Our "Tuesday" meeting in January was held on a Thursday as we got together with the North Pinellas group for a presentation by Jen Gerrity about canine body language. We met at the Criminal Justice Center in Clearwater, where our first step was to go through building security.
That done, we made our way to a second-floor conference room, where we all barely fit in. Fortunately, Jen was able to connect her computer to the projection system without a hitch.
Jen talked about various aspects of canine body language, including:
- ear position (up and alert may indicate tension, hanging normally indicates relaxed confidence, and lying back shows fear or submission);
- tail position (high can be tense or aggressive, normal is relaxed, low or curled under is fearful or unsure); and
- body profile (puffed up with hackles raised is aggressive, normal is relaxed confidence, low with the head turned shows stress or uncertainty).
Jen also answered raisers' questions about various issues they were having, such as relieving separation anxiety by using a toy filled with food as a distracting challenge or correcting jumping by having a leash on the dog when company is expected and being ready to give firm downward leash corrections at the first sign of jumping.
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