Dogs can be subject to illusions. So can humans. A couple of weeks ago, I was outside to meet a couple for the first time with their dog. When the dog first saw me, he was happy and pulling my way. But, when he sniffed me, he startled, jumped back and started growling.
His initial perception of me wasn’t clear. His conditioned expectation was that he did know me, whether by how the greeting was proceeding or maybe I looked like someone else he knew. So, he initially came over to me as if I was a known person. But then, when he sniffed me, he realized that I wasn’t what he thought I was, that startled him, triggering a fear response, and then he jumped back to get distance and growled to signal to me to not come any closer.
His initial impression of me was an illusion.
People make mistakes when setting up dogs for greetings. The owners sometimes figure that since they know and like the person, their dog is going to like them, too. Strangers come up to unknown dogs, and some dogs can appear very friendly a first. But then, if the dog is coming in with an illusion, and finds out that they don’t yet know that person, the dog can become either frightened or aggressive.
Kids do this with dogs. They go up to a dog that looks like their stuffed animals, such as a Chow Chow. What they see is what they expect to see. But the dog doesn’t know that kid, and the greeting by the child is socially offensive to the dog and a bite results.
A similar situation is the dog that doesn’t recognize the owner, who is wearing a coat and a hat, when they come in the door. The dog doesn’t recognize them and goes on the offensive.
Another case is where the owner thinks a dog can handle a situation, but the dog isn’t ready. The owner sees what they want to see but isn’t considering that the situation is strange for the dog. Humans tend to project their intentions onto dogs without taking the time to assess whether their dogs are ready or capable of doing what they envision. The owner’s figure since they can do that thing, such as going down a steep hill, that the dog can do that as well. Or because the owner likes that other dog, their dog will like that other dog. Or because they have been around horses, the dog will be fine around horses.
In these cases, a dog will be labeled as “unpredictable.”
There is a difference between the actual response to a stimulus, and a conditioned response to a stimulus. When a stimulus isn’t very strong, the conditioning can fill in the blanks. Many times, that is a good thing: there is enough information and experience to assume it is ok to go ahead. Sometimes, that is a bad thing, the owner or the dog are filling in the blanks and totally misreading the situation.
Dogs are more predictable the better you socialize, train, observe, manage, supervise and get to know them. As a rule, better trained dogs have fewer bad incidents: the dog and owner have a better set of cooperatively learned skills.
Plan accordingly.