Little Nell, a fox-faced Border Collie, came to visit the farm over twenty-five years ago, when I was just getting started as a behaviorist. A sweetheart of a dog, she melted when petted and came when I called, eyes shining, radiating joy and exuberance. However, one day she didn’t respond when I called her. Her face was buried in the tall grass by the driveway and I could hear her snuffling at something under her nose. As I got closer, she turned her head toward me, and… I froze. I didn’t even know why at the time, it seemed to happen automatically, and too fast to consciously evaluate. And then I realized that Nell’s eyes had gone “hard,” a look that people had been telling me about, but I had never seen.
“Watch out for it,” trainers and behaviorists with more experience than I had at the time had told me. “But what does a ‘hard eye’ look like?” I’d ask. “How will I know it when I see it?” When Nell came to visit I had just finished my degree in Zoology, and had been well trained in the importance of detailed and accurate observations. “What changes when an eye “goes hard” I’d ask? “What should I look for? Does the color change? The pupils constrict?”
“No, it’s not about the color or the pupil dilation or constriction,” they all said (although pupils changes can be important). Everyone could tell me what is wasn’t, but not what it was. All anyone could say was “Their eyes go cold” or “You’ll know it when you see it.”
And I did, when Nell’s eyes turned icy and my body told me to stop reaching toward her. Since then, decades later, I’ve seen it far too many times, from dogs as large as ponies and as small as squirrels. I know now, too, why it’s so hard to describe. I’ve thought about this for years, and the only thing I can compare it to is one of those hyper-edited photographs, the kind you see in some magazines in which the”color saturation” and “resolution” was set on high, so that what you see doesn’t look quite real anymore. To me, those kind of photographs don’t look appealing, they look flat and strange, like some alien whose semi-human form looks chilling precisely because he is human-like, but then, isn’t.
The look is as hard to capture in a photograph as it is to describe. The dog below, a lovely little girl named Fly, is staring intently at Willie at the moment, the better to play “you move and I’ll smash into you! Won’t that be fun!” Her eyes have something of the quality of a “hard eye,” but not because she is challenging anyone, but because her stare is so intense.
I’ve looked at other photographs in books under the “hard eye” description (Handelman’s excellent Canine Behavior: A Photo Illustrated Handbook, for example), and none quite captures what you actually see in person. Handelman states that hard eyes are “squinty,” but I haven’t found that always to be true. Nor do I think the pupils always constrict. Actually, I think the only accurate description is that the eyes “go cold.” But how do eyes “go cold?” My major professor, Jeff Baylis, speculated that eyes go “hard” when the sympathetic nervous system engages and the eyes momentarily stop their usual “nystagmus.” Not the large, lateral movements associated with vestibular disease, but the microscopically small side-to-side movements that the eyes of all mammals do to help locate objects in front of them. This seems to be the best explanation I’ve heard so far.
Whatever causes them, “hard eyes” can be signs of trouble. Big trouble. (And not just in dogs. Ever see it in a person? Scary.) Most trainers and behaviorists associate the look with the potential of aggression. I see it as a clear threat: “Continue doing what you are doing and there will be consequences.” In a few rare cases, I suspect the message is “Make my day.”
How should we respond to a dog whose eyes have gone hard? Don’t faint, but I am not going to say “It Depends.” At one level, the answer is simple: “Change what you are doing.” If you are reaching toward an object that the dog is guarding, stop reaching. If you are trying to enter the house of friend who is on vacation and whose dog needs to be taken outside to potty, throw treats behind the dog before entering the house. Of course, exactly what you do next depends on many things–is it your dog, or someone else’s? When did it happen, and do you know why? After little Nell’s eye went hard over a treasure in the grass, I began conditioning her to enjoy it when I reached for something she wanted by associating it with food more wonderful than what she was guarding. (See here for information on treating resource guarding.) Willie’s eyes went hard on me once, just once, when I was toweling off his back legs. He was an adolescent, still fearful of other dogs, and highly reactive to noises, but a sweetheart to me. But when he was about 10 months old, I began toweling his butt and he turned his head to look at me as his eyes went a little hard and he growled, ever so quietly, under his breath. Because I knew him so well, my reaction was to laugh at him. “Oh Willie, don’t be silly, Willie-silly-billie-boy.” I did pause for a moment, then I teased him, and went right back to rubbing him down. That was the end of it. But I did change my behavior, even if briefly, and if there’s one thing that I think is important to do if a dog flashes you “the look,” it’s that. Change what you are doing.
Needless to say, I’ve seen a lot of dog’s eyes go hard over the years. I’ve had the dogs of some clients turn to face me and knew instantly–or, at least, believed, that they were clearly communicating that I had a choice: Continue doing what I was doing and get bitten, or change my behavior and avoid stitches. BUT, and this is an important qualifier, it is essential not to ignore the behavior. Any time a dog’s eyes go hard, it is important to note the context, and speculate about why the dog was threatening you. Was it over a treasure? Then begin treatment for resource guarding. Was it about a reach toward the head by a stranger? Then immediately implement both a safety-based management plan and treatment with classical and operant conditioning.
That’s been my strategy. 1) Change behavior in the moment. 2) Reflect on context, see if you can find a pattern and then a) manage to avoid it while b) using good conditioning exercises to take away the motivation. What about you? Have you ever seen a dog’s eyes go hard? (I think this doesn’t happen at all in most pet dogs. I guarantee you that some dog’s eyes simply never go hard. I wish we had some research on how often it really happens, in what context, and by what kind of dog.) If you have, how did you react? I look forward to hearing what you have to say.
MEANWHILE, back on the farm. It’s been so hot that I’m not working the dogs much on the sheep, just enough to move them from the barn to their pasture each day, then back down again in the late evening. I have been doing lots of gardening, which includes about an hour a day of picking Japanese beetles off of my plants and dropping them into soapy water. As much as I dislike the creatures, I have to admit I’ve enjoyed learning about them.
During the afternoon hours they seem to break into committee meetings, and I’ll find 10 or 20 on the same leaf, all the better to push them off into my awaiting bowl of soapy water. Willie and Maggie follow me around for a few minutes, and then decide whatever I’m doing is boring, and go off to entertain themselves. Often they’ll lie down in the shade and watch me. I do wonder what they are thinking!
Here are some of the plants I’m trying to protect. They make me happy every day, beetles or not.
Monika says
While Sam can get a bit fixated when he’s on a particularly interesting scent trail, as a goofy, almost ADD sort of Standard Poodle, that stare can be generally easily broken. Never thought how it might be with dogs not nearly as malleable as he is. Thanks for sharing that info and double thanks for the lovely Mother Nature shot! It’s good to protect our flora. 🙂
HFR says
Oh my gosh, your garden is beautiful. I always try to get that casual look in my garden. That oh-I-don’t-know-how-all-these-flowers-ended-up-here look, but I always end up with a perfect row of something next to a row of something else. Congratulations!
I have never had a dog give me a hard look, altho I’ve heard it spoken of often. My question is, what is the difference between a hard look and a freeze? Can there be a hard look and no freeze of the body? I’ve certainly observed a dog freeze in an aggressive manner, but never looked at the eyes while they were doing so. Maybe they go together, or maybe a dog can threaten with either its body language or its eyes. Fascinating stuff.
laurie says
My dog has never given me “hard eye’ – he is an English cocker spaniel & even when very frustrated only presents sad, soft but your advice to stop, assess & then address the situtaion is a good idea whenever there is a conflict . thanks for all your thought-provoking essays.
Trisha says
Good question HFR, about the difference between a freeze and a hard eye. They can go together, but they are not always seen in tandem. I define ‘freeze’ as a cessation of movement. It can be less than a tenth of a second, or several seconds long, but I’ve seen plenty of dogs freeze because they were alerted to s/t in the environment and perhaps unsure what to do next. In that case, you wouldn’t see a hard eye at the same time. But you do indeed see them together sometimes, which is a “momma get the baby” signal to me, or “All hands on deck, or “Dive Dive” from the submarine captain. (One hopes those last 2 would not be said by the same captain, at the same time, on the same ship. I’m just saying.) Make sense? Others? Discuss…
Crystal says
Hoo boy. The dog I had as a teenager, a Pembroke Welsh Corgi, was deeply troubled. This is the dog that is going to stick with me for the rest of my life because I failed him. I got him as a 7 week old pup. Somewhere around 2, he started attacking the other dogs in the house (intact Australian Shepherd and fixed Papillion). It was like someone flipped a light switch. in the course of two steps, he went from walking across the room to attack/kill mode. He had that hard eye you talked about. We had near daily dog fights. We talked to vets, behaviorists (such as they were in the 90s), trainers. Everyone offered us ‘things’ (train your dog to heel, put in a hierarchy and ignore one particular dog), but nothing useful. It got to the point where we had to set up a gate system across the house to separate him from the other dogs. Eventually when I went to college and he went to live with my brother where he could be an only dog. Two years after I graduated, I took him back because he bit my niece (which was an adult problem- leave an unstable dog with a toddler with food). He kept trying to attack my sweet sweet mutt with the same attack/kill mode. Nothing had changed. I had to separate him again with gates across my apartment. The day I took him back I discovered something else was wrong, which eventually turned out to be degenerative mylopathy. He finally trusted me again, and was fine separate from my other dog, and I had about four months with him. I talked to more trainers, though I figured we had bigger problems at the moment, and they were still baffled.
So yes, I’ve seen that hard eye. The eye would appear as he was walking across the room and I would leap and tackle him and hope hope hope I could pull him off the other dogs before someone got hurt (actually brooms can be really helpful for this).
In retrospect, I wish I’d put him on some doggie prozac to see if that helped. All the usual dog-dog things (possession, “alpha” stuff, proximity to resources, etc) were considered but didn’t fit. This is the one that is going to haunt me forever, because I don’t know what was wrong with him. It was like an emotional disregulation that humans get, where he would fly into a violent rage. Except he was a dog. I will never know what was wrong with him. I would have done a lot of things differently- but I was 15, 16, 17- barely able to figure out myself much less a troubled dog.
Ugh, sorry for the mini-novel here. Experience, I’ve had some.
Daniel H. Antolec says
When I explain the concept of “soft” and “hard” eyes I tell them “You and I have soft eyes right now. To picture what hard eyes look like, have you ever seen a photograph of Charles Manson?”
If the client does not know who Charles Manson is I use the image of the close portrait photograph of a terrorist, which is something everyone has seen on nightly new casts for years.
This imagery works every time.
KC Wilson says
Lucky for me I’ve never had a dog that gave me the hard stare. I have had some dogs in classes that gave me a look of “better not come any closer” which I was able to read and took my time with. Knock on wood, I’ve never been bitten.
Margaret Mclaughlin says
I have only seen a hard eye once, & there is no mistaking it. It was a 10 week old boxer puppy, directed at my 10 week old Flat-coat puppy, Lia. It took me one second too many to react–couldn’t believe what I was seeing– & the boxer attacked, with clear intent to do harm. We separated the dogs quickly–both were on leash–& no physical harm was done, but Lia became extremely reactive to any dog who was staring at her. This took at a lot of management in her agility career, because there are a LOT of 20-inch Border Collies & Aussies out there, & I never dared to stand with her in a tight line-up. I did a lot of LAT with her, & she did improve.
I said to the boxer’s owner–a friend–that if that were my puppy I would return her to the breeder instantly. She had not been able to see the puppy’s eyes, & was already attached, & minimized it as puppy play, as did several people she told about the incident. Unfortunately it was not. The boxer went on to attack her housemates more than once, & at least once (maybe more) left her handler in mid-run to jump over the ring gate to attack another dog.
I would be interested to hear if anyone else has seen this in such a young puppy, & if so, what happened when the dog matured.
Trisha says
Margaret: I have seen it in young puppies, Not many, but some. I can’t speak for the eventual behavior of them all, some I never saw again. But I will never forget one litter of Golden Retriever puppies (yes, you got that right), who looked at me like Jack Nicholson in The Shining. The ones I followed all ended up being euthanized before they were a year old. BUT… guess who else I saw it in? Willie. At eight weeks, over a vegetable, to an adult dog. I’m writing about it now in the memoir, but suffice it to say, Willie now is doing wonderfully, gets along well with other dogs (although I would never invite 6 intact male Labradors into the house at the same time. If anything would bring it out, that would be it.)
Chris Wells says
What a timely article. After the death of our 10 year old Golden Retriever, we adopted a 2 year old “mostly Golden” who needed a home. We needed a dog…she needed a home….and so we adopted her. From what we know of her story, we are her 4th owner. She is full of love, eager to please, but definitely RG! We still have an elderly dog, half black lab/ half dachshund….who shall we say is equally guarding of her resources. They got into a fight over a bag of corn husks for god sake! My intervention immediately ended the conflict, but I don’t know what else might be lurking. I plan to go back and read your article on resource guarding.
Just to be on the safe side, when we are not home, our older, very well trained dog is crated for everyone’s safety and peace of mind.
Thank you for this blog.
Chris Wells…Texas
Kathy says
I’ve seen that hard eye, and it is scary. A colleague of mine was having trouble with her Swiss Mountain Dog puppy (already over 100 pounds and just under a year old). He was jumping their fence in their yard, would rush the door when he wanted to go in, and was counter-surfing on a regular basis. My husband and I had a reputation–wholly undeserved at that point since it was based on owning one of the best dogs ever born, just naturally perfect–of being dog savvy, so she called us to come over and give her some help.
We were sitting at her kitchen table when the dog approached (his head was at table height) and sniffed at the doughnut my husband was eating. My husband who is 6′ 5″ tall, solid, with a very deep voice, stood up, said, “no,” and took a step toward the “puppy” to back him off from the table. That dog did not move, and he gave my husband the hardest eye I have ever seen. It was clear to both of us that the dog was an instant away from a leap at my husband’s throat. My husband turned away, took the doughnut into the kitchen, and we told our friend that she had a very dangerous dog that she should get rid of immediately.
I don’t think she took us seriously at all, and I don’t know what ever happened to the dog. Later, my husband said that he has never been afraid of a dog–except that time, and I agree that it was terrifying, especially in such a big dog.
Susan says
My Welsh Terrier gets unnerved when fixated on the way a BC or Aussie can do. I’ve seen her eyes get hard when she sees one that has given her “the look” before. That’s the only kind of dog she is reactive to. she is also a recovering resource guarder and can get hard eyed at my cat if she thinks he has found food on the floor. We play lots and lots of give TroutCat a treat and then Gimmel gets 2. Her eyes while hard, arent scary maybe because it’s never directed at me but can there be degrees of hardness?
Judi says
I know what you mean by the ‘hard eye’, and have seen it only twice – both some years ago – in our then quite elderly much loved, and super friendly female border collie. The only way I could describe the ‘look’ is that it is very cold, and the eyes almost seem unrelated to the body. Both occurrences were quite close together, and we found out not long after that she had a kidney problem. The look was definitely ‘Don’t touch’. My advice if it occurred with an unknown dog, would be to cut eye contact. I, too, believe anyone would recognise the ‘look’ if they saw it.
Jenny H says
I have seen “the evil eye” frequently. I don’t consider this so much as a hard eye and a communication of ‘don’t come any closer’. It is more the ‘eye’ that is prized in sheep dogs. When a BC gives the evil eye to a GSD they really want to be careful!
But I did notice in my ‘cured’ aggressive German Shepherd bitch a certain and sudden and brief ‘freezing’ of the eye — and not just the eye but the face as well. I know the that I had milliseconds (if that) to break off her eye contact and turn her away.
Very few people could even recognise this and I was often criticised for breaking off contact between my bitch and the other dog when they were ‘getting along so well’. I suspect that this was the warning when an “it came out of the blue” attack happens
Jenny H says
I like to think of the sheep dog “eye” more as the Uri Geller eye. Like an attempt to manipulate the object being eyed. My Mad Working Kelpie used to spend hours trying to hypnotise bits of balls and bits of bark to up and run away so he could herd them.
Apart from my bitch’s eye-freeze, I had another German Shepherd (who had failed as a Police dog since her only wanted to love the villain up) who hated his hind quarters being touched. (I suspected it was because the had tried to ‘agitator’ train he to attack) His eyes used to change colour from a soft milk coffee colour to a hard tobacco brown. He never once attacked us, but we ‘respected’ him and moved our hands away towards his chest. It wasn’t quite what I would call a hard eye either — but certainly signalled ‘danger’ to us.
Jenny H says
I think Jeff Bayliss is correct! — “eyes go “hard” when the sympathetic nervous system engages and the eyes momentarily stop their usual “nystagmus.” –
Rachel says
The one time I saw hard eye was a few weeks ago (I think I wrote about it on the the “It Depends” thread) when a strange dog in our neighborhood gave both my boys and me hard eye, accompanied by low growls, stiff posture, and a determination to drag his handler across the street to “greet” us. I’m thankful my boys were in good listening frames of mind and cooperated with ducking behind a parked car until the handler and dog moved away.
For HFR, I think a big difference to consider RE: hard eye vs. the freeze is over-all body posture and mechanics (for lack of a better word, it’s past my bedtime). Both of my boys will “freeze,” sometimes briefly and sometimes for a minute or more, when something catches their attention. It might be anything- an interesting bug, another dog they want to greet, a stranger walking within a certain distance of the kids, an unidentified noise, etc… They stop moving, or stop their previous activity, and watch or look for whatever-it-is until they either determine it isn’t really that interesting or I tell them its ok to stand down. They are “frozen,” but generally still have loose bodies. If I put my hand on their backs, there is little or no feeling of tension (with the exception of the time Sieger thought we were all about to be eaten alive by a strange motorcycle parked at the end of the driveway). In addition, they are still responsive to verbal cues and will, at minimum, cock and ear and roll an eye in my direction to let me know they hear me even if that giant black beetle is super interesting right now.
In contrast, the hard eye dog was rigid in his posture and movements, but I wouldn’t say he was necessarily frozen (although you could certainly interpret his posture that way). He may have frozen very quickly before he started his inexorable pull towards us. But the key to his “freeze” wasn’t that he wasn’t moving, it was the visible tension in all his muscles and the slow, deliberate, calculating way he was moving. Even if I hadn’t seen his eyes, I would have wanted to put as much distance between my boys and that dog as possible.
Susan says
I take that back. It IS scary when Gimmel gets hard-eyed at Troutie. I’m just sure I can head it off. But it is why I never, ever leave food out when I’m gone.
HFR says
That makes sense about the freeze. When I think about it, the freeze can be extremely fast.
I also think that the theory about the lack of nystagmus makes a lot of sense. Maybe that’s why it’s so easy to look scary in photographs, since you can’t see the movement of the eyeballs. I just tried keeping my eyeballs still and I immediately looked scary. Maybe it comes from stalking and trying to stay as still as possible so prey would not be warned of the predator’s proximity. But if they did happen to see you, they’d be scared stiff!
Marjorie says
I see the hard eye “make my day” look from one of my girls, but she directs it at certain other dogs. She is small, but I have seen her stop much larger dogs dead in their tracks and send them on their way in an abrupt about turn (sometimes seeking shelter behind their person). We call it “the look” and there is no mistaking it. She is still, relaxed, composed and very confident. She does not bark, lunge or growl, just the hard, still cold stare. I think what is so chilling about it is the level of intense confidence she has that she will succeed, regardless of the fact that she is an 18lb Cavalier and the other dog is a 130 1b Mastiff. I always re-direct and step in to shift the situation (save the Mastiff). Most dogs recognize this look, but there is the odd dog who(usually an over zealous Golden who can’t believe you wouldn’t want to say hello) bumbles in and gets corrected if I’m not fast enough. I have never been on the receiving end of this look, I have never seen her give it to a person. I have seen her give what I would call a glare, mainly to the vet or someone/something that she is not sure of. It’s a definite warning, the corners of the mouth will eventually come forward and there may be a low growl, but the big difference is this look is that it comes from a place of uncertainty/fear. There is not the confidence behind it.
Jana says
Oh yes, I’ve seen the hard eye over the years and yes, it’s so difficult to describe. I’m relieved that your recommendations for action corresponds with what I’ve done. My current crippled mastiff is a sweetie, unless you are working on his sore toenails or infected ears. If it hurts, he’ll give me that hard eye with sometimes an accompanying low growl of ‘don’t’. Fortunately, his temperament is sound and our relationship is great and I’ll acknowledge his discomfort, back off a bit with a “I know that hurts, but I have to take care of you and it will be better”. I can then give him either gentle loving easing back into the physical care and he’ll relax and cooperate. Or if he’s particularly resistant and hurting, I can back off for a bit, then tell him in no uncertain tone of voice AND my hard look of “I’m sorry but I have to do this, it will hurt a minute, but no more stare or growling out of you”. I wait until I get his softened eye and appeasement look on his face (what a mobile facial expression he has) then proceed with the care he needs.
It’s different from the controlling dominate stare that I’ve seen 2 of my mastiffs give to the other mastiff or dog when they are out of line. That stare is . . . more communicating control and firm “this is how it is, so comply” to the other dog. Not the intent to do mayhem so much. I guess I’d liken it to the border collie stare that moves the flock. Controlling and don’t cross me, but without the damaging intent. Does that make sense?
JoAnne says
I’ve also noticed a very, very subtle tightening of the lips during a hard stare. You have to be looking hard to see it. Good article.
Kat says
It’s interesting the range of communication dogs are capable of with just a look; everything from you are the center of my universe to continue what you are doing and die. The latter is how we describe that hard eyed look and we saw it a couple of times when our psycho bitch from hell Finna was first showing us who she really is. Collars had been absolutely poisoned for her before she came to live with us and we got the hard eye reaching to attach a leash. We stopped, backed off and discussed the subject with her until she’d come and reluctantly allow the leash to be attached. We switched to a harness and worked with our wonderful trainer and today the collar isn’t an issue but I remember how clearly the hard eyed message of continue and die came through. Today she’ll occasionally give a warning glare–“don’t, just don’t”–that has some commonality with the hard eyed “continue and die” but we might see the glare only a couple times a year.
The difference I get from the glare versus the hard eye is that the glare is a warning that indicates that she can take action to make you stop but would rather not while the hard eye is an imminent threat; she’s fully prepared to take whatever action is necessary to make whatever it is she doesn’t like stop right NOW.
Diane says
As a foster parent for Boxers the ‘hard eye’ is something I watch for when evaluating every new dog that comes into my house. I knew what it was even before I ever saw it in person but also wouldn’t have been able to accurately and descriptively define it.
I only saw it for the first time this year when my personal Boxer had a change in attitude towards our foster. They had been best friends for months and one day she went after him and pinned him to the ground. The next time it happened I could see her face and the change in her eyes was disturbing at the least and enough to give me a chill, it was almost reptilian or maybe primal. Eventually we found that our foster had advanced lung cancer and had to let him go. While he was sick is the only time I’ve seen that change in her eye’s and we had to crate and rotate to keep everyone safe.
CJLang says
I’ve seen it – I had always heard about it but wasn’t quite sure what it was. First time I saw it there was no mistaking and it was scary as all get out. My puppy – a 4 month old puppy! – decided he didn’t want my other, much older dog, on the bed. His eyes went hard, he went still for just a second and then he launched himself at my older dog. Unfortunately, I’ve seen that several more times in similar context. Resource guarding of various things. Never towards me, thanks be. Always other dogs. I can interrupt it if I am fast. This would be a Belgian Sheepdog.
Elizabeth Erban says
I’ve seen it – it ended in a fight. I was tossing a ball for my BC Sabine. She can get funny around other dogs, she was tethered for a year before I got her, so I tend to keep walking and moving when at a park. A friend approached with the sad news that one of her dogs had died. I stopped to hug her and chat for a minute, making sure to keep tossing the ball and keep Sabine moving. In an instant my friend’s dog had stepped in between me and Sabine – she blocked Sabine’s approach. The dogs eyes were hard, her posture stiff, head low and tail out straight. She was telling Sabine not to pass. Challenging really- like you said “Make my Day” was the pretty clear message. It was enough – Sabine attacked. No one gets in between her and her mom. It happened so quickly and my friend was so wrapped up in her grief she didn’t see or understand what had happened. A puncture under the other dog’s eye was the result. It was hard – I wanted to explain that Sabine had been challenged – it doesn’t excuse her behavior, but it sure does explain it.
Nina says
In 28 years of veterinary practice, I have seen the “hard eye” a number of times…but I can’t describe it either! It immediately gets me to back off…often to the surprise of the dog’s owner (who didn’t see it, because the dog isn’t looking their direction). Not surprisingly, when I explain that their dog told me to back off, they often say, “oh yeah, shoulda told you he doesn’t like vets!” Sigh…
Katy says
That is so interesting to hear a term for it. I have seen it in one of the dogs I walked (a goldie who sadly died only a few months ago at the age of about 13 years from organ failure). Whenever he got something in his mouth, be it a toy or some rubbish, his eyes would turn cold like a shark’s. He was a Jekyll and Hyde. A trainer/behaviourist several years ago put in place “lie” which was very effective and served to make him less of a danger. I did try to gradually get him to build up trust with a resource by teaching leave and rewarding, which he did, but when it was in his mouth, he had that look in his eyes that told me to stay well off.
Susan Stanford says
It happened to me with a Briard pup. I’d only had her a few weeks – she was 6 months old. My sister and I dropped my niece off at a friends and the girl came out of her house with her dog – and Kelsey (my Briard) FLEW from the back seat to the front seat – barking very agressively – and I went to move her (to get in the back seat) and she turned around in a way that just terrified me – a cold hard stare. She stared at me and I just backed off – and once the dog went in the house – Kelsey went back to her seat. We had many issues with her and the only advice the breeder would give me was to “slam-dunk her, and throw her to the ground” – and no, I didn’t follow her advice…….but I ended up asking the breeder to take her back at 9 months of age.
Steve says
I have a Working line GSD who does this and I refer to it as the “Neo” from the Matrix. The next thing he does while in that state is lift his paw and gives the “come on” motion, just kidding. So I just redirect him to his ball which for him works great, but he is being dead serious about the fact that whatever you just did he does not like. He’s so much fun but not a dog for everyone.
Jenni says
We’ve seen the hard eye from our Lab 4 times. She has terrible food aggression and 4 times she she has instigated an altercation with our Catahoula. Unfortunately, we only get about 10 seconds of hard eye before aggressive instigation. Now they eat in separate rooms and any long lasting treats are supervised.
Hera says
I have experienced many hard eye’s in my dog training and behavior profession. One instance is actually my Aussie “Chai” He is seriously the most friendly dog and happiest dog seriously ever! Chai just does not like to have his haunches scratched or brushed. Of course he has to have this done or he would matt. He will almost always “turn” and it is fast. Eye’s Hard- under his breath growl, slight curl of his lip… sometimes… He knows better than to take it any further than that, but I know how to ruffle his feathers… per-say.
It can be scary for dog owners who don’t understand what to do with this type of canine behavior. I totally agree with Patricia, trade them up for something awesome, keep it positive.
-Hera
Debbie says
My dog’s eyes have gone “hard”. It is always around being touched when she does not want it. Her eyes have also gone round a saucers in fear when being handled at the vet. I have worked very hard to manage the situation by changing my behavior, and not triggering the response. I am just beginning to work on CC and DS to help with the issues around handling.
You are so right about trying to describe the behavior…but the communication is unmistakable. “Stop it, now”
Katia says
I am in the UK. Many years ago (probably late 80’s) we had a Boxer puppy in our baby puppy class. They were a sensible couple but were struggling with it, so we allowed them in early (pre full vac) One of my colleagues went to talk to them & the puppy – 10 weeks old- bit! & how! He seriously meant it. The sad outcome was that they had him put to sleep & I really believe they was no option. I have a rescue German Spitz who does a serious hard eye sometimes, I am a coward & back off.!!!
Pam Riek says
Sadly, I know all too well, the hard eye. Saw it only once in my sweet six year old Border Collie before he attacked me. We were doing our usual meet and greet, good morning I’m so happy to see you routine. I was sitting on the couch and he had his paws on my knees. I was talking to him and petting him when suddenly the stare, the stiff body and the low growl. He had never growled at me before, and we raised him from a puppy. At first, I said, “Oh, stop, Scooter.” When he growled again, I knew I was in trouble. As I went to stand up, he growled again and bit my hand. As I stood, aghast, looking at my bleeding hand, he lunged at me and knocked me to the floor. He then proceeded to bite and retreat, bite and retreat until my screams got my sleeping husband’s attention. I remember his eyes during that time–hard and cold. The vet said probably a brain tumor. In retrospect, I wonder if he had a mini stroke or something and didn’t recognize me. We had him put down the same morning. I just couldn’t trust him not to go off again. I was heartbroken, but certainly know what “the hard” looks like and have seen it once since in a friend’s dog. Chilling.
Bonnie says
Hard eye:eye goes cold and locks and has a subtle tightening of the skin around the eye, both eyelids very slightly contract/freeze…right before the dog attacks. Agree with a previous commenter that the mouth skin can also tighten, but that happens for other reasons also, the eye skin tightening the same way a person’s does is for me the giveaway/distinctive feature apart from the coldness of the eye. I learned to be very aware of eyes/hard when my family adopted a Newfoundland that turned out to be very possessive of people and aggressive towards any dog he perceived as a threat to his primacy. Took a lot of work.
Trisha says
So sorry to read your story Pam. Heart breaking. But I agree completely that something was physically wrong with the dog. Anytime you have a dog who is 100% trustable for six years, and then “goes off” like a bomb, something is very, very wrong internally. Think of it like an incurable cancer, except one that put you in terrible danger. I’m just sorry you had to go through that. Ouch. Hugs.
Nobody in Particular says
I’ve seen it once in a young intact pit/cane corso mix, about 80 pounds. I didn’t need Patricia’s excellent advice to “change what you are doing” because I instinctively knew I was in serious danger. I could no more have reached toward that dog than I could have put my hand into a wood chipper, for good reason – the results would probably have been similar. I backed away and the dog immediately became “normal” again. It was as if a switch had been flipped. Since then, after neutering, with careful management and a lot of counter-conditioning for resource guarding, the dog has been OK, though never fully trusted. There was one unfortunate incident beyond the owner’s control in which an intruder was seriously bitten, but that’s a risk you take when you break into people’s property.
Janice says
Yrs ago my mother had a dog that had suffered some abuse from previous owners & he would be in my bed & sometimes when I would try to get in the bed he would turn & look at me & give a low growl … I would call him off the bed with a treat & then jump in the bed & then he was fine … It was a twin bed so I guess he was saying there’s not enough room on this bed for both of us !! Lol
LK says
I’ve come across the “hard eye” several times. It sounds strange, but to me it’s like a glass wall goes up and something not quite domestic is coming through the eyes. It reminds me of direct eye contact with a wild predator that has “locked on” (as when I saw a bobcat through the brush, who had “locked on” to my 40 lb dog when we came out of a barn.)
I’m not saying that “hard eye” means predation in dogs. The situations I’ve been in when it’s occured with a dog, I’ve interpreted as “something bad will happen if the sequence does not stop, or I am frustrated and you did not cooperate”
Most recent wsa a shelter dog a few years ago who came in on a human bite but was “cleared” for basic training by some sort of behaviorist, stating no human aggression, just dog aggression.
I went ahead and did some basic clicker work with this dog in his kennel run. He was in the back row that faced a wall.
I took him for a walk after a few days, out the back door to reduce exposure to kennel dogs and then we took a walking route where I knew it was unlikely we would run into another dog. We were at the dead end of a street in a housing development under construction.
I took the dog through some basic obedience with the clicker, things he already had been taught, but trying them in a different environment. We had a 30 second session, with a nice sniff break & short walk and were 10 seconds into the second session when it happened. I had asked for a briefly longer sit (3 seconds vs. 2) When he was not clicked after 2 seconds, I got the hard eye. I knew I was in trouble with this 70 lb power breed, without anyone around.
I interpretted it as frustration that he did not get what he wanted, or possible overstimulation. At any rate, it was clear fast motion would set him off, so I slowly turned my head to not make direct eye contact (but could peek out of the corner of my eye) and dumped most of the chicken on the ground near him. He didn’t even look at it. We were close to a light post which he could care less about. I spoke calmly to him, keeping my face turned and pulled another leash out of my pocket. I slipped it through the handle of the current leash and took a few steps sideways and clipped the leash around the lamp post very slowly. Watching out of the corner of my eye, the dog hard stared the entire time. I kept hold of the primary leash.
I honestly did not know how I was going to get out of leash range. I lucked out. A person came around the corned on the other side of the street, with a dog. This dog immediately turned his head and started lunging at the other dog. I back-pedalled and got out of leash range and yelled to the dog owner that this dog was dog aggressive and i didn’t know if the leash would hold.
They left, I was out of leash range. I called the shelter on my cell and they drove up and could only get to him with a catch pole. He bit 2 kennel staff within 3 days & was euth. Turns out his full history was not disclosed by the shelter to the person who “cleared” him for training. The dog had pulled 2 children off of their bikes and 1 adult before being brought in. Since full punctures were involved in only one of the bites (the foot of the adult – he bit through the shoe, and luckily with the kids he had ripped pant legs of their pants, but left scratches, not bites) he was considered “low risk.”
I also had an incident a few days ago, leaving a horse boarding facility at night (after feeding mash.)
The neighbors had unchained their dogs since they though everyone was gone, even though my car was still clearly parked out there & the barn lights were on.
I was sliding opened the barn door to find a growling large dog a few feet away. I went to slide the door shut and got the “hard eye.” I stopped, turned my head and waited. He did not move, though his eyes softened some. I started to step behind the sliding door and his eyes went hard again. There were 2 large shovels nearby. I quickly shifted over and grabbed them.
I know dogs should not be confronted, when they are like this, but I stepped into his view again holding the shovels like staffs with the blades up. The look immediately disappeared from his face and he started backing away. He was nervous turning his back to me, so backed a ways before he turned and ran home. I carried both shovels with me to get to my car. 🙁
Trisha says
Holy moly, LK, that’s one heck of a story. Sounds like you did everything right. Such a shame about the bites that came later, not to mention the history of serious aggression. Did you leash up the person who ‘cleared’ the dog and give him/her a hard eye? Sorry, couldn’t resist.
Dieta says
I used to pet sit two Toy Poodles (one was ‘mummy’s girl and the other daddy’s girl) who hated each other. The white one would hard-eye the pink one while the pink one screamed like a furry fish wife, driving herself into hysterics. A couple of times the owners asked me what to do and I sent them on to behaviorists, but they never followed through with the training. When I mentioned rehoming one of the poodles, because neither the dogs nor the owners were happy with the situation there was an absolute refusal. In the end the inevitable happened and the white poodle killed the pink one. The owners kept the white poodle but always saw her as the ‘murderer’. What chilled me was the hard I saw in the fixed stare. I generally took one out for a walk to let tempers cool
Stacey says
Great article, but I want to comment on the Japanese Beetles! I also spend about an hour a day picking them off my plants, but with 30+ chickens around, i can dispense with soapy water and just feed them to the chickens. The beetles make a very satisfying crunch when eaten by hen 🙂
Bobbie --- Elkhorn WI says
Our 3 year old intact male Vizsla (show dog) was very easy going. He had never guarded toys or food until the day we gave him a marrow bone on the grass. When it was time to go in the house I reached for the bone and got a soft growl and “the look”. I was shocked to say the least! I can’t remember how we got the bone away from him, but he never got another one. If you identify a trigger, avoiding it in the future is probably a good thing.
Dennis says
My dog (a now 13 year old Belgian Malinois) tends to give the hard stare to other dogs. Not all dogs, just some and they don’t like it. She has not always been good with other dogs but for a long time I lived in the country and had about 15 acres with about 1/3 of an acre fenced off and so I avoided dog congested areas. But now I live in California in a dense neighborhood. So walking the dog and seeing lots of other dogs happens quite frequently so I started counter-conditioning her response to other dogs and have had some success. Interestingly enough, in the category of “getting what you wished for”, on walks early in the morning to beat the heat, we would sometimes encounter coyotes who look at my wife’s little miniature poodle mix as if he is lunch and they start following us. So I figured, let’s put the hard stare to use and pointed my Belgian at the coyote who takes one look at her and leaves. Fast forward a few weeks while I have been working on my Belgian to not give the neighborhood dogs the hard stare and we again run into a coyote. So I put her at him, she briefly glances at the coyote, looks back at me as if to say “Wasn’t I good? Now where’s my treat?” Now I have a coyote who is not moving away. After a lot of tries I finally got my dog to really stare at the coyote who then backed off.
Donna says
I volunteer with a group who works to improve the lives of chained outdoor dogs. A majority of the time we’re working with owners of “pit bull”-like dogs. The one time I really feared for my safety was with a very large (about 80 pounds), intact male who was chained to the back corner of a house. I started talking to him when I stepped onto the driveway. I’m not kidding when I say that he shot up from a prone position to in the air in a instant. There was plenty in the rest of his demeanor to warn me: extremely reactive movement, snapping snarling, roaring (something more than a snarl), spit flying. His eyes, though, freaked me out. His eyes locked on me like a laser. For the first time in trying to get dogs OFF chains, I admit that I was really grateful that he was one a strong one.
Leslie H says
Many years ago, I had an acquaintance that owned a GSD named Jenny. She was kept tied up and used to guard heavy equipment. I was told that she had been beaten by people attempting to steal something on one occasion. I had always given Jenny a wide berth. Whenever I had to go near the area she was tied, she would put on a threat display, it was clear that fear played a role in her aggression. Then I arrived one day to find her owner’s girlfriend’s 2 children petting Jenny. She was happy and affectionate, and welcomed my approach, licking and wagging. She welcomed petting, and I sat with her for several minutes. Later, when I was leaving, I stopped to say goodbye to Jenny. The children were gone, but Jenny wagged her tail and smiled as I approached. She assumed a somewhat submissive posture. Then, when I was about 4 or 5 feet away, I saw her facial expression change completely. She looked fearful briefly, and then her eyes went hard. I back pedaled as quickly as I could, as she leapt up at my midsection, mouth open wide. She hit the end of the chain, and her teeth left shallow scratches on my stomach. I always felt sorry for her, but never approached her again.
Nic1 says
Trisha, one of the best examples on film I have seen is Misty, your BC bitch who detested Lassie girl. It was gob smackingly scary in how quick it happens, especially because you also showed it in slow motion. It’s the clip with all 4 of your BCs lined up, 3 with happy open mouths and Misty with mouth tight shut. When Lassie walks over towards Misty, she gets the threat of death with whale eye and hard eye from Misty, in a second. It’s a great example as I remember, except I can’t remember which DVD it is on.
I’ve experienced hard eye from a petrified little terrier bitch on a fairly regular basis whose owners sadly continue to walk her despite the fact she is in stress hell. She’s way over threshold just being outside and is petrified of all dogs and she goes dead eyed and starts to scream, not bark, if you happen to walk towards her with a dog. As others have described, it’s blood curdling and you can get that sense of impending doom in the pit of your stomach. I would imagine that our reactions are rooted in the limbic system to when we experience hard eyes from potential predators or threatening humans. Makes sense from an evolutionary perspective.
Paddy Sexton says
I had a lovely merle Rough Collie, used as a stooge dog, gentle and sweet. At a year old he was brought into the vet by the owner to be euthanized as they did not have time to devote to him. The vet requested re-homing instead and I got him. I ascertained after I took him, that he barked incessantly when owners were at work and the neighbours complained. A week after I took him the owners phoned to ask for him back and that was when I confirmed what I had already discovered. Needless to say, I refused. Ferguson had one brown and one green eye. The only time I saw his hard eye was when I brushed his tail and accidentally pulled a hair, no matter how careful I always was. He would turn and fix me with eyes like glass marbles, especially noticeable in his green eye. He would have bitten. I tried DS and CC, no luck, so when I did his tail, soft muzzled him. He never showed his hard eye with the muzzle on.
Jan says
I’ve seen a hard eye from a dog a couple of times. Once from a large intact male dog at a truckstop. Thank goodness he was leashed because his owner was not noticing at all! I’m not sure whether the look was directed at me or my very social female German Shepherd. But the look was unmistakable paired with his stiff body posture. I just slowly moved my dog farther away and left the area as soon as possible. I’ve also seen that look from a person once, and it was just as unmistakable. Luckily, I was able to avoid any nasty consequences in that situation as well.
Debbie says
My beautiful Doberman, that I had raised from a pup, gave me the “hard eye” as I called to her to come in after going out to relieve herself. She was almost 11 years old and had been very well behaved, extremely gentle and loyal. We spent many hours walking as I obedience trained her. In my many years as a dog lover I had never bonded as closely with any other dog as I had my Schautzie. She was definitely my girl preferring me to any other family member. I raised her with our two sons as well other pets including a hamster that she loved to play with. Only once, as a six month old, had she ever reacted aggressively when I gave her a command to get off of our bed. I corrected her with the collar, which she responded to quickly.
On the day I received the “hard eyed look”, as others have stated, I instinctively knew I was in serious trouble. I called to her to come in but instead of obeying, she squared off. In Doberman language, this was a serious position for her to take. I slowly began to approach her when she lowered her head and began a low growl. Never in our 11 years of interaction had she ever shown this behavior towards me, or any other person. I had seen her react this way when an aggressive dog attempted to approach us during a walk. She stood between me and the other dog clearly guarding me from danger. As she continued to look at me it was as if she didn’t even recognize me, I said a quick prayer under my breath asking God for help. I knew I could not leave her outside, neighbors would be endangered.
Suddenly I thought of our many long walks and the pleasure both of us felt spending hours walking together. I returned to our entryway to retrieve her long walking leash. Outside on our porch I waved the leash calling, “Schautzie want to go for a walk”. It was as others have stated, as if someone suddenly threw a switch and she snapped out of it. I was very concerned about this behavior. She hadn’t been herself for quite a while; we were planning a vet visit. I’m sorry to say we had to put her down soon after this incident. It was very clear something had happened to my beautiful girl, possibly dementia, or a brain tumor. We choose not to prolong her suffering but put her down with dignity. She was and remains my favorite dog. I still grieve for her after 35 years. She was deeply loved.
Jenna says
I adopted a retired racing greyhound as my first dog. He was a resource guarder, and wasn’t too keen on his tail being touched. (There was some sort of wound there from a cage or another dog on which I was supposed to be putting salve.) One day, he was relaxing on the floor on his side, and I gently nudged his hindquarters with my foot. I intended it to be a gentle petting, like a hi-hello thing. He raised his head off the ground, looked me dead in the eye, and let out the most menacing, low growl. I can only describe his eyes as “hard.” I knew he meant business. From there on out, I was never comfortable with him. I ended up returning him to the rescue, because I realized I couldn’t live in fear of my dog- especially as an inexperienced dog owner. I always wonder what happened to him, and if he thrived in a different home.
Layne says
Yes, I have seen the “hard eye” a few times. (Nothing at all like the “eye” of a working BC that can scare the bejeepers out of the average person not familiar with herding breeds.) Sort of a micro-freeze and yet not truly a freeze. It makes me think of the Hawaiian term ha-ole (without breath) that was applied to non-Hawaiians because they didn’t breathe 3 times after a prayer (Hawaiian tradition). I’ve also heard it described as “no light in the eyes”. It is as though the dog holds it’s breath before taking action.
I had it happen in the shelter once when trying to take a dog (bully breed) for a walk that had been labeled “dog reactive”. When I entered his kennel he was all happy to great me – wiggly butt and happy face. I togged him up in his harness and we started out of the kennel at a brisk pace because we had to walk down an aisle onto which all the other kennels faced. I had done this successfully numerous times with other “dog reactive” dogs. Unfortunately he took offense to the dog in the kennel just across form his – the sweet dog I had just finished walking shortly before him. Two steps. I think he may have frozen for a nanosecond before he launched himself, full raging force, at the other dog’s kennel gate. I tried to keep him moving forward toward the exit as we usually do. He turned with me for a couple of steps and then whirled to again attack the other dog through the kennel chain link. He somehow managed to get between my legs and, wrapped in the leash with him straining to get the other dog, I had no choice but to hang on hard to the kennel door support and try to, by sheer force, drag him back into his own kennel. I made it and locked the gate with us both in his kennel. He was still on an attack campaign for the sweet dog. Luckily another volunteer heard the commotion and quickly ran to the outside of our kennel and opened the drop door to his outside run. I tossed a handful of treats through that door (which he followed) and quickly exited his run. I will never forget her saying “I’m glad you’re ok! I thought he was going to redirect on you!”
I am happy to report that this incident resulted in procedural changes being made and that we no longer need to walk “reactive” dogs past the others in the shelter. This particular dog was reassessed and I never saw him again. Although I will never know for certain, I suspect he was deemed significantly dangerous to be considered unsuitable for adoption. I am forever grateful for the other volunteer who responded quickly and calmly to recover a dangerous situation.
I still volunteer at this shelter and have not had any experiences quite like the one I just described.
Ann Kenny says
Yes, I know exactly the look you mean – and like you I’ve always found it hard to describe, and also, like you, there was no mistaking the communication behind it. I had it once from one of our own dogs – again like you I changed what I was doing and never got it again, but she was a troubled dog and dog aggressive. She was our catalyst for changing the way we were training and I did see that look many times later but never was it directed towards another person. One thing I did observe with her – it would happen just before a freeze, like a microsecond before. Most people only observed the freeze. I have seen it in other dogs – mainly border collie/working breeds but that is possibly a bit of false information since these are the types of dogs I am around most. I see it in German Shepherds quite a bit: again the ones that are bred for high intensity working. I saw it in a purebred border collie when I was called in to help with his resource guarding. I saw it in a friend’s rescued border collie x many times – he was eventually put to sleep because he bit one too many people. You are right about how to describe it, and it’s how I’ve always described it too – the eyes go cold. They’re hard, you can’t describe it, but you definitely know it when you see it. It’s like they’re one-dimensional, and like there is no emotion whatsoever behind them – only function. Did I know about it before I first saw it? I don’t know. No one ever told me about it. I rode horses as a kid, and often a horse was described as having a kind eye or a hard eye. Maybe somewhere in the recesses of my brain I had an idea of what I would be looking at when I saw it. Like you say – it never lasts long, but you don’t need to speak the language to know that you absolutely must stop whatever it is you are doing and back off.
Ellen Barnard says
Tricia, you should get some chickens! They love the beetles and will eat many of them every day 😉
Great post by the way – you were the first to teach me how to read that stare and get out of the situation or defuse it quickly. It’s saved my dogs a lot of grief at the dog park over the years.
Love and a hug, Ellen
Jessica says
I have felt the “this is ALL I can take” from a dog just last week but I wasn’t looking at her eyes…just meeting her gaze could have been too much of a trigger for her. She is a former stray, now taken in by a friend of mine and when I saw her in February she wouldn’t even approach the car. She adores her “new person” but anybody else in the same room as she is makes her very uneasy. When I wanted to pass her she growled and came a step closer and even though my friend said I could just ‘tell her to move over’ I was on the receiving end of the dogs’ behaviour, inside me I just knew it was no empty threat! Part fearful and part streetwise she made me respect her need for distance – or else. We spent some time together on and off for a few days and I could feel and see the dog slowly getting less uptight (relaxing would be too big a word) because I gave her the space she needs. In her present home she’s getting by and learning a lot, anywhere else would be too much I think.
michelle says
had a Grt Pryenees male, and he was the sweetest fella, but if anyone came to the car with the intention of entering, he got the”hard eye”. We would open the car and get him out and the guest would get in and then PB would get back in… end of problem for that day.. and only that day. The only exceptions were my folks. They lived out of state and only came twice a year and they could come and go at any time, the car, the house; anywhere, they were the only exceptions.
NK says
Saw this in an obedience class from a dog some distance away. Locked on me but I feared for my dog. It all felt very primitive. I slowly looked sideways. My sweet lump of a lab gave no response and it passed. Trainer and handler were unaware at the time but later told me the dog was working on issues. The trainer liked to position me next to this team because my dog was not reactive. I took the hint though. Dropped the class and changes trainers. Sadly, left me with some residual fear of shepherds.
em says
Whoa, my heart is racing at some of these stories!
I have seen the hard eye a few times in Otis. Looking back, I honestly think he may be the only dog I’ve ever owned who has ever shown a true hard eye- Sandy and all my other dogs have had much “softer” temperaments than Otis- not necessarily friendlier or more reliable, I will point out, just much more likely to back down from confrontation.
Otis the great dane has a surprisingly ‘strong eye’- he uses eye contact very similarly to the way I associate with herding breeds, and indeed, when he takes the trouble to attempt it, he is spectacularly good at moving animals in the direction that he wants them to go- he can herd my cat! In almost every interaction with other dogs and people, even in the case where he clearly intends his eye contact to be corrective, as when it’s directed to an overly exuberant youngster, his gaze stays in the medium range. I’d call it a “firm eye”at the corrective end- not angry, not even tense, just an assertive, quelling look similar to the one I might expect from a librarian if I were making too much noise.
The true hard eye I’ve seen a handful of times. Once was debatable- it was in the context of a dog attack, the others were very clear, but all directed at coyotes. In the dog attack, this was a very insecure, unstable Chesapeake Bay Retriever who had a habit of lighting into large male dogs with little to no provocation. Predictably, he had a bug up his nose about Otis, and came at him snarling when Otis’ back was turned. There was something of a kerfuffle between them, the Chessie’s owner grabbed hold of OTIS, who, like a sucker, stood quietly only to be charged and seriously bitten by the now gleeful Chessie who had never dared such a thing while Otis was loose. Otis pulled free, the Chessie scrambled away, we caught hold of Otis, and the minute the Chessie saw Otis restrained, he came charging in AGAIN for another bite.
At that moment, I actually saw a veil of red pass over Otis’ eyes as his blood vessels dilated with pure fury. He broke away and charged the Chessie, and in that moment, based on Otis’ face, all I could think was, “oh dear god, he’ll kill him.” My heart just dropped, I was so sure. Fortunately, the Chessie was sure of it too, and he bolted as fast as he could the other way. Otis ran him down, the Chessie hit the ground, grovelling, and I felt the greatest relief I have EVER felt as a dog owner as Otis barked in his face, furious but completely under control, then turned and trotted back, evidently appeased by the Chessie’s terror, flight, and submissive posturing.
When it comes to coyotes, it’s a similar tense aggressive posture, but with less hot anger. This is the true, cold, “hard eye” and I feel absolutely no doubt, seeing it, that he means to kill the object of that gaze. It’s not a predatory look- he looks joyfully excited when he spots deer or other prey animals. This is an absolutely chilling look of serious lethal intent.
Fortunately, coyotes are fast and flighty and have always had enough of a head start that he’s never gotten close to actually catching one. Unlike his predatory behavior, he will only chase coyotes a short distance- he is running them off, not truly pursuing them, so it’s entirely possible that, as with the Chessie, his eye is harder than his bite. I wouldn’t bet on it, though.
Kathy Stepp says
I have two Samoyeds. The older one has never given me the hard eye – he is however capable of making his whole face go so soft that you think he will melt your heart. Watch out for that one – he WILL get what he wants because he is so soft and lovely you can’t help it!
The younger one has occasionally given me a very hard eye. I was so stunned the first time he did it. He is a sweetheart, but I was afraid for a minute. He only does it when I brush his rib cage and get too near his “boy parts” LOL. He growls very softly and stares. It’s pretty intimidating, especially because my face is very close to his teeth. In that instant, he is 70 lbs of very scary dog. I always stay calm and stop brushing there. He quits threatening, I brush somewhere less controversial and tell him how good he is. I then brush very quickly and gently in the offending area and treat if he is calm. I am always able to get that area brushed, but I do it in short periods and mix with places he enjoys being brushed. That is the only time he has ever given me the hard eye, but it did slightly change my ideas about what a sweet and easy going dog he is. Reminded me that everyone draws the line somewhere!
Sarah says
My young ridgeback does this. Never to me or my partner but I’ve seen him do it to strangers, particularly men. We are his second owners and he came with some issues but I can’t help feeling this is one thing we’ve made worse rather than better. It is a long story, too long to write here, but my biggest concern is that he will bite someone one day…
He is a very good looking dog and he attracts a lot of attention. If anyone approaches we always give them the following instructions. 1. Do not make eye contact with him. Look at us, not him. 2. Stand tall but relaxed with your hands by your sides. 3. Let him approach you and do not make any hurried movements, even if you think he’s relaxed and is ready to be stroked.
Naturally people do not understand and the majority find it hard to follow these instructions so we have to ask them to steer clear for their own safety. If the person in question is actually fearful of big dogs it attracts an even worse reaction from our boy, fear aggression!
It’s such a difficult situation because on the one hand we are most probably making it worse by drawing attention to it but on the other we know that if we just allow people to continue approaching him as they are it could end very badly.
We have worked with behaviourists but nothing has overcome this issue. Do you have any advice at all?
I saw this comment in your article “Was it about a reach toward the head by a stranger? Then immediately implement both a safety-based management plan and treatment with classical and operant conditioning.” and would assume that we are following the first part but what do you mean about classical and operant conditioning?
AC Graybill says
I’ve seen “hard” eyes before but I’ve only seen them in one situation where I was afraid for my safety. I was talking to a friend at her home with her chow-Australian Cattle Dog mix. He’d been eying me all afternoon but it wasn’t until I stood up that he gave me that look. I understood in that instant that he would brook no nonsense from me. She told me she had had problems with him since he was a pup and that he ran the household. Normally, I would have offered my services as a dog trainer but, like a coward, I kept silent. I knew I wasn’t the trainer to deal with his issues.
Melissa says
I have often thought about what makes eyes “hard” as well. It is a difficult quality to describe. I do think that it’s more than just the eyes. They go still all over. My vallhund will do it to other dogs, and there is a definite moment where he directs the look at the other dog. He pushes his head forward directly at the other dog’s face and then goes still, his commissures tighten and come forward, his head will usually drop to around the level of his shoulder or just below. I feel like the muscles around the eyes tighten.
Another interesting one I see more often is “glassy” eyes. I use it to describe dogs that are not thinking, but just reacting. You can often see the moment when their brain switches into blind reactions and their eyes seem to lose focus, or maybe focus so completely that they don’t move anywhere to take in any other stimuli. I wonder if it’s the same thing as “hard” eyes, but with different accompanying body language?
Jennifer says
I have seen the hard eye several times in my career as a dog trainer and as a dog groomer!
One particular incident quite possibly would have ended in a serious bite. I had been working with a family all week with their dog who was resource guarding food and the family car. We had made significant progress and the dog was doing amazing.
It was the last day of my stay and I was putting something in the back of my personal car. The owner was standing talking to me and the dog came up next to me but directly in front of the open back. I continued talking and glanced down at the dog and saw the Hard Eye. Without missing a beat ( because I knew he would most definitely bitten me had I moved a millimeter) I whistled and in a excited tone said the dogs name. The owner had no idea what was going on and the dog “snapped” out of it and walked away like nothing was happening.
Another time I was working a St Bernard and at only 4’9″ this dog was menacing!! The dog was very fearful and I was working on bite inhibition and impulse control. We were having issues with the dog letting people go from a seated position to standing and walking about the room or going from a hallway into the kitchen, he was guarding the threshold.
We were working on thresholds and had a baby gate blocking the entrance from the hall to the kitchen and were making real progress and the dog was laying down accepting the movement around the room and through this threshold. Once the baby gate was completely removed he began to show signs of stress so I went to put the gate back up and he gave me a hard eye, I saw it for a split second. I calmly stood still as I could and said for the owner to put the dog on leash. He was not aware of what was going on and walked in and put the leash on the dog and that was enough to break that concentration and hard eye!!
Kathy Kass says
Ill take a pic next time I have to take my bc Zennie to the vet. Maybe we’ll even get one before the muzzle goes on…..
Beth says
Sweet Maddie would sooner die than give anyone, man or beast, a hard eye. She will “stare” in a modified border-collie way at something that interests her, and other dogs who are insecure sometimes misinterpret that as a threat, but there is nothing “hard” about the look even though it’s fixed, if that makes sense.
I have seen hard eyes in another dog. We were walking, and a tiny young woman had a huge Dalmatian mix barely controlled on a leash; he weighed as much as she did, I think. He took one look at my dogs and thought “I hate you I will kill you let me at you let me at you.” The woman, bizarrely, sang out “He’s friendly” as her eyes dogs turned into hard platters (in this case they were both hard and showing the whites, an unusual combination since hard eyes are normally a bit narrow, I think). He didn’t blink once. His hackles went up and he made an odd rumbly sound and dragged her through the parking lot. Luckily he was not a savvy attacker and my husband was able to keep himself between this dog and target Maddie to avoid the attack. I think the woman was still firmly convinced that Cujo just wanted to play. My husband had some strong words for her after she finally got her dog corralled away.
The other times I have seen hard eyes, perhaps three times, is from Jack, my best buddy and partner. The circumstances are always identical: He has just come into possession of a play item that he highly values (twice a found object, once something I gave him). Another dog that he knows well has been actively trying to steal it. And he believes, rightly or wrongly, that I am about to intervene and take it from him. What is odd is that he otherwise does not RG with people. He was a certified therapy dog (now retired). He has had a woman he never met reach down and pry something he was eating out of his mouth with not a sign of protest. I have taken found chicken bones off him more than once on walks without him turning a hair. Once, when he was young, some misguided older woman in the pet store three times squeaked a toy at him (his favorite thing) and when he tried to politely take it when offered, she snatched it away and laughed, at which point he turned around and walked away (smart boy).
But there is something about that combination of other dogs and a brand new prized item. I imagine it is something like “Oh boy, what fun I will have with this. I can’t wait to settle down and have a good long play! If only this other dog would just bugger off. And now Mom is in on the act too! What the heck” and the switch just flips.
The first time I ignored the eye and got a deep prolonged growl in response. Now I try to avoid the situation entirely, but if we run into it by accident (like he finds something on a walk) I jolly him out of it. Talking in an upbeat voice and asking him to trade reminds him he is a civilized boy after all. If it was not a good situation to trade, I would remove the other dog from the situation instead.
I train my dogs using operant conditioning, not dominance theory. I think for the most part the concept known as dominance is overrated. But whenever I think it doesn’t really exist in dogs, I look at Jack and am reminded that he most certainly thinks there is an order to things, and he is very near the top of it. Thankfully he’s a kind and honest dog.
SG says
I have seen my dog’s eyes go hard on many occasions. He is a fearful dog which sometimes turns into aggression. Any stranger in my home gets the “hard eye” look. So much so that now, if anyone comes to my home, my dog has to be separated from them by going into another room behind a baby gate. I do this to protect both my guest and my dog.
Linda Brock says
I have seen many hard eyes – my dogs, other’s dogs, at other dogs and face to face (please NOT my face). I have rescued (with a group and on my own) and worked at 3 different boarding places. I have also seen it in people (just as unnerving). I have tons of stories I could repeat. I have seen the eyes go totally black – like no one that I knew was home ….
I will post a rather fun incident, from years ago. I had 2 WGSDs at the time. An older female and a young male. I had let them outside in my fenced backyard by themselves (I go out with my dogs now). When I stepped out my back door to bring my dogs back inside — a motion in the bushes on the other side of my fence caught my eye. I was almost face to face with a man hiding in the lilac bushes. He saw me and started smiling (not the nice smile). Heidi came around the corner to come inside and the man looked at the dog like uh oh. When she wagged her tail at him his smile returned. Then my young male came around the corner — within seconds he went from happy-go-lucky trot to hard eye intense stalk at the man. The man didn’t wait to see what might happen next — he ran off.
TR says
Love your posts. Always so helpful. Thank you! … Interesting topic to me because I have a client whose dogs I walk and care for nearly daily. The dogs are great, but are untrained. The female, who has a strong personality, is generally compliant because we are doing things she enjoys. However, if I ask her to do something she doesn’t want to do, she gives me the hard stare. It is unnerving because I can almost read her mind – ‘try to make me do this and I will bite you’. (The client has told me not to worry about this because her bites don’t break the skin – however, I worry!) What I do is to avert my eyes, start yawning, turn my back to her and not pay attention to her — try to let her know that I am not looking for a confrontation. Not sure if this is the best way to handle it — it seems to work most of the time. She generally becomes very puppy-like and will do what I had originally asked her to do. A few times, I have told the client that that particular activity is not in the cards for the day because the pup is too agitated even after she breaks the stare. The stare feels like a challenge to me – like a battle not worth fighting.
mhll53 says
I recall a dog we were working with (on the end of a right-thinking owner’s leash, thank God) whose eyes went crazy weird (that’s the only way I can describe it) right before he went for my face. I’m not sure which makes me more nervous, the hard stare or the crazed eyes. Do you think that sometimes your gut reacts before you actually “see” or do you think it reacts because you see before you realize that you see? Does that make sense? The nano-second it takes to process may be the difference between safe and not safe…
Tracy Welch says
Sorry – I have bad eyes (Macular Degeneration), so I could not read all the comments and questions. But I glanced through them and I have a question. What would you say is the difference between the look that a herding dog gives a recalcitrant cow (i.e., “the Aussie stare, for instance) and the hard eye???? It is usually accompanied with a lowered stance, lowered head, and ears laid back. Border Collies do it also. Is there any difference between what you describe and “the Aussie stare?”
Betsy Copeland says
I have seen that “hard eye” in rescue bloodhounds more times than I’d like to admit. I’ve always called it “Snake eyes” because there is something non-mammalian in the stare. When this happens in one of my rescues, its a sign that there is more than a simple possession problem. The “snake eyes” are almost like a mini-seizure. It’s rather like bloat…..someone who has never seen it might mistake a bad case of gas for bloat and mistake the “I’m serious about this” glare as “hard eye” but once you have seen the real thing, you will never mistake it for anything else!
Elaine says
I don’t think it’s just the eyes. It’s the whole dog. The whole body, the face, expression, breathing freezes, goes motionless. That is why it’s hard to photograph. Video would likely reveal the cessation of all small movement in the eyes and entire body.
Susan says
I’ve got three dogs and see lots of glares but the only time I saw the hard eye was when a friend’s rottie stole a small piece of clothing out of a bag I was putting in my car. She stood beside my friend with it in her mouth and I reached out and got the look. First time I’d seen it but there was no mistaking it in a rottweiler.
Your comments about puppies interested me. I bred a Thoroughbred filly that was bad from the day she was born and she could certainly give the look. She was handled nicely from birth like all my foals and it was disturbing that she was so nasty. I had always thought that bad horses and bad dogs were made, not born that way. When there is no physical cause, I wonder what goes wrong in their brains to cause them to be nasty? This filly was dangerous, could kick, cow kick, strike and come at you with the teeth before she was even weaned. Not inbred or even line bred and of course she was gorgeous. Very puzzling in babies.
Sunny says
Thank you. I have always wondered what that was called, or even if it was called by a name. I have seen it more in people than in dogs, and it terrifies me. I have always felt instinctively that ‘hard eyes’ as you call it is a prelude to serious violence, or simply a total lack of aversion to and readiness for serious violence. Good information.
Johanna says
I saw this the first (an hopefully the last time) when I work at a dog hotel. There was a german sheperd who had lived in cages all his life and was very aggressively guarding his space.
When you approached his gate, he would fall perfectly still, growling faintly, ears directed front and his eyes so maleficent, cold and stable. He stood there like a big warning sing. There was absolutely nothing that would give out fear or submission. Not even his back hair was up. He was not afraid, he would not hesitate to attack. No sane person would ever approach him.
But by owner’s instructions, I grabbed a leash, opened the door and clipped the leash on his collar. Then he was actually very obediant and sensitive to corrections (when I first walked him he was very prone to pulling – in a few days I got this fixed).
Then he would sort of shake himself out of it, skip happily out of the cage, wagging his tail. Outside his cage he was just as lovely as any other dog. All and all he was an odd one. I wish I knew what made him so.
Bonnie says
I see the hard eye from my crazy Doberman almost every day! Never at people – she’s soft and eager to please with my husband and I, and shy and submissive with every other human. But she is both reactive and dominant-aggressive with other dogs and our (goofy, overly friendly and physical, ball hoarding) Golden mix pushes all her buttons.
He’s obsessed with her and they get along pretty well considering her awful temperament, but when he pisses her off, or has something she wants, she gives him The Eye and it’s like looking at a velociraptor seconds before it attacks. His tail goes down, ears go back and he will turn and scamper away.
When we first got him we were scared it would never work but she is luckily very trainable and we supervise them closely. She knows now she is not allowed to resource guard, steal from the other dogs, or attack/correct unless the other dog has been very rude. A simple ‘aah!’ will turn off the eye and she’ll come over to apologize to me.
LK says
Trisha, believe me, I wanted to!
I found out later the “behaviorist” the shelter is still using is actually a dog trainer who takes in human aggressive power breeds. She “rehabs” through the use of bite work training and IPO. She had 2 police dogs graduate out of the 20+ powerbreeds she’s had shipped into her own place from rescues across the country. After 10 yrs of working dogs at the shelter, I stopped when dogs (of a large variety of breeds) that were clearly dangerous were suddenly being cleared for training and adoption to the public.
I really don’t know what I should have done with this dog after I got him fastened to the light post. If that person had not shown up with a dog as a distraction, I really do not know how this would have turned out.
I was really pushing things with reaching behind me to pull out the extra leash out of my pocket (I keep one on me out of habit) and was really surprised he didn’t go after me for the sideways movement….but maybe since it was not forward movement, it helped to keep me semi-safe. I was worried about standing in his range and trying to talk on a cell phone at the same time. I think that might have been my only option if there hadn’t been a distraction.
What would you have done differently?
I am somewhat decent at reading stress signs and he really did not seem overstimulated and was being silly with the clicker work, with a body wag from mid body all the way back after being C/T, relaxed facial muscles and normal earset. It was asking for that extra second of a sit that “flipped the switch.”
It is one of those thing I wish I had on film so I could see what other triggers were going on and what I did to contribute to the scenario. I wasn’t bending over him, I wasn’t invading his body space, I did not know him well and knew he was not comfortable with much eye contact so we did only very brief work on “watch” early on.
There were red flags with the clicker work. He had very poor frustration tolerance, so even brief “doggy zen” work would trigger some arrousal. Instead of hand delivery I had to drop treats, since he could not take things well from hands and did not have tolerance yet for doggy zen, which is how I usually teach mouthy dogs how to take food politely from hands.
He would also jump up and punch with front feet in a person’s chest if he was not immediately given what he wanted (He did this to staff who did not immediately put down his food bowl after entering his pen.) That’s why clicker sessions were kept very brief with really low criteria to avoid triggering an impulse control issue.
I wonder if he was one of those “perfect storms” of not great genetics, did not learn boundaries or impulse control, with high drive, etc.
Jackie D says
Yup. Resource guarding again, my normally soft as butter spaniel.
My other dog (very reactive BCmix) does quite a lot of staring intently at things that stress him, as if trying to will them not to move, but having never been the object of it (usually being on the other end of the lead trying to deal with the situation before it gets any worse!!!) it’s hard to assess whether that really is a ‘hard eye’ situation.
Elaine Bolton says
Happened to me house-sitting a known human aggressive dog. I got on fine with him. Lovely boy but one time I walked into the kitchen and got the stare. I just said ‘Okay’ and walked out again. Gave it a few minutes, went back and he was normal friendly boy. I don’t know what it was about but I just respected he was telling me he was uncomfortable about something. I never had a problem with him.
Sheila says
Good to know that there is a name for it. I always called it “empty eyes”.
Henja Dijkhuis says
One of our dogs (a Yorkshire/Poodle mix) has ‘the hard eye’ now and then. We got him 2 years ago from a shelter, when he was 8 years old and we were told that he was good with kids, cats, dogs, etc. From his passport it looks like he has had at least 5 different owners before he ended up in the shelter.
Right from the start we found out that he has some ‘issues’ and we had a dog behaviorist over to find out what the problem was. He told us it was due to ‘flash backs’.
We learned the hard way when to expect trouble and are trying to avoid those situations. It usualy happens when we give him something to eat or a treat and he does not want it. Then he starts guarding it.
The situation did improve a lot over the last 2 years , but it still happens and then we try to redirect his attention to something else. Our other dog (about the same size, but feistier) also knows to avoid him during these episodes, although she clearly is the dominant one when no ‘hard eye’ occurs.
By the way, 99% of the time he really is a very sweet dog.
claudia black-kalinsky says
Thanks for a good early morning read. You’ve given me some things to ponder about hard eyes today.
Horses have their own version..
Is ‘hard eye’ involuntary on the animals part or a clearly sent intended signal? I had a grade school principal who absolutely used ‘hard eye’ as a tool to change the behavior of children. –
What about human response to ‘hard eye’ in an animal. Most of us seem to recognise it even if we’ve never see it before, and it’s scary, it stops us in our tracks
From the animal’s point of view, it is clearly a successful strategy if it is conscious.
Finally, it’s a pretty brave/desperate thing for an animal to do. Without doubt it could start a major confrontation, and confrontation is risky with adult humans.
The last thing you’ve left me to ponder is how lovely your garden is, and to think about my own tiny yard and how pretty it would be filled with flowers.
Bruce says
Friends had a male German Shepherd Dog who had bitten several people. I was on my way to an event with the owner and he asked to stop by their house to pick up something. I assumed (wrongly) that the dangerous dog would be contained. We walked in the door and the owner ran upstairs.
The GSD appeared and immediately gave me an intent stare and a low, steady growl. No idea whether the eyes were hard because I studiously avoided eye contact. Despite the adrenaline rush I maniacally jabbered at the dog in my happiest, most cheerful voice. Owner eventually returned, completely oblivious to the situation he had put me in.
Here is the funny thing. I first met the GSD a few weeks earlier; before I learned that he was dangerous. The dog was off-leash outdoors, looked happy, and bounded over when I called him. After some joyful petting the dog ran back to his owner, who said something like, “Huh, he’s not usually friendly to strangers.” Oh really? Then why . . . oh, never mind.
LisaW says
I’ve seen the hard eye once in a German shepherd that was coming out of the vet’s office. We had just gotten our dog out of the car and were heading toward the door and saw them coming out and paused. The shepherd saw our dog and froze and gave her the cold, hard stare. It was intense; it made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. The owner didn’t notice, but we let them get safely in their car before we made a move.
Several years ago, we had a trainer come to the house to assess our dog. The trainer didn’t seem to read body language that well – for example, she froze at the front door and wanted my dog to come take treats out of her hand, when that didn’t work, she started throwing treats on the floor. I understand why one might do this under certain circumstances, but all it did was totally confuse my dog and made her more anxious about this strange visitor not coming in, not moving (and no, she didn’t eat the treats). During the visit, the trainer remarked that she saw my dog give her the hard eye and then turn her head away a few times. I was watching, too, and I saw what I would describe as more of a whale eye, large, round, fearful. Do these two often get confused? I know it was certainly not the look on that shepherd’s face.
Trisha says
I’m fascinated (and appropriately chilled on occasion) by your comments. I do agree with many comments that there is a big, but subtle, difference between a ‘fixed eye’ and a ‘hard eye.’ It can though be a bit hard to tell the difference; I suspect that there is a grey area between the two that varies dog to dog. However, if you’re in doubt, ask your body. Look at all the comments by people who said they’d never seen or heard of a ‘hard eye,’ and then a dog looked up at them and their blood ran cold. There truly is an automatic (autonomic?) reaction that seems almost universal if a person is paying any kind of attention. I suspect that the information is coded as much in our gut neurons as in within our brains, gut neurons seemingly especially good at responding to danger and fear. (No wonder stressed dogs get diarrhea, hey?)
I do think it’s important though, as LisaW suggested, to distinguish between a ‘whale eye’ and a ‘hard eye.’ Both expressions need to be taken seriously, and can indeed signify the potential of trouble, but whale eyes (round, pupils often dilated, eyeball itself turned to the side so that the white of the eye is showing) are associated with fear, while a hard eye seems fearless to me. I think of whale eye expressing defense, and hard eye expressing offense. Both motivations can get you bitten, but for different reasons.
Trisha says
To the very fast-thinking LK: It still seems to me that you handled the situation very well. Yes, it was lucky that someone else came along as a distraction, but you’d already done a lot to keep yourself out of trouble. The only think I would add here is you can also distract dogs yourself, although that usually involves moving, which can be risky too. Once I felt trapped by a dog who looked ready to launch, and I threw something in my pocket behind him, then moved away when he turned around. I’ve also used Trish King’s method of hurling a handful of treats into a dog’s face successfully a few times. May or may not have worked, but if I was walking shelter dogs I’m not sure I’d ever go out without a handful in my pocket. On the other hand, once a huge dog (Rottie male) came running down the beach toward Jim and I, barking the kind of bark that shows off point white teeth and reminds you how frail your skin is. I had nothing in my hand, and saw nothing anywhere close to me in the sand to pick up. It occurs to me now that I could’ve picked up a handful of sand… might have been smart. But I didn’t think of it then. I did the only thing I could think of, which is to go on offense myself. I turned toward the dog and said “NO! Cut it OUT! in my lowest, growliest voice. It worked, but in a different situation (dog staring, silent), I’d pretty much guarantee it would have gotten me bitten. So good work LK, I’m glad you escaped without injury. Any other ideas from everyone else out there about options for situations similar to LKs?
Trisha says
To Linda B: So glad your dog saved the day. Unfriendly smiles and hard eyes in a person are signs of danger indeed. Whew, makes me shiver just thinking about it!
Mireille says
You mean like this? http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-WDlvyJtoLCs/VOECHj-7X-I/AAAAAAAACjg/lD8FF3oSMGQ/s1600/IMG_8611.jpg
(Sorry couldn’t resist, shad is not really giving hard-eye but just a bit disgusted with the camera ?? but he looks so cool ..)
I’ve seen hard eye once in a neighbours dog who intensky disliked my dogs and transferred that dislike to me. I backed off.
Shad and Spot both can have a very intense look when they spot prey (a bit like this? http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-pot-tkQcXMs/VOECHv1s3hI/AAAAAAAACjk/zE0ALTATt4o/s1600/IMG_8612.jpg) but to me that feels different than true hard eye? At those times I can still touch them or even handle them (lift them up if needed) akthough they are very focused. I guess maybe to other people they look scary. But I would say it is more intense focus than hard eye? Is there a difference between the two?
Mandy says
I have a Romanian rescue who is 2yrs old, I have had her just over a year. Reading this has just helped hugely. In Oct last year, she was attacked by a huge mastiff x, and a staff (my girl is a small Tibetan spaniel x) and since then has become aggressive to other dogs but only sometimes. One day at the park she will play and play and the next she is going for anything that comes near!! This is when I noticed what I did call the exorcist eyes, they go black, her eyebrows down and then she goes. What I don’t understand is there is no trigger, and why she is Ok one time then not another-just like mood swings!!
Terry Jenkins says
I first experienced a hard eye in a very sick German Shepherd pup I had as a teenager. He came to me with distemper, and it came with terrible diarrhea and some neurologic involvement (brain fever, we called it). He was improving enough that I had him out of his “sick room” for a little family time in the living room, while I cleaned his area and put down fresh papers. But my Dad hollered for me, and I stepped back in the room to him spewing runny poop all over the floor. I chucked him out the door and wiped up most of it, then quickly went outside to get him. It had been raining. I found him lying on his side in a rain puddle in the driveway. I thought he was dead, but then noticed he was urinating. It was so weird. But when I called him and reached for him, he was like a cornered wild animal looking at me, and I froze, terrified! I knew beyond a doubt he meant to do me harm. I could NOT make myself pick him up. I ran back to the house to get help, but when we came back he was gone! It poured all night. We searched everywhere, for many hours. The creek was flooded, and with that weird brain thing, I just knew he had drowned in the creek, and if not, just being out in that storm would surely kill him off. But in the morning, he was at the door, greatly improved! I have to say, I discredited his “hard eye” that night because he was ill, and didn’t really relate it to other dogs. Never experienced it again until I had wolves. And it was them who really taught me about it! Still a starry eyed wolf loving teen, I adopted a 3 year old hand raised female. She had to bite me, twice (within about 30 seconds) to teach me, and I never forgot. I can’t tell you how many times I analyzed that incident. But with more experience, I realized how “dumb” I had been, how she expected I should “know” I was in her way, but I ignored all the signs so she had to bite me. Then I sat there dumbfounded (didn’t stop doing what was wrong), so she had to bite me again to make me stop. I experienced the “hard eye” many times over the years with wolves, but with them, I think it is an intentional tool to avoid “having to bite”! Perhaps it is with dogs as well, but I suspect there is a bit of a disconnect in the behavior with dogs, like there is in so many other things dogs instinctively do but don’t “know what they are doing” (a fact that makes some wolves feel crazy and not like dogs very well). But I never saw it as “just” an eye. I described it to others as “vibes”, because I could FEEL it, and I didn’t have to see it. It was coming from every fiber of their being. It was eyes. It was whiskers. It was fur. It was stillness but somehow vibrating. Tension! It was in the very air! After my first lesson, I became hypersensitive I think, and just naturally stopped whatever I was doing that was about to get me bitten, and usually “talked my way out of it” if it was a wolf I had a good relationship with, and if it wasn’t, it was time to LEAVE their space. Working with volunteers at the zoo, I tried hard to teach that “feel” but usually failed. I would just have to get them out of harms way, and realize here was a person who would never be able to work with the wolves alone.
Vanessa says
There also is this in some breeds: http://www.whole-dog-journal.com/issues/7_6/features/Rage-Syndrome-In-Dogs_5639-1.html
Connie C says
I remember the first time I saw the ‘hard eye’ like it was yesterday. My friend and I were driving back from a retreat and we had stopped at her sister’s for lunch. Their family had a young wolf-hybrid (seen a number claiming to be so, but this dog I really did believe was one) tethered, yes tethered, in the driveway. We were told not to look it in the eye for any reason, because it would become enraged. It was very clear they had little to no control over the dog and it was all about obsessively ‘managing’ his environment. It was also clear he spent a LOT of time, if not all of it, tethered in that very spot. Being young and stupid at the time, and always the first child that dislikes being told what to do on top of it, I remember thinking naively – how can anyone make friends with him if no one is even able to look at him? So I tried it, from INSIDE the house, through a window and about 20 feet away, without anyone else noticing. I just made eye contact, nothing else (that I was conscious of, anyway). I will never forget the true hard stare I got back, and then the quick escalation of snarling, barking, and pulling at the tether that ensued. The thing I remember most is the chilling sense of lethal intent in his gaze, and the realization that it has to be ME that breaks the “staring contest”, because every fiber of his being said very clearly it wasn’t going to be him. Ever. So I did, and within only a few seconds at most, look away again. I never looked even sideways at him again the whole time we were there, because in that minimal encounter I was viscerally quite afraid of him like I had never been with any other animal before. I think that is the kicker for me; the hard stare has that lethal message and illicits that visceral response in me to be the one that looks away first and get the heck outta there.
My last dog was a Lab/ChowChow mix that would hard-stare at cats; it had all the characteristics people have mentioned in addition to the cold eyes – the pure silence, the tightened lips, the low head and back, the very tense and motionless but forward-oriented body, the look of lethal intent – and the sense that he was a) calculating exactly his odds of reaching said cat, and b) transmitting the “dare ya” message to the object of his fixation. I NEVER saw a cat misread it; even the bravest of posturing cats approaching him would suddenly and quite visibly flip into “Oh S*%t” and suddenly hightail it running away from him out of reach. It took most of his lifetime to get to the point where I could call him away from a loose cat when he was offleash (especially as he gradually lost his eyesight), and I never completely trusted him, with cats or with kids.He had a bad abuse history before I got him, but I never once saw that look directed at me; only cats and very rarely other dogs.
Sue Sternberg has a seminar on DVD called Deadly Puppies, Deadly Dogs (rentable from TawzerDog) that has an excellent video at the end of the seminar of an 8 week old shepherd mix that shows not only the hard stare but an enraged reaction to the Assess-A-Hand soon after; best I remember of media showing it. Worth a look for sure, and an excellent seminar (not that yours aren’t too Trisha! Just more data, which is always good. 🙂 )
Betty says
I have seen this in a foster. For the most part, he’s fine, but then something – Lord knows what – changes and he mentally goes somewhere else. I’ve been watching him to see if I can figure out what the trigger is but so far nothing. I keep wondering if something neurological is happening because I also note a jaw tremor from time to time but they are not necessarily related.
Amanda says
I believe it may have been caught with my dog, or perhaps this is the precursor since she isn’t looking directly at anyone yet. My soon to be sister in law named the look, but the name is not entirely PG.
http://static1.squarespace.com/static/5597d609e4b03ef082195a3e/559d9ab8e4b069728afc2dae/559d9acae4b0582d50d9ea2f/1436392138734/McCrillis_0012.jpg?format=750w
mgr says
Amanda, that’s a great shot! Mireille’s are cool, too. I took this photo a few days ago – this is not “the look,” but more like an illustration: http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-rGn2SGr3xgE/VbTzn7COWOI/AAAAAAAAvl0/qbLbGKsVofk/s1600/IMGP4606.JPG
I’ve never been on the receiving end of the “hard eye,” thank heavens, but we once had a 50-lb Aussie who stopped a pair of charging 100-lb labs in their tracks. They put on the brakes so hard it was like a cartoon. 🙂
Melissa says
I vividly remember a red setter hurtling down a mudflat directly at us, roaring. It was a big mud flat, so I had plenty of time to freeze and completely fail to think of any strategies to meet this oncoming threat. We were VERY exposed! The dog skidded to a halt at the last possible moment, grunted, sniffed my dog, and invited him to play. The owner came up and said to us “Don’t mind him; he’s Irish.” I was too busy shaking to respond with anything but a wan smile. I truly thought we were all in serious danger. If I saw that same dog doing the same thing today after a lot more experience with dogs, I’d still think we were all in serious danger. There was nothing in his behaviour to suggest this would culminate in a sniff and play invitation.
Lacey says
I had a shy new little bitch years ago, who was generally very fearful of other dogs. She had gradually made friends with a pup belonging to some neighbors, and we planned a play date for the two of them, with the adult GSDs put away. However, when we walked over and entered the driveway, the two shepherds charged out in full territorial mode. Very fortunately the male would have excused her (a small bitch) but the female didn’t want to. Luckily, since my reactions were not possibly fast enough to help, my little one hit the dirt and rolled belly up instantly. The female spent some time sniffing her, hard eyed and fully stiff of body. Then, after what felt like ages, the owner came out and put the two away. We did go ahead with the play date and all was well, but I never asked for another.
Amanda says
Thank you, MGR. I wish I could take credit for the shot, but that was taken by a photographer starting up a pet portion of her business. It would have been awesome for this to have been a clip. There would have been so much more to see. For instance, the black and tan dog (Jack) didn’t have to see Maddie’s face to know what was going on, and you’d be able to see that the only reason her lips are wrinkled is because she’s chewing.
Most of the comments here read that everyone instinctively knew what this look meant, but I don’t believe that that’s always true. In agreement with Jenny H’s comment of “Very few people could even recognise this and I was often criticised for breaking off conact…”, I suspect that a lot of people have a tendency to dismiss this look with dogs that they know. I think it is particularly easy to overlook this communication if the face of the dog is fluffly enough to mask the tensed facial muscles, the lips aren’t curled, and the dog isn’t making noise. For people who aren’t familiar with dogs, I doubt most even register this look.
Has anyone ever encountered a dog who didn’t know how to read this “hard eye”?
Callie says
@Amanda Yes, just yesterday. I was at a friend’s house. She has just adopted a Malinois mix. My puppy (five months old) was with me. Both dogs spent most of the afternoon quietly, leashed and waiting for treats.
Then, the Malinois began staring. His eyes turned black. My puppy failed to react, and the Malinois exploded at him. He didn’t calm down until my friend stepped between the dogs.
We won’t let those two spend time together again anytime soon.
Rachel says
My boys have reacted right away every time- they definitely know what the hard eye means, and I’ve found it interesting to see how they switch into protector mode.
We (kids, Remus, and I) were out walking earlier tonight and Remus saw it before I did. I almost wonder if he sensed trouble before he saw it. We had almost gotten back to our house when Remus suddenly came “to attention,” head up, ears up, fur up, and began scanning the area around us intently. I looked around and didn’t see anything, so I asked him what was wrong. He kept scanning the area and started walking a little ahead of me- leash still loose, but taking up as much slack as he could and moving directly in front of me.
I still didn’t see what was up, so I told him sit and he did. It was my oldest daughter who pointed out the black lab in the shadows of the front porch of the house we had been about to walk past- maybe 15 feet away, tops. Black lab in the shadows, I couldn’t see her eyes much at all except for a little glint where the light hit them, but the posture was rigid and she was definitely fixated on us.
I’ve been charged more than once by this dog, she’s a known neighborhood problem. No sign of her human in sight. I clicked Remus and dropped a fistfull of treats in his mouth, cheerily chirped ‘Watch me, buddy!” and started walking backwards. The lab took a step after us and Remus gave a low growl, then locked his eyes on me and moved back. The lab’s human appeared from out of the house, picked up the leash that was trailing after it, and started dragging it down the street in the opposite direction, with no acknowledgement whatsoever of the fact that she left her (known to be aggressive dog) alone outside to menace people walking down the sidewalk.
Remus calmed right down, but his reaction well ahead of anyone else seeing the lab made me wonder if he maybe smelled trouble before any of us saw it? Anyone else experience something similar?
Christy says
I have seen a few, and the hair has literally stood up on the back of my neck. The most memorable one was when I was sitting with new clients and their two dogs, one a huge Great Dane mix, a sweet, young male, and their new rescue, a much smaller female mix. I was talking while observing the dogs. At one point, the male got up to move closer to the humans. The female locked onto him with a look that stopped me in mid-sentence. It stopped the male too–after standing, frozen, for what seemed like an eternity, he verrry sloooowly laid back down and looked away. The female was returned to the rescue.
Susan says
I have owned dogs my entire life. We adopted Peyton (border collie mix) from our local shelter when she was 5 months old..we became the third owners. Owner #2 only had her a month and she bit kids twice. They got her off of craigslist. At the time I felt confident that I could work with her to overcome whatever issue she had.
I immediately signed her up for obedience class and that went well for the first 2 sessions. After that, if the group got loud or there was too much movement, she would become aggressive towards the other dogs. During this time, my brother-in-law came to visit for a week and I had to keep her on the leash because she became aggressive towards him. I took her to PetSmart and she became aggressive towards a salesgirl. I signed up for a private training session and she became aggressive towards trainer. I took her to the vet and explained her behavior and he didn’t take me seriously until he left the room and returned and she became aggressive towards him.
Her MO for all of the above…When she meets a stranger she immediately lays down and rolls on her back wagging her tail (sometimes urinating) and wants to be petted. She then loves all over the person like they are her new best friend. Then for no reason all of a sudden she gets that hard look in her eye, her body tenses and she lunges towards the person wanting to bite their head off.
Early on I took her to the dog park and she was good the first two times. The third time she guarded the water bowl and wouldn’t let other dogs get near it. My husband & I went the next time and she sat at our feet and wouldn’t let other dogs get near us. She growled, snarled and snapped her teeth.
She is now 8 months old and has been on Prozac for the past month. It hasn’t helped and I dare not take her out in public. My husband and I are retired and see that she gets plenty of exercise in our backyard and swims in our pool. We play fetch inside in the evening. Early on I tried to take her on walks, but she constantly pulls. Practicing inside the house, she walks quietly beside me.
Going for car rides are difficult too because she barks uncontrollably at people walking down the street and loud trucks. Same behavior whenever inside the house or outside in the back yard. Once she gets overstimulated you cannot get her attention. Inside the house she will come, sit, stay, down, watch, go find it, and more. Outside it is hit or miss.
Twice while she was eating she growled and snarled at me. Both times I just reacted and told her NO and smacked her nose. I started hand feeding her for a while and she has not behaved that way again.
Peyton is the most affectionate dog I have ever owned. She loves for me to talk to her and crawls onto my recliner and lays her head on my chest. In the morning she lets me sleep in and wants to cuddle before she goes outside to potty.
She is good 95 percent of the time. The Jeckyll Hyde behavior scares me to death though, not to mention the liability for myself and my husband. I know if I return her to the shelter, they will put her down because they eluded to that when I adopted her…
Help! Any suggestions?
Amanda says
@Susan
I could be wrong but the first half of the below quote from your message sounds like appeasement behavior which makes me wonder if the loving behavior displayed toward new people could be appeasement as well. If that loving behavior is appeasement, then that aggression may not be so sudden. Could be she feels she has to defend herself because nobody gave her space when she asked for it.
Course, that’s just a hypothesis, and I’m neither trainer nor behaviorist.
“When she meets a stranger she immediately lays down and rolls on her back wagging her tail (sometimes urinating) and wants to be petted. She then loves all over the person like they are her new best friend. Then for no reason all of a sudden she gets that hard look in her eye, her body tenses and she lunges towards the person wanting to bite their head off.”
Amanda says
@Callie I’ve noticed that my Brittany mix seems to be missing some standard dog social skills and etiquette. I got her kind of young, and I’ve wondered how much is learned vs genetics. For example, she doesn’t seem to know the belly up routine, and she used to greet strange dogs by running straight up into their face.
Callie says
@Amanda I’ve asked myself that question, too. One of my older dogs is stellar at communicating, the other…not so much. She’s wary of strange dogs, but not good at showing any appeasement signals. I guess some of it must be rooted in early puppyhood, and it probably depends on what has worked back then.
Rebecca Rice says
I don’t think I have ever seen a true “hard eye” (as opposed to just a resource-guarding hardness) in a dog, but there was one time I apparently gave it to someone, so I am going to tell about that in case it helps shed some light on the situation.
I was at my first real college party, and had had a couple glasses of trash-can punch. Not enough to be really drunk, but enough to make me a little unsteady on my feet when I went to stand up. I’m not a heavy drinker now and wasn’t then, so I decided to go to one of the back rooms where some people were playing cards to get out of the noise and into a less-rowdy situation. They were playing bridge, a game I had never seen before and was trying to learn the rules of. And then this other drunk guy came in, and started trying to pick me up. I kept brushing him off, trying to concentrate on the game, and he just didn’t take any of my hints. So finally I had enough, and just spun around and looked at him. And he backed up, and left the room. One of the card players looked at me and said “whoa….you looked like you were going to kill him!”. Generally, I am a mild, polite person, but when I do lose my temper, it can be very explosive. I don’t know exactly what I looked like, but I do remember feeling like I’d had enough, and the guy was going to leave me alone or else. I’m not sure what the “else” would have been… like I said, I’m generally very polite. But I think the alcohol may have lowered my inhibitions just enough to let the anger and potential violence show through, without having lowered it enough to make me actually go through with the threat. I do remember feeling very cold, focused, and still. My entire world seemed to narrow down to just me, the guy annoying me, and my desire to make that stop. But once the guy left and the other guy made the comment, it was like all that went away.
If what dogs feel when they do it is anything like what I felt, it is very scary and surreal. And I can understand how they can switch into and out of that mood very quickly. It’s like something else takes over your body, and you are just along for the ride.
And yes, that was my last party where I drank that much. It was scary being in that situation, not because I was worried about getting hurt, but because I think that if the guy had pushed the situation, I might have wound up doing something that I would have deeply regretted afterwards. But I don’t think I would have regretted doing it while I was doing it. And I never wanted to feel that out of control of what I was doing again.
Trisha says
Rebecca, I love that you shared this experience with us! I too have flashed my own “hard eye,” twice that I can think of. I’m glad you reminded us of the human version of it. On each occasion I too had lowered inhibition (exhausted one time, glass of wine on the other), and each time I felt like someone was humiliating me in a way that pushed every one of my buttons. I also remember feeling a shift in my internal state–“cold and still” indeed describes it–and the person I looked at also said “Wow! You looked scary!” I too generally think of myself as a polite, benevolent and kind person, but I do remember the feeling of–dare I say it?–rage, that was associated with the look, as if it had happened yesterday. Anyone else had a similar experience?
Bruce says
Rebecca, you brought back a memory from my college years. I was hurrying to class one day, started to walk across the street, and out of the corner of my eye saw a car speeding up to beat me to the crosswalk. Apparently I fixed the driver with a “hard eye”, the driver jammed on the brakes, and I crossed the street in peace. A friend who was walking with me saw “the look” and was shocked (I am normally very calm and mild-mannered). And yes, the “cold, focused, and still” feeling is quite surreal.
I expect that a shot of adrenaline is necessary to trigger the “hard eye”. The adrenaline-inducing threat could be an oncoming vehicle, a potentially threatening drunk at a party, or a boisterous Great Dane seen through the eyes of a Chihuahua.
And Trish, if you have only flashed a “hard eye” twice you are definitely a nicer person than I am!
Jenna Leigh Pearman-white says
I have seen it for sure in my latest foster. It scared me and I chose to avoid him when he gave me the stare. my other dog give me it at half mass if you will. A I dont like what you doing but I will tolerate it, but would prefer if you stopped it soon stare. but my Foster had it down to an art, the first time I saw it my heart stopped and then sped up I instantly knew I had done something stupid and ignored some signals that he clearly must’ve given me. what came after was the attack of Stephen King’s Cujo 🙂 suffice it to say I survived once I was no longer a threat to the object I wanted to take away. Once I knew he had resource guarding issues I started reconditioning him and he improved greatly. 🙂 but I will never forget that stare and I often see it in other dog.
mgr says
Re the human hard-eye: I got bullied a lot in middle school. One of the worst of the bullies shoved me and was holding me against the wall before class one day, and I distinctly remember going “cold and still.” At that moment, the teacher (finally) intervened. A couple classmates later told me they’d never been so scared as they had when the change came over my face. Not sure how to describe it – maybe not cold fury, but cold resolve? I’d had enough. That was 40-odd years ago, but I’ve never forgotten that feeling. (Interesting, looking back – I don’t recall that particular bully ever bothering me again.)
Janice in GA says
Every time I think I know something about dogs, I find out how MUCH I don’t actually know. 🙂 This is in spite of owning dogs for most of my life and being a dog walker/pet sitter for the last ten years.
I thought I’d seen a hard stare at me from my first Aussie, Sasha, when I’d try to take something from her that she wanted to keep. After reading all these comments, I’m pretty sure it was more of a determined, glassy stare than a hard stare. I do remember thinking “If I keep this up, she’s going to bite me,” but I thought about it in a more hypothetical way, not in a terror-filled way. So I learned to change what I was doing with her, and we stopped having that problem. Sasha had a grudge against our Cammie, another Aussie we got after we’d had Sasha for a few years. We had a lot of dog fights between the two of them for a while until we learned to read their body signals better. When we could do that, we could re-direct them MOST of the time.
I feel fortunate that so far (knock wood) I haven’t been on the receiving end of a hard stare that terrified me.
Margaret says
I’ve got a’velcro’ dog Budo, a 4yr old Beardie. At the moment he’s recovering from a recurrent GI problem so his diet has been restricted, earlier in the week he found a piece of chicken bone on his last walk (on leash) I was unaware what he’d picked up and desperate for him not to swallow it – the request to ‘drop it’ was ignored so I held his jaws to force it out, an action he’s accepted from a pup, I very much got the hard eye! I had to assess my next action carefully as I didn’t want to force him into a bite situation but equally I couldn’t allow him to swallow; I decided to keep my grip but changed my tone to cheery cajoling resulting in a few seconds later the bone being ejected. The incident was a shock to me but understandable, it helped to confirm how much I need to address his problem as a ‘velcro dog’ difficult when treats are restricted at the moment.
Lexi Bassett says
Hi Patricia,
I am currently reading The Other End Of The Leash and loving it! You are a huge inspiration for me and so many other trainers!!
I have a question: I am working with a French Bulldog who either attacks guests when they enter my client’s home, or gets real close to them and doles out some serious hard eye, lunging at them if they move. He has RG issues regarding toys, and has often been put in his crate for bad behavior, so he also snaps and tries to bite when being put in his crate. Can you recommend a protocol for handling this behavior?
Many thanks,
Lexi B.
Cindy Ludwig says
“Hard eyes” are difficult to describe, but unmistakable to the careful observer. I think it may be more about a change in the eye musculature than the eyeball, but I’ll have to try and remember to look for those subtle changes next time a dog gives me the “hard eye” look. My usual response to “hard eyes” is to avert my gaze and try to clearly communicate the intent to do no harm!
Kelly Love says
I appreciated this article. I have 3 boxers in my house and one has some agression issues toward another. It has been hard to pinpoint exact triggers unfortunately but I always notice her expression suddenly changes and she fixates on him. In that instant that I see the expression change, I know she is about to lunge at him. I have tried to describe the look to others that are pet sitting incase it happens but it is hard to describe. I now have a name for it! What is the best method to distract her from attacking another dog when I see this look? There is usually not a behavior I can change and if I move towards her to grab her collar or remove her, she lunges for him. There is usually not a better reward in her mind at that time than attcking him, so I have not had a lot of luck distracting her with a reward. Suggestions?
Tryniti says
Ok so this is kind of funny – Im actually reading your book, For the Love of a Dog, because the Other End Of The Leash was so good there was no way I could not – and I am in the section taking about hard eyes, and was curious what it really looked like. So I’m googling images and trying all these different search phrases and finally try sites instead of images because I’m just getting strange mixtures of funny memes and sad dog pictures…and the best help I could find was on your site! Heh, so I stopped reading your book to accidentally stumble onto your site to try and understand better something you wrote there, and only you could help me with something you wrote here! I know I’m not explaining it well but hopefully you can see why it’s kind of funny 😀 Anyway, you are amazing and brilliant and I thank you so much for writing these books – it has made such a difference in my understanding and communication with my dog, and dogs who come into the pet supply store where I work. I got to get back to reading now, haha 🙂
Carrie Fuller says
I have a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, the most gentle, trainable breed out there, well according to most. They are also supposed to be cuddly, loving, and lap dogs. I have no idea if this is true. I love mine to pieces, but I adopted him at 6 months old. I believe now he was a puppy mill dog and kept in a cage for the first six months, and I have no idea how he was abused, but he is broken. I can’t tell you how many times I have gotten the hard eye from him (I’ve never heard this expression until now), my family and I call it the fish eye. But you have a second, and then watch out. We’ve been bit too many times to count. I adore him, and he tries, but dear Lord every day is tough.
Beatrice says
We’ve had our sons dog because he’s been out to sea. He’s a sheena inu and after having that look in his eye he’s bitten my husband and just bit me last week. I narrowed it down to having something to do with a Nubz chew that was on the floor under my feet. I won’t give him those chews anymore hoping he never bites us again. I worry when he gets his dog back that he won’t bite his 2 little girls. Keeping the dog away from the family is heartbreaking to me.
Stephanie says
I’m so glad to have come across this about “hard eye” in dogs. I’d never thought to describe my experiences with my own Catahoula/Aussie blend, Sagan, as this. I just knew from puppyhood he was a challenge to raise. We got him as a 10 weeks old pup from a ranch in Clint, Texas. His parents are both working dogs on sheep and cattle, an Aussie mother and Catahoula father. He has been raised in a mindful, gentle, nurturing home with on-going physical and brain training because he is the smartest dog we’ve ever had. He needs the stimulation, and we’re happy to integrate it into our daily lives. At about 5 months old, Sagan began to attack me on walks. He was unrelenting, which caused me to sustain numerous bites with many drawing blood. His eyes were not the eyes we were used to seeing during those attacks. It was as if he was not our Sagan. Night and day behavior. Wrong, pup! No way! It was extremely worrisome that he exhibited this behavior with me only. I tried everything I could find online to figure out the root of it and to help him. He’s a strong boy, so you can imagine that even as a young pup it was a very disconcerting experience. He attacked me out of the blue at the dog park when he didn’t want to leave. He attacked me out of the blue at the dog park when was over-stimulated. (It took me a while to figure out these reasons because it was so subtle before the incidences took place.) I sought the advice of a person who works to rehabilitate Catahoulas. I put into play all of her suggestions, but I believe the best one was hand feeding Sagan during which he has to perform under positive guidance a lot of commands in order to receive a handful of food. The main one is to “look at me”. The change in him has been remarkable. He views me as the nurturing source of one of his favorite things…food. Honestly, my husband and I seriously talked about rehoming him. Ultimately, since we both foster dogs and work with numerous rescues, we knew that rehoming him to anyone at all might mean that he would be dumped in a shelter. We didn’t want that at all. We love him deeply. Now Sagan is almost two years old. He, like many dogs, is not for the feather-weight person. With continued love and teaching he has become an amazing creature. Though now, rarely he will try to bite at me. But now I know what to watch for beforehand and how to handle him when in rare occasions he instantaneously turns into that former pup we once knew. He is more easily snapped out of it, and can be talked into realizing his behavior. He immediately licks me and stops. Sagan then has very quiet time for a bit before we continue with our doings. He has learned to “check in” at the dog park. He runs to me and turns to place his belly over my shoe if I’m sitting or to place himself against my leg. I say, “Sagan, good boy. Check in”. He waits with me until he is released to go play. I can read his body language before he is about to round up dogs at the park. We have the command, “Out” that with a lot of work has taught him to swing away and run in another direction. I could write lots more, but the day is moving along. I believe this kind of dog with a whacky DNA is a work-in-progress for a lifetime. I’m glad he is still in our family in spite of my past fears, worries, teeth scrapes and punctures, and yes, blood. Because of what I have learned in raising him, I try to foster as many of the difficult working/herding dogs as possible in New Mexico and Texas. I am a work-in-progress too, as I learn something new from each precious crazy dog that comes into our home.
Leah Watson says
I have a 1.5 yr old BC X Aussie. I’ve seen her use the “hard eye” more than once and it always signals that something is brewing. Never toward humans, but she is seriously confused and stressed by the night habits of my senior BC X GSD. I am quite certain my old girl suffers from some sort of Cognitive Dysfunction at this point. She paces and blank stares in the evening and this sets the young one into quite the anxious state. She’ll hide under the ottoman and growl when the old one passes and even attack the old girl if she gets too close. Is there anything I can do?
Cherie Hiles says
I found this article during a Web surfing session, I no longer remember where I was when I tapped the link. I’ve read every word on this page and the hair on my arms and neck has stood up several times.
My sister had a pure white male Siberian Husky named Donovan. He was a fluffy lovey puppy who loved to play with my nephews, who tended to be rough. They would run together, play tag, all the things.
I lived in the apartment directly next to Sis. One day while she was napping, I left my front door standing open because the weather was gorgeous, perfect for airing out stale recycled air from winter. Donovan strolled in while I was cleaning in the kitchen. Not an unusual thing, really, and he was welcome. But this particular day, something was different. I heard a noise and went to see what made it and discovered Donovan in the living room. I smiled, said “Hey Donovan! How are you today, buddy? Did you come for some loving?” and walked toward him. In an instant, that switch flipped. I literally watched the light go out of his eyes, and my blood ran cold. His eyes were… There was no love, no bond, no friendship, no recognition from him. No sense that he’d ever, in fact, felt these things in all his life. His head slowly lowered, so slowly, and he growled. I didn’t need the growl to know the danger, it hit me instantly when his eyes changed. He looked at me like I was an abuser he was about to get revenge on. Or perhaps like a meal, and he was starving. I froze, confused as to why, why Donovan would growl at me, look at me in such a way. Y’all, I’ve seen the dead hard stare before, but it was extra terrifying in ice blue eyes. {shudder}
I’m sure it was the wrong thing to do, but I strongly felt that if I didn’t make him believe I was strong, he was going to eat more. So instead of breaking off, I gave HIM a hard stare. “NO. NO DONOVAN. OUT. GO OUT.”
He started toward me, a single slow step. I responded with the deepest, most guttural growly No I could muster. Halfway through his second step, which begun a tenth of a second before I began my growl, the light came back on in his eyes.
I swear it looked and felt like he disappeared for a minute, and some wild animal who knew me not and wanted me dead took over his body.
There were some issues with him biting, after that. Over the space of a year, there were fines and doggy jail. When Sis got him back, he was penned at their other house. He was a five minute walk away had a fenced in section of backyard and about a quarter of the house, but he no longer ran loose in the countryside.
One night I had a dream about him, after I’d moved away to Indiana. Donovan appeared to me there in Indiana, refusing to come closer than the driveway’s end. He was agitated, pacing, and desperately demanding I follow him. I walked with him out of curiosity, but I couldn’t keep up. I ran back to get my car. He became very frustrated and gave up on me, and was gone. The sense of urgency, of desperation was so strong I called my sister the next morning. When I asked how Donovan was she said fine, they’d see him in a few hours when they went to feed him, as it had been a few days and his auto feeder needed filled. I begged her to drop everything and go now, to check on him because something was very wrong. She pooh poohed my worries.
She forgot to go that day due to emergency situations with her sons, I think. She went the following day, to find Donovan dead. He had been poisoned. Per the vet, based on his condition and such, he likely died mid morning to early afternoon the day before. If Sis had heeded my call, he might have been saved.
I’ll forever wonder if I did something to set him off that day, or if something was wrong with him. For three years everyone including neighbors loved him, and he them, with nary a sign of aggression. And then he had random episodes where he bit, until someone poisoned him to ensure it would never happen again. It broke my heart. How can I help/change the outcome in a similar situation if I never understand?
I will say this. I wasn’t as scared as I should have been, because I was also angry at his… Betrayal? I don’t know. But as “brave” as I was given my righteous indignation (how stupid is that?? But it wasn’t something I spent time pondering at the moment.), I was also terrified. I knew he had the size and strength, the power to kill me, and he was of a mind to do it.
My second experience was with a pit bull that had previously been trained as an attack dog. My son was dogsitting long-term, and I was living with him. Duke had one of those moments. I responded much as I had with Donovan, and Duke snapped out of it after twenty seconds or so. If Duke had followed through, I wouldn’t be here. He was a powerhouse.
I need to follow you, I think I could learn some things here.
Lab’s Big Sister says
Does anyone know if this occurs more often in puppies, and if it’s normal? My parents have raised 3 labs and are now on their 4th. She is 14 weeks old and I’m currently puppy sitting her while they are away for a night. They warned me “she goes Kujo” sometimes for no reason. They haven’t had this happen with any of the other dogs. In my prior visits I’ve seen her be constantly nippy in the way a teething puppy is, but nothing I’d consider abnormal. When I first arrived last night we played fetch for about 20 minutes and then suddenly out of nowhere as she brought back the ball her eyes went dead and she started acting weirdly aggressive toward me. She was lunging and trying to bite like she’d never seen me before. I pushed her away with a big stick that she started chewing on and went in the house to cool down. I’ve seen a dog (and other animals) with this look before and left the situation before anyone could be hurt, but I’ve never seen it in a puppy and never without some cause I could pinpoint. Until I found this site I was thinking this was possibly because she was too riled up and teething. Literature suggests nipping and biting is normal until 7-8 months. She has not done it again to me since I’ve been watching her and I’m doing my best to not get her riled up while still entertaining her as a puppy. But I am concerned for my parents who are in their sixties and may not be able to deal with such behavior if it continues past puppyhood. Should I suggest to my parents that they return her to the breeder? Am I over reacting and this is normal? She is very sweet otherwise and very intelligent, I am hoping it’s just something she will grow out of.
Trisha says
Oh dear, this is a reason for concern. “Hard eye” is not more common in puppies. It’s actually rare and I’d consider it a serious warning flag. I would at least talk to the breeder, because “nipping and biting” is indeed common in pups, but only soft-eyed, playful nipping. If your gut is telling you that this isn’t the right dog for your parents, I’d listen to it.
Lori says
I had never heard of hard eyes until a few days ago. We actually experienced it with a male pit bull we are fostering. Let me tell you, that is the scariest thing I have even seen in a dog. He wasn’t looking at me, but my very small, male Chihuahua. We’ve had him and a female for about two weeks, and yesterday I saw his pretty brown eyes. Before, his eyes looked black and lifeless. I hope I never see that again.
Talia says
I’m so happy to have found this article as I have a Czechoslovakian Vlcak and have experienced this with him many times! Vlcaks are essentially part wolf and I’ve alwaya described this cold eye as him going full wolf. Something in that stare and the way his eyes glaze over, it’s like he’s not there and the wolf in him has taken over. I just recently took a picture that captures it perfectly!
Jean says
Thank you and I am definitely going to read far more of your work. My dog is my first dog, actually my first pet ever, and after a lifelong fear of dogs, naturally my first is a doberman. I adopted him at age 3 approximately and we’ve been together over 4 years. His past was clearly unfortunate, the victim of abuse by humans and other dogs.
I’m trying to determine whether it’s hard eye or something more banal going on. We (mostly needed by me) have had a LOT of training and education and behavior consultations and he is much loved and admired but unfortunately in my early naive time with him he has become a bit indulged and at times stubborn and tried to control me. Incidentally I live alone so the bond is intense and we both weigh about 100 pounds so it is imperative I remain the authority at all times.
I saw the hard eye in him earlier on in our relationship. It did chill me to the bone and my tendency toward fear kicked in and stopped whatever I was doing. He was a broken shell of a dog, malnourished beaten withdrawn. I had him for 3 months before ever barking and his first bark was a sad, breathy woof that moved me to tears.
It’s been a joy to watch him slowly recovering and evolve and everyone Ive worked with has been great. His early hard eye I attribute to his confusion and despair at being rehomed so much and defense from being treated so poorly. His walker actually used him as a stooge dog often and he is the dog that dog aggressive dogs can tolerate.
What concerns me now is his behavior playing with other dogs at the local socialized dog parks that are common where I live. He has no interest in chasing balls, he’d rather chase the dogs chasing the balls which can be problematic in itself . Now I’ve stopped taking him because of his “bullying” manner when owners were trying to play fetch, my Fenway will go to the side of the dog completely in his space and stand over him glaring and trying to almost reposition the dog as his owner is trying to excite the dog pre throw. As the dog chases my dog is hanging over him looking intently sidwsys and tries to cut him off. It looks very aggressive and I thought bullying until one day another far more experienced owner saw my concern and stress and explained he was “herding with a hard eye”. Because of his size compared to the “flock” it looks more bullying but once he said that, I could see if the flock were real flock he’d have a different angle and look. But it would be hard eye herding.
I now try to take him to dog parks and activities that have less fetch playing and more dog on dog playing but sometimes when there’s a group happily playing he will start to herd and it makes everyone fearful for their dogs and it is time for us to leave. Often he is so intent I cannot easily break his concentration it’s concerning for me and scary for other owners.
I’m considering an electric collar to use to refocus his attention when he gets so intense. What do you think?I’m sorry this is is so long and not completely on point but this discussion is the only one I’ve seen where my situation can be fully understand.
Thanks for any input and I look forward to reading more if your writing. Let’s face it my day has now been hijacked and I am glued to your site.
Melissa McCue-McGrath, CPDT-KA says
Hi, Jean –
My name is Melissa and I’m a CPDT. I thought I’d jump in to help in case Trisha can’t get to this as it sounds a bit urgent. It sounds like what is going on with your pup would greatly benefit from someone assessing in person what’s going on just to make sure there is a good plan in place that can help your dog feel more comfortable, and other dogs around your dog to feel more comfortable. I had a Border collie who thought all dogs were “bad cows” which made taking her to the park uncomfortable for many of the visitors of the park – canine and human alike. It can be really frustrating and upsetting as the owner of a dog who responds in such a way at the park, and it can be frustrating and upsetting to the other dogs who might feel bullied at the park. I had to think outside of the box to get her exercise but it was safer for her, safer for the other dogs, and better for my community of dog loving folk. Sometimes it’s not a good fit for a dog in a dog park. Could be the instinct of herding, could be a guarding instinct, could be fear, could be prey drive, could be just being generally unconfident in large groups (*raises hand – CAN RELATE*) – or, could be a bit of everything.
I looked through Trisha’s earlier comments and this is what she has said previously about electronic collars:
“And finally, to em and Nancy regarding e-collars. I am strongly of the opinion that e-collars are often horrifically misused and am saddened that they are so easily available to anyone who wants to buy one. That said, I also think they can be lifesavers in certain situations. I equate them with scalpels: things you don’t want anyone waving around, but lifesavers in the right hands. I have used them very rarely, but in all cases it has been in situations in which a dog was going to either die without it, or be confined to a life that could not possibly make them happy. Almost always this was about predatory behavior, or a dog born and bred to run beyond the boundaries of the property. One dog was a mushy sweet black Lab who had killed 3 of 4 pet chickens at the neighbors. These were dearly loved animals, and there was no way the dog, who had always been allowed outside off leash, was going to either not do it again or be happy tied up the rest of his life. One session with the collar saved the surviving chicken, and allowed the dog to go back his happy life for many years to come. I know that many feel that e-collars should never be used under any circumstances, but my personal opinion is that flexibility in techniques is critical if you want to be able to help as many people and dogs as you can, that life and dog training are rarely black and white, and that all the costs and benefits must be weighed every time a decision is made to choose a training tool.”
I would like to think in this particular case where your dog is going to a dog park as an option and is, regardless of reason hard staring and chasing other dogs, and there are probably several other options on the table right now, the pro/con here would likely weigh into the “CON, don’t do it” because the likelihood of this backfiring, your dog getting shocked and associating pain with other dogs and therefore perhaps escalating his response to dogs from what you are describing as hard stare herding (might also be practicing predatory behavior, might also be fear, might be so many things so please see someone!) could easily be translated to him as “These dog shock me. I will hurt them before they hurt me.”
I think in this case it’s clear to get a professional well-versed in dog / dog interactions and behavior. Check the CAAB website and if there isn’t anyone local, look at IAABC to see if you can find someone local to you who can come, really assess what’s going on, and give you a plan that will help you and your dog.
(And Trisha, if this is out of bounds, please don’t hesitate to tell me 🙂 )
-Melissa
Trisha says
Jeana and Melissa: I couldn’t agree more that a shock collar is inappropriate here. I would never use one in this situation. I’ve only used one twice in my entire career that I can remember–on a dog who killed pet chickens and a dog who was chasing livestock and was about to be shot by the farmer. Both dogs lived their entire lives in the country and had never been confined. It was successful in both cases, but I hated doing it and as I said, I would never do it for all the reasons that Melissa listed above. Absolute best thing to do is to find a progressive, positive trainer who can give you clear advice after working with you and the dog. Until you make progress, I’d skip the visits to the dog park. They do not work for lots of dogs, and although it’s hard to take a run in the park away from your dog, I’m afraid this is a situation primed for trouble. (Quick advice is to teach your dog a fantastically effective “leave it” away from other dogs, and then gradually try it around other dogs long before he gets hard eyed and stiff. I’d do this with a coach–who doesn’t need a coach sometimes? Work too on easing tension with “let’s go!” and walking AWAY from the dogs, not toward. Again, all done with a coach and not in the dog park.) The park might end up being a bad fit for your dog… Hard to say at this point, but better safe than sorry. Paws crossed, and keep us posted.
Connie Whitley says
My brindle female boxer has gotten the hard eye many times. I describe it as the dog leaves behind all traces of pet behavior, as in trained to live with humans, and the pure beast comes out which is what they naturally are. It is very scary. I cannot play with her too long because she will play like a pet then something changes in her, and that change is the hard eye look and she sees our play like a competition and will start becoming so aggressive that I have to stop playing with her.
Max Evans says
From what has been explained here, would the best way to describe a hard eye in a dog be a human’s death stare? Or is it something different?
Leslie says
Greetings All, I must leave some info here, as my sister’s Bully-Poo (Bulldog/Pitbull & Poodle) does this hard eye before launching into a fierce attack. He’s 9, adopted at 2 fm a no kill shelter that lied about this poor fella’s breed. After each of us being attacked, meaning not bitten once, but repeatedly, until the other of us could separate and isolate the dog. She was told he was at the shelter for most of his 2 yrs, having been returned repeatedly. Well my sis is committed to this dog, so we’ve learned to work around it. The hard eye he gives is a fraction of a moment before low growl which you hear as he’s launching at you. The look in his beautiful amber eyes goes like a robot eye. Cold. Mechanical. Unreachable. So frightening, I agree with every description here, ive read every comment. My sis noted that his eyes dialate fully making them appear black and soulless. It was so distressing the 1st few years as he attacked each of us a half dozen times. She had hand surgery twice shes 61) you can she she will never ever give him up. He has gone from hard eye/biting attacks maybe 6 times a year, now to twice a year for past 2-3 years. We’ve worked hard, discussing what’s preceded the attack (sound of jangling keys, children nearby, being toweled off after rain, someone to close to his Mommy). We are retired and our children grown. We can never have visitors over, even if he’s harnessed. I WOULD NEVER HAVE AN ANIMAL THATS SHOWN HARD EYE AROUND A VULNERABLE PERSON OR ANIMAL. Also, believe your instincts; if the look you saw gave you chills, terrified you or even gave you pause, believe hour instinct! DO seek professional advise. I’m no professional like Miss Trish is (thank you! I’ve discovered you thru this and am very respectful) Last thing, our fur baby is the sweetest creature 99.9% of the time. He’s got plenty of “fans” who greet him on his multiple daily walks around the city-they all know not to come close, lean down, or try to pet him. He does adore other animals, has a heart of gold and really enjoys his life. I don’t see this as the typical outcome for dogs that show hard eye though. We’ve dedicated years to living with it. It won’t ever be going away, though we’ve learned ways of lessening the occurrence by keeping him out of situations we think sparked it. First few years, it seemed like out of nowhere! Definitely like a switch was flipped.
Trish, is it possible for a dog to have autism? My daughter has Aspergers and I see so many shared traits; extreme social malfunction & anxiety, EXTREME intelligence, overwhelmed by too much of anything; noise, people, petting,etc. Need for alot of personal time.
Do you believe dogs can have some form of autism? Your input means alot. Thankyou!
Trisha says
Leslie, you ask such an interesting question, one that I’ve asked myself for many years. I’m not qualified to answer that question, not being an expert in any way on those kinds of challenges in people, but my wild guess is that yes,
surely dogs can have some variation of social disability. Or can they? This sounds like a good blog topic. I’m not sure though that what you describe–the hard eye before an attack–fits into that category. Last thing, completely unnecessary but
I just can’t not say it: Please, please be careful. Oh so so so very careful. It’s hard not to worry about you and your sister.
Ami Allen-Porter says
Hello I recently have been getting the hard eye from my 5 yrs old boxer/pit mix molly. It started about 8 months ago. I am a little unnerved, she’s never acted like this before. Is there any suggestions to reasons why?
Trisha says
Ami: Impossible to say without knowing more, but good for you for noticing. I’d call in a trainer/behaviorist who is skilled at doing thorough case studies and using operant and counter conditioning. I’m wondering too about physical issues, would be good to be sure there is nothing causing her pain. Probably the most important questions to ask are When? (Is there a pattern? What predicts the behavior?) and how to respond (I’d distract for now, decrease any sense of pressure, change up the circumstances to change up her emotional state. Good luck and keep us posted.
Lisa Francis says
We have an (almost) 2 year old female Elkhound, Alia. Reading through some of the other posts, her story is similar to Crystal’s (7/27) post. Alia was the newest addition to a home with 2 PW Corgis (male age 2 – Phineas, female age 1 – Maggie). All dogs got along grandly until Alia turned around 7 months old. Then all hell literally broke loose as our she seemed to target the male corgi, Phineas. She would stop, go rigid, and stare right at him. It isn’t quite the cold – I’ll kill you stare – but the ensuing fight left no doubt that she meant bodily harm.
We have been managing the dogs in the house since as this is the only issue we have. Otherwise all dogs are super loving, easy-going, etc. We theorize Alia does this because the Phineas claims me as his personal possession… We’ve worked on and continue to work on things to try to improve the situation. A year has passed and we still do not allow the corgis with the elkhound.
We have recently added an elkhound/husky mix about the same age as Alia to our home. She, Sadie, and Alia are getting along well – with the exception of in the house. It is Sadie who – doesn’t have a hard eye – but will simply stare at Alia as she plays or gets attention. We’re trying to figure out exactly when/why it happens, and we manage them both so that if Sadie starts to stare, we re-direct.
I know many might think it irresponsible to add another dog – so I want to note that we’ve observed Alia’s behavior around other dogs since our issues at home began, and she doesn’t behave this way with ANY other dogs. She is mildly nervous around dogs bigger than she is, but those the same size and smaller, she wants to greet and play with.
Though we’ve tried looking to see if Phineas exhibits any ‘threatening’ behaviors, we just haven’t seen it. He rolls over on his tummy and happily greets every dog he comes in contact with. That leaves us with the suspicion that his claiming of me is possibly the root of the issue.
Makiela Wilson says
I have an almost 4 year old Boxer/coonhound, found him on the side of the Rd at 4-5 weeks old, he was a dumped pup… Little thing he was… I’ve always loved Stephan King, and this dog had attitude so, I felt the name a kujo fit…. His first New year’s I’d just gotten home and hear him scream from outside, I thought he’d gotten out and got hit by a car.. turns out it was a person who hurt him.. degoloved his entire upper gums… Emergency surgery and 1000$ later he came home and I nursed him back to health… A few months later and he knew day became terribly Ill… Tests came back positive for parvo, I was heartbroken, vet suggested to put him down but I couldnt… I cried, begged God, and did everything I could, and kujo pulled through…. But the vet warned me about distemper and how it always does parvo… I started noticing he would get really disoriented, almost confused, and would slightly tremble, or his head would shake slightly. And almost as fast as it would appear it would subside and he’d be normal again…
He’s almost 4 now, about 6 months ago he began to show signs of aggression towards me in certain situations.. my father would step in and take control of him if he got out of hand .. but almost over night the problems went from bad to severe, his anger and aggression is only directed at me really.. hell go after me for absolutely nothing sometimes… That stare he gives is all to familiar and sends chills down my spine everyone I see it… It’s crazy though, he can spend all day with me just fine, granted he’ll still give me that look and always watches what I do, but we won’t have any actual lunging or attacks, until…. Someone comes into my room… He’d never been like this before j. The last 4 years… But now even after we’re cool all day, when someone comes into my room he goes from tail wagging and exciting to turning around and lunging for my face…. Now it’s as soon as my door is opened he turns and attacks me… Some days I can’t get him to to even come inside he’ll come to the door but as soon as I step there to let him in he turns his head stiffs up and then backs away…. and God forbid someone else let him in and me not be aware cause as soon as he sees me he goes for me… But when he’s not with me he’s whinging and looking for me, bit then once he sees me it’s like the switch flips from good boy to attack mode… I’ve never beat him, or abused him in any way.. he’s drawn blood three times on me, and attacks me almost daily… I don’t know what to do… We’ve gone through so much together I don’t see or understand what happened that made him change so drastically so suddenly… I’m scared to give him up, I’m terrified to keep him, and the guilt I’ll have if I out him down is gonna tear me up inside the rest of my life…. I need help!!! I need advice!!!! Please anyone who can help guide me… I’m begging
Trisha says
Dear Makiela, I so wish I could say something magic to make this all go away. Please please talk to your vet, because it sounds to me like your dog has a serious medical issue, possibly neurological? What’s is clear, to those of us
on the outside looking in, is that there is something terribly wrong with Kujo, and it makes him profoundly dangerous. It’s a horrible cruelty that sometimes we have to make the decision to let a dog go who we have been a friend of for so long, but please talk to your vet, and perhaps call an Applied Animal Behaviorist (www.animalbehaviorsociety.org) or Veterinary Behaviorist, through the AVMA. I think it would help immensely to talk to someone on the phone about this. Please decide that you are not going to live in terror (terror? my god) anymore. If you have to put him down, it looks like it would be because he has an untreated medical disease, no different than cancer or being hit by a car. It sounds to me from what you write that his life is a nightmare too . . . Please consider that perspective.
Wes says
Last night I had an unnerving experience with Goose, my new pup whose 10 weeks old and who I’ve had for a little over 3 days.
I used to be a dog walker for seven years and have had a lot of experience with dogs and their behaviour. I have never experienced the type of behaviour the Goose exhibited last night.
Let me explain the whole situation:
My dog Sadie passed away unexpectedly in July when her liver failed after a dental surgery. It’s been the worst few weeks of my life as she was my best friend and I miss her more than I even thought possible. I thought getting another dog would be a good thing and help get me out of this rut I seemed to find myself in. By having someone who needed me again and getting back into a routine. Because of Covid, it seems like everyone and their mother decided that they want a dog. I applied to rescues, and every time either didn’t hear back or was told they’d had an overwhelming amount of applications and they’d already been adopted. So I decided to put out a wanted ad on kijiji, not really expecting it to come of anything, but a lady contacted me about a Labradoodle puppy that she was trying to rehome because he wasn’t getting along with her toddler.
She asked me many questions over a 24hr period. It was obvious she really cared for her puppy and she was heartbroken over having to rehome.
Anyway she decided to let me have him and he’s been a perfectly normal puppy over the last few days. Having big puppy energy and wanting to play, play, play and then zonking out exhausted. We did notice that he’d picked up some unwanted behaviours from his old owners. Like barking at us whenever anyone has food, and not being shy about getting up into personal space/jumping up on the coffee table to try and snatch food. We’ve been very consistent about not giving him human food, and pushing him down and telling him off when he jumps up. His reaction to that is to bark at us in a demanding way and then go lay down a sulk when he’s not given in to.
Last night we’d gotten home from our last walk. He ran to the kitchen as soon as his leash was off and barked for food. I told him no and walked over to the couch. He came around the corner and when I looked up at him I was instantly unnerved. He was starting me down. His body was rigid. He was walking towards me slowly like his was stalking me. Never taking his eyes off me. When he got to the couch he lunged at me and bit me hard on the arm. Then he walked away and went to play with his toy in the middle of the room.
I was watching him, stunned at what just happened. He looked up, caught my eye again. Stopped played. Started the same behaviour. Staring me down, walking closer. This time he went under the coffee table. He was looking at me and lunged towards my face but hit his head hard on the coffee table instead.
He wandered away, back to his toy and a few minutes later walked over and fell asleep by my feet. Like the sweet little puppy I’ve known for the last three days.
It was like there was a switch in his head that went off and he was no longer Goose and he intended to hurt me. And I’m sitting here thinking is that crazy? I’m not sure, but I do know that I’m now scared of my puppy who is currently about 10lbs and is going to grow up to be 40lbs.
I’m wondering now if this is why his first home, re-homed him because when his old owner questioned me one of the things that was important to her was that I wouldn’t rehome him just for bad puppy behaviour. I’m at a loss for what to do. Do I have a serious problem or is it something that can be fixed? Any insight would be appreciated.
RENport says
I know this is an old thread, but appreciate the discussion. Our pit mix dog (rescued 1 yr ago at beginning of pandemic 2020) just started giving this hard eye stare a few days ago. This was triggered by accidentally getting into a fight with my nephew’s friendly young dog (both on leashes at our farm). I took pictures of this look yesterday and would like to post.
George Goodwin says
I’ve seen the hard eye in several instances. The most chilling was when an Akita told me with his eyes he did not want me scratching his neck anymore. It was accompanied with a barely perceptible growl.
On another occasion I remember a look from a human whom I later learned was giving me a “murder 1” look. Very similar to the ‘hard eye’.
I believe the hard eye is always paired with the head and neck posture moving into a pre-strike mode.
Anon says
We had a collie who we unfortunately had to be put down at a young age due to his aggression and unpredictability. I will never forgot the ‘hard eye’ look on that last day he was with us. He just flipped one day, like a switch went off in him. I can remember him stalking and side eyeing my every movement before he then attacked me. This happened more than once that day. It was a state that instilled fear into me, fear that made me no longer trust him. Just like I guess he no longer trusted me. I was devastated I had to come to a decision but even the rescuers who came the evaluate him said he was, and I quote, “a scary boy”. I have often felt guilty for making that decision but it was the best thing I could’ve done.
You’ll just know when you get that look. You’ll just know.
Elpi says
I searched the “glazed” look and came across this post. It makes sense to call it a “hard” eye, as it seems to fit for the instant in which it is observed; but what about the times where the dogs isn’t immobilized stalking its point of interest, but in fact in full “hunt and kill” type of mode? As everyone else, I, too, agree it’s quite difficult to describe to someone who’s never experienced it themselves.
I see that glazed look every single time I play water hose with a visiting pitbull, she had never looked at me with those eyes, but when the water hose is turned on – absolutely nothing will stop her from trying to destroy it. Maybe we’re making a huge mistake when playing with her that way (she’s destroyed quite a few nozzles), but as ignorant humans, we find it rather adorable at how her entire presence changes and goes into a “kill” mode when the garden hose is turned on.
Well, most of our playing occurs over the warm summer months obviously, and there’s little action in the cold weather. I’m guessing THAT need to “kill” feeling must be something of a desired sensation even, as just over the past weekend our friend had shared something extremely troubling.
She’s revealed that her dog and she were visiting a friend’s farm where her dog attacked one of the horses. It took them over ten minutes to finally separate the two and to lock the dog away for good in a kennel. She’s said that nothing she did or said would get her dog’s attention, all the meanwhile, dog having that glazed look in her eyes.
I realize that pitts already have a reputation and that Fawn (her name) will most likely be needed to put down. What I’m wondering though, if there’s a difference between the “glazed” and “hard” look. Because to me it seems that once the dog enteres that mode – very little could be done to snap them out of it. Only two things work: time and removal of an object of their fixation.
It’d be interesting to hear your thoughts on the subject if you’d be willing to share them given the time restrains.
Brent says
Since I was young, 5 or 6, I was told my eyes go cold. Its an intensity beyond anything fueled by adrenalin, anger, and every last bit of primal rage coming out and through the threat or obstacle causing it. Its a look that seems to communicate without words or any other gesture, that you will stop at nothing. Cold eyes pierce into the soul almost its so intense. Usually brought on by fear and anger from deep inside. At one time I could turn it on and off, but like everything else, with age we lose the need to react in such a way.