Displacement Behavior in Dogs
Displacement Behaviors: Often times our dogs will display a seemingly ordinary behavior but at a possibly unusual time. We call these behaviors displacement behaviors. Essentially, the dog wants to do something but he is holding back. He will displace the behavior that he is holding back on and instead display another behavior. Ordinarily, there is a sense or anxiety and/or the dog is in a situation of uncertainty. The displacement behavior is a result of that inner
turmoil. Remember, these are ordinary behaviors but pay close attention to the context in which the dog is displaying them. If your dog is yawning at bedtime, that’s ok but if he’s yawning while your child is hugging him that could be a clear sign that he’s experiencing anxiety.
Examples of displacement behaviors:
- Sudden sniffing of objects or the ground
- Shaking as if he’s wet but he’s not
- Biting at his paws or other areas of his body
- Licking his mouth when there’s no food around
- Yawning when he’s not tired
- Sudden scratching of his ears or other body parts
The signs that we have discussed today are all signs that the dog in question is feeling uneasy. While an anxious dog is not always an aggressive dog, any dog that feels cornered or threatened may attempt to bite to protect himself from perceived danger. Always allow your dog a safe place to retreat to and educate all family members and visitors to stay away from your dog if he chooses to retreat.
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By D.R Admin Team One |
Hi, I was wondering if I could have some advice please? I have a almost 2 year old Standard Poodle who displays displacement behavior when I ask him to do something he already knows how to do it,(I feel like he just doesn’t want to do what I ask him to) he does them when he wants my attention, when I tell him no, and when he can’t get what he wants.
Hello and welcome to DR. In my experience displacement behaviors happen when a dog is in state of conflict. I usually observe these behaviors when dogs are not sure or in a state of conflict on what to do. A good example is in the article, when a kid hugs the dog which results in a yawns. This observation might be telling us that the dog does not like to be hugged and not sure what to do.
What your observing might be simply a compliance issue and a dog that is not motivated. I notice a lot of dogs definitely do not comply in many environmental context, such as when an owner ask for a simple cue. Especially with distractions or with trigger stacking (more anxiety). I always suggest doing more training during the day and us every interaction as a learning experience. Example: if I know I’ll be home with my dogs, I feed less from a bowl and use the food all day as reinforcement. Using cues all day in different environmental context and reinforce with the food. Of course putting all cues on a reinforcement schedule like a slot machine. Ignore any compliance issues by ignoring and walking away don’t even try to suppress or force compliance. Dogs do what works and if we reinforce behaviors we like the dogs will repeat.
I’ll stop here because when talking behavior and training it is so hard to cover all situations as it’s an on going task (science).
Hope this helps and feel free to ask as many questions as you like. Also jump over to our forum section…
Remember dogs do not generalize good. Therefore we have to teach a simple cue like sit in all different environmental context. A sit in the kitchen means something different to the dog in the living room. Add some duration, distance and distractions and a that sit is different to the dog. It takes time for the dog to generalize Ok, I have to sit in all these situations 🙂
Thank you for welcoming me. I think it might be a compliance issue. Okay, I’ll do that from now on. Thank you so much for the advice, I really appreciate it.🙂