What does that mean? It's important to observe a dog's other body language, including posture and ear position, in addition to the surrounding environmental context, to determine what is causing their hackles to raise. Data are limited on the piloerection phenomenon, but as an ethologist trained to observe animals and their behavior, I have noticed some things about it.
Based on my experience with many dogs over the years, it seems that different patterns of piloerection are associated with different dog behaviors, probably because they are associated with different internal emotional states. It's important to observe the dog's body language and the situation around them, as well.
One example I have seen in the past is some dogs exhibit a thin line at most a few inches wide of hair all along their back to the base of the tail. Ever get a nervous, excited, or chilling feeling and goosebumps appear? Your sympathetic nervous system causes the tiny muscles in the skin to contract, raising the hair follicles which create the little goosebumps and your hairs to stand straight up.
This is our sympathetic nervous system triggering us to get ready for a fight or flight response. Dogs with longer hair can have a more pronounced effect when hackles are raised, especially when the hair may be longer around the neck region. Rhodesian Ridgebacks look like their hackles are always raised, but this is just due to the growth of their hair in a forward motion along their backs. Some dogs, such as Poodles or Poodle mixes Labradoodle , Bernedoodle , Goldendoodle have less pronounced hackles due to their curly coat.
It can be hard to decipher any raising of the hair follicles from the normal hair around the arrector pili muscles. Raised hackles in dogs mean they are on high alert. They could be having a response brought on by fear, dominance, surprise, insecurity, or uneasiness about a situation. They generally start from the neck area and go up to the tail. These hairs have a piloerection function, meaning that they have a tendency to raise under certain circumstances. All dog breeds have this feature; however, it is easier to see in some breeds than in others.
For example, in long-haired breeds, the effect is more pronounced on the shoulder area because the hair in this area is much longer. When the hackles raise, they might go from the neck up to the tail, or they may simply just raise in the neck, back or tail area. Dogs have special muscles in their skin called arrector pili which are attached to their hair follicles and are capable of fluffing the hair by trapping air between the hair shafts.
These muscles are innervated by the sympathetic branch of the autonomic nervous system and are therefore not under conscious control. The function allows the dog to appear larger, taller and therefore more intimidating than it is. This is a ''fight or flight'' response triggered by adrenaline, similar in some ways to the function of fish that ''blow'' themselves up to three times their size to look much bigger in case of a fight.
Porcupines also depend on this function to scare off any predators. This is also seen sometimes in cats that are startled by something—simply think of the classic posture of a "Halloween" cat. Cats sometimes raise their hackles, too. You can see how this wary kitten has raised fur along its back. Image by creisi from Pixabay. Hackles work in the same way. In other words, raised hackles are an involuntary response brought on by some type of adrenaline rush.
Hackles are important because they act as a defense mechanism. When your dog raises its hackles, he or she is able to appear larger, taller, and more intimidating Farricelli, Think of it like a puffer fish or a porcupine.
Whether there is a threat or not, a dog that is unsettled or unsure of his or her surroundings may raise his or her hackles as an unconscious layer of protection.
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