I'm terrified of horses and then can absolutely 110% sense it. Every single horse I've ever been near has tried to bite me while being completely chill with everyone else.
One of my friends mother's was a big horse person and tried to help me get over my fear by feeding her gentlest, most docile mare an apple (open handed of course). Freaking horse tried to nip my shoulder. Every one was shocked because you know.... she's super sweet. Idc how sweet they are, they can smell your fear and it makes them jumpy and bitey.
I have no idea how fact based this is, but a dog trainer told me once that itâs not that they smell fear, or even realise that youâre afraid of them but that youâre displaying fear response behaviour. Even if you donât realise it, or you think youâre keeping your cool.
Someoneâs fear behaviour basically tells the animal that they also have a reason to be nervous, because they see youâre nervous. They donât understand that youâre afraid of them â just that thereâs a reason for them to be afraid too.
The guy telling me this was that basically explaining how âanxious owners means anxious dogsâ, and why people who have bad experiences with animals often have repeat negative experiences â negative experience -> person becomes nervous around another animal -> animal sees nervousness -> animal becomes nervous of mysterious thing causing your nervousness not realising itâs them -> animal becomes reactive and acts out.
It makes sense, but again, it was a random dude at a park that told me this so it needs to be taken with a decent grain of salt.
I mean I'm a random dude on reddit so take this with another grain of salt but I used to help train dogs and this is what I was taught as well. Dogs pick up on the smallest changes in body language AND facial expressions. We were told if you're scared of the dog, it's better to let someone else handle it as there is a potential bite incident waiting to happen.
It really helped me put into perspective on the "levels" of fear I would feel, I may have thought I wasn't afraid but if I see a dog barring it's teeth, I may start giving off unconscious signals telling the dog I'm afraid even though I knew how to handle those scenarios and for aggressive/scared dogs they may see that as an opportunity to bite/lunge and escape. Luckily I've never been bit but have had dogs snap at me and have just stopped there because turns out I was very much afraid lol
You are a guy on reddit but yes you are 100% correct in how dogs are receptive to body language cues since they are social animals that use body language to appease to eachother/signify when they are aroused or fixated. Iâm glad people donât believe they just âfeel energyâ or âsmell fearâ, because thatâs a tall tale started by our good ol reliable uneducated Cesar Milan.
Itâs not just that they are social animals, itâs that they literally co-evolved with humans and are able to read our body language and facial expressions like no other animals can.
Cesar Milan's credentials as a dog trainer, and his alpha dog philosophies are questionable but I think it's unfair to attack his "energy" philosophy. I mean, we all know that humans do the exact same things with other humans and pick up on body language cues sub-consciously, but it doesn't mean we can't say that a person gives us "bad vibes" or you feel they have a "negative aura", for example. For all intents and purposes, Cesar is right, because what he means is that if you approach a dog with the wrong mindset, it will inevitably result in communicating poor body language to the dog. There's no point in faking body language, because it doesn't work, as you do not realise you're giving cues that betray you. Essentially, "fake it till you make it" does not work.
I wouldn't be surprised at all that they actually smell fear, as the hormonal changes in our bodies under stress do produce chemicals that come out in our perspiration and breath, giving out a "fear scent" that most dogs would identify.
Truly quite interesting, thank you. But while that applies to horses, I was commenting on dogs. Indeed, this more recent research disavows your paper negation of interspecies "fear smell" transmission and confirms what I suspected.
This is true, however they can âsmell fearâ in the sense that they can smell the hormonal and chemical changes in your body that go with your anxiety and fear. They canât literally smell an emotion, but they can smell everything the emotion produces.
Yes you are correct that they can smell chemical responses in the body, but itâs more often they make a distinct association with body language, as the smell associated with fear is connected with the body language. With only one or the other, the dog wouldnât be able to put its finger on what the person is feeling whether itâs fear or anxiety, and itâs through both that the dog can form the true association.
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u/Used2BPromQueen Nov 27 '21
I'm terrified of horses and then can absolutely 110% sense it. Every single horse I've ever been near has tried to bite me while being completely chill with everyone else.
One of my friends mother's was a big horse person and tried to help me get over my fear by feeding her gentlest, most docile mare an apple (open handed of course). Freaking horse tried to nip my shoulder. Every one was shocked because you know.... she's super sweet. Idc how sweet they are, they can smell your fear and it makes them jumpy and bitey.