Behaviour & training
Calming signals
Small, easily missed gestures — lip licks, head turns, a slow blink, a yawn — that animals use to defuse tension rather than because they are tired.
The term was popularised by the Norwegian trainer Turid Rugaas for the behaviours dogs offer when they want a situation to cool down. A yawn in a waiting room, a sudden interest in sniffing the ground, a head turned away from an approaching dog: none of these are boredom, and all of them are communication.
The reason to learn them is that they come long before a growl. A photograph of a child hugging a dog that is licking its lips and showing the whites of its eyes is a photograph of a dog asking for help, and reading it correctly is how bites get prevented rather than explained afterwards.
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More in Behaviour & training
Positive reinforcementAdding something the animal wants immediately after a behaviour, so the behaviour happens more often — the R+ of training, and a technical term rather than a synonym for kindness.Socialization windowThe early period when a puppy or kitten accepts new things readily, and after which the same things start to be treated as threats.Resource guardingDefending food, a toy, a spot or a person from someone approaching — normal animal behaviour that becomes a problem when it escalates in a living room.Redirected aggressionAn animal worked up by something it cannot reach turns on whoever is nearest — the classic cat-at-the-window incident.Counter-conditioningChanging what something predicts, so the animal's feeling about it changes — the nail clippers stop meaning restraint and start meaning chicken.DesensitisationExposing an animal to a trigger at an intensity low enough to stay calm, then raising it in steps small enough that calm never breaks.