# Hackles up... means.. ?



## chelle (Feb 1, 2009)

Ok, hackles. I want to talk about hackles. 

Every once in awhile, Bailey's hackles raise, but it is at the FRONT of his body only, at the shoulder area, going back maybe 3-4 inches?. It's typically when at play or alert. It's only every once in awhile and I can't find a "pattern" to when they come up or don't.

BUT I've seen his mother's hackles raise all the way to her TAIL. Namely when a strange guy came in the yard awhile back.

Is there a difference when their hackles raise only at the front vs when they raise up ALL the way to the back? 

What are raised hackles telling you, as the owner???


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## BR870 (May 15, 2011)

Hackles up is a sign of high arousal. Often fear or aggression, but it can just be arousal.


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## KSdogowner (Jun 22, 2011)

Max's hackles are raised only in the front when he is playing around with Sophie or Lexie. I think in his case it is him getting excited. The complete raising of hackles is more an alert/caution thing..at least that is the case with Max.


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## Rott-n-GSDs (Jul 7, 2010)

My female OS my only tackle raiser, and she does just what you describe: front tackles for play, all the way to the tail when in protection mode.


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## msvette2u (Mar 20, 2006)

Arousal, as others said. This can mean fear, sometimes aggression (although aggression is often fear based) and even cold (shivering).


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## chelle (Feb 1, 2009)

msvette2u said:


> Arousal, as others said. This can mean fear, sometimes aggression (although aggression is often fear based) and even cold (shivering).


 
Arousal... as in just excited, hyper, happy?


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## Konotashi (Jan 11, 2010)

Arousal, as in any type of excitement, basically. Something new, aggression, happy, etc.


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## chelle (Feb 1, 2009)

Konotashi said:


> Arousal, as in any type of excitement, basically. Something new, aggression, happy, etc.


Ok. Good. So nothing to really worry about for the *most* part, unless there's something else going on to alert me, or it comes off as aggressive or unless I see them raise to the tail.? I've never seen that with my own pup, just very vividly remembering his mom's raising the entire length of her back when that strange guy came in the yard... scary.


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## paulag1955 (Jun 29, 2010)

Shasta's hackles go up near her shoulders every time she sees another dog...she wants to play. I've never seen her hackles go up all the way down her back.


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## chelle (Feb 1, 2009)

paulag1955 said:


> Shasta's hackles go up near her shoulders every time she sees another dog...she wants to play. *I've never seen her hackles go up all the way down her back*.


It's an experience, all right. Scared the crap outta me!


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## Lucy Dog (Aug 10, 2008)

In my experience, hackles are not something I like to see. It does mean arousal, but not in an excited and playful way. More of a... I'm tense and unsure type arousal.

When dogs hackle, at least the ones I've been around, it's never all the way down the back like some cats do. It's more around the bottom of the neck area.

Regardless, when I see hackles raise, that's my cue that the dog is not confident (at the moment) and needs some kind of new thing to focus on.


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## msvette2u (Mar 20, 2006)

Konotashi said:


> Arousal, as in any type of excitement, basically. Something new, aggression, happy, etc.


I don't think of "happy" either, as much as...like the above poster said, "unsure". Anything that'd make your own hair raise, like a shiver. My Dachshunds do it sometimes when they are over-the-top excited/upset as when company comes over and doesn't act like company ought to, that is, they don't ignore the dogs completely. Or a new dog comes down the road, which is an unusual event, and it upsets them to see a dog on their territory!


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## msvette2u (Mar 20, 2006)

Thought you might enjoy a small photo essay of our last GSD (passed away a year ago in the spring) and my Sheltie mix girl playing in the yard.

Here, Yaeger is approaching Libby - Yaeger was being a nut case, zoomies all over. Libby has been the Queen "B" for pretty much her whole life, but Yaeger decides to have a go at her anyway. Libby sees him coming and starts preparing herself.
His hackles have started to raise, towards his tail. Her's slightly up near her neck and down her shoulders. 









Here he just BARKS loudly at her - you could see his lips drawn back to show all his teeth, and her lips are drawn back in a snarl, not a bark. She's all tucked up as if she's somewhat afraid (so it seems) but her mouth tells the story..."back off". His hackles are up, but not over the shoulder, mostly towards his tail. Her's are up but it's hard to tell since she's all bunched (coiled) up. 









He had turned away at this point, so she's relaxing...uncoiled herself yet still somewhat guarded -yet no hackles, or maybe the slight start of some.









And at this moment, they have turned from each other and are going their separate ways - yet you see her hackles (over the shoulder) still raised, even more noticeable now that she's ambling off.


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## chelle (Feb 1, 2009)

Lucy Dog said:


> In my experience, hackles are not something I like to see. It does mean arousal, but not in an excited and playful way. More of a... I'm tense and unsure type arousal............ Regardless, when I see hackles raise, that's my cue that the dog is not confident (at the moment) and needs some kind of new thing to focus on.


That makes sense. I don't like to see them, either, but I wasn't really sure if it was just me. 



msvette2u said:


> I don't think of "happy" either, as much as...like the above poster said, "unsure".


Ditto. Unsure. Maybe a mix of what others have said, but unsure fits.



msvette2u said:


> Thought you might enjoy a small photo essay of our last GSD (passed away a year ago in the spring) and my Sheltie mix girl playing in the yard.
> 
> Here, Yaeger is approaching Libby - Yaeger was being a nut case, zoomies all over. Libby has been the Queen "B" for pretty much her whole life, but Yaeger decides to have a go at her anyway. Libby sees him coming and starts preparing herself.
> His hackles have started to raise, towards his tail. Her's slightly up near her neck and down her shoulders.
> ...


Nice. Thanks for that, you can almost feel the tension right thru the pics.


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## Dainerra (Nov 14, 2003)

Singe hackles all the time when he plays with Rayden. Just the shoulders, though. Both boys get all ramped off and the hackles are up.  So it can be both. Like many words in the English language, you have to go by context. If the rest of the demeanor is happy/excited, then it's just excitement. If the demeanor is uncertain/agitated/whatever then that is what the dog is feeling.

So, in my opinion, hackles by themselves mean nothing.

I have seen Rayden hackle up all the way to his tail. To say that it was scary is an understatement. Then again, that was the intention, to make himself even bigger and more intimidating. He put himself between an aggressive stranger and my husband.


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## Castlemaid (Jun 29, 2006)

Some dogs just hackle more than others. I used to think that it was always a bad sign, but Gryffon hackles a lot, from the top of his head to the base of his tail when rough-housing and playing with Keeta. 

When I got Keeta, she was very under-socialized, and everything scared her at first. She is also more reactive and will growl at stuff that she is unsure about. Yet in the six years that I have had her, I think I have only seen her hackle once or twice - 

Gryffon will hackle everytime he plays with Keeta. That is were I see his hackles come up - it's really funny and weird. 

There was one time where I saw his whole hackles come up in "high alert" to something. I was walking both dogs on leash, late at night, in the winter, on my quiet road in the booneys where I live. At one point, both air-sniffed, and both dogs hackled, and their tails came up straight up into the air, Gryffon's almost touching his back - they did not change their stride and pace, just sniffed and hackled. Then we got past that point, and hackles and tails went back down again. 

Then on the way back, they started sniffing again in that area, but no hackles this time - there must have been a wild animal nearby the first time around, then it was gone on our return trip. I have never had the dogs react this way before, yet we often see and walk across the path of coyotes, foxes, deer, moose, and bear in the areas where I live. I'm thinking it might have been a cougar or a lynx that got the dogs all hackled up.


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## gagsd (Apr 24, 2003)

Ari hackles (mohawk straight down his back) when playing ball. I can assure you.... no fear or insecurity there  !


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## PaddyD (Jul 22, 2010)

Abby hackles when she is nervous or suspicious around a strange dog. Full hackles from neck to tail mean she is aggressive. Front hackles only means she is nervous/cautious. They go down quickly. I think it is adrenaline related, JMHO.


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## RMF (Oct 1, 2011)

Deezul does that, mostly the base of his neck, but his tail's also wagging a mile a minute. It seems with him it's a combo of uncertainity & excitement, like wanting to play.


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## Sunstreaked (Oct 26, 2010)

Eva has hackled up since she was a small puppy in her first puppy class. Every time there is more than one dog around, she hackles. Every time we go to the dog park, she hackles when she first gets in. Within literal moments she is playing with her pals and even the newer dogs without the slightest hesitation. We're really used to it, although I do have to tell newbies at the park that she's always done that!


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## prophecy (May 29, 2008)

FeNyx and Mischa both hackle during play.FULL mowhawk.It's allways with neutral tail position,and play bows so I am sure it is excitement of play.


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## rblanshan (Jun 23, 2011)

Once again, what a fantastic, informative post! I have had Irsa for 3-4 months now and the hackles have been a bother for me! I had just started getting the impression she did it more out of excitement (usually when someone new is over) and she is trying to play with them. However, as this is my first big dog...the hackles going up has frightened me. When I see them go up, I instantly call her to me but I have been wondering over this as her demeanor does not seem anything other then friendly. It's a scary thing though when you see this on a dog as they are running over to your 5 yr old! It's just a few inches on the neck....I hope I never see it all the way down her back!


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## atruepastime (Mar 12, 2011)

Lila is a hackle raiser.. and it happens both, when she's being surrounded by a pack of nosey dogs at the park - but the rest of her body language is unsure (ears back, lip licking, eyes averted.. and trotting around to get everyone off her back).. 
and it happens when a stranger approaches our house - we have a lot of window panelling so she goes insane when someone strange approaches.. again hackles to the tail but this time tail high and wagging, barking deep and literally throwing herself at the windows.. I usually have to put her away for a minute to calm down, then let the person in. and when they are seated I can let her out and she will rush out but then once she spots them seated will not engage with them but still very alert, and watches from the corner of her eye.. if they seem relaxed and "safe " to her after a couple minutes she'll go up and say hello.. and then usually ignores them again unless they call her over for a play/ cuddle.. then depending on her mood she'll go back to say hello.. or she'll snob them!


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## BeautifulChaos (Aug 15, 2011)

In my opinion:
Simply put, hackles are a sign of stimulation - be it negative or positive. A dog that hackles at every little thing is a dog that gets easily over stimulated.

It's personally not my favorite thing in a dog, but it's not a bad thing. Oliver is one that hackles a lot, I've seen him do both the front hackles and the all the way down hackling.

_In my experience_, shoulder hackles tend to be seen at a lower stimulation - game of chase, barking at a neighbor, greeting another dog, or "I'm uncomfortable, please don't mess with me" . Hackles all the way down happen when the dog is highly stimulated - rough play, intruder, or "back off, this is your warning" (usually seen with a growl).
As always, there are dogs that don't quite fit this and there are some that this will fit exactly with.

Hackling is a lot like goosebumps on people (same mechanics).


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## bellamia (Feb 7, 2010)

mias hackleswill be raised only up to her mid back maybe when its happy/angry excitement. but from nape all theway to thetip of tail is when she really is alerting herself or us. like the other day last month she did a very deep low growl, hackles from neck to china, looking intently at the lake. well wad do u know? there was this 4ish foot alligator right there!!!! trying to come out!!(yes in nov. this is texas!). we ran , thank God i had her in a prong leash, oherwise ......... escpecially with her not so lovely recall!


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## Kittilicious (Sep 25, 2011)

I posted about something similar with Knuckles a few weeks ago... his hackles were up on his shoulders & the base of his tail. It turned out it was over excitement from getting out of the car and being greeted by his 2 adult GSD friends & his littermate. I assumed it was fear, but was relieved to find out it wasn't!


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## Anthony8858 (Sep 18, 2011)

Also, ... Many other animals use their feathers, and such, to look bigger. When Kira raises her hackles, her body looks THAT much bigger.

It's a form of expression. The only time I see her hackles go up, is when she sees something that could threaten HER. 
I was walking on the side of my house, and a slight wind was moving a trash bag. Kira took notice of this, raised her hackles as she approached it. Was she afraid?.. Could have been. Whatever it was, didn't raise her excitement level. She was very calm as she walked over.

It's another form of communication.


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## Todd (Sep 6, 2004)

Heidi would do the full mohawk hackles once in awhile...that was usually a sign that she was not happy with another dog's manners towards her...yes, I'll blame the other dogs since she was really good with well socialized dogs. However, she was quite a bit on the dominant side so she had a pretty short list of other dogs she was allowed to play with.

Haven't seen Abby raise her hackles yet and today is five months since I adopted her. She is a lot better with other dogs and much more submissive than Heidi.


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## MaggieRoseLee (Aug 17, 2001)

chelle said:


> Arousal...* as in just excited, hyper, happy*?


Both my girls have their hackles up for that reason all the time, maybe even daily depending on how much play is going on...


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## Biscuit (Mar 24, 2020)

Bit relieved to hear hackles are more a sign of excitement. Ive noticed the same pattern on Biscuit (front shoulder hackles raised meeting some large size dogs). B loves meeting dogs and is generally 'polite' (ears down, lip licking - submissive right?) but will also have her front hackles up. I guess it's nothing to worry about? I've never heard her growl or look fearful.


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## wolfy dog (Aug 1, 2012)

Deja only raises her hackles when she smells a skunk.


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## ChickiefromTN (Jun 16, 2020)

My girl will get her hackles up from the neck to the tail every once in a while while running down her soccer ball. When she is excited like that she grabs the ball, gives it a sharp snap with a grunt. Ive seen my 7 month old boy just get a little bit of his neck up when they get really wound up playing. The only other time I've seen my girl with hackles up was when she chased 3 wild hog piglets out of her space.

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