luke's full open mouth one.  It is accompanied with much licking as well.

Watching Elsa and Penny play is entertaining and fascinating.  As the more dominant dog in the relationship; Elsa is often face biting Penny.  There are many meanings behind the face biting; anything from greeting, affectionate nurturing bites to more serious discipline face bites.  All are clearly understood by Penny.  Before Penny is even in the door Elsa has her mouth over Penny's very large muzzle.  It is a greeting and wonderful to watch. 

A wonderful pictorial from the Wolf Howl Animal Preserve

Face biting is very common in both dogs and wolves.  Some do it more than others; some never do.  How many images do I have of a very young Elsa with her whole face in Luke's mouth; loving every moment of it?  I cannot count how many.  Even though my dogs are far from the preconceived wolf; they are very much still under there, albeit in poodle clothing. 

 

Meet and greets

 

As you all know I am big on socializing; it is one of the most important factors with having dogs.    At two years old now; Elsa has a great deal of it under her belt.  But the socializing doesn't stop there; I am constantly on the look out for nice dogs to say hi to.  We don't say hi to everyone and learning to calmly walk by some dogs is just as important as saying hi.  There are always dogs at the parks, beaches and fields that you just don't want to talk to.  They either give off clear "not friendly" vibes or their owner shares this information with you.  Too many bad interactions can cause a dog to react defensively more often.  So we are very choosey who we say hi to.

At thirteen years old, Luke is beyond needing socializing.  He has a list of dislikes that has grown over the years.  I know him so well that I can tell way in advance if an oncoming dog will be a match or not.  It can be a certain breed or body language that a dog is giving off.  If it's not a match we simply take some space.  As for Elsa, she is much more flexible yet she too has had some bad interactions so I do my best to minimize these.  Picking and choosing who to say hi to takes work.  You need to read the other dog and do it quickly.  Much has to do with an owner.  The other day we walked passed a guy with an older Labrador; Luke is not a big fan of Labs.  But the biggest factor in not talking to these two was the man who was barely holding the leash.  The dog was straining at the end and it looked like it was all the owner could do to hold on.  Not good. 

Leash aggression is a very common issue with dogs.  When you put a leash on a dog; several things happen.  One you have your dog within your personal circle making the guarding reaction kick into gear.  Then we add onto that the whole tension on the leash issue.  Humans typically do much too much pulling and tugging on a leash.  This in itself gives off lots of incorrect messages via the dog.  As the owner pulls back the dog pulls forward; which implies a lunging statement from the dog.  In turn the other dog seeing this gets defensive.  Then there is the whole relaying of our own emotions to the dog via the leash.  The leash also takes away the ability to move away for a dog.  Moving freely makes things much more relaxed. 

Sometimes I will walk very close to another dog so that I can see their body language a bit more clearly before making a decision.  Lots of people say "yes, very friendly" when asked but they are often incorrect in their response.  I make the decision for myself, whether they have said that their dog is friendly or not.  If it is just Luke with me then we don't bother; when I'm out with Luke I am out for simply the outing unless we run into a friend of his.  But for Elsa I am always looking for a nice dog to perhaps makes friends with. 

The other day Elsa and Luke stopped to talk to a nice little poodle mix.  He was a bit apprehensive but not enough to give off any aggressive responses.  We made it short and sweet which is always the best way to go and continued on our way.  Up ahead I saw a Golden and Siberian interacting; even though both dogs were wagging, it was clear that there was tension.  I opted to make a big arch around these two and to the other side of the park.  As we passed by them the little dog we had been talking to stopped to chat with the Siberian and they got into a scuffle.  I'd made the right decision as far as that one had been concerned.  If you are in doubt at all, don't.  It just is not worth the work of undoing the fallout behaviors that come from negative greetings. 

Socializing is wonderful but minimizing the negative is just as important.  Pick and choose.  Best to have two great interactions than a whole handful of bad ones; negative fuels negative.