What Does It Mean When My Dog’s Hair Stands Up?

The bristling of the hair of the back of the dogs is a clear signal of non-verbal communication. It is interesting to know these communication signals to know what happens to the dog, what it wants to transmit with it and how it can react. Normally, there are two reasons that lead the dog unconsciously to stand up on the hair of its back: dominance and fear.

On the one hand, dominant dogs often bristle to intimidate the other dog. This is because in their body there is an increase of adrenaline in blood, which makes the skin tighten and the hairs bristle. However, fear can also lead to hair growth and for the same reason: the increase of blood adrenaline that alerts the dog to another dog or something else that causes tension.

How can you differentiate when it comes to a reaction of dominance and when of fear? You have to look at other signs of the body of the dog: when it is by dominance, the dog usually throws its ears completely back, and can even teach a little teeth and growling. On the other hand, if it is due to fear, there is no tooth sample and the tail is usually low. Anyway, both in one situation and in another, you have to try to blur the dog's dog that is between the eyebrows, because the reaction is usually to start a fight. In these cases, to avoid the fight you have to help the dog to focus on other things: food, remove it from the sight of the other dog, etc.

But, did you know that sometimes the hair bristles in a positive way? Usually happens when a dog just meets another and although the back rises fruit of the excitement and emotion of the moment, there are signs of happiness: tail movement, invitation to play, etc.