Primary Cut-Off Signals

Lucia and Sappho pointedly ignoring each other.

Lucia's primary challenge is that she is anxious around new people and dogs, and she doesn't have the skills to self-soothe and remove herself from the situation. Therefore one of my primary goals is teaching her the skills so she can be in social situations and not only be safe, but also be comfortable and hopefully even enjoy herself.

One way that we do this is called Behavioral Adjustment Training, or BAT. Grisha Stewart (of the amazing Ahimsa Dog Training in Seattle, WA) developed this training method and while simple on its surface, the power of this positive training method cannot be overstated. I include more information about Ms. Stewart and resources to learn more about BAT at the end of this post.

The premise behind BAT is teaching the dog to control their enviroment by choosing to engage or disengage from situations. Part of normal canine body language includes a group of behaviors known as "cut off signals." While some of these signals have multiple meanings, they all indicate that a dog is trying to either disengage entirely from the situation or reduce the stimulus level of the current interaction.

To understand BAT and why it works so effectively, we first need to understand cut-off signals and their role in normal canine interactions. I put a call out to my fellow New Rattitude volunteers and asked for pictures or video I can use to demonstrate cut-off signals. Below are their wonderful contributions. Almost all the dogs shown here are ratties rescued through New Rattitude.

Tilly meeting two eager, appeasing puppies. Tilly isn't too sure though!
(Janell Brown/Rescued Ratties)

Please be aware that many signals that a dog gives are contextual and must be judged with the rest of the body language as well as the situation that is occurring. Cut-off signals can be used in play when both dogs are enjoying themselves as well as dogs who wish to exit the situation. When dogs play they can get increasingly excited and they can reach a state where they are unable to calm themselves. Sometimes this displays itself as play that suddenly turns into a scuffle, or a dog that gets so excited and unable to self-soothe that she becomes anxious instead. Dogs learn to use these cut-off signals as a way of hitting "pause" on the play and allowing themselves to settle back down so that they don't go over threshold. 

Curious but unsure.This is a great time for a dog to perform a cut-off signal
(Janell Brown/Rescued Ratties) 

At other times specific signals can indicate different emotional states depending on the canine's body language as a whole. Flat ears in a dog accompanied by soft eyes and a wagging tail indicates a friendly dog who wants to interact, whereas flat ears in a dog accompanied by a head turn and a crouched body indicates a frightened dog who shouldn't be touched as it may provoke a defensive reaction. My goal isn't to cover the entire meaning of all signals, but to address them in how they are used by dogs as cut-off signals.

In the interest of post length, I'm going to break these down into "primary" and "secondary" cut off signals. This is an relatively arbitrary assignment based on whether these are a more obvious (to other dogs and people) cut-off signals or a behavior that is more contextually based. Some of these behaviors can be considered both a primary and secondary cut-off signal, and the designation doesn't indicate that one signal is better or more effective than another.

While all the pictures in this post and the next involve canine interactions, dogs use cut-off signals to communicate with people the same way! 

Head Turn:

 A head turn is a classic cut-off signal. In fact it is one of the behaviors I try to reinforce the most because it is a "big" movement in that it is obvious even to human observers and it is one of the most common cut-off signals.

Trip and Trixie at an adoption event.
(Janell Brown/Rescued Ratties) 

The dog on the left (Trip) isn't too sure about the dog on the right (Trixie). Trip is giving a slight head turn while still keeping his gaze on Trixie, indicating a moderate level of concern about her proximity. In this case both owners should call their dogs away from each other, and then if both dogs are still interested they can let them meet again. Alternatively they may wish to walk the dogs together first before attempting another face to face meeting.

Elvis (left) and Emma (right) are having a good time, but Emma wants a short break.
(Janell Brown/Rescued Ratties) 

Head turns don't always mean the dog wants to completely disengage. In the above picture Emma is taking a momentary break from play but using the head turn to tell Elvis "just pause a moment." You may see the head turn in combination with other cut-off signals frequently seen in play such as the full body shake and the sneeze.

A tan trio mingling.
(Janell Brown/Rescued Ratties) 

Sometimes these head-turns are full on body turns, such as the dog in the forefront is doing above. That doesn't nessecarily indicate a higher or lower level of arousal or distress. Turning away from a stimulus involves the dog trusting the stimulus isn't an immediate danger that he has to keep his eye on, and so a dog close to his threshold may only do a slight head turn because he is afriad to take his eyes off the stimulus. In the picture above the dog at the forefront is showing mild discomfort by the ears pulled back and to the side, and the tightness in his face, but he is not so concerned as to feel unsafe turning his body away from the other dogs.

Shake:

(Janell Brown/Rescued Ratties)

This is a signal with a couple meanings. It can indicate the dog wants a break, or it can be a self-soothing action. Frequently dogs pause and do a shake as a way of releasing stress. Of course, it could also just be the dog is shaking off moisture from its coat!

Usually you can determine the meaning of the shake by the context. If you see a dog sniff a stranger than do a shake, then that is a self-soothing action to release the stress of meeting a stranger. If a dog has been playing with another dog, then stops and shakes, that can be both a self-soothing action as well as a cut-off signal to the other dog to pause play.

Sniffing the Ground:

Nothing to see here, just some super interesting ground...
(Janell Brown/Rescued Ratties)  

Frequently accompanied by head or body turns, the dog may casually sniff the ground and feign lack of interest in the other dog. Since this breaks eye contact it can interrupt a tense situation and allow both dogs to disengage in a non-threatening manner.

Yawn:

A yawn is similar to the full-body shake. It is a stress-reliever as well as a cut-off signal to the other dog. Of course, sometimes dogs yawn because they are tired, so it is contextual!

Sneeze:

A sneeze and the full body shake tend to be seen in the same situations. Frequently dogs will play for a while, then break apart with a sneeze, do a full body shake, maybe a head turn, and then after a few moments one dog will play bow at the other and away they go.

These usually are single sneezes and can vary from a snort to a full sneeze that involves the dog pointing their nose and whipping it down over the course of the sneeze.

Next are the secondary cut-off signals. In the meantime, to learn more about Behavioral Adjustment Training please visit Ms. Stewart's websites below. She also has a book and DVD on BAT.

Ahimsa Dog Training
Functional Rewards
Functional Rewards Yahoo Discussion Group
DVD of a 2 day seminar on BAT
Easy to read, excellent book on BAT by Grisha Stewart