The science is in, and the answer is a resounding YES—dogs can smell fear. Dogs have olfactory superpowers that can detect a human's emotional state by the scent that a human emits. That's right—you can't hide fear from dogs.
Your dog will pick up on the fact that you are acting frightened. Certain types of dog breeds may react by trying to protect you, while others will probably be just as afraid as you are. But almost all dogs quickly can sense when an owner is feeling afraid or anxious.
Dogs exposed to fear smells showed more signs of stress than those exposed to happy or neutral smells. They also had higher heart rates, and sought more reassurance from their owners and made less social contact with strangers.
According to the clinical and behavioral assessments of biting dogs, the attacks toward humans are most commonly caused by fear and anxiety (77%) [11,12,13,14], suggesting that dogs' emotions and their relationship to humans are crucial components of the biting phenomenon.
Dogs express fear in several ways. They may shake, pace, whine, bark, cower, hide, or even exhibit signs of fear reactivity, which is often confused with aggression.
Just like humans, dogs can get insecure and can try to overcompensate by attacking someone who they feel is weaker, or who smells afraid.
When a dog is protecting a person, he's reacting to a dog or person approaching the pet owner and himself. Protective dog behavior manifests differently for different dogs. Dogs will either freeze, glare at the approaching person, snarl, show teeth, snap or even bite.
Verbal Warnings: A dog bite is often preceded by the dog warning of his intentions out loud. This can be done by barking or growling aggressively (often accompanied by bared teeth). Oftentimes, a dog about to bite will bark or growl very deeply and menacingly.
The most common causes include conflict aggression, fear-based, defensive aggression, status related aggression, possessive aggression, food guarding aggression and redirected aggression.
You should NOT punish a dog for biting. This method may also teach the dog not to give a warning prior to the bite. It certainly doesn't do anything to minimize the dog's stressors.
Dogs growl because they are insecure and anxious in social situations. If the underlying insecurity is not resolved, the growls will become warnings of escalating aggression. Aside from obvious safety concerns, we must also address the dog's peace of mind.
Dogs are sensitive and attentive – often they see a panic attack coming before their human partners do. So we teach the dog to react to those signs, to tell their human, “Hey, I'm here, it's ok, let's go for a walk or you should pet me, let's stay in the present.” That's an anxiety alert.
Just as humans stare into the eyes of someone they adore, dogs will stare at their owners to express affection. In fact, mutual staring between humans and dogs releases oxytocin, known as the love hormone. This chemical plays an important role in bonding and boosts feelings of love and trust.
Research clearly shows that dogs have the cognitive and emotional capacities to hold grudges. They remember events from the past and these memories can persist for a long while.
A deterrent can be anything from a dog treat to a spray and is easily carried on the body. Some deterrents include: Whistle with a sharp note or ultrasonic: Dogs have sensitive hearing and a whistle with a sharp or ultrasonic tone can be effective in shutting down a dog that's engaging in aggressive behavior.
Fear. Most aggressive behavior from dogs is on some level rooted in fear. A dog might be fearful of something or someone getting close to them, or into their space. When whatever a dog is afraid of gets too close, dogs can become overwhelmed or “over threshold” and may respond by biting.
Anxiety. In addition to vocalizing pain, dogs also growl as their means to scare away people or animals when they feel anxious or fearful. Your dog's tense demeanor every time you pick him up might stem from a traumatic event. For example, you or other members of the family might have lost grip while holding the dog.
The most common way to test this is by placing the dog in an environment with different people or animals. If the dog starts stressing out or growling to everyone who comes close to the owners, it may be an over-protective dog.
Have him move out of your way a few times a day. If he is lying down in a hallway, walk through him by gently shuffling your feet until he gets up and moves. The alpha never walks around his littermates. Don't let your dog treat you like a sibling, be the parent.
It's an instinctual, physical response called submissive urination, and it's normal in young dogs. Submissive urination typically happens whenever a dog feels excited, shy, anxious, or scared. It also happens when a dog wants to acknowledge another's dominance — like recognizing you as their owner.