Why do my dog's hackles go up?
Raised hackles, the fur standing up along the shoulders and back, tell you a dog is highly aroused. On their own they do not tell you whether that is fear, excitement or tension.
What it usually means
Pawfect's tables list raised hackles among the critical signals and describe them as high arousal that could be fear or excitement. That is exactly why they are never read alone.
Raised hackles on a loose, wiggly dog in the middle of a chase game point to excitement. With a tucked tail and ears back they point to fear; with a high, stiff tail and a hard stare, to tension. In every case, calm distance is a good first step.
Easy to mix up
- A decision to fight. Hackles are an involuntary reaction, not a choice, and many dogs raise them while playing.
- Coat type. Long, thick or curly coats can hide raised hackles, while some short coats show a ridge more easily.
Look at the whole body
No single signal tells the whole story. Before settling on a reading, look at the tail, ears, eyes, mouth and posture together, and at what is happening around your pet.
Signals the tables often see alongside this one
- Tucked tail
- Low posture
- Ears back
- Lip lick
- Yawn
- High tail
- Stiff body
- Ears forward
See it on your own pet
Point Pawfect at your dog or cat and it picks out the tails, ears, eyes and postures from these guides, then plays them back as a playful caption you can keep.
Related guides
Why does my dog suddenly freeze and go stiff?
A sudden, stiff stillness is one of the most important signals to notice. What a freeze usually means and why giving space matters.Why does my dog do a play bow?
Front legs down, rear up, tail going: what the play bow usually means, what it gets mixed up with, and which other signals to check.Why does my cat's tail puff up?
A bottle-brush tail means a cat is highly aroused, from fright, upset or sudden excitement. How to read it and what to do.
Where this comes from
Built on the body-language tables behind Pawfect's analysis (dogs v2.1.0, cats v1.0.1), which draw on published work including:
- Turid Rugaas, On Talking Terms with Dogs: Calming Signals (1997)
- Patricia B. McConnell, The Other End of the Leash (2002)
- Sophia Yin, Low Stress Handling, Restraint and Behavior Modification of Dogs and Cats (2009)
- Alexandra Horowitz, Inside of a Dog: What Dogs See, Smell, and Know (2009)
- Marc Bekoff, Play signals as punctuation: the structure of social play in canids (2001)
- American Kennel Club, Dog Body Language and Communication (online resources) (2023)